Language of South Korea

The Korean language is the South Korea’s official language and it is spoken by almost 80 million people worldwide. Korean was written using Hanja, the Chinese characters until 1443, King Sejong the Great commissioned a national writing system called Hangul, which is now known as one of the most scientific writing systems in the world. The modern Korean alphabet is made up of 40 characters: 14 consonants, 5 double consonants, 10 vowels and 11 double vowels. Levels of formality in Hangul are used to show one’s respect towards his or her audience. Therefore, when “banmal”, the lowest form is used to address older people or people with greater social standing than one’s self, offence can be taken. Modern Korean has many different dialects which are similar enough that people do not have any difficulty in understanding each other. Hangul is also the only alphabet with its own national holiday which is observed on the 9th of October in South Korea. Speaking and writing the same language has been an important factor in the country's strong national identity for the Koreans.