A Word on Hangul (the Korean alphabet)

한글, romanizaed as hangul or hangeul, refers to the Korean alphabet--letters like ㅇ, ㅏ, andㄴ that when put together, form syllables like 안.

Prior to the 15th century, Korean was a spoken language but had no alphabet of it's own. Korean had to be written using Chinese characters, which are complex and numerous (seriously, thousands of letters).

In the Joseon dynasty (a dynasty that lasted from 1392-1897), King Sejong* felt the frustration of his people, who couldn't express themselves in writing. To promote literacy among those who didn't have the privilege of education, he decided he was going to create an alphabet for Korean, one that would be so simple, it could be learned even in a day. The alphabet was originally made up of 28 letters, 24 of which make up the modern Korean writing system.

King Sejong's original ideas for the design of the letters was the way your mouth moves or looks when you make that sound. How cool is that? Quoted from this Watchtower magazine article, "The five basic consonants resemble the parts of the mouth and throat used to produce them: ㄱ (g/k), the arched tongue touching the back of the palate; ㄴ (n), the tip of the tongue curled up to touch the front of the palate; ㅁ (m), the mouth, viewed from the front; ㅅ (s), the teeth; ㅇ (ng), the open throat."

In a movie made in 2015, King Sejong is featured as a character who got this idea watching the girl he loves talk. That bit isn't history, but I personally think it would be adorable if it were true.

Many scholars opposed the creation and use of hangul, and prejudice against it in the upper class continued for centuries. In all the years leading up until the late 20th century, hangul was taken in and out of society, publication, and school systems. It took nearly 400 years from it's creation to be used in official documents. But today, it is the official writing system of Korea, and the popularity of using and knowing Chinese characters (called hanja in Korean) has declined.

In 2013, Hangul Day (October 9th) became a national holiday in Korea. Akdong Musician even wrote a song for it. I'm not 100% sure what our view of this is for us as witnesses, but I'm going to guess due to the holiday being rooted in some form of nationalistic pride, it's not something we would want to celebrate. The song I linked, though, is just really cute, the chorus being them singing the letters of hangul, sort of like singing your ABC's.

*King Sejong, according to the Korean Tourism Organization, is one of only two kings in Korean history that is considered "truly great", as he is in the inventor of Korea's alphabet, and also for his interest and advances in science and more modern technologies. Also, he's the guy on the 10,000 won note.

CONSONANTS:

ㄱ (g (it's sound more like a k when it's at the beginning of a word, but generally is romanized as g)

ㄴ (n)

ㄷ (d)

ㄹ (r,l)

ㅁ (m)

ㅂ (b,p)

ㅅ (s)

ㅇ (has no sound unless it's at the end of a syllable, in which case is makes an "ng" like the final part of "ing")

ㅈ (j (when at the beginning of a word, can sound more like ch)

ㅊ (ch)

ㅋ (k)

ㅌ (t)

ㅍ (p)

ㅎ (h)

VOWELS:

ㅏ (ah)

ㅑ (yah)

ㅓ (eo (like the sound the "o" makes in "on")

ㅕ (yeo)

ㅗ (oh)

ㅛ (yo)

ㅜ (oo)

ㅠ (yu)

ㅡ (eu (I don't even know how to describe this sound, sorry)

ㅣ (ee, as in the i in machine)

EXAMPLES:

ㅅ (s)  + ㅗ (oj)  = 소 (so) cow

ㅅ (s)  + ㅏ (ah)  + ㅇ (ng)  = 상 (sang) prize

ㄱ (k)  + ㅗ (oh)  + ㅁ (m)  = 곰 (kom) bear

ㅁ (m)  + ㅗ (oh)  + ㄱ (k)  = 목 (mok) neck

ㅅ (s)  + ㅏ (ah),

ㄹ (r)  + ㅏ (ah)  + ㅇ (ng)  = 사랑 (sa-rang) love

<3 강다은 Da Eun