[Hello Hangeul] Are slang terms and abbreviations degrading the Korean language?

When Cha Mi-joo asked about her 14-year-old son's opinion on his school lunch, he nonchalantly shrugged and gave a one-word response, "kebake." She had to ask what he meant, because the term didn't align with her knowledge of the Korean language. It was during this exchange that she discovered a new slang term derived from the English phrase "case by case." "Kebake," which according to her son, is “used widely” by young Koreans, is a combinatio

May 21, 2023

[Hello Hangeul] Korean proficiency highly sought after for jobs in Vietnam

HAI PHONG, Vietnam -- In this coastal city in northern Vietnam, it's said that having English skills can double your salary, while having Korean skills can triple it. Although the saying may be somewhat exaggerated, it certainly captures the high value placed on proficiency in the Korean language. Korean companies and institutions are prominent employers in the city, running immense factories, leading a variety of business projects, and they attract top-quality manpower with solid compe

May 13, 2023

[Hello Hangeul] Hard truth about Korean dream

As their knowledge and understanding of Korea, its culture and language deepen, some Korean learners choose to come to Korea to pursue further studies at Korean universities or graduate schools, with the hopes of starting a career and life here. But visas and job opportunities are limited, which leads many students to feel that, regardless of the efforts they put into studying here, Korea does not welcome them or want them to stay. Some of these foreign students end up giving up on their Korea

May 8, 2023

[Hello Hangeul] In trilingual Hong Kong, Korean is new kid on the block

At the chime of the school bell, ten 15-year-olds rise from their seats and bow to the teacher, chirping in unison, “annyeonghaseyo,” or “hello” in Korean. It’s an unusual greeting to hear in Hong Kong schools, where the corridors are usually filled with a cacophonic mix of Cantonese, English and Mandarin. But at Mu Kuang English School, a middle and high school partly subsidized by the government, it’s how 90 students begin their weekly Korean classes. Over t

May 1, 2023

[Hello Hangeul] Korean language students in US barracks

Sgt. 1st Class Joseph P. Khamvongsa arrived here in 2018 to be part of the US military forces stationed in South Korea. Though not necessary for his job, he soon started taking Korean classes out of a desire to better understand the country he was helping to protect. “I can’t forget the first time I had the combo of jokbal (pig's trotters) and soju with my Korean roommate, whom I met while serving at the ex-US military base site in Uijeongbu in the same year,” Khamvongsa t

April 30, 2023

[Hello Hangeul] Learning Korean not passing fad in Vietnam, says Korean studies dean

HANOI, Vietnam -- In 1996, Vietnam National University opened its department of Korean language and culture. Tran Thi Huong was among its first 30 students enrolled. Their teachers were Korean missionaries and volunteer workers from the Korea International Cooperation Agency’s branch office in Hanoi, who took turns teaching them. Pocket-sized Korean-English dictionaries, given by the KOICA volunteers, were their first textbooks. “The dictionaries had to be photocopied multiple ti

April 23, 2023

[Hello Hangeul] Inside Vietnam’s Korean learning boom

HANOI, Vietnam – Located a five-hour flight from Seoul is a country where the Korean language's popularity is second only to its homeland of South Korea. Here, kids as young as 8 -- or elementary school third grade -- are learning Korean at school, although not as a compulsory subject. This is the same age when they start learning English. Another indication of the Korean language boom in Vietnam is the number of those who take the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK), an exam for

April 23, 2023

[Hello Hangeul] A closer look at the Korean language learning boom in the Netherlands

AMSTERDAM -- At first it was through a Korean drama that Fauzia Jonas, a 52-year-old Dutch national, got captivated by Korean culture. Then came the K-pop sensation, BTS. Now, it is everything about Korea and Koreans that she wants to learn more about. “It drew me in like a magnet. The attraction (to the Korean culture) keeps getting deeper as I learn more about the culture and interact with Koreans,” she said, adding that she especially appreciates “the softness and warmth&rdq

April 16, 2023

[Hello Hangeul] At 89, Lee works as patron of Hangeul across three continents

  Lee Ki-nam learned Hangeul from her grandfather at age 4 or 5 in the late 1930s, but her knowledge of the Korean script was kept a secret outside her home for years. The country was a colony of Japan at that time, which banned the use of Korean and forced Koreans to adopt Japanese names. “To me, Hangeul was the same as patriotism,” said the 89-year-old woman behind the propagation of the Korean alphabet overseas, including the Cia Cia project in Indonesia. Korea’s libera

April 9, 2023

[Hello Hangeul] A case study: The Solomon Islands project 10 years ago

Javin Rukia, a 49-year-old English teacher at a middle school in the Solomon Islands, used to teach Hangeul, the writing system for the Korean language, about a decade ago. It was when two provinces in the island country -- Guadalcanal and Malaita -- chose Hangeul as their official alphabet for transcribing their indigenous languages which had been passed down orally but did not have a writing system. The southwestern Pacific archipelago, made up of 992 islands, is one of the most linguistically

April 9, 2023

[Hello Hangeul] Hangeul as a writing system for African tribe

In a small village called Bunyakiri in the eastern Congo’s rain forest, a community of Central African foragers learn to write their indigenous language with 가, 나, 다. The Chitembo Jeongeum Writing system, devised by four Korean linguists, is an adaptation of the Korean alphabet, Hangeul, to transcribe the sounds of the language spoken by this particular tribe of Twa hunter-gatherers, one of several groups of people known as Pygmies for their short stature. Chitembo is the language this gro

April 2, 2023

[Hello Hangeul] Sharing the Korean alphabet with the world

King Sejong the Great invented Hangeul in 1443 with the goal of increasing literacy among commoners who had few chances to learn the logographic hanja, or Chinese characters. Out of respect for the king's democratic intention and love for humanity, several projects were launched from the late 1990s onward to share the Korean alphabet with ethnic minorities in Asia, Africa and South America that did not have their own writing systems. Without a script, their languages were at the risk of disappea

April 2, 2023

[Hello Hangeul] Upgrade needed for teaching 'advanced' Korean

The soaring popularity of South Korean pop culture has fueled a boom in Korean language learning using songs and dramas in recent years. With the help of the media and internet, foreign learners are putting their best foot forward to get a better grasp of Korean colloquial expressions, new words and slang used by younger Koreans. Some learners also improve their linguistic knowledge by taking Korean language classes. Teachers often find introductory Korean courses easier to teach, but they often

March 26, 2023

[Hello Hangeul] Korean language teachers persevere to help learners around globe

Korean used to be a language spoken only on the Korean Peninsula and by nearly 10 million Koreans overseas. But in recent years, it has become one of the fastest-growing choices for foreign language learners around the world, thanks to the sweeping, universal appeal of Korean dramas, shows and pop music. Behind the rapid increase of learners are committed teachers with the passion to help earnest young people pursue their dreams despite various predicaments. Their pay depends on the country or t

March 19, 2023

[Newsmaker] [Hello Hangeul] Korean adoptees discover lost identities through language

The following series is part of The Korea Herald’s “Hello Hangeul” project, which consists of interviews, in-depth analyses, videos and various other forms of content that shed light on the stories of people who are learning the Korean language, as well as the correlation between Korea’s soft power and the rise of its language within the league of world languages. -- Ed. When John Tae-shik Ha, a Korean adoptee to Sweden, first learned his Korean name some three decades ag

March 12, 2023

[Newsmaker] [My Hangeul Story] Sujan Shakya’s journey from Korean beginner to TV personality, author

Sujan Shakya is most likely the first and only Nepalese national who has authored a Korean-language bestseller in Korea. Born and raised in Nepal, he arrived in Seoul for his first study abroad experience in 2010, with very little knowledge of the local language. He was studying Korean as a beginner at Dankook University that year. Twelve years later, in 2022, his book, “Utmost and Personal Nepal,” about his native country, co-authored with Hong Sung-kwang, landed among the top 20 be

March 5, 2023

[Hello Hangeul] Does it pay off to become fluent in Korean?

Mastering a foreign language requires a long-term commitment that can take years. Without the promise of it becoming a valuable asset to your professional or personal life, it can be difficult to stay committed. What are the rewards for attaining fluency in Korean? Will the time and energy learners put into learning the language pay off in some way other than being able to watch K-dramas without subtitles? To explore the benefits of learning Korean further, The Korea Herald spoke to four non-Kor

March 5, 2023

[Hello Hangeul] The linguistic divide of Korea: the legacy of 'Malmoi' and decades of separation

Choi Seol, a North Korean defector, entered a stationery shop to purchase a stapler. She asked for "chaekjjipkke" -- which literally means bookbinder – as it was the only word she knew to refer to the stationary item. The store clerk was puzzled, and Choi left the store empty-handed after a few minutes of explaining what she wanted. Later, she learned that South Koreans refer to staplers as "hotchkiss," a Japanese loanword. She also recalls a conversation with a colleag

Feb. 26, 2023

[Newsmaker] [Hello Hangeul] Tale of a script: From invention to widespread adoption

In the winter of 1443, Korea’s native writing system called Hunminjeongeum, which means “the correct sound that teaches the people,” was born. Three years later, a book of the same name was published under commission of the king to explain how the novel writing system works and how it was created. Nearly six centuries have passed, and the writing system, now called Hangeul, is credited for South Korea’s near-100 percent literacy rate, with many taking pride in the scienti

Feb. 19, 2023

[Hello Hangeul] Western missionaries did not just spread the gospel, they spread Hangeul

Although Hangeul was created and adopted as the official writing system in mid-15th century, it took nearly 400 years for it to become widely used by the general public. Chinese script was still prevalent, as the ruling elites rejected King Sejong’s invention as a vulgar language of the underclass people. In the late 19th century and during the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial rule of Korea, interest in Hangeul was renewed on the back of growing nationalist sentiments, and it was Western Christ

Feb. 18, 2023