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Korean Language
More than 72 million people living between North and South korea have Korean as their mothertoungue. Outside the peninsula, the language is also spoken in China, United States, Japan and Russia.Korean is written in "Hangul" that, different from the Chinese alphabet, is not an ideographic system. The shapes of its letters were designed to model the physical morphology of the tongue, palate and teeth. Words are written in blocks of minimun two characters and up to five letters join to form a syllabic unit.
Dialects of Korean
The Korean language has five major "bang-eon" or "saturi" (dialects) in South Korea and one in North Korea. Despite the geographical and socio-political dialect differences, Korean is relatively homogeneous, being mutually understandable among speakers from different areas. The main difference between the varieties of Korean concerns intonation. The standard language of South Korea is based on the dialect spoken in the area around Seoul and has a quite flat intonation. On the contrary, the dialect of Pyojunmal, which determines standard North Korean, uses stress a lot and to Asiatics it almost sounds as an European language.History
Korean belongs to the Altaic family of languages, which originated in Northern Asia and includes the Mongol, Turkic, Finnish, Hungarian, and Tungusic (Manchu) languages. Although Korean and Japanese are similar as for some grammatical structure, it is yet to be proved whether they have common origins or not. Korean also inculdes English loanwords and this is due to United States influence after World War II. The domination of China over Korea during more than 2000 years is reflected in the language, as more than half of Korean vocabulary derives from Chinese. Despite this influence of Chinese over Korean, nowadays, especially in the North, the Govern is trying to drop loanwords and terms of Chinese origin and subsitute them with new Korean words. This policy is also carried out for foreign loanwords, especially those of Western origin.Literature
Korean literature can be divided into two periods which have as a turning point the creation of the Korean alphabet with the Choson Dinasty (1392-1910). Before this, literary works belonged to the Classical Period and were written in Chinese, while the Modern Period counts with literature in Korean.The first works which were written in Korean are "akchang", musical scores which celebrate the foundation of the Choson Dynasty. The modern period begins with Korea's contacts with Western society and the subsequent diffusion in the East of Christian thoughts and new artistic trends. The Chinese writing system, which up to now had represented the dominant class, lost its sociocultural function. Now every work was written in Korean, as it was for the Shinsosol, a new form of novel. What is more, music and classical poetry, which up to now were two jointed identities, began to be separated. Despite this explosion of new forms of literature, some degree of political control affected poetry, in contrast with the free expression of sentiments and feelings of the classical period.
Proverbs
If you go to Korea and you want to show all your wisdom, here you are some useful proverbs.Kanun mari kooaya onun mari kopta = Say kind words to hear kind words (Nice words for nice words).
Songkoto kutputo turokanda = Even a drill goes in from the tip (You have to start at the bottom to climb a ladder)
Morunun ke yakida = Ignorance is a medicine (Ignorance is a bliss).