Hangul (Korean alphabet) was widely considered as the greatest legacy of King Sejong the Great (世宗大王 1397~1450). Before the creation of Hangul, Hanja (Chinese characters) was typically adopted in writing official documents in Korea and only the well-educated highest class of Korean people were literate.
In 1446, King Sejong promulgated the alphabet system with its accompanying volume Hunmin Chongum (訓民正音), which literally meant "the proper sounds for instructing the people":
"The spoken language of our country is different from that of China and does not suit the Chinese characters. Therefore amongst uneducated people there have been many who, having something that they wish to put into words, have been unable to express their feelings in writing. I am greatly distressed because of this, and so I have made twenty eight new letters. Let everyone practice them at their ease, and adapt them to their daily use."
- King Sejong's preface to Hunmin Chongum [1]
Each Hangul letter is depicted as a simplified diagram of the patterns made by the mouth, tongue, and teeth. An enlightening introduction about the Hangul system is shown in the following video clip: "Hangul - The Language of Compassion"
Hangul has attracted the interest of many linguistic scholars around the world:
"We may well marvel at the outstanding simplicity and convenience of Hangul. Whether or not it is ultimately the best of all conceivable scripts for Korean, Hangul must unquestionably rank as one of the great intellectual achievements of humankind"
- Geoffrey Sampson, Writing Systems: A Linguistic Introduction
"The Korean alphabet is like no other writing system in the world. It is the only alphabet completely native to East Asia…The structure of the Korean alphabet shows a sophisticated understanding of phonological science that was not equaled in the West until modern times"
- Robert Ramsey, "The Korean Alphabet", King Sejong the Great
"The king's 28 letters have been described by scholars as 'the world's best alphabet' and 'the most scientific system of writing.' They are an ultra-rational system devised from scratch to incorporate three unique features. First, Hangul vowels can be distinguished at a glance from Hangul consonants…Even more remarkable, the shape of each consonant depicts the position in which the lips, mouth, or tongue is held to pronounce that letter"
- Jared Diamond, "Writing Right", Discovery
In Hangul, a syllable can be formed by combinations of consonants and vowels. For examples:
"福'' in Korean is복 (pronounced as 'bok' ), which is made up of:
ㅂ(consonant b ) + ㅗ(vowel o ) + ㄱ(consonant k )
"萬" in Korean is만 (pronounced as 'man' ), which is made up of:
ㅁ(consonant m ) +ㅏ(vowel a ) +ㄴ(consonant n )
Learning a foreign language might not be easy, but it could be full of fun and a good means for understanding foreign culture. Therefore, during the semester break, besides watching K-Pop shows, shopping for Korean cosmetic products, and enjoying Korean BBQ, one could try to experience Korean culture through learning Hangul.
The New Year is coming. If you meet some Korean friends, you may like to greet them by saying "새해 복 많이 받으세요!" (Sae-hae-bok ma-ni pa-dŭ-se-yo!) , which literally means "The New Year comes with many happiness!" or simply means "Happy New Year!"
Reference
[1] Kim, J. W. (2010). King Sejong the great: The everlasting light of Korea, (2nd Ed.). Diamond Sutra Recitation Group.