``We've found that there is a great deal of interest in learning about the Korean writing system," said Chun Tai-hyun, professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and vice president of the academic group, the Hunminjeonguem Society. Seoul National University (SNU) Professor Kim Ju-won serves as president of the group.
Professor Chun explained, ``For instance, when we visited Bau-bau, a city in Buton Island, Indonesia, we realized that the indigenous communities in the region ― communities without their own writing system ― were very receptive to learning the Korean alphabet."
He noted the Korean alphabet could easily be used in conjunction with the local spoken language and that it can actually be used to help preserve and record the indigenous culture and language.
``In Indonesia, ethnic minority communities are losing their own spoken languages. We realized that the Korean alphabet could actually help preserve these endangered local languages."
Chun said, ``In December or January, representatives from Bau-bau will visit us in Korea and learn our writing system. They will then return to Indonesia to teach the Korean writing system in their communities."
Thursday, October 16, 2008
If you never need to produce "f," "l," "r," "th," v," or "z" I've got the perfect alphabet for you.
A group of linguists are looking to globalize Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, to groups who have no written alphabet of their own.
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3 comments:
Odd, this seems like a new story I saw about ten years ago but replace Bau Bau with Timor. It was a failure there as I expect it will be a failure in Bau Bau.
Too bad.
"Welcome to Incheon Airport! We're so happy to have you come to learn what is clearly the world's best alphabet! Learning 한글 only take about a 20 minutes, which is fortunate because we don't give visas to brown people"
Well... I'm not entirely opposed to the idea. I mean, who's to say that the Roman alphabet is any better?
But Michael does have a point that it's not exactly a global writing system. But it DOES only take 20 minutes to learn. ...But Nik was right, no brown person is ever going to get a visa here. HAHAHA
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