About Korean

(Adapted from the book, Why You Need a Foreign Language & and How to Learn One by Edward Trimnell)

This is the language of North and South Korea, as well as substantial overseas Korean communities in the United States and Japan. Korean is the third most commonly studied of the East Asian languages, after Chinese and Japanese.

The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, is one of the most significant linguistic achievements in history. An initial version of Hangul, known as Hunmin chong-um, or, “correct sounds for common instruction” was invented the Korean King Sejong in 1446. At that time, there was no native Korean alphabet. The learned classes used Chinese characters for written communications, but these were beyond the grasp of commoners.

King Sejong wanted to create a writing system which was both uniquely Korean as well as easily accessible for common citizens. The king recognized that Chinese characters, being foreign, were an imperfect vehicle for the Korean language. Hangul, on the other hand, was created with Korean phonetics and grammar in mind. Although modern Korean makes limited use of Chinese characters, today most written Korean texts consist entirely of an evolved version of King Sejong’s Hangul.

The Korean alphabet is logical and relatively consistent. It is much easier to learn to read and write Korean than Chinese or Japanese. Chinese and Japanese each employ thousands of complex characters. By contrast, a dedicated student can absorb the Hangul alphabet over a few weeks.

The above is not meant to imply that Korean is an easy language. In fact, Korean is one of the hardest languages for English speakers to learn. It shares many grammatical characteristics with Japanese—another language noted for its difficult grammar. Korean verbs are placed at the ends of sentences. There are dual counting systems, and multiple levels of politeness. There are no tones in Korean, but most English speakers struggle before achieving a correct pronunciation. Moreover, we get few breaks on vocabulary; Korean shares no common roots with English.

Korean is a worthwhile challenge. South Korea is surging forward in a number of industries, including automobiles and machine tools. The nation is a major trading partner of the United States, Britain and Canada. Like Japanese firms in the 1980s and 1990s, Korean companies are now building plants and locating offices in the United States and elsewhere.

 While North Korea is currently an insular Stalinist state, it will become a new market when the communist regime inevitably falls or reforms. Until that time, the North Korean threat makes Korean one of the languages most in demand in the national defense and intelligence sectors.

Just as Portuguese is overshadowed among the Romance languages by Spanish, French and Italian, Korean is typically neglected for other major languages in the East Asian sphere. Most language students with an interest in Asia veer toward Chinese or Japanese. Korean is therefore a good choice for the learner who wishes to acquire a scarce yet marketable skill.

Copyright © 2003 Edward Trimnell