Korean Alphabet
Korean writing is basically influenced by the Chinese writing. Korean is the native language of the people belonging to north and South Korea some other regions in the world. The Korean alphabet is essentially a collection of 24 letters along with 14 consonants and 10 vowels. These days it is necessary for you to have a basic knowledge of the Korean language. There are numerous multi-national companies that are Korean based so a basic knowledge in the Korean language would be beneficial for as you might get a good job in any of these reputed Korean companies. Learning Korean language and alphabets is interesting and fun at the same time.
In the Korean alphabet, there are 24 letters and these 24 letters are combined together into syllable blocks. The shape of the 14 consonants is basically the graphical representations of the speech organs which are used to pronounce them. Other consonants were also created by adding extra lines to the basic shapes. The vowel derived its shape from the three basic elements, namely, Earth, Man and Heaven. Man is a vertical line, Earth is a horizontal line and Heaven represents a dot. Recently, the Heavenly dots are converted into a short line. The spaces which are also left between the words can be made of one or more syllable. An alternative method of writing proposed by the Korean scholars is the HANGUEL method which involves writing each letter in a line basically in English instead of grouping them into syllable blocks. But, the efforts of these scholars have been met with very little enthusiasm. In South Korea the mixed writing system known as HANJA are used in the texts as well. The Korean language can be written in vertical columns which can start from top to bottom and right to left as well as in Horizontal lines which runs from left to right.
The Koreans use their unique alphabet known as HAN-GUL. HANGUL is considered to be one of the most efficient alphabets in the world and have gathered unanimous praise from the language experts as the alphabets are scientifically designed which looks excellent as well. Earlier Chinese scripts were used by the educated class but it failed to express the thoughts of the Korean people effectively. The creator of the Korean alphabet was king Sejong who sympathized with the Korean people's inability to understand the Chinese script. He was a passionate scholar and after a lot of research he finally invented the Korean alphabet. The consonants and the vowels were separated because of their differing functions at the time of combining the two letters while forming a syllable. The consonants which are the initial sound letters basically resemble a person's speech organs. Each letter derived its shape from the different articulation units of sound. The other consonants which are created by adding extra lines are based on the strength of the sound.
The vowels on the other hand derived its shape from the image of the sky, man and land. The dot resembled the round structure of the sky, the horizontal line resembled the image of a standing man and the vertical line resembled the image of the flat land. The other vowels are basically the variations of these 3 basic vowels. So, generating all these ideas was truly a revolutionary process.
The Korean language has a highly developed and expansive vocabulary which makes learning it an interesting hobby. The simplicity and the small number of letters used allows even children and the foreigners to learn it effortlessly.
In the Korean alphabet, there are 24 letters and these 24 letters are combined together into syllable blocks. The shape of the 14 consonants is basically the graphical representations of the speech organs which are used to pronounce them. Other consonants were also created by adding extra lines to the basic shapes. The vowel derived its shape from the three basic elements, namely, Earth, Man and Heaven. Man is a vertical line, Earth is a horizontal line and Heaven represents a dot. Recently, the Heavenly dots are converted into a short line. The spaces which are also left between the words can be made of one or more syllable. An alternative method of writing proposed by the Korean scholars is the HANGUEL method which involves writing each letter in a line basically in English instead of grouping them into syllable blocks. But, the efforts of these scholars have been met with very little enthusiasm. In South Korea the mixed writing system known as HANJA are used in the texts as well. The Korean language can be written in vertical columns which can start from top to bottom and right to left as well as in Horizontal lines which runs from left to right.
The Koreans use their unique alphabet known as HAN-GUL. HANGUL is considered to be one of the most efficient alphabets in the world and have gathered unanimous praise from the language experts as the alphabets are scientifically designed which looks excellent as well. Earlier Chinese scripts were used by the educated class but it failed to express the thoughts of the Korean people effectively. The creator of the Korean alphabet was king Sejong who sympathized with the Korean people's inability to understand the Chinese script. He was a passionate scholar and after a lot of research he finally invented the Korean alphabet. The consonants and the vowels were separated because of their differing functions at the time of combining the two letters while forming a syllable. The consonants which are the initial sound letters basically resemble a person's speech organs. Each letter derived its shape from the different articulation units of sound. The other consonants which are created by adding extra lines are based on the strength of the sound.
The vowels on the other hand derived its shape from the image of the sky, man and land. The dot resembled the round structure of the sky, the horizontal line resembled the image of a standing man and the vertical line resembled the image of the flat land. The other vowels are basically the variations of these 3 basic vowels. So, generating all these ideas was truly a revolutionary process.
The Korean language has a highly developed and expansive vocabulary which makes learning it an interesting hobby. The simplicity and the small number of letters used allows even children and the foreigners to learn it effortlessly.