"King Sejong the Great recognized that using Chinese characters was very difficult for common people because of the large volume and the complexity of the Chinese characters. ...Han-geul was designed very simply so that even the common people could learn to read and write easily."
--from the Introduction
Korean is the native language of 67 million people living on the Korean peninsula, and is spoken by an additional 5.6 million as a heritage language. Comprised of seven geographically-based dialects, Korean maintains a strong mutual intelligibility due to widespread media and standardized instruction in schools.
This helpful guide is designed to be a "go-to" resource that fits in your back pocket. Perfect for students, it presents the basics of reading, writing, and understanding han-geul script.
- Includes:
- An introduction to the alphabet, letter design, and syllabic blocks
- Step-by-step illustrations for forming each character
- An appendix with pronunciation rules, basic vocabulary, and brief Korean grammar