Korean
The Korean alphabet, Hangul, was invented during the reign of King Sejong the Great. Hangul was created to make it easy for everyone to learn, so they could read and write to express themselves freely. One of the principles of Hangul’s creation is that it was designed based on the shape of the pronunciation organs, allowing people to easily understand each character. Because of these principles, many people refer to the Korean writing system as one of the most scientific systems in the world. With Korea’s growing economy and popular culture, the number of Korean language learners has steadily increased as well. In 2023, Korean was the 7th most popular language to study on Duolingo.
The World Language and Culture (WLC) department is pleased to have started offering Korean language and culture classes from Fall 2023. By offering a Korean program, WLC provides educational opportunities that are responsive to the needs of students and to cultivate the volunteer experience.
“내가 이를 딱하게 여기어 새로 스물여덟 글자를 만드니, 사람들로 하여금 쉽게 익혀 날마다 쓰는 데 편하게 하고자 할 따름이다.”
(“Feeling sorry for this, I have newly created twenty-eight letters because I want our people to learn them easily and use them conveniently everyday.”) – King Sejoung
