Back Акореиа бызшәа Abkhazian Koreaans Afrikaans Koreanische Sprache ALS ኮሪይኛ Amharic Idioma coreano AN कोरियाई भाषा ANP اللغة الكورية Arabic لغه كورى ARZ কোৰীয় ভাষা Assamese Idioma coreanu AST
| Korean | |
|---|---|
 Hangugeo written (left) vertically in Korean alphabet for South Korean and Chosŏnŏ written (right) for North Korean when referring the language | |
| Region | Korea |
| Ethnicity | Koreans, formerly Jaegaseung |
Native speakers | 81 million (2019–2022)[1] |
Koreanic
| |
Early forms | |
Standard forms | |
| Dialects | See Korean dialects |
| |
| Official status | |
Official language in | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Regulated by |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | ko |
| ISO 639-2 | kor |
| ISO 639-3 | kor |
| Glottolog | kore1280 |
| Linguasphere | 45-AAA-a |
 | |
| South Korean name | |
| Hangul | 한국어 |
| Hanja | 韓國語 |
| Revised Romanization | Hangugeo |
| McCune–Reischauer | Han'gugŏ |
| IPA | [ha(ː)n.ɡu.ɡʌ] |
| North Korean name | |
| Chosŏn'gŭl | 조선어 |
| Hancha | 朝鮮語 |
| Revised Romanization | Joseoneo |
| McCune–Reischauer | Chosŏnŏ |
| IPA | [tso.sɔ.nɔ][2][3] |
 |
| Part of a series on the |
| Culture of Korea |
|---|
| Society |
| Arts and literature |
| Other |
| Symbols |
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Korean is the native language for about 81 million people, mostly of Korean descent.[a][3] It is the national language of both South Korea and North Korea. In the south, the language is known as Hangugeo (South Korean: 한국어) and in the north, it is known as Chosŏnŏ (North Korean: 조선어). Since the turn of the 21st century, aspects of Korean popular culture have spread to other countries through globalization and cultural exports.[4]
Beyond Korea, the language is recognized as a minority language in parts of China, namely Jilin, and specifically Yanbian Prefecture, and Changbai County. It is also spoken by Sakhalin Koreans in parts of Sakhalin, the Russian island just north of Japan, and by the Koryo-saram in parts of Central Asia.[5] The language has a few extinct relatives which—along with the Jeju language (Jejuan) of Jeju Island and Korean itself—form the compact Koreanic language family. Even so, Jejuan and Korean are not mutually intelligible. The linguistic homeland of Korean is suggested to be somewhere in contemporary Manchuria.[5] The hierarchy of the society from which the language originates deeply influences the language, leading to a system of speech levels and honorifics indicative of the formality of any given situation.
Modern Korean is written in the Korean script (한글; Hangeul in South Korea, 조선글; Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea), a system developed during the 15th century for that purpose, although it did not become the primary script until the mid 20th century (Hanja and mixed script were the primary script until then).[6] The script uses 24 basic letters (jamo) and 27 complex letters formed from the basic ones.
Interest in Korean language acquisition (as a foreign language) has been generated by longstanding alliances, military involvement, and diplomacy, such as between South Korea–United States and China–North Korea since the end of World War II and the Korean War. Along with other languages such as Chinese and Arabic, Korean is ranked at the top difficulty level for English speakers by the United States Department of Defense.
- ^ Korean language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)
- ^ Hermann, Winfred (1994). Lehrbuch der Modernen Koreanischen Sprache. Berlin: Buske. p. 26. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
- ^ a b "국가상징" (in Korean). Naenara. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
조선민주주의인민공화국의 국어는 조선어이다.
- ^ legaltranslations (16 March 2020). "The Korean Language: Key Differences Between North and South - Blog". Legal Translations. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
- ^ a b Hölzl, Andreas (29 August 2018). A typology of questions in Northeast Asia and beyond: An ecological perspective. Language Science Press. p. 25. ISBN 9783961101023. Archived from the original on 6 November 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
- ^ Kim-Renaud, Young-Key (1 January 2004). "Mixed Script and Literacy in Korea". Korean Linguistics. 12 (1): 161–182. doi:10.1075/kl.12.07ykk. ISSN 0257-3784. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
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