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.

Outlines

00:00

📜 The Origins and Complexity of the Korean Language

This paragraph delves into the ancient and complex nature of the Korean language, highlighting its mysterious origins and the debate over its relation to other languages like Japanese. It discusses the migration of proto-Koreans from Manchuria during the Bronze Age and the linguistic overlap between Korean and Japanese. The script touches on the lack of surviving records from the early period and the significance of the oldest surviving Korean text. The narrative also mentions the invention of the Korean writing system by King Sejong the Great in 1443, who created an alphabetic writing system called Hangul to make literacy accessible to all.

05:01

👑 King Sejong's Hangul and Its Societal Impact

This section narrates the story of King Sejong's invention of Hangul, an alphabet designed to be easily learned and used by everyone. It details the resistance from the aristocratic class who feared the social mobility it could provide to commoners. Despite this, Hangul persisted and was eventually made the national script in 1446. The paragraph also covers the challenges Hangul faced, including a ban by a young, tyrannical king in 1504, and its eventual resurgence. It concludes with the story of the Korean Language Research Society's efforts to preserve the language during the Japanese occupation, culminating in the creation of a grand dictionary and the establishment of Hangul's own national holiday.

10:03

🌐 The Spread and Influence of the Korean Language

This paragraph explores the global spread of the Korean language, attributing its popularity to the 'Korean wave' of pop culture, including K-pop and K-dramas. It discusses the language's unique grammar, including the freedom in word order and the importance of particles and honorifics. The narrative also touches on the influence of Mandarin Chinese on the Korean language, with many loanwords incorporated into its lexicon. Additionally, it examines the differences between North and South Korean dialects, the use of 'Conglish' in South Korea, and the challenges of learning Korean as a foreign language.

15:03

🏝️ Jeju Dialect: A Unique Linguistic Heritage

Focusing on the Jeju dialect, this paragraph examines the unique linguistic heritage of Jeju Island, South Korea. It discusses the dialect's critically endangered status and the efforts to preserve it through education. The narrative highlights the differences between Jeju dialect and standard Korean, including distinct vocabulary and grammar. It also touches on the historical context that led to the development of this unique dialect, including the island's isolation and the resulting linguistic evolution.

20:05

🎶 The Korean Wave and Cultural Competition

In this final paragraph, the script discusses the global phenomenon known as the 'Korean wave,' which has significantly contributed to the popularity of the Korean language. It mentions the impact of K-pop and K-dramas on a worldwide audience and the cultural competition with neighboring Japan. The paragraph also hints at the upcoming exploration of the Japanese language's origins, suggesting a comparison with the complexities and rich history of the Korean language.

Keywords

💡Korean Language

The Korean language is the primary focus of the video, described as an ancient and complex language that has gained recent popularity. It is ranked among the top three hardest languages to learn, which relates to the video's theme of exploring the history and challenges associated with the Korean language. The script discusses its origins, its unique grammar, and the invention of its writing system, Hangul.

💡Altaic Family of Languages

The Altaic family of languages is mentioned as a possible distant relative of the Korean language, which includes Mongolian and Turkish. This concept is part of the script's exploration of the uncertain origins of the Korean language, adding to the mystery and intrigue surrounding its history.

💡Proto-Koreans

Proto-Koreans refers to the early migrants from Manchuria during the Bronze Age who spoke a language that may have influenced modern Korean. This term is central to the video's discussion of the language's ancient roots and the migration patterns that contributed to the development of the Korean language.

💡Three Kingdoms of Korea

The Three Kingdoms of Korea represents a significant historical period during which the Old Korean language began to develop. The script uses this term to illustrate the political and cultural context in which the Korean language evolved, particularly highlighting the kingdom of Silla and its use of the Silla language.

💡Hangul

Hangul is the alphabet invented by King Sejong the Great for the Korean language, which is a pivotal point in the video's narrative. The script explains how Hangul was created to be an easy-to-learn writing system, contrasting with the complexity of Chinese characters previously used to write Korean.

💡King Sejong the Great

King Sejong the Great is a key historical figure in the video, known for his invention of the Hangul alphabet. His contribution is central to the video's theme of language innovation and accessibility, as he sought to create a writing system that could be easily learned by all Koreans.

💡Hanja

Hanja refers to the Chinese characters previously used to write Korean before the invention of Hangul. The script discusses Hanja as a complex system with over 50,000 characters, which was difficult for Koreans to learn and use, highlighting the need for a simpler writing system like Hangul.

💡Jeju Dialect

The Jeju dialect is a critically endangered dialect spoken on Jeju Island, South Korea. The video uses this term to illustrate the regional variations and the diversity within the Korean language, as well as the efforts to preserve and document these dialects.

💡Korean Wave

The Korean Wave, or Hallyu, is a global phenomenon that has contributed to the popularity of the Korean language. The script mentions this term to explain the cultural influence of Korean music (K-pop) and dramas (K-dramas), which has sparked interest in learning the Korean language worldwide.

💡Cultural Imperialism

Cultural imperialism is referenced in the context of North Korea's rejection of Hanja and the use of loanwords, which they viewed as a form of cultural imperialism. This term is used in the video to discuss the political and cultural factors that have shaped the development and usage of the Korean language.

💡Conglish

Conglish is a term used in the script to describe the use of English words written in Hangul in South Korea. It exemplifies the influence of English on the Korean language and the creative ways in which the language adapts and incorporates foreign elements, reflecting the video's theme of language evolution and adaptation.

Highlights

The Korean language is considered one of the top three hardest languages on Earth.

Korean's origins are mysterious with distant links to the Japanese language, but it remains unique.

Proto-Koreans were migrants from Manchuria during the Bronze Age, with both chorianic and japonic speakers.

Ancient Korean records are scarce, with only a few sources like poems, bamboo slips, and stone inscriptions surviving.

For 1,500 years, Koreans had to learn Chinese to read and write due to the lack of a native writing system.

King Sejong the Great invented Hangul, an alphabetic writing system, to make writing accessible to all.

Hangul was created in three years with the help of scholars in the Hall of Worthies, based on mouth shapes for sounds.

The new Hangul alphabet was initially met with resistance from the aristocratic class who favored Chinese characters.

Hangul was used in women's diaries and children's books, leading to the creation of beautiful poems and folk stories.

In 1446, Hangul was made the national script, but challenges to its use persisted.

Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945 attempted to eradicate Korean culture and language.

The Korean Language Research Society undertook a language rescue mission, creating a massive Hangul dictionary.

North Korea abandoned Chinese characters (Hanja) post-World War II, while South Korea embraced Hangul for everyday use.

Korean grammar is complex with a free word order, verb placement at the end, and importance of particles and honorifics.

Korean is not tonal and has a simple stress pattern, in contrast to many other Asian languages.

The Korean wave of K-pop and K-dramas has sparked a global interest in learning the Korean language.

Korean dialects and regional variations highlight the language's diversity and cultural significance.

The Jeju dialect is critically endangered but efforts are being made to preserve and teach it to new generations.

Korean's difficulty for English speakers is acknowledged, but its cultural impact has driven a surge in learning.

Transcripts

the Korean language is an ancient

language that's recently become rather

popular

[Music]

but it is not all fun and games Korean

is ranked as one of the top three

hardest languages on Earth and you'll

understand why after I tell you the

story of This Magnificent language which

involves a wise King a psycho King an

orphan and a war nothing's ever easy

foreign

[Music]

foreign

is one of the world's oldest living

languages and its Origins are as

mysterious as the origin of the Korean

people they have distant links with

Japanese people but they're amazing

language really is one of a kind no one

actually knows what ancient Korean was

like some historians think it's a

distant relative of the altaic family of

languages which includes Mongolian and

Turkish but that is a very big fat maybe

we do know that proto-koreans were

migrants from Manchuria during the

Bronze Age that's this part of Northeast

China right here these tribes were

chorianic speakers but there were also

japonic speakers living alongside them

even now there are a few language

overlaps with Korean and Japanese but

they're still two completely different

languages so what was going on if you

are an ambitious linguist there is a

mystery to be solved here there is one

ancient book that might have some Clues

it's the oldest surviving record of

Korean language what happened to all the

other records well that is a story for

later on so is Korean an orphan and an

only child maybe that depends on whether

the language from this island is a

sibling of Korean or a dialect of Korean

but let's say that question for later

old Korean began in the 1st Century A.D

During the period known as the Three

Kingdoms of Korea one of these kingdoms

was called Sheila and when the Three

Kingdoms United they all spoke the Shira

language and this language is where

Modern Korean descends from but it's all

very mysterious almost nothing survived

from that time to give us Clues except

for 25 poems some bamboo and wooden

slips a few Stone inscriptions and a

handful of Buddhist texts explaining how

to read Korean but it was nothing like

the Korean you see around you

imagine if when it came to writing stuff

down you could only write stuff in a

different language to the one that you

speak well for 1 500 years if you were

Korean and wanted to read and write you

had to learn Chinese because Koreans

didn't have their own writing system in

fact Korean writing was invented by a

king a cool story coming up at first

they wrote In classical Chinese and then

somewhere around 500 A.D some Buddhist

monks had a go at using Chinese

characters to write in Korean and they

gave it a name the IDU script but how

could they write Korean using Chinese

how does that work well think of numbers

written as characters one two three four

no matter what language you speak

English French German you understand

what these characters mean right now

take that concept make it a whole

language you get Chinese but that's not

the writing that you want to know about

you want to know about this beautiful

writing

foreign

so people were writing Korean with

Chinese but it wasn't easy Chinese has

over 50 000 characters the grammar also

didn't match up Korean grammar is very

complex with its own unique rules

[Music]

another problem was that you could

record the meaning of Korean speech but

not the sound of it so the year 1443

rolled in and King sejong the great was

sad that his subjects couldn't Express

their worries to him in writing now King

sejon was a poet an inventor and a

scholarly type of guy so his bride's

idea that came next made perfect sense

he had heard stories about how people

were writing in the west writing out

their sounds logically just a few shapes

to make any sound amazing but he saw

some illogical things even in the Latin

alphabet I mean why do

have completely different written shapes

when they are said with exactly the same

mouth shape the mouse the same right I

mean I got her point so he personally

invented an alphabetic writing system

that would be so easy anyone could learn

it in just a few hours he said in his

own words in my pity for them I create

28 letters which all can easily learn

and use in their daily lives now there

is a story that he almost lost his

eyesight working on the alphabet

according to the junior Encyclopedia of

the Korean language it took three years

but let's be honest he had some help he

set up an Academy named it the whole of

worthies and got a bunch of Scholars to

work on his new alphabet so what was the

plan well since different mouth shapes

make lip sounds throat sounds tongue

sounds and teeth sounds why not make an

alphabet that's based on mouth shapes

indeed so he invented what's called a

featural alphabet meaning each letter is

shaped according to its features

Paul cool

cool

cool

this letter is the shape of the tongue

as it makes a Kia sound today the

alphabet has an easier name Hangul and

it's amazingly simple all of the letters

are just lines and circles the king told

people if you're wise you'll learn this

in one morning if you're stupid it will

take you 10 days are you up for the

Kings challenge if you are well I am

extremely excited to announce our new

story learning Korean program it's

called story learning because well you

learn Korean through the power of story

and not just that alphabet of course

this is a comprehensive program that

teaches you to learn and speak Korean

and it's very different to regular

methods because the entire course is

built around story which means you learn

in a much more natural in-depth way

exactly the same way as you learned your

native language as a child in fact

through story if you've seen my book of

Korean stories for example but maybe you

found it a little bit hard for you well

a new Korean course is the perfect way

to build up to being able to read and

understand a book at this level and then

go on to obviously speak Korean as well

the course is coming out soon by the

time you watch this video it may already

be out so if you want to find out more

you can click at the link below in the

description so how did King sejong's

subjects like his cool new alphabet well

actually the aristocratic class didn't

like it one bit they didn't want

commoners climbing the social status

ladder so they criticized it no one can

learn to read horizontally they said

silly westerners they feared and hated

the new script so much that they refused

to use it they kept using Chinese

characters for centuries after that and

Hangul was kept for things like women's

Diaries and children's story books they

even called it script for women and so

what did women do well they learned

Hangul and then they wrote hundreds of

beautiful poems and folk stories they

mostly sang about the hard life of a

woman who lived a closed and limited

life compared to men like this poet they

said she was a genius but at age 27 she

was found dead in her chair with most of

her poetry burned suicide I don't know

but pause and read these lines

[Music]

color poems are the oldest by a Korean

female Rider to survive history but at

one point it was considered a crime to

read her poetry which will make sense in

a minute there was also a practice of

mixing the two scripts together like in

this ancient book songs of the Dragons

flying to heaven in 1446 Hangul was

finally made the national script so all

was well in the end right

buckle up things are about to get messy

it was the year 1504 and there was a new

and very young king not really he was 13

years old his mum was completely crazy

with jealousy issues entirely his dad's

fault so he never exactly had a stable

upbringing or his 20s he was a terrible

Tyrant who committed treacherous acts

that I can't even speak about on this

channel but I will give you the mild

version he captured all the most

beautiful women in the land and forced

them to be his slaves but where to keep

them well since he didn't even like

Academia to start with he threw everyone

out of the university and made it a more

fun place so naturally the commoners

created posters mocking him in Hangul of

course so what did he do well he banned

Hangul didn't he and pleading with him

was a very bad idea by the time he died

he was your average homicidal maniac

Hangul eventually came back and anyone

was allowed to study again but in these

gripping language tales when does a good

thing ever last and if you're enjoying

this gripping language tale please like

the video subscribe to the channel so I

can keep making videos like this and

turn on that notification bell too

because you wouldn't want to miss the

next one would you

jumping ahead 400 years or so in 1910

the Japanese empire occupied Korea and

didn't leave until 1945 they believed

that they could make Koreans Japanese

and so they tried to eradicate the

Korean culture and its language they

outlawed hang on seriously again this

time it was all out war on Korean

culture they burned over 200 000 Korean

history books and Records wiping out the

memory of old Korean and the new rule at

schools and universities was do not

speak your language Koreans were even

forced to change their names to Japanese

ones and they shut down Publications and

censored the Press by the time the war

and colonization was over the illiteracy

rate in the country was close to 80

percent we need some language Heroes

right about now don't we well the Korean

language research Society had been

struggling to keep the language alive as

you can imagine it was time for a

language Rescue Mission risking torture

and prison they tried two big things in

1912 they gave the alphabet its present

name Hangul meaning Korean writing and

they decided to write a massive sick

volume Hangul dictionary hiding the

script in pickle jars and burying them

in the ground here they are right here

now that is bravery for you by the time

they were done it was 1957 and it had

taken them 28 years but the grand

dictionary of the Korean language

existed and from then on the day was

called hangout though still is pretty

cool that hangel is the only alphabet

with his own national holiday but what

was going on up north in the meantime

well after World War II and their

independence North Korea abandoned hanja

the Chinese writing they saw hanja as a

form of cultural imperialism and

completely rejected it they still do use

a lot of Mandarin Chinese borrowed words

although written in their own way and

you can find hanja in North Korean

dictionaries in the South meanwhile

Hangul was now the everyday written

language of newspapers magazines Bibles

and menus the great thing is that the

language survived even the fighting

between North and South Korea and I

don't think it is going anywhere at this

point can anybody guess why

foreign

people in the world who speak Korean and

7.5 million of them are ethnic Koreans

living in other countries if you haven't

guessed yet thousands of people are

studying Korean just to experience its

linguistic genius but there is an even

bigger reason the Korean is so popular

the language Works word order in Korean

is Freer than in English the only

general rule being that the verb usually

comes at the end of a sentence school

kids also have to learn a list of 1 800

essential hanja these are the Chinese

characters if you remember now here's a

weird question can Koreans write their

names in Handa if they want to well they

can but they're only allowed to choose

between

2854 characters see in 1991 the Supreme

Court made this ruling yep these kind of

rules still do exist modern Korean was

also heavily influenced by Mandarin

Chinese as many as half of the words are

loan words but also interesting is that

Korean has a whole bunch of words that

they created using Chinese characters

that don't actually exist in Mandarin

Chinese so if you see these words you

are not actually reading Chinese but

rather Korean other words like these

ones were borrowed from sino-japanese

and are used only in Korean and Japanese

by the way illiteracy is virtually

non-existent in Korean now thanks to

that easy alphabet and no more psycho

Kings at least in the South so naturally

you want to give this a bash yourself

right this Korean thing I'd love to know

if I've scared you or intrigued you let

me know what you think in the comments

the characteristic of Korean grammar is

that the predicate must be placed at the

end of a sentence which is a kind of

different thing from the English right

but other than that the order of

sentence is relatively free you can just

mix other grammatical elements in a

sentence it's still okay to understand

in spoken Korean in addition the Korean

language is the one that the particle

and the honorific level of speech is

important the grammatical element

particle also known as choza in Korean

it usually consists of one or two

syllables but it influenced the whole

meaning a lot sometimes it just makes

the whole meaning change therefore it is

essential to learn it and The Honorable

forum is so crucial that even some verbs

have another form only for the polite

conversation and when it comes to the

tears I don't think it's complicated

because there are only three ones

including past present and the future

unlike many other Asian languages Korean

is not tonal it used to be but they got

rid of the tones lucky you the general

rule is simply to evenly stress your

phrases and sentences but make no

mistake Korean grammar is not for

lightweights I think they just decided

to get rid of those tones out of

sympathy to be honest I just felt sorry

for us

ever heard of honorifics well Korean

uses certain words to show respect to

the listener or the person that you're

talking about in Korea it's really

important to get this right even for

foreigners but there's more the most

important special of all should be

and as for hey

they are used in Daily conversation a

lot for example

this means hello and this could be one

of the examples of heyoche because it

ends with you

if you're not sure which honor fillable

you should use you can just go with the

heyoche you will never go wrong with it

because it's a polite form and as for

your close friend you can use headte for

example

means I'd love to or it is good

you will see this in public situations

for example also ushipsio means welcome

as in when you have just arrived at some

places and there is a sign like also

shipsio welcome to this place also can

yourself lucky that you get away with

just learning these three because there

are seven speech levels in Korean

you can even play with it like by you

know choosing to use a humble level of

speech to make yourself appear lower

down in the hierarchy foreign

[Music]

Korean script uses 24 of the original 28

basic letters there are 14 consonants

and 10 vowels

[Music]

combinations of these letters represent

five double consonants and 11 diphthongs

so you actually end up with 40

characters in total the letters are

grouped in clusters of two three or four

and they're arranged into blocks that

represent syllables you write the

syllables consonants and vowels side by

side in one block now consonants are

based on the shape your mouth makes when

you pronounce them and vowels are made

from simple horizontal or vertical lines

these days Korean is almost always

written from left to right using western

style punctuation marks but you will

also see it written vertically reading

from top to bottom like you would expect

to see with Chinese or Japanese it is

described as one of the most scientific

alphabets ever made it's a very big deal

in the history of Korean culture because

after all angle has kept Korea free of

unintelligible dialects for nearly 600

years

tribe will have their first dictionary

of the Korean alphabet Hangul the

soul-based Asia development foundation

announced on Monday that it will launch

a three-year project to create the

dictionary it'll have words and meanings

of the tribe's own language written in

the Korean alphabet the seventy thousand

strong Churchill tribe has been using

hunger to complement its spoken only

language since 2009. how awesome is that

the churchia are an ethnic minority in

Indonesia and they speak a malayo

Polynesian language I wonder if writing

in Hangul is going to work out for them

[Music]

John

John 14 feet is

so here's something interesting the

Korean dialect this boy sings in still

uses two of the letters that were

removed from the old alphabet cheju is a

critically endangered dialect spoken

only by people on this island of South

Korea only the elderly people remember

this language but as you can see the

schools are doing something about that I

say language this time because there is

a bit of disagreement about whether this

is a dialect or a language but what's

the deal with using that ancient

alphabet well people from the island

were once forbidden to travel to the

mainland because officials were afraid

that they'd never come back so the

language evolved into its own thing the

Korean in cheju has a whole set of

different words some that are really

ancient foreign

[Music]

dialect has its own grammar system so

it's very hard for mainlanders to

understand but the Islanders themselves

can understand what Mainland people say

it works the other way altogether there

are six Regional dialects in Korea and

the main differences are where the

stress goes in words and how's this

Korean actually has different words for

dialect to differentiate the types

clever thinking Koreans that's why Jeju

is called Jeju bangun meaning from the

countryside while many other dialects

are called Satori meaning Regional if

you study Korean you'll probably learn

the regular Korean of Soul though which

also happens to be the easiest

officially there are two standard

varieties of Korean in Korea

Korean war in

I've had some differences in

pronunciation spelling grammar and

vocabulary North Korea has a few Russian

loanwords and some english ones but they

prefer no loan words obviously so they

replaced most of them they also use

their loan words differently to South

Korea but the biggest difference between

North and South might be this the Korean

word

it's from the word sharp period actually

means mechanical pencil

it's from the word service but it

actually means on the house or free of

charge among restaurants conglish is

English words written in Hangul so no

prize for guessing which side uses that

South Korea sometimes even makes up new

words using English words that we don't

have in English like this one it's a

contraction of long and distance meaning

a long distance relationship speaking of

relationships has Korean Won your heart

yet

I will get straight to it here Korean is

ranked in the top difficulty level for

English speakers by the U.S Department

of Defense no less you'll get that

alphabet in a day that's the easy part

and have a ton of fun writing it and

then take years to get decent at

speaking but just in case you don't know

why everyone's suddenly learning Korean

I'll tell you

[Music]

Korean culture is huge around the world

as you know it is so big it has a name

the Korean wave it's an obsession with

Korean music and shows you know that is

K-pop k-dramas it all started on April

the 11th 1992 when two groups performed

their music on TV for the first time

even hardcore American soldiers are into

K-pop and there's proof of that in this

video but let's not forget that Korean

has some serious cultural competition

just a Stones Throw across the sea in

Japan and in this video I tell you all

about where Japanese came from and I'll

give you a hint most people have it

completely wrong