Seoul Plaza, Seoul, South Korea
Name used by its speakers (Endonym): Hangug-eo (“han-gug-uh”) in South Korea; Chosŏnŏ or Chosŏnmal (“jo-sun-uh”, “jo-sun-mal”) in North Korea.
Name in Korean script: 한국어 (South Korea); 조선어, 조선말 (North Korea)
Native speakers (estimated): 80 million+
Total speakers, including second-language (estimated): 81 million
Where it’s spoken: Korean is the national language of both North and South Korea, where it is the first language for nearly all the population. Beyond the Korean peninsula, it is spoken by an ethnic minority community of 1.7 million in bordering China (Jilin Province) and to a far lesser extent in Russia and other former Soviet republics. After China, due to emigration the next largest Korean communities are in the United States (over 1 million) and Japan. Since the 1990s, the increasing popularity of Korean pop culture (K-pop music, movies and TV) has boosted interest in Korean language learning… but the effect on the number of actual speakers is questionable.
Language family: The prime member of the Koreanic family. Its only related language is Jeju, native to Jeju (or Cheju) Island off the Korean coast. Possible kinship to other language families, including Japanese, Mongol, and Turkic, has been a matter of linguistic debate. Though Chinese is unrelated, centuries of Chinese influence have resulted in extensive loans to the Korean vocabulary, including such varied words as ‘mountain’, ‘river’, ‘university’, ‘democracy’, and the numbers used to count higher than 10.
Writing and pronunciation tips: Korean uses its own unique alphabet, known as Hangeul (한글), which was created to better reflect the sounds and structure of the Korean language. It was established in 1443 by King Sejong the Great and used alongside the Chinese characters (called ‘Hanja’ in Korean) that were originally used to write the language. Hanja were dropped from common usage only in the 20th century.
Sign near the North Korean Border – in Korean hangul, Chinese characters, and Roman letters
In contrast with most other alphabets, Korean letters are clustered into one-syllable blocks rather than written in straight lines. Within a syllable, the letter with the longest horizontal or vertical line is the vowel; two easily recognized consonants look like a square (‘M’) and a circle (silent at the beginning of a syllable, ‘NG’ at the end.) Korean has been transcribed into the Latin alphabet in various ways: for example, South Korea’s capital has a two-syllable name (“suh-ool”), but its two official Romanized spellings are Seoul and Sŏul. Korean names have also been Romanized inconsistently: the second-most common Korean surname is usually written Lee, but alternatively spelled Yi, I, Li, Ri, Rhee, and even Ni.
Words exported to English:
The name Korea itself comes from Goryeo (고려), a historic dynasty that ruled between the 10th and 14th centuries. Silk Road trade brought the name to Europe, via the Chinese version “Gāolí” which Marco Polo recorded as “Cauli”. In contrast, South Koreans call the country Hanguk (‘Han Country’), their alphabet hangeul (‘Han script’), and traditional Korean outfits hanbok (‘Han clothes’).
FOOD & DRINK: Several Korean words recognized abroad are food names, such as galbi (‘ribs’), bulgogi (‘fire meat’), bibimbap (‘mixed rice’), and that staple of Korean cuisine, kimchi (fermented and seasoned vegetable). Soju, the distilled rice-based alcoholic drink, comes from the words for “burned wine” (see also: the Dutch origin of ‘brandy’.)
SPORTS: Taekwondo (“teh-kwun-doh”) is a Korean martial art, developed in the 1940s and 1950s and contested as an Olympic sport since 2000. Its three syllables can be translated ‘kick’, ‘fist’, and ‘way’.
SCIENCE: Hantavirus, a genus of viruses spread mostly by rodents, was named for the Hantan River where soldiers stationed during the Korean War contracted respiratory disease. A later hantavirus outbreak occurred in 1993 in the southwestern US.
RELIGION: Moonie has been used to describe members of the Unification Church, a denomination founded by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon in 1954, who was controversial for (among other things) conducting mass wedding ceremonies and calling himself the Messiah.
MUSIC: “Gangnam Style”, a chart-topping pop single and viral sensation in 2012, referenced an affluent and trendy district of Seoul, which rapper Psy compared to the reputation of Beverly Hills.