Oh, be still my beating heart: as a self-professed literary nerd, this week’s topic was right up my street! I love nothing more than to geek out over the etymology of words and the history behind how languages came into being. On my trip to Seoul three years ago, one of the highlights was definitely the King Sejong Story museum at Gwangwhamun Square - arguably, it was where my obsession with the Korean language started. I spent *hours* poring over the ancient manuscripts containing hanja and corresponding hangeul letters, endlessly fascinated by all the artefacts and explanations.
Luckily for us, we had the inimitable Professor Yeon Jaehoon from SOAS give us an extremely informative crash course on the Korean language. He covered the possible origins of the Korean language, how its script, hangeul (한글), came into being, and the subtle differences between how the language is used in North and South Korea. I listened in rapt fascination as he explained various theories of the Korean language’s origins, one of the most widely debated being that it might have roots in Altaic languages (which comprises of the Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic languages).
Prof. Yeon was careful to emphasise that ‘Korean’ and hangeul are not the same thing - the language spoken in the Korean peninsula had existed for thousands of years before King Sejong developed the script in 1443, making hangeul one of the youngest writing systems in the world. Prior to that, only a privileged few could read and write ‘Korean’ using hanja - Chinese characters that would record meaning, but not necessarily the sound of the language or its grammar.
Having learned Korean for several months now, I’ve found hangeul to be systematic and elegant to use - in fact, people often joke that although it might take many years to become fluent, it is possible to learn the Korean alphabet in a few hours. The development of the script was also extremely scientific and philosophical: the symbols for the consonants approximate the shapes the mouth makes when pronouncing them, whereas the vowels are derived from the Confucian elements of ‘heaven’, ‘earth’ and ‘man’.
We were then introduced to seoye, Korean calligraphy, for the second part of our session. Having grown up in Hong Kong, I’ve briefly dabbled in Chinese calligraphy over the years, but this was the first time I’ve written hangeul with ink and brush. There’s something endlessly satisfying about seeing brushstrokes flowing across the page, especially when I think about how our ancestors have been mark-making in a similar fashion for thousands of years.
On a complete unrelated note, I managed to sneak in a quick peek of a current exhibition at the KCCUK named Dawns, Mine, Crystal by South Korean artist Yunchul Kim. He’s been nominated as KCCUK’s Artist of the Year 2018 and it’s easy to see why - his installations that feature glass and light are hauntingly beautiful. It’s on show until November 3rd, so get yourself down there for a bit of a gander!
Comment: officialkoica said " There was an event introducing Korean culture in ISM(International School of Management), Senegal. The event consisted of Seoye(Korean calligraphy), Hanbok(Korean traditional clothe) fitting, face painting, Hansik(Korean food) tasting, and Korean games. Moreover, there were performances of local bands and KOICA Taekwondo demonstration team. Aside from cultural exchanges, the 2nd Korean speech contest held in the afternoon. We were surprised that Speakers are very good at Korean, even better than native Koreans. We always thanks to people who loves Korean culture!! 😍 This may be the power to us work for our partner countries. #koica #senegal #koreanculture #culture #seoye #calligraphy #hanbok #hansik #taekwondo #코이카 #한국국제협력단 #세네갈 #한국문화"
