Difference between revisions of "Korean language"
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Korean has no known language that it is related to, possibly except [[Japanese language|Japanese]]. It is often classified as an [[Altaic languages|Altaic language]], because of it being an agglutinative language. | Korean has no known language that it is related to, possibly except [[Japanese language|Japanese]]. It is often classified as an [[Altaic languages|Altaic language]], because of it being an agglutinative language. | ||
| − | It is written in the [[Hangul]] alphabet, which was created by [[Sejong|King Sejong]] in the 15th century to increase literacy. However, hangul wasn't formally adopted until the early 20th century. Sometimes, Korean uses [[Chinese character]]s (''hanja''), which are most commonly used in personal names and historical texts. | + | It is written in the [[Hangul]] alphabet, which was created by [[Sejong|King Sejong]] in the 15th century to increase literacy. However, hangul wasn't formally adopted until the early 20th century. Sometimes, Korean uses [[Chinese character]]s (''hanja''), which are most commonly used in personal names on name tags and signs and historical texts. They are also used to specify the meaning of certain words because the corresponding writing in Hangul is unclear. |
==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||
Revision as of 17:09, June 27, 2011
Korean (Hangul: 한국어; Hanja: 韓國語; Hangugeo) is a language spoken by all the people in Korea and a few million other people all over the world, especially in the United States, China, and the former USSR.
Korean has no known language that it is related to, possibly except Japanese. It is often classified as an Altaic language, because of it being an agglutinative language.
It is written in the Hangul alphabet, which was created by King Sejong in the 15th century to increase literacy. However, hangul wasn't formally adopted until the early 20th century. Sometimes, Korean uses Chinese characters (hanja), which are most commonly used in personal names on name tags and signs and historical texts. They are also used to specify the meaning of certain words because the corresponding writing in Hangul is unclear.