105-Learning Journal #6

[Carlos Diaz]

The term language encompasses reading and writing. Historically, the Korean language was heavily influenced by the Chinese as demonstrated by their Hanja, meaning Chinese characters, which was an old way of writing. Hanja was predominately used by the wealthy high class. One day, King Sejoung the Great wanted a language that could be learned and used by all classes so he established the Korean alphabet, termed Hanguel. The history of the Korean language is interesting, especially how it still influences modern day Korean. Currently, modern literature is heavily written in Hanguel but academic writing still uses a mix of Hanguel and Hanja. There are a lot of debates on whether to only use Hanguel or have a mix of Hanja and Hanguel. The history of the language has helped me learn the language more by understanding why they emphasize certain words. Korean is a language with dual form within the language: formal and informal. This is due to the social division and hierarchy from the past and Confucian ideals.