Hangul, the Korean Alphabet

By Dr. Kim, Hak-sun

How many languages are there in the world? There are more than 7,000 languages spoken today, and not all of them have a written form. The Korean language, which belongs to the Ural-Altaic ethnic and language family along with Turkish, Mongolian, Finnish, and Hungarian, has been spoken for thousands of years, and its written language, called Hangul, was created in 1443 by King Sejong the Great of the Chosun Kingdom, the last dynasty of Korea.

Hangul, the Korean alphabet, has 24 basic characters, 14 consonants and 10 vowels. Once you learn the basic characters, you can generate more characters by combining the basic characters. Until Hangul was developed, Korean history was recorded in Chinese. Except for the privileged elites, the majority of the population were illiterate. To promote literacy, King Sejong the Great invented Hangul, which is scientific, logical, efficient, and easy to learn. Hangul has been used ever since, with the exception of during the 35-year-long Japanese occupation (1910-1945), when Japan forced Koreans to use Japanese.

Phonetic syllabic Hangul contains vowels formed with dots (Man), vertical lines (earth), and horizontal lines (heaven) based on Neo-Confucian philosophy, while consonants reflect the shapes of the speech organs (mouth, tongue, and teeth) when pronouncing them. Then, one consonant combined with one vowel forms a basic syllable in a block as 가 (ga), meaning "go," which one uses when talking to close friends or pets, for instance. The word 김치 (Kimchi - fermented Korean vegetable side-dish) has two syllabic blocks in a row. The first syllable has two consonants (ㄱ/ㅁ) with the vowel (ㅣ) and the second syllable has one consonant (ㅊ) with one vowel (ㅣ). "Hangul" is written in two syllabic blocks as 한글, showing that the two syllables have two consonants (ㅎ and ㄴ/ㄱ and ㄹ) each, and one vowel (ㅏ/ㅡ) respectively. When having a vertical vowel, you put the first consonant in front of the vowel (left side); and you put the first consonant on top of a horizontal vowel. Korean sentences are written with spaces as dividers between words, and in rows from left to right, top to bottom. Some vocabulary items have three consonants or two vowels, called "diphthongs."

Since the turn of the 21st century, many aspects of Korean culture have been trending worldwide under the name of K-culture thanks to the Internet and cultural globalization. Specifically, the rising popularity of K-Pop (BTS), K-Food (Kimchi), and K-Drama (Squid Game), has created a greater interest in the Korean language among foreigners who desire to understand the words, meanings, nuances, emotions, and sentiments communicated.

Many free face-to-face and online Korean language courses are available, provided by organizations such as the King Sejong Institute. You can also learn about the Korean language at the National Hangeul Museum in Seoul (139, Seobinggo-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Korea 04383, Tel: 02-2124-6200). University of Maryland Global Campus also offers well-organized Korean courses across Korea; you can learn the Korean language, while getting college credits. As the old idiom (일석이조) says, "Getting two birds with one stone."

About the Author

Kim, Hak-sun (haksun.kim@faculty.umgc.edu) holds a Ph.D. in International Studies and is an adjunct professor of Korean Studies at the University of Maryland Global Campus. She has been a language instructor for many universities and the Peace Corps. She has been with UMGC as a professor since 1981. Professor Kim has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in English Education from Ewha University. She has a Ph.D. from Sogang University in International Studies (Korea and East Asia). To learn more from Professor Kim, please swing by your local UMGC office or email Humphreys-asia@umgc.edu. UMGC offers a variety of programs with options for online, in-person, and zoom courses. See more at https://asia.umgc.edu/