Teaching East Asia: Korea Teaching East Asia: Korea | Page 117

Korean Language
By John Song in Asia in Focus: The Koreas (Editor, Mary E. Connor)
ABC-CLIO Publishers, 2009
Introduction
Koreans are very proud of their language, especially their writing system known as hangeul.
They are even eager to teach others how easy it is to learn Korean. If learners do mispronounce a
word, most Koreans will politely correct them. They feel this way for good reason. Hangeul is
considered one of the most well-designed and easy to learn alphabets in the world. In fact, the
alphabet can usually be memorized in an hour or two by most people. Hangeul’s logical design
is a testament to its creator, King Sejong the Great, who promoted widespread literacy by
making the alphabet easy to learn.
History of the Korean Language
King Sejong (1397–1450), one of the greatest kings in Korean history, is famous for his
commitment to improving the quality of life for his people. In 1446, he perfected the phonetic
writing system that was easier to learn than the complicated Chinese writing system. King
Sejong was a scholar and considered the creation of hangeul his greatest accomplishment.
Koreans today consider the hangeul alphabet, “the proudest cultural achievement of the Korean
people.”
Korean has been classified as part of the Altaic language family group related to Mongolian,
Japanese, and Turkish. Despite widespread belief, Korean is not related to Chinese, but has
generously borrowed much of the vocabulary and initially all of its written characters from the
Chinese. Korean stands out among other languages for its rather original and scientific design.
When not tending to the official duties of the state, King Sejong lived the life of a Neo-
Confucian scholar, spending time reading and studying. Because of his intense interest in
education, he established the Jade Hall of Scholars. In this academic research institute, scholars
from every academic field came together to exchange ideas, conduct scientific research, and
published their results.
The king realized that the common citizens did not have the ability to read or write the intricate
Chinese characters (han-ja) used by the members of the noble class. This skill required many
years of discipline to perfect. Also, because han-ja is of foreign origin, people could not use it to
fully express the meaning of spoken words.
Hunmin Chongum
What King Sejong envisioned for his citizens was a set of letters that was uniquely Korean and
easy to learn for common use among his subjects. The Korean script, which is now called
hangeul, was originally called Hunmin chongum, or “proper sounds to instruct the people.” A
manual was published under the same name in 1446 to explain the script. In the preface of that
guide, King Sejong made this statement:
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