Summer language courses for juniors in South Korea

15 fascinating facts about the Korean language

1. Korean is the official language of both North and South Korea, and it is also spoken by significant populations in China, Japan, and the United States.

2. The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, was created in the 15th century under the direction of King Sejong the Great, who sought to make the language more accessible to the common people.

3. Hangul is considered one of the most scientific writing systems in the world, with each character representing a unique sound that can be easily combined with other characters to form syllables.

4. The Korean language has six levels of politeness, which are used to indicate social status and the degree of respect or formality required in a given situation.

5. Unlike many other languages, Korean does not use articles (a, an, the) or grammatical gender (he, she, it).

6. Korean grammar is highly agglutinative, which means that words are created by combining root words with a variety of suffixes and prefixes to indicate tense, aspect, and other grammatical features.

7. Korean has a large number of borrowed words from Chinese and English, but these words are often modified to fit the unique pronunciation and grammar of Korean.

8. The Korean language has many honorifics, which are used to show respect to elders, superiors, and others in positions of authority.

9. Korean has two main dialects: South Korean and North Korean. While they share many similarities, there are also some differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.

10. While it does not have any particularly close relatives, it is related to a few other languages spoken in the region, including the Jeju language, which is spoken on Jeju Island in South Korea, and some of the languages spoken in parts of Northeast China.

11. The Korean language has a unique system of honorific suffixes, known as titles, that are added to the names of people in formal situations to show respect.

12. There are many Korean proverbs and idioms that are used in everyday speech, such as "A frog in a well knows nothing of the great ocean" and "One who knows nothing doubts nothing."

13. The Korean language has a rich literary tradition, with works dating back to the 4th century. Some of the most famous Korean writers include Yi Sang, Kim Sowol, and Hwang Sunwon.

14. The Korean language has a unique sound system, with many sounds that are not found in other languages. For example, there are two different "t" sounds in Korean: one is aspirated (like "t" in "top") and the other is not (like "t" in "stop").

15. Korean is a popular language to learn for K-pop and K-drama fans, as many popular Korean songs and TV shows are enjoyed by audiences all over the world.