Korean is spoken by “65 million people living in or near to South Korea,” while “elsewhere in the world 5.5 million people speak Korean.” Largely because of the simplicity of the hangul system, South Korea also boasts a 97.9% literacy rate, as found by the Middlebury Institute, which is extremely good. In comparison, the United States’ literacy rate is believed to be around 86%. This difference could be attributed to the difficulty of the writing systems, the diversity of languages spoken, and/or the measurements by which the literacy rates were taken. Another difference in the languages of the the United States and South Korea is that Korean uses a system of honorifics to show respect to those in higher positions than you or who are older than you. A lot of the time, by simply adding “yo” (요) to the end of your sentence, it immediately makes your sentence more polite and acceptable in all situations. Terms such as “hyung” (형), “unnie” (언니), “noona” (누나), and “oppa” (오빠) are commonly used and heard, especially by those who are interested in or are a part of the K-pop industry. Other uses of honorifics are attaching “ssi” (씨) or “nim” (님) to the end of someone’s name or title, respectively. This is one aspect of Korean culture and language which I'm glad we don't have in the US, and I don't say that very often since I love South Korean culture. Citations:
“Education in South Korea.” Sites DOT MIIS, The Middlebury Institute, sites.miis.edu/southkoreaeducation/diversity-and-access/. “Guide To South Korea - Etiquette, Customs, Culture & Business.” Kwintessential, Kwintessential Ltd, www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/guides/guide-to-south-korea-etiquette-customs-culture-business/. “Korean honorifics.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Jan. 2018, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_honorifics. “List of countries by literacy rate.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Jan. 2018, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate.
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The written language of Korean, hangul (한글), is said by many linguists to be one of the easiest and most scientific written languages in the world. With its 19 consonants, 21 vowels, and a simple syllabic block setup, “a system [was created] which is so logical, so concise, so peerless that it is widely regarded as one of the best writing systems in the world.” Hangul was created by King Sejong the Great (세종대왕) in the fifteenth century in order to have a written language that worked well with spoken Korean, seeing as how, at the time, they were still using Chinese characters to write with, which was ineffective. King Sejong is quoted as saying “A wise man can acquaint himself with [hangul] before the morning is over; a stupid man can learn [it] in the space of ten days.” In my experience, learning to read and write hangul was extremely easy, as it is for most people, because the characters all have English equivalents (or almost-equivalents). The pronunciation of some of them can be tricky, though, as with ㄹ since it's romanized as an r/l, but isn't actually spoken like either of those. As with English, there are some irregularities which you just have to memorize and get used to, such as with “hello,” which is 안녕하세요 (annyeonghaseyo), but is generally spoken by native speakers as “annyaseyo” since it's so long. Overall, my experience with learning hangul was short and sweet, but as many people say, don't let it deceive you into thinking the language itself is just as easy to learn. Citations:
Cock, Joe. “A linguist explains why Korean is the best written language.” Business Insider, Business Insider Inc, 28 June 2016, www.businessinsider.com/a-linguist-explains-why-korean-is-the-best-written-language-2016-6. “Hangul.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Jan. 2018, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul. |
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