13. Hangul

When we talk about Korea, how can we forget it's language?! The korean alphabet is called hangul. It dates way back to the 15th century, during the Joseon dynasty. This is considered a very important creation in korean history. This alphabet is very unique and elegant, and koreans have pride for it. King Sejong, the 4th king of the Joseon dynasty, is a very important character in korean history, he was the one who helped to develop this alphabet with the help of scholars. Language is a very important characteristic of a nation, and to koreans, their beloved hangul represents the creativity of the people of their nation. It is so important to them, that they marked October 9th as the day to celebrate the creation of hangul. Have you ever heard of another country having this kind of celebration? Korea is the only country that has it. Also, to commemorate King Sejong's contribution to their culture, a statue of him was made in Gwanghwamun Square.

It's original name was Hunminjungeum, which means " Correct sounds to instruct people". Although many people may say that hangul is very difficult to learn because it has characters that are different to ours, it actually isn't very hard to learn. In fact, the number of people that have illiteracy in Korea is very low. King Sejong didn´t want an alphabet that was very complex and hard to learn, he wanted a writing system that everyone could learn and access easily, and he worked hard so that it could be distributed in the whole nation. The publication industry has greatly grown because of this. 

      

This alphabet consists of 14 consonants and 10 vowels. The syllables are formed by combining consonants and vowels to form words. These letters didn´t just come from anywhere, they were created in a very original way. The shape the mouth and toungue make when they pronounce the sound of the 5 main consonants was used to make their hangul characters (ㄱ, ㄴ, ㅅ, ㅁ, ㅇ) , they imitate this shape. The 3 main vowels represent the earth, makind, and the sky .

 I seriously think that they were very creative, creating an alphabet is no easy thing, and they were able to give the characters an special meaning. I really want to learn hangul, I just know a little, and I want to specialize more on it, plus not many people outside Korea know it, so I can show a special skill. If it was so hard to learn as people say, then Korea wouldn´t have such a high rate of literacy. Aren´t you interested in learning such an interesting language? 

Sources:

http://asiaenglish.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/CU/CU_EN_10_5_1_1.jsp

http://www.korea.net/AboutKorea/Korea-at-a-Glance/Facts-about-Korea