These are some of the Korean vocabulary words that I’ve learned and practiced for the past couple of weeks.
- 공휴일 (Gong-hyu-il) noun: government holiday
- 훈민정음 (hoon-min-jung-eum) noun: a term used to describe the first form of hangul.
- 개칭되었다 (gae-ching-dwae-ut-da) verb: changed
- 구강구조 (gu-ghang-gu-jo) noun: shape of the mouth when speaking
- 애민정신 (eh-min-jung-shin) noun: love for a country’s citizens
- 문맹률 (moon-meng-ryu-eul) noun: illiteracy rate
- 개천절 (geh-chun-jull) noun: a holiday that celebrates the founding and birth of Korea
- 제헌절 (je-hun-jull) noun: a holiday that celebrates the creation of the Korean constitution
- 광복절 (gwang-bok-jull) noun: a holiday that celebrates Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonialism
- 한글날 (han-gul-nal) noun: a holiday that celebrates the creation of hangul.
These were some of the more interesting vocabulary words that I learned because they are directly linked to specific historical events. For example, the word 개천절 is directly linked to a Korean fable. In this fable, a tiger and bear searched for the deity of Korea because they wanted to be human beings. Once they completed a task given by the deity, they transformed into human beings and founded Korea.
The word광복절 is comprised of three parts. 광 (gwang), 복 (bok), and 절 (jull) mean “light”, “return”, and “festival day” respectively. Literally, this means that Korea has restored its light from Japan. Korea was colonized from 1910 to 1945 after Korea was forced to sign the Japan-Korea Treaty in 1910. This treaty soon transformed into terms for colonization after Japan prevented Korea from developing its political, military, and cultural status. For many years, Koreans resisted the rule of the Japanese by forming demonstrations and creating resistance forces. After the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan signed the Potsdam Declaration, surrendering control over Korea.
한글날 (hangul-nal) celebrates the birth of hangul. I learned the rich historical facts behind this event. I learned that before Korea started calling this holiday 한글날, it used to celebrate the day as 훈민정음 (hoon-min-jung-eum). The language was created by King Sejong out of his love for his people. In Korean, a leader’s devotion to his country and people is called 애민정신 (eh-min-jung-shin). During King Sejong’s reign, his country’s 문맹률 (literacy rate) was close to 0%. In order to increase this rate exponentially, King Sejong designed the language so that it would closely follow the sounds and the shapes we make with our throats and mouth. In essence, hangul is a commoner’s language and can be learned by anyone in a short amount of time.
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