The Korean Language
My hobby of learning Korean 한국어
In October 2024 I found myself signed off work for a few weeks from
illness. Wanting to find something to entertain me, I followed a
recommendation from a friend of a Netflix show that I would apparently
like. This show was Squid Games. Oh my goodness, I was hooked! I loved
it. I couldn't stand watching it with the English dubbing, it sounded
terrible, so I watched with the original language recording and
subtitles. Whilst enjoying the show, I found myself becoming really
interested in the language (& in turn the country, the culture and not
forgetting K Pop) & I decided to start learning the language as a hobby.
It's only been a few months so far, but I enjoy it. I am hoping to do a
conversational course in it at some point, as they are the best for
speaking with confidence. One day, I would love to visit and converse
well with locals.
Korean is spoken by more than 80 million people worldwide; making it the
world’s 13th most widely spoken language. It is the official language of
both North and South Korea; whereas, spoken widely in ethnic Korean
communities of China, Japan, USA, and Central Asia. In the south, the
language is known as Hangugeo (South Korean: 한국어) and in the north,
it is known as Chosŏnŏ (North Korean: 조선어). Since the turn of the
21st century, aspects of Korean popular culture have spread to other
countries through globalization and cultural exports.
Modern Korean is written in the Korean script (한글; Hangeul in South
Korea, 조선글; Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea), a system developed during the
15th century for that purpose, although it did not become the primary
script until the mid 20th century (Hanja and mixed script were the
primary script until then). The script uses 24 basic letters (jamo) and
27 complex letters formed from the basic ones.
Hangeul was designed to mimic the physical morphology of your tongue,
teeth, and palate. For English speakers, Korean is going to be one
difficult language to learn due to the word order; the verb will always
come at the end.
📖Learn more about the history of the Korean language here.