Hangeul
- Invented in 1444 and made known in 1446 during the reign of King Sejong (r.1418-1450)
- Originally called Hunmin jeongeum, or "The correct sounds for the instruction of the people"
- "Hangeul" was coined by a Korean linguist called Ju Si-gyeong (1876-1914).
- In North Korea the alphabet is known as josoen guel.
Korean Language Today
Romanization
Korean words borrowed from English words
+ S.Korea vs N.Korea
- Two standard varieties of Korean: Seoul and Pyongyang
- Both dialects are distinguished and regulated by each country's national language policy.
- Difference in minor matters of spelling, alphabetization, and vocabulary choice
- Both endorse the unified standards proposed by the Korean Language Society in 1933.
http://www.linguajunkie.com/korean-phrases/easy-korean-vocabulary-61-korean-words-that-sound-like-english-words
History of Korean Alphabet
Hanja
- Chinese words borrowed and incorporated into Korean with Korean pronunciation
- Vast majority of Korean literature and most other Korean documents were written in hanja
- Eventually King Sejong the Great promoted the invention of hangul in the 15th century
How to Read Korean
- Obscure origins
- Possibly belongs to Altaic language family
- Yet Chinese influenced Korean greatly (different family)
- From 6th to 14th centuries, groups of ancient times merged into single language
- By the 15th century, Korean had emerged as the modern-day language we now know
Number of letter: 24 (jamo): 14 consonants and 10 vowels.
The letters are combined together into syllable blocks.
https://mannamkorean.wordpress.com/tag/korean-number/
Korea: Its Language and History