So, i've been studying the alphabet with the little free time i have here. The Korean alphabet is made up of twenty-four characters. It's relatively easy compared to Chinese, which has about forty thousand. Hangul was created under King Sejong during the Choson Dynasty [1393-1910]. in It's a simplified system, since he knew many Koreans could not write [because they used Chinese characters] and it prevented them for communicating. Only the educated, elite learned to use the Chinese characters. King Sejong was aware of this and knew that the Chinese system did not capture nuances and phrases unique to the Korean culture. Hangul also gave Koreans more of their own cultural identity and independence from Chinese thought.
There are fourteen basic consonants and five compound consonants in Hangul. There are ten basic vowels and eleven compound. Most people can learn to read and write. They just have no idea what the meaning of the syllables are. There can be three characters per column. Each column of words makes up one part [syllable] of the word.
It's been difficult seeing these characters as actual representational letters instead of being abstract, forms. i now have even more respect for my students that know both Hangul and English!
i think Hagul is elegant and definitely distinct. There is beauty in simplicity. For those who have difficulty distinguishing between Japanese, Chinese, and Korean characters...Korean is the least ornamented or complex-looking.
Here is a chart of the alphabet broken down. It does not include the compound consonants and vowels. They'll be a test in a week ;)
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