During the Joseon Dynasty in Korea used Chinese characters to write. Chinese characters were difficult to learn. The people who worked and lived day by day did not think of learning Chinese characters, nor did they have a chance to learn them. King Sejong made letters that could be easily used by all people. King Sejong the Great (1418-1450), the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty, was sorry that the people could speak but could not understand writing, so in December of the 25th year of King Sejong's reign, he made Hangeul which is our own writing and phonetic alphabet, and distributed Hunminjeongeum in the 28th year (1446). Hangul consisted of 28 characters, 17 consonants and 11 vowels at first. Now Hangul consists of 14 consonants and 10 vowels. Today, October 9 was designated as the national holiday "Hangul Day". It is a day to celebrate King Sejong's invention and publication of Hangeul to the world, and to honor the excellence of the Korean letters. I really appreciate King Sejong and very happy to introduce him here.
Let me introduce the preface of Hunminjeongeum by King Sejong.
Since the Korean language is different from that of China, many people cannot communicate with each other by writing, even if they want to say something, they cannot express it well. I feel such pity for them, so I made 28 new letters which make it easier for people to learn and write everyday.
Let me show you Hangul.
안녕하세요. 저는 한국에서 온 로라입니다. 여러분을 만나게 되어 무척 기쁩니다. (Hello , I am Laura from Korea, I am so glad to meet you!)
Have you ever seen Korean sentences?
Comments
Thanks for sharing it. I'm very fond of Korean culture and history because I'm an avid fan of Kdramas. I once tried to learn Hangul by watching on Youtube because I wanna learn to understand the dramas I'm watching firsthand without a subtitle but I failed to continue. Is it true? Is it easier to learn your language if I learn first Hangul?
It is easier for people speaking Korean to learn Hangul. Hangul will help you learn Korean speaking but it will takes some time to listen Korean without a sbutitle. I think listening and speaking are the frist thing to learn any language. That is why I need a lot of time to improve my English listening and speaking. They are poor compared to my writing skills.
But my dear you must know this is the site of ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING. We would appreciate and welcome, your contribution in this respect, or you may translate any korean poetry and/or prose of interest in English and post. Those who are interested to learn what you have mentioned above will look for the relevant sight.
Anyway your blog is very informative.
Thank you for saying like that. The day befor yesterday I watched a Korean movie, '나라말싸미' at a theater with my firend. The movie was about King Sejong. After watchig it, I wanted people to know about Korean letters, 'Hangul'. Thank you in English, 고맙습니다 in Korean!
It is okay, but so far as me is concern, these letters are flying above my head.
No , I haven't . However it is important for each nation to have a letter system that resembles the sound and cultural back ground of their own identity . I consider losing a native language role in a society is a way to lose its soveringty . The Korean emperor is a clever and a wise man . Though the Islamic history of many Islamic nation , there were attempt to belittle the arabic alphabet system of writing , which , was driven from ancient civilization of Mesopotamia and was used by muslims in their early days . There are many stories about this topic , which , lead to one final conclusion , that we must preserve our identity , if we don't we are no longer living
It must have lost the country if we couldn't use own words and writing. Korea was once taken by Japan so Korean people were forced to use Japanese. We must preserver our identity like you told me.