The Korean Language: The Shocking Story From Kings to K-Pop

Summary

This script narrates the rich history and complexities of the Korean language, from its mysterious origins to its modern popularity. Highlighting the creation of Hangul by King Sejong the Great, it discusses the language's resilience through Japanese occupation and the Korean Wave's global impact. The script also touches on the language's unique grammar, honorifics, and dialects, emphasizing the challenges and rewards of learning Korean.

Takeaways

• 😲 The Korean language is considered one of the top three hardest languages on Earth due to its complex grammar and unique rules.
• 🏰 The origins of the Korean language are mysterious, with ancient links to the Altaic language family and migration from Manchuria during the Bronze Age.
• 📜 Old Korean began around the 1st Century A.D. during the Three Kingdoms period, with the Shira language as the precursor to Modern Korean.
• 📝 For over 1,500 years, Koreans had to learn Chinese to read and write, as they did not have their own writing system until the invention of Hangul.
• 👑 King Sejong the Great invented Hangul, an alphabetic writing system, in 1443 to make writing accessible to all Koreans, regardless of social status.
• 📚 Hangul was initially resisted by the aristocracy, who continued to use Chinese characters, relegating Hangul to women's diaries and children's books.
• 🚫 Hangul faced a ban during the reign of a young and tyrannical king in 1504, who also expelled scholars from the university and turned it into a place of pleasure.
• 🌐 The Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945 attempted to eradicate Korean culture and language, leading to a high illiteracy rate and the destruction of many historical records.
• 🛡️ The Korean Language Research Society undertook a language rescue mission, creating a massive Hangul dictionary and preserving it through difficult times.
• 🎉 Hangul Day is celebrated as a national holiday in South Korea, commemorating the introduction of the Hangul alphabet.
• 🌐 The popularity of Korean language learning has surged globally due to the 'Korean wave' of K-pop and K-dramas, attracting millions of learners worldwide.

Q & A

Why is the Korean language considered one of the hardest languages to learn?

The Korean language is considered one of the hardest due to its complex grammar with unique rules, the requirement to learn a list of 1,800 essential Hanja (Chinese characters), and the importance of particles and honorific levels in speech.

What is the origin of the Korean language and its relation to other languages?

The origin of the Korean language is mysterious with distant links to the Altaic language family, which includes Mongolian and Turkish. Proto-Koreans were migrants from Manchuria during the Bronze Age, and there are overlaps with Japanese, but they remain distinct languages.

Who invented the Korean writing system, Hangul, and why?

King Sejong the Great invented Hangul in 1443 to create an alphabetic writing system that was easy for anyone to learn in just a few hours, as a way for his subjects to express their worries in writing.

What was the initial reaction of the aristocratic class to Hangul?

The aristocratic class did not like Hangul because they did not want commoners to climb the social status ladder. They criticized and refused to use it, keeping it for women's diaries and children's storybooks.

How did the Japanese occupation of Korea impact the Korean language and culture?

The Japanese occupation tried to eradicate Korean culture and language by outlawing Hangul, burning over 200,000 Korean history books and records, and forcing Koreans to change their names to Japanese ones. This led to a high illiteracy rate after the war.

What efforts were made to preserve and revive the Korean language during Japanese occupation?

The Korean Language Research Society worked to keep the language alive by giving the alphabet its present name, Hangul, and writing a massive dictionary, which they hid in pickle jars and buried in the ground.

Why is there a national holiday for Hangul?

Hangeul has its own national holiday because it is the only alphabet with such a distinction, recognizing its importance in Korean culture and history.

How does the Korean language differ between North and South Korea?

North Korea abandoned Hanja and has a few Russian and English loanwords, preferring no loanwords and using them differently. South Korea uses more loanwords and has its own unique words created using English words not found in English, known as 'Conglish'.

What is the significance of the Jeju dialect in the context of the Korean language?

The Jeju dialect is significant as it uses two letters removed from the old alphabet and is a critically endangered dialect spoken only by elderly people on Jeju Island. It has its own grammar system and different words, making it hard for mainlanders to understand.

Why has the Korean language gained popularity worldwide recently?

The Korean language has gained popularity due to the 'Korean wave', which is an obsession with Korean music (K-pop) and TV shows (K-dramas) that has spread globally.

What is the structure of the modern Korean alphabet, Hangul?

Hangul consists of 14 consonants and 10 vowels, with combinations representing five double consonants and 11 diphthongs, totaling 40 characters. They are arranged into syllable blocks written from left to right.