Hangul is the BESTEST ALPHABET THAT EVER ALPHABETIZED.

[waegookin]

I found this "article" in the back of my Korean book, thought some of the Forumosans who also were imprisoned spent time in Korea might get a good laugh out of it. The book is Self-Learning Korean the Easy Way. The author, Keyho Choi, doesn't have the strongest grasp on English, which makes this all the more hilarious.


Why is Hangul said to be the best alphabet in the world?

Among all the other excellent features, Hangul is scientific, philosophical, linguistically convincing and the easiest letters to learn. The greatest alphabet in the history of characters is the Roman[Latin] Alphabet among the phonic letters and Hangul is the greatest among them. (editor's note: can anyone translate that?) It is also good for voice recognition for modern IT science because Hangul follows the 'One Sound for One Word, One Word for One Sound' rule. Hangul is the most suitable letter for computer voice recognition to replace the keyboard.

Grated that, English gets behind in terms of voice recognition even if it is in alphabetic writing. For example, the letter 'A' is pronounced variously in cases, so it is hard to know how to pronounce 'A'. One can read English words only with the help of phonetic signs. For example, the word 'knife' is read as 'naif', but it is nearly impossible to restore the word 'knife' from its phonetic sign. So there is difficulty in voice recognition.

Korean teenagers could send text messages faster than any other youngsters in the world, and it is certainly because of the scientific superiority of Hangul. According to Professor Jared Diamond at UCLA, Hangul is the best alphabet in the world. That is the reason why we have the lowest illiteracy rate in both South and North Korea, according to a study published in the science magazine <Discover> in June of 1998. In addition, Professor Sasse of Hamburg University was surprised at phonology in Korea from the 15th century, and he acclaimed Hangul's systematic and scientific creation principles. Professor Reischauer at Harvard said that Hangul has the most scientific system today. Professor Force in Netherlands said that Hangul is the greatest invention in the world for alphabetic letters. Professor Hiroyuki Umeda, the Dean of Yotaek University in Japan also praised Hangul very highly. Thus, we are given Hangul from King Sejong, which is the best alphabet for the 21st century.


(Aww...is someone feeling inadequate?)

[Toasty]

Haven't been to Korea, but I spent several years teaching Korean students (among other nationalities) in ESL centers in Vancouver (perhaps that's why I never chose to go to Korea). I sensed, even then, their intense nationalism. And, yes, I heard from Koreans how Hangul is the most perfect ("perpectu") language ("langwidgee"). Anything Korean was automatically the best, sushi wasn't invented by Japanese-- it was invented by Koreans (kimbap)-- and Confucious was Korean.

Taiwanese tell me that Koreans claim Wang Jianmin is Korean.

[waegookin]

sushi wasn't invented by Japanese

The Japanese got all of their culture from the Koreans. They're inherently just cultureless inbreds, but they were gifted with a culture one day when Koreans landed on their shores. Didn't you know that?

[headhonchoII]

An agent I deal with in Korea started telling me how Koreans how founded Chinese culture... I gave up listening to him after that!

[pqkdzrwt]

Korean nationalisim aside, I agree, Korean has a very smart/clever way to deal with writing.

[Deuce Dropper]

Kim Jong Il got three hole in ones the other day on the links.

an off day for the Dear Leader.

[Tempo Gain]

Korean nationalisim aside, I agree, Korean has a very smart/clever way to deal with writing.

That's my impression of it. Any form of writing following the mentioned "One Sound for One Word, One Word for One Sound" principle gets full thumbs up in my book.

[waegookin]

Korean nationalisim aside, I agree, Korean has a very smart/clever way to deal with writing.

That's my impression of it. Any form of writing following the mentioned "One Sound for One Word, One Word for One Sound" principle gets full thumbs up in my book.

Very true, Hangul is simple and easy to learn. That part of the article wasn't an exaggeration. Takes most people about two hours.

[Chris]

Hangul is indeed simple and systematic. But the oft-heard Korean claim that it's perfect, the best, the most scientific, etc. is nationalistic BS.

[housecat]

Ever studied Hangul? It IS superior. It's a alphabet/spelling system desigened specifically for it's the Korean language. Many of the languages today, of course including English, use an alphabet/spelling system that was designed for some other language. And a smart man CAN learn it in less than a day.

The funny part is watching people think you understand the language instantly just because you can read it almost instantly. That old education meme that "reading is understanding" (that was so popular in the States about 15 or so years ago) is just silly bunk, and that reaction illustrates that fact very well.