The Korean language or "hanguk mal" is spoken by more than 72 million people living on the Korean peninsula. Although it differs slightly in spelling, alphabet, and vocabulary between the two regions, Korean is the official language of both South Korea and North Korea . Outside of the Korean peninsula, there are about two million people in China who speak Korean as their first language, another two million in the United States , 700,000 in Japan , and 500,000 in the Russian regions of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan .
The Korean language has five major dialects in South Korea and one in North Korea . Despite the geographical and socio-political dialect differences, Korean is relatively homogeneous, being mutually understandable among speakers from different areas. Korean or "Hangul", the Korean alphabet consists of 24 letters - 14 consonants and 10 vowels - that are written in blocks of 2 to 5 characters. Although this may sound initially intimidating, Korean is in fact one of the easiest languages in the world to learn to read and write. Most foreigners can learn to read basic Korean characters in a couple of weeks. Even if you never progress beyond this stage, learning to read Korean will make your stay in Korea infinitely easier- you will at least be able to read street signs and be able to tell where buses and subways are headed. Korean language classes are offered through several private language academies and several universities.
Here is a breakdown of the Korean alphabet and some basic expressions to help you get started. |
