South Korea's Latest Export: Its Alphabet

As a native Korean, I am thrilled at the aspect of Hangeul (the Korean alphabet) being exported to another country and used as a tool for teaching a language! I have been taught that Korean is a very scientific language because it is easy to learn (according to a historical record written at the time when Hangeul was promulgated, an intelligent person could learn Hangeul in a few hours, while the unlearned could spend a maximum of ten days learning how to read--what other language can you learn to read in 10 days?) and because the script is based on the shapes that your vocal system makes (mouth, tongue, throat), it can portray many sounds that the human voice can make. Regardless, I never thought it could be used effectively to educate non-Korean people! 

It’s actually a rather impossible dream for Koreans who have had difficulties learning a foreign language (i.e. all Koreans) to make Korean a globally spoken language...it's awesome that someone's trying to do that, one step at a time.


To read the NY Times article about the export of Hangul, click here.

- Jeeyoon Yu (CAS '11)