Kudos for the Korean language

By Kwon Bong-woon

Wolfgang von Goethe(1749-1831) once said, "Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own."

He is known in Korea through his book "The Sorrows of Young Werther." We need to figure out why he stated these words. The Korean alphabet is only used by Koreans, and only for writing in the Korean language. In documents referring to its origin, it has been in existence since A.D. 1443, and is unlike any other writing system in the world.

Koreans are more than simply users of this alphabet. They are innovative and creative in what they do with this writing system. Hangeul (the Korean language) contrasts structurally with European languages like English in a number of ways. First of all, in languages such as English, this basic syntactic structure is subject + verb + object(SVO), while in the Korean language it is subject + object + verb (SOV).

In other words, Hangeul is a verb-final language, a language in which the verb always comes at the end of sentence. The Korean language is also spoken in overseas Korean communities, especially in China, North America, Japan and Russia. Today there are 2,100,000 people of Korean extraction in the United States, and 910,000 in Japan.

Elsewhere, outside of these large concentrations of overseas Koreans, Korean-speaking communities are found worldwide, especially in South America and Australia, with a growing economic and political importance of Korea on the world scene. Accordingly, the Korean language has been widely taught as a second language by regional groups.

In recent media reports by KBS and the Chosun Ilbo daily it was said that being good at the Korean language is key for getting jobs. People also receive incentives in their workplaces if they are fluent in the Korean language. It is proud news for the country that there is public recognition of the global position of the Korean language.

When considering the country's economic strength and cultural background, the Korean language will emerge as an important second language for different nationalities. Many foreign countries have great deal of envy for our mother tongue.

We all must try to correctly and properly use our mother tongue. We are obliged to sharpen and polish up our skills as behind the linguistic value of the language lurks a national enterprising spirit, as well as the great King Sejong, who created Hangeul's originally.

The Korean language is better than many other languages in terms of expression, vocabulary, ease of writing and its originality. Personally, I feel greatly blessed as well as privileged to have our precious mother tongue.

However, among English (including other languages) students in Korea, they tend to disregard the importance of improving their Korean. Such an attitude is grossly regrettable.

The King Sejong Institute Foundation encourages people interested in learning Korea, but the Korean language is still strange to many foreigners. This limits Korea projecting its image to the rest of the world. It is necessary for a breakthrough for Korea to become an even more advanced nation than it is currently. The institute has to try and make naturalized citizens break through the linguistic barrier. A profound knowledge of the Korean language wakes up our inner being and patriotism, and stimulates our imagination and curiosity to know more.

I have a feeling of gratitude for having a mother tongue. Being cherished with all Koreans' soul and spirit, the Korean language is worthy of esteem and high praise.

The writer works for a company in Seoul. His email address is youngogi76@naver.com.

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