Learn How To Read And Write Using Hangul (Korean Alphabet): Lesson 1

To start off, I am not Korean, but I did live in South Korea for 5 and a half years. This is neither here nor there, though, as you do not have to be Korean, or have been there, to learn how to write and read using the Korean alphabet known as Hangul, or Hangeul, depending on who you speak to. 

See, the thing about the Korean alphabet is that its whole point is simplicity. And that is what we will cover in Lesson 1, the story behind Hangul, the only alphabet in the world that has ever been commissioned. Or at least to my knowledge it is. 

But let me take you back to the Korea of the 1400s. At that time, Korea was using the current variation of the Chinese alphabet to do all their writing. It was sufficient but had its shortcomings. The biggest one was that it was, and still is, a very complicated alphabet to learn, and thus being literate was a luxury only the rich could afford.

The king of the time, King Sejong, noticed that the Chinese alphabet did not entirely work for the Korean language, as well as left him with a country full of illiterates, and decided this should change. He rounded up all the intellectuals he could find and put them to work creating a new, Korean alphabet. He made it clear that he wanted it to be simple and straightforward to learn.

And so they did, giving us what we know today as Hangul, a phonetic alphabet that can be mastered in a few hours. In lesson 2 we will discuss how exactly the writing system works. I look forward to seeing you there.

P.S. I am not an authority on Korean, or Hangul history. So I aplogise for any holes in the above story. 

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