<%@ page contentType="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" %>   Home > Learn Korea > Related Articles Edit Font Size Hangul was highly praised and are center focus of attention as reviewed in the latest addition of U.S science magazine, Discovery, in which expressed as (The world’s most rational letter ) by its originality and the most efficient combination of symbols. The most widely read magazine in U.S. the Discovery in June addition’s topic of (writing, accuracy) written by author Professor. Diamond indicated with emphasis on the matter and by this support, Hangul was recognized as an excellent model case for (knowledge proliferation) in cultural aspect In his articles, he pointed out the fact that Hangul was created in 1446 by king Sejong and despite the fact that he was not even a linguist however, recognized by the academic word a (The most excellent alphabet in the world) furthermore, at the same time have appraised as the most easiest writing system and the reasons could be analyzed by following fact that 1) Easy distinction of vowels and consonants. 2) Consonants precise locate lips, mouth and tongue’s place. 3) 28 vowels & consonants are combined horizontally and vertically to form square with perfect order arrangement. Dr, Diamond wrote thesis with highest praises regarding the reason why the South & North Korea have most lowest illiteracy rate in the world due to the outstanding Hangul system in a distinguished science magazine “Discovery” and UN recognized the contribution on crusade against illiteracy have established “King Sejong Award” and awards are given every year to people with merits. In 1994 June addition of well known U.S science magazine's article on the topic of (Appropriate Writing) Professor. Diamond praised Hangul as the most rational letter system backed by its originality and effectiveness of scientific symbol combination. He went further to mentioned that the illiteracy rate in Korea(Chosun daily news paper 94.5.25) are the lowest in the world due to the simplicity and excellence of Hangul. Also, the well known American authoress Pear Buck who wrote the best selling novel (Earth) appraised Hangul as the most simple yet the most excellent alphabet in the world. and compared king Sejong as Korea's Leonardo Davincci.(Chosun daily news paper 96.10.7) Even more, Professor J.D McCawley of the university of Chicago an American who eater Korean food on every October 10th(Hangul Day) as he loved Hangul so much.(KBS1 96.10.9) A few years ago, in France, there was a academic symposium were held for International Linguistic Scholars. Unfortunately, Korean scholars did not participated in the event, at the symposium the subject was brought up as a issue by the scholars and suggested to use Hangul as International Common Language. It was simply a surprising news.(KBS1 96.10.9) In this manner, despite world's recognition of excellence of Hangul, we are actually not knowing the importance of Hangul. In May, 1986 Professor Lee Hyun-Bok from Seoul National university has visited department of phonetic language of Rees university in England. At that time Professor Geoffrey Sampson from Rees university has highly praised Hangul's unique feature for its scientific method of using sound organ to produce the alphabet and the derivation of adding stroke to the basic alphabet to produce phonetically identical system is very systematic and excellent. Also, he even classified Hangul to new dimensional feature system from its own phonetic symbols This new classification by professor Sampson was the first ever in the world and this proves the excellence and the fact that Hangul is the only feature alphabet exist in the world. Finally, in Oct 1st, 1997, UNESCO has designated Korean Hunminjungeum as a International Record Assets. Geographically and historically, the Korean Peninsula has belonged to the Chinese cultural sphere. Accordingly, the ideographic Chinese writing system was introduced to Korea quite naturally in the course of contacts with China and used in daily life.Chinese characters were inadequate to express Korean properly. In an effort to remedy the situation and help the common people, who found it difficult to communicate in Chinese characters, King Sejong created the new alphabet, or Han-gul, as it is called today, in 1443 and promulgated it in 1446 under the name Hunmin chong-um (Correct Sounds to Teach the People). His motive for creating Han-gul, as he stated in his preface to its explanation, was "to help commoners express themselves in writing so that they may appeal to government offices, seek measures to overturn unfair rulings, and make basic farming records." After an initial period of active propagation by the royal court, interest in Han-gul gradually waned and with time it was totally ignored by the ruling class and barely managed to stay in use among commoners. The state of neglect continued for the next 300 or 400 years. Certainly, there were some scholars who studied the writing system, and the introduction of novels including Ho Kyun's Story of Hong Kil-tong, the first novel to be written in Han-gul, helped pave the way for Han-gul's popularization, but it was generally left to develop on its own and underwent an indiscriminate process of transformation. In the 20th century when Korea's modernization began, interest in the Korean language began to rise and with it came self-introspection. Many scholars began to re-systematize Han-gul and also to put forth rules of orthography and grammar. Their efforts culminated in the proclamation of the "Draft for Standardized Rules of Han-gul Spelling" in 1933, which established the 24 consonants and vowels of Han-gul as Korea's alphabet. The word Han-gul was first introduced as a term for the Korean alphabet by Chu Shi-kyong, a renowned Korean linguist, in the early 20th century. Han-gul consists of 14 consonants and 10 vowels, the former based on the shapes of the mouth and tongue and the latter on natural rules of phonetics. The Korean language is very different from other languages. Unlike English or French, the subject of a sentence comes first, followed by the complement, then the verb. Because the verb always comes at the end of a sentence, the inherent meaning, whether positive or negative, becomes clear only when a sentence is finished. Another characterizing feature is that a relative clause comes before, not after, an antecedent. Because Han-gul is very easy to learn, Korea developed into a highly literate nation with an illiteracy rate of less than 10 percent. The structure of Han-gul is so simple and scientific that virtually anyone can learn it overnight. Its simplicity is becoming even clearer in today's information society as computer keyboards and software, initially provided in Roman letters only, are being replaced with Han-gul ones. A letter database search service using telephones is another example of how easy and scientific Han-gul is. The service involves using the numerical buttons on a telephone to express Han-gul letters. Han-gul letters are assigned to the ten buttons and suffice to communicate all needs. An increasing number of people from various corners of the world are learning the Korean language today.It is included in the curriculum of many foreign schools or many foreigners visit Korea to learn the language. Koreans are justifiably proud that Korea's alphabet is so easy to learn and use that anyone with a will to learn can learn it, regardless of their nationality. Koreans celebrate October 9 as Han-gul Day. This year will mark the 553rd anniversary of the alphabet's promulgation. Every Han-gul Day, memorial rites are held to honor King Sejong at Yongnung, his tomb, in Yoju, Gyeonggi-do province, and at the Sejong Memorial Hall in downtown Seoul, which becomes crowded with people trying to teach children the significance of Han-gul The shapes of the letters of every language became refined and polished through long periods of handwriting, during which printing type technology was applied to produce a typeface. Accordingly, printing types generally tended to follow the shapes of letters polished and formed through handwriting. The history of Han-gul type underwent an entirely different process, however Han-gul is a writing system whose every principle was studied and established before its promulgation. The extant printing technology was used to promulgate Han-gul, a unique start in which printed letters preceded those written by hand. The printed letter type used at the time of the alphabet's promulgation was faithful to the principles of its letter system, the prominent characteristics being the shapes of consonants and vowels: simple lines and geometric shapes including circles, triangles and squares that were hard to be written with a brush. They were also identical to the contemporary sensibilities embodied in the English sans serif type created at the end of the 1800s. Over the years, the simple, geometrical letters of Han-gul evolved into a natural style of handwriting through the use of the calligraphy brush, the writing tool of the Choson period. In the process, handwriting styles underwent the most rapid changes, followed by woodblock printing types, and finally metal types cast from molten brass and cast iron. Many diverse printing types and styles of handwriting have appeared during the period since Han-gul's promulgation in 1446 until the introduction of modern printing type technology.