Guide to Korean c:

Description

The Korean language is classified as a member of the Ural-Altaic family (other members of this family include the Mongolian, Finnish, and Hungarian languages.) Until the early 1400s, most documents were written in classical Chinese characters (known in Korean as Hanja). As the idiographs are difficult to learn, only the educated people could read and write. King Sejong, the 4th ruler of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), set up a special committee of scholars in 1443 to create a new writing system specifically suited to the Korean language.

The result was Hangul (meaning 'the one script'). It originally contained 28 symbols, although 4 have dropped out of use. The alphabet has 10 vowels and 14 consonants. The consonants represent the simplified outlines of the parts of the mouth and tongue used to pronounce them. The vowels are associated with elements of the philosophy of the Book of Changes.

In 1994, Discovery magazine described Hangul as the most logical language writing system in the world. The simplicity of Hangul led Korea to become one of the most literate countries in the world. U.S. novelist Pearl Buck said that Hangul is the simplest writing system in the world and likened King Sejong to Leonardo da Vinci. Even though Hangul is a system of phonetic symbols, it is categorized as new level of feature system, the first and the only in the world.Koreans commemorate the creation of Hangul each year on October 9.

 

Foreword

Before you begin learning the language, you should take some time to practice writing hangul.

The symbols are combined into blocks, each one representing a single syllable. Each syllable must start with a consonant, although the iung is silent in the initial position. Text is arranged either in the traditional vertical fashion, with columns reading from right to left (as in some newspapers and old books) or in rows reading left to right (as in most modern novels and magazines). The alphabet may appear complicated, but it is actually easy to learn. Once you are familiar with the characters, looking up words in a dictionary becomes easy.

When speaking Korean, you use formal or informal words and phrases, depending on the status of the person to whom you are talking. For example, you generally use informal speech to children and formal speech to older people. It is better to err by being too formal rather than showing disrespect. However, Koreans do not expect foreigners to be fluent and will usually excuse minor mistakes.

 

I don't know if anyone has done anything like this but i haven't seen any so i am doing it myself c:

Comments

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ForeverWaiting #1
*-*
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING THHIIISSS *-* ♥
Supercolor
#2
Chapter 20: I must say..................................writing a fanfic that educatedes us more on the korean language was quite a good idea. I like it. ^^

'Cause sometime I do get confused with it.
Raynie1995
#3
Chapter 12: Thank you! I am really glad to be able to learn more phrases that can be used in daily conversation! >.<

Thanks so much for doing this!(:
pblovingasian
#4
Chapter 8: omo, gomawo for making this authornim xD <3
i've been wanting to find something that has simple phrases ^^b lol, im gonna say some of these phrases to my korean friend :P he'll be all like " ... .-. "