Five hundred and sixty-six years have passed since Hangeul was first disseminated to the public, but many people believe that Hangeul only has the same old story to tell.
 
   
▲ Photographed by Choi Jiyoung
 
Marking the 615th year of King Sejong’s birth, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) surveyed Korean citizens’ perception toward Hangeul and Hangeul Proclamation Day in April. According to the results, 83.6 percent of Korean citizens are in favor of making Hangeul Proclamation Day a national holiday. The approval rate has been steadily increasing since 2009’s 68.8 percent and 2010’s 76.3 percent.
 
Hangeul Proclamation Day was established in 1982 to be celebrated on October 9. Though it is not a national holiday for which all Korean citizens take a day off from work and school, Koreans still commemorate the day. The day lost its holiday status in 1990 under President Roh Tae-woo, simply because there were too many holidays in October. The government believed that abolishing a few holidays would lead to an increase in work efficiency.
 
Although there was a strong opposition from other parties, the abolition was still enforced. Reflecting today’s perceptions and demands from citizens, there is an active movement to make it a national holiday again. Regardless of its national holiday status, it would be meaningful to look back over our Hangeul usage and have an opportunity to think about what Hangeul means to us. 
 
King Sejong’s Creation of Hunminjeongeum
 
Hangeul is the official alphabet of Korea. It was invented in the Joseon Dynasty by King Sejong, who is more often referred to as Sejong the Great in Korea. In 1443, he invented the alphabet Hunminjeongeum and proclaimed its creation in 1446. Hunminjeongeum literally means the proper sounds for teaching the people. The name we use today, Hangeul, was coined in 1913 by a Korean linguist, Ju Si-gyeong. While many people consider “Han (한)” to mean Korean as in Chinese character (韓), it actually is a pure Korean word meaning big or great. Likewise, “geul (글)” is a Korean word for a letter or script.
 
When King Sejong first created Hunminjeongeum, it consisted of 28 letters in total, but 4 letters –ㆍ,ㆆ,ㅿ,ㆁ– are no longer used today. Currently, Hangeul consists of 14 consonants (ㄱ,ㄴ,ㄷ,ㄹ,ㅁ,ㅂ,ㅅ,ㅇ,ㅈ,ㅊ,ㅋ,ㅌ,ㅍ,ㅎ) and 10 vowels (ㅏ,ㅑ,ㅓ,ㅕ,ㅗ,ㅛ,ㅜ,ㅠ,ㅡ,ㅣ). Hunminjeongeum Haerye, a commentary that contains explanations and examples of Hunminjeongeum, was designated a UNESCO Memory of the World Register in October 1997. In its famous preface, King Sejong revealed his intentions for creating the alphabet saying, “As our national language is different from that of China, our spoken and written languages do not fit together. Thus, many uneducated people are having difficulty in expressing what they want to say. In compassion for these people, I made 28 new letters and hope that all people will easily learn and use them in their daily lives for their own convenience.”
 
Hangeul, an Excellent Alphabet
 
Most Hangeul lovers, and especially all Koreans, proudly say that Hangeul is an excellent and beautiful alphabet. However, when asked the reasons why they are so proud of it, it seems that most of us need some time to come up with convincing answers. After hesitating for a while, we eventually give the same old answers; Hangeul is scientific and beautiful.
 
Hangeul is indeed a beautiful and scientific alphabet. It is not because Hangeul is our own alphabet. From the linguist’s point of view, Hangeul is excellent,” says Korea University (KU) Professor Yoon Hyejoon (Linguistics). 
 
According to Yoon, linguists focus on whether an alphabet is systematic, scientific and practical. Thus they investigate how each alphabet enables unambiguous communication by systematically changing spoken language into a script and how easy it is to acquire and learn the alphabet. Alphabets are categorized into phonograms and ideograms. Hangeul is a phonogram, which is an alphabetical system where each letter represents a sound, not a concept. In particular, it has a phonemic writing system, where each letter has a one-to-one correspondence with a pronunciation. It is considered to be at the most developed level of alphabets. Hangeul even stands out among phonemic writings thanks to its creating principles.
 
King Sejong created Hangeul by imitating how human articulators move when they pronounce each sound. Therefore, related pronunciations are also written in a related form distinguished by different stroke counts, as ㄴ(n)-ㄷ(d)-ㅌ(t), ㅅ(s)-ㅈ(j)-ㅊ(ch), and ㅁ(m)-ㅂ(pp)-ㅍ(p), or emphatic consonants as ㄱ(g)-ㄲ(kk), ㄷ(d)-ㄸ(tt), ㅂ(pp)-ㅃ(p), ㅅ(s)-ㅆ(ss), and ㅈ(j)-ㅉ(jj). From these, we can see how Hangeul is systematic and scientific. “The saying that ‘We read and write Hangeul as it sounds’ originates from these characteristics. With these traits, many pronunciations that do not exist in the Korean language can be written in Hangeul. Considering that Hangeul has only 24 letters, it is highly productive,” says Yoon. Furthermore, Hangeul is practical and economical as it has simple shapes such as ㅣ, ㅡ, and ㅇ, making it easy to learn and write.
 
Another notable fact is that we know who created Hangeul. While the Roman alphabet was formed over hundreds of years of transformations and improvements by several ethnic groups, Hangeul was invented by one man. Among numerous letters, there are only a few for which their creators are known. “We should be proud about the fact that such a scientific and excellent alphabet was created in the 15th century with perfect linguistic knowledge,” says Yoon. All these strong points of Hangeul enabled sharing it with peoples without their own alphabet, such as the Cia Cia tribe in Indonesia. Along with these, Hangeul is efficient when using cell phones or computers which have limited space, in that one syllable is written in one space. 
 
Interview
 
Chinese KU Student, Yang Xin (’10, Journalism and Mass Communication)
 
   
▲ Provided by Yang Xin
“I have learned Korean in KU for a year and have lived in Korea for about three and a half 
years since 2009. As it was created after investigating how the shape of the mouth changes when people make a pronunciation, Hangeul is easier to pronounce than Chinese characters. On the other hand, as there is no concept of final consonant, such as the ㅂplaced at the bottom of 밥, in Chinese characters, it is difficult to pronounce some words. Moreover, similar sounds such as ㄱ(g), ㅋ(k), ㄲ(kk) and ㅂ(pp), ㅍ(p), ㅃ(p) are difficult to distinguish from each other. For example, when I tried to pronounce 피자(Pizza), Koreans said it sounded like 비자(visa) to them.” 
 
 
Jocelyn Hubbard (22), an exchange student from Griffith University
 
   
▲ Photographed by Choi Jiyoung
“The characters are not difficult to learn, but it is more of the grammar for me, especially the word order. It is so different from English. I have only learned Spanish and German, and they have a very similar word order to English, so I have never had to learn word order. So far, though, it is not as difficult as I thought it would be. Moreover, I cannot hear the difference in similar sounds, such as ㅅ(s) and ㅊ(ch), or ㅏ(a), ㅑ(ya), ㅗ(o), ㅛ(yo), ㅡ(eu), and ㅣ(i).” 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Diego García (23), an exchange student from University Complutense of Madrid
 
   
▲ Provided by Diego Garcia
“I have been studying Korean for two weeks. I am studying at KU four days per week and study for one hour and 15 minutes every day. When I first saw Hangeul, I thought it was a very strange and difficult alphabet, but now I have realized that it is easier than what I thought. It only has 24 letters, so you can learn it in one day. I thought I would need a lot of time to study and learn it, but I could read Hangeul in one day.
 
“I think that Hangeul is very similar to the one that I have always used in its phonetic structure, in contrast to an ideogram, such as Chinese. However, I have to say that the pronunciation has some differences. In fact, pronunciation is most difficult for me. I am from Spain, so some sounds are similar, but many others are very difficult because they do not exist in my language. For example, I cannot distinguish between the sound of ㅗ(o) and ㅓ(eo), so my Korean friends are always making fun of me about it. I also have a similar problem with the sound of ㅡ(eu). Also, the lexicon is difficult to learn. That is because it does not have Greco-Latin origin words as Spanish does, so that I have to memorize everything.
 
“The strong point is that any student can learn it very quickly, because the letters are just grouped into blocks creating syllables. So, once you know all the letters, it is very simple to read. However, if you do not practice every day, you will forget how to read and what the sound that every letter has is. In my case, now I am obsessed with Hangeul, so every day when I take the subway and even when I am walking in the streets, I try to read all the advertisements and things I see inside.” 
 
Lie Sang Bong, the Hangeul Designer 
   
▲ Designer Lie Sang Bong. Provided by Public Relations at Lie Sang Bong


   
▲ Provided by Public Relations at Lie Sang Bong

Hangeul is a beloved alphabet, but it has not been used in artistic designs until recently. Although people have been saying that Hangeul is a beautiful alphabet, putting it into a design was regarded as awkward and even tacky. Today, those perceptions no longer hold. Though Hangeul design is still not prevalent among the public, many people have begun to find it natural to see Hangeul utilized in artistic designs. Lie Sang Bong is one of the most famous fashion designers who has played a huge role in this change of perception toward Hangeul designs. Though Lie has gained worldwide attention for his diverse designs, Lie is frequently called the Hangeul Designer because putting Hangeul in a fashion design was considered highly innovative when Lie first did it. Lie says he likes to be called the Hangeul Designer, because he “became well known through Hangeul design,” and he finds introducing Hangeul to the world through design meaningful.

 
Lie says that he began to work with Hangeul purely by chance. As he had been holding fashion shows abroad, he sought something that represented Korean style. While he was preparing for the 120th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and France, he came up with Hangeul as the representative cultural heritage of Korea. “Back in those days, I had handwritten letters from artist Jang Sa-ik and Lim Ok-Sang. I took them out and asked myself, ‘What would it be if I use these kinds of letters in fashion?’ After getting approval from the two artists, I began to work on Hangeul designs,” says Lie. However, Lie recalls that there was much opposition. People said Hangeul was tacky and it would be better to use English. Back then, there was a strong tendency of idolizing English designs. “It is always difficult to do something for the first time,” he says.
 
   
▲ Provided by Public Relations at Lie Sang Bong
Lie finds the aesthetic values of Hangeul in its beautiful curves. While he always pursues newness in designs, Hangeul design seems to be truly different. “I try to emphasize the aesthetic values Hangeul has and express them in my designs. With Hangeul designs, we can not only promote Hangeul but also communicate and sympathize with world citizens,” says Lie. “Upon evaluating our traditions and cultural heritages, we often believe they are banal because they are familiar to us. However, in fact, that is what people from the outside world find intriguing and unique.” Lie also pointed out that finding motifs in Korean culture is competitive when targeting overseas market, since it is what we know more about and better than others.
 
Lie predicts that cultural products with Korean traditional motifs have a bright future and its potential is infinite. “Korean culture is second to none, and people around the world find it unique and interesting. I believe it is a brand power Korean products has,” says Lie. 
 
Korean Language Education for Koreans
 
   
▲ Korean language textbooks. Photographed by Choi Jiyoung
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
As the number of Koreans living abroad has been consistently increasing during the past few decades, many of those Korean youngsters are becoming familiar with foreign languages (especially English) to an extent that they feel more comfortable speaking languages other than Korean. Along with the environmental factor that Korean language education overseas is usually not as of high quality as in Korea, and the social factor in which elder generation put an emphasis on the ability to speak the “global language” well, it is difficult for children in foreign countries to speak Korean perfectly. When these students come back to Korea to receive higher education, they sometimes face difficulties in the process of academic communication.
 
Hwang Jun Churl (’11, Spanish Language and Literature) shares his experience of learning Korean in Bangladesh, where he had been brought up until he started attending KU. “I studied Korean through my parents first when I was in Bangladesh, and also attended a Korean school, which was established by the Korean Society, every Saturday,” he says. However, he believes that the quality of education was not that satisfactory. “I think the school’s main goal was to provide Korean students with a place to speak Korean with fellow mates, rather than to give profound Korean education.”
 
Despite his fluency in speaking Korean, he sometimes has difficulty in academic courses. “It is not easy for me, especially when I am enrolled in a class that requires students to read books with Chinese characters and difficult Korean words. Also, some TAs (teaching assistants) frowned at me when they saw me handing in my assignments in English. Even though I had permission to complete my homework in English, they warned me not to do so the next time.”
 
Occasionally, his difficulties with the Korean language act as a barrier to taking courses that interest him. “I think there should be more diverse Korean language and culture classes for students who spent their earlier lives overseas,” he suggests.
 
There are also situations where native Koreans desire to become more skilled and perfect in their Korean. The Test of Korean Language (TOKL), Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK), and Korean Language Test are tests that allow Koreans to check their current Korean levels. These examinations serve as both another form of qualification and an opportunity to use correct Korean language in our everyday lives. Lee Insun (’09, Journalism and Mass Communication) says, “I have been preparing for the Korean Language Test for about a month in order to apply to KBS.” Just like any other Korean who believes that they are a good Korean speaker, Lee felt the test would be fairly easy. However, she soon realized that Korean language is not so simple. “There is a great deal of our native tongue that we are not familiar with. Also, we tend to make quite a lot of grammatical errors unconsciously.” Cho Soo Ji (’10, International Studies), who is planning to take the same exam in October, has a similar opinion. She says, “While preparing for the exam, I found out that Korean is abundant in vocabulary. The process of learning infrequently used words is very interesting.”
 
After native speakers of a language become proficient in it, they tend to rely on their “sense” when speaking, and can often make errors. Cho says, “The correct usage of Korean will not be achieved within a day. We should make consistent efforts by asking ourselves whether we are using the correct expression or not, and try to reduce over-reliance on loan words. In this way, we will slowly change our speaking and writing habits.”
 
Korean Language Education for Foreigners;
Korean Language & Culture Center at KU
 
   
▲ Korean language class.
Provided by Korean Language & Culture Center
Due to the massive improvement in Korea’s international competitiveness, learning Korean language among foreigners has no longer become unusual. Many colleges overseas are now teaching Korean as one of their foreign language majors, and there are also several private and public institutions in Korea where foreign students can learn the Korean language. KU is a popular destination for foreigners to come study in, because of the profound education that the Korean Language & Culture Center offers.
 
Shin Yoon-Kyeong, the head coordinator at the Korean Language & Culture Center, mentions the aspects of the institution unique to KU. “As you can see from our name, we try to go beyond just being a language institution. Moreover, we emphasize speaking the most among the four following skills: reading, listening, speaking, and writing.” Surprisingly, more than 700 foreign students enrolled in the main program, which is offered 4 times a year for 10 weeks each. “Chinese students are the most numerous, followed by Japanese, Mongolian, Taiwan, British, and Americans,” she says. The institute has students coming from more than 40 countries around the world.
 
   

▲ Korean language class.
Provided by Korean Language & Culture Center

Students have their own particular reasons for learning Korean. Ranging from the mere academic purpose of acquiring another foreign language to entertainment factors including enjoying more of Korean films and dramas, they are all enthusiastic to visit the Korean Language & Culture Center. Luke Butcher (24, United Kingdom) explains his first encounter with Korean. “In England, I was learning East Asian politics, which led me to come to Korea as an exchange student three years ago. However, I wanted to come back and learn Korean properly,” he says.
 
He has been learning Korean since October of last year and was enrolled in the main course. “KU is well-known in England compared to other Korean universities. I heard from my friends that KU has a good language course,” he explains. Butcher believes that his proficiency in Korean would make his dream as a journalist working in Korea come true.
 
   
▲ Provided by Korean Language & Culture Center
Most people agree that Korean is a difficult language for novices. Korean alphabets letters are not familiar, especially for Westerners, and pronunciation is not easy. Compared to languages such as English, which has a simpler grammar structure, Korean requires much more understanding. Butcher also shares his challenges. “It has been extremely difficult for me, as a British, to learn Korean. At first, I had to think in English, and then translate my thoughts into Korean, but I realized that this process is unnecessary,” he says.
 
He strongly emphasizes how “practice makes perfect.” “Speaking as much Korean as you can with Korean friends brings confidence. Of course, foreigners may feel shy when they have to speak Korean in front of Koreans and it was the same for me. However, I slowly tried to speak more Korean, and it slowly made it easier.”
 
Although Butcher has competent Korean skills, his first impression toward Korean was not all that positive, as he was not familiar with South Korea as well. “I think it is Hong Kong, Japan, and China that are well-known to ordinary English people. Those are places frequently shown in films as well, giving friendlier images.” “In England, we can see Chinese and Japanese characters a lot,” he says.
 
However, he soon realized that Korean is easier to learn compared to Chinese. “Learning Chinese requires memorizing a great number of characters,” he says. Because people can read Korean words by their sounds, even if they do not understand the meaning, they feel that it is a comparably easy language to acquire.
 
Many people believe that the Korean Wave is behind the boom in Korean language learning. However, Shin emphasizes the need for extending Korean language to Koreanology. She says, “Korean Wave may just be a fad. Once its popularity abates, the demand for learning Korean would naturally decrease. In order for Korean to be globally respected, there should be more than just language. This would lead to genuine Korean language education and enhance Korea’s status.” 
 
The Cia-Cia People and Hangeul
 
   
▲ Provided by Jung Deuk Young
In 2009, the news that the Cia-Cia people decided to adopt Hangeul as their written language captured the public’s attention. By and large, Koreans liked the news; it seemed like a turning point in the history of Hangeul. Most of them might have thought that it was a national event, in which the president or at least a mayor participated. However, Jung Deuk Young (Graduate School of Education), who was the first Korean to teach Hangeul in the Bau- Bau city, says it was not a national event. In fact, it was a contract between a Korean NGO and the Bau-Bau city.
 
   
▲ Provided by Jung Deuk Young
The Cia-Cia tribe is an ethnic group that inhabits the city of Bau-Bau in South Butonese Indonesia. They have their own language called Cia-Cia (Bahasa Ciacia), but do not have their own alphabet to read and write. As the lack of a written language has led to the loss of cultural heritage and history, the tribe had been looking for an alphabet from other countries to protect and strengthen its dwindling ethnic identity. Meanwhile, The Hunminjeongeum Society was founded with the objective to “accelerate the study of endangered languages lacking an alphabet, and to offer their native speakers a writing system that is tailored to the needs of their languages.” As a part of this objective, the society has tried to provide Hangeul to ethnic minorities with no alphabet, including the Cia-Cia tribe. In 2009, the society and the Bau-Bau city agreed to adopt Hangeul, and the society sent Jung Deuk Young to the city to begin Hangeul education.
 
“Korean dramas and pop songs are very popular in Indonesia. As there were so many students who hoped to learn Korean, I also taught Korean in high schools, and only students with good grades could take Korean classes,” says Jung. Still, his main duty was to teach Hangeul as an alphabet to write down the Cia-Cia language. Jung taught Hangeul in the Karyabaru Elementary School. Overall, he said, Hangeul education was successful. “Interestingly, several pronunciations made in the Cia-Cia language are similar to the Korean language, so that most of the Cia-Cia language can be written in Hangeul,” says Jung. Although there is still some limitations, the currently dead letter ㅸ, which was created by King Sejong but was no longer used, was adopted in creating the Cia-Cia written language.
 
Unfortunately, Hangeul education is now encountering a difficult situation. The Bau- Bau city terminated its relationship with the Hunminjeongeum Society. It wanted to make an agreement about adopting Hangeul, which is considered a national issue, with the city of Seoul, not an NGO. On the other hand, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is showing a passive attitude toward the issue. Thus, Hangeul education is currently suspended. 
 
Cultural Efforts to Globalize Hangeul 
 
   
▲ The special exhibition Sejong, Look at the Hangeul Typeface of the Day is being held from September 4 to October 28.It is located in the alcove below the King Sejong statue in Jongno District near Gwanghwamun Station.
Photographed by Choi Jiyoung
Around every Hangeul Proclamation Day each year, Hangeul Week is held for seven days by MCST.
   
▲ Starbucks sign written in Hangeul. Photographed by Choi Jiyoung
In cultural centers such as Gwanghwamun and Insadong, many stores are hanging out signs written in Hangeul, including multinational franchise stores such as Starbucks. 
 
The Future of Korean Alphabets and Language 
 
   
▲ Photographed by Choi Jiyoung
Nowadays, there is criticism of Koreans who frequently use foreign and loan words, even in unnecessary situations. However, it seems that it is merely an overreaction that the Korean language is in a state of crisis. Professor Yoon Hyejoon mentions the reason foreigners are showing immense interest to Korean language arises from their interest toward Korean culture. She says that the increase in the number of Koreans who work overseas and tourists visiting Korea has also worked to make the Korean language better known. “I personally think that whatever the reason, this situation is something to be proud of and positive about because it shows that Korea and the Korean language are becoming global.”
 
Yoon believes that increased use of Korean is sustainable. “In the field of linguistics, a language is at a state of stability if there are more than 100 million users. Currently more than 80 million people around the world utilize Korean, making it the 20th most used language in the world. This shows there is no reason to worry about a decrease in usage of the Korean language.”
 
   
▲ Photographed by Choi Jiyoung
According to Yoon, developments in Information Technology (IT) could help spread Korean even further. “IT equipment, including cell phones and computers, is becoming smaller and smaller, but English, an enumerative language, has some limitations regarding size. However, because Korean alphabets are formed from combinations of consonant and vowels, they can be miniaturized as well,” she says.
 
Hangeul Proclamation Day this month may be a good opportunity for people to think about their role in leading Korean alphabets and language in a better direction. Yoon says, “We should make consistent efforts in order for Korean alphabets to be specialized in today’s globalized and information-oriented age.” Making others and yourself aware that Korean letters are unique phonograms that have linguistic systemicity and scientific value, can be a subject for new design and fashion and are optimum for the information age is essential. 

 

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