LEE GEON MAAN (영문)

Proud Hangeul
Hangeul is a written language that allows us to accurately write down our language. By who, when and why was Hangeul created? Also, what are the reasons for describing Hangeul to be unique and excellent? By who, when and why was Hangeul created? Most of the written languages are known for its origins. Yet, everything is well-known for Hangeul. Hangeul was created by Sejong the Great and this scholars in Jiphyeonjeon in 1443 (Sejong year of 25). The first name for Hangeul was ‘Hunminjeongeum (訓民正音),’ which means ‘the right sounds that teaches the people.’ Sejong the Great revealed his intentions of creating Hangeul in a preface called Hunminjeongeum: “The language of [our] people is different from that of the nation of China and thus cannot be expressed by the written language of Chinese people. Therefore, twenty eight [written] characters have been newly created.” At that time, we did not have a written language of our own, so our ancestors had to use Chinese characters instead. However, the written and spoken languages were so different that it was difficult for the people to learn and use the Chinese characters. That is why Sejong the Great has create our own characters so that the people can easily learn and write. From this we can see how much Sejong the Great loved his people. Why is Hangul unique and scientific? Most of the written languages that are being used around the world are revised versions of those from the nearby advanced countries, like alphabets and Chinese characters. Yet, Hangeul was created, totally independent from characters of any other countries, based on the shapes of Cheongjiin and the vocal organs. The consonants are created based on the shapes of the vocal organs when saying the character out loud, so you can predict the sound of the letters just by looking at their shapes. Also, it is a very scientific way to create another sound with the similar characteristics by adding more lines (ㄱ-ㅋ-ㄲ). The vowels are designed with ‘·’ that represents the round sky, ‘ㅡ’ the earth and ‘ㅣ’ the human. For example, ‘ㅏ’ is created by combining ‘ㅣ’ and ‘·’. Why is Hangeul excellent? You can easily understand why Hangeul is so excellent by comparing it with Chinese characters of English alphabets. First, each character of Chinese characters, the ideograms, has a meaning. So in order to understand the language, you must memories thousands of different characters with different meanings. In order to make a basic life in China, you must memorize about 3000~5000 characters. On the other hand, Hangul is a phonogram, which indicates the sounds with every letters. Thus, you can make numerous different words by only knowing the 24 characters. Let’s compare it with English alphabets then. In the alphabet, ‘A’ makes 9 different sounds and ‘F’ makes 11 different sounds. A in apple has [æ] sound and a in art has [a] sound. However, each character of Hangeul only makes a single unique sound, so there is no worry for getting confused how to read a word. Reference : http://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=959999&cid=47303&categoryId=47303

Proud Hangeul

Hangeul is a written language that allows us to accurately write down our language. By who, when and why was Hangeul created?

Also, what are the reasons for describing Hangeul to be unique and excellent?

By who, when and why was Hangeul created?

Most of the written languages are known for its origins. Yet, everything is well-known for Hangeul. Hangeul was created by Sejong the Great and this scholars in Jiphyeonjeon in 1443 (Sejong year of 25). The first name for Hangeul was ‘Hunminjeongeum (訓民正音),’ which means ‘the right sounds that teaches the people.’

Sejong the Great revealed his intentions of creating Hangeul in a preface called Hunminjeongeum: “The language of [our] people is different from that of the nation of China and thus cannot be expressed by the written language of Chinese people. Therefore, twenty eight [written] characters have been newly created.” At that time, we did not have a written language of our own, so our ancestors had to use Chinese characters instead. However, the written and spoken languages were so different that it was difficult for the people to learn and use the Chinese characters. That is why Sejong the Great has create our own characters so that the people can easily learn and write. From this we can see how much Sejong the Great loved his people.

Why is Hangul unique and scientific?

Most of the written languages that are being used around the world are revised versions of those from the nearby advanced countries, like alphabets and Chinese characters. Yet, Hangeul was created,

totally independent from characters of any other countries, based on the shapes of Cheongjiin and the vocal organs.

The consonants are created based on the shapes of the vocal organs when saying the character out loud, so you can predict the sound of the letters just by looking at their shapes. Also, it is a very scientific way to create another sound with the similar characteristics by adding more lines (ㄱ-ㅋ-ㄲ). The vowels are designed with ‘·’ that represents the round sky, ‘ㅡ’ the earth and ‘ㅣ’ the human. For example, ‘ㅏ’ is created by combining ‘ㅣ’ and ‘·’.

Why is Hangeul excellent?

You can easily understand why Hangeul is so excellent by comparing it with Chinese characters of English alphabets. First, each character of Chinese characters, the ideograms, has a meaning. So in order to understand the language, you must memories thousands of different characters with different meanings. In order to make a basic life in China, you must memorize about 3000~5000 characters.

On the other hand, Hangul is a phonogram, which indicates the sounds with every letters. Thus, you can make numerous different words by only knowing the 24 characters. Let’s compare it with English alphabets then. In the alphabet, ‘A’ makes 9 different sounds and ‘F’ makes 11 different sounds. A in apple has [æ] sound and a in art has [a] sound. However, each character of Hangeul only makes a single unique sound, so there is no worry for getting confused how to read a word.

Reference : http://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=959999&cid=47303&categoryId=47303

CULTURE