Fourth Cultural Post: Target Language's Writing System
The Korean writing system was written by King SeJong during the Joseon Dynasty. It consists of 19 consonants and 10 vowels. The system of writing one character is combining 1-2 vowel with 1-3 consonants to create a sound. The consonants are: ㄱ (g), ㄴ (n), ㄷ (d), ㄹ (l/r), ㅁ (m), ㅂ (b), ㅅ (s), ㅇ( null (initial)/ng (final), ㅈ (j), ㅊ (ch), ㅋ (k), ㅌ (t), ㅍ (p), ㅎ (h). The vowels are: ㅏ (a), ㅓ (eo), ㅗ (o), ㅜ (u), ㅡ (eu), ㅣ (i and (with a y): ㅑ (ya), ㅕ (yeo), ㅛ (yo), ㅠ (yu). You can also double certain consonants to create a sharper and stronger sound. For example, to say hello, 안녕, the individual characters are smushed together to form one syllable. For the first syllable (Pronounced: AHN), you start with the consonant, which is the o. Then, you attach the vowel, ㅏ. As you say ahn, the n sound (ㄴ) comes last, so you put that at the bottom. In addition to the 10 basic vowels, you can create other sub-vowels by combining other vowels together. The Korean alphabet is similar to the American alphabet, but it is different in that each syllable is one character. Furthermore, unlike the American alphabet where one writes left to write, the Korean alphabet structure is written with a box-like structure.
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