Hangul Today: Spelling, Hangul Day and the Digital Age

From 28 letters to 24

King Sejong created 28 letters: 17 consonants and 11 vowels. Over the centuries, the sounds of Korean slowly changed. Some sounds disappeared, and the letters for them were no longer needed.

Today, Korean uses 24 basic letters: 14 consonants and 10 vowels. Four of the original letters are no longer used in standard Korean: ㆍ, ㅿ, ㆁ and ㆆ.

The 24 basic letters can be combined to make more. Double consonants such as ㄲ and ㅆ, and combined vowels such as ㅐ, ㅘ and ㅢ, are all built from the basic ones. So when you count everything a learner needs, there are 19 consonants and 21 vowels. But they all come from just 24 basic shapes.

Who looks after Korean spelling?

In the last lesson, you learned that unified spelling rules were first published in 1933. Since then, the rules have been revised several times. The current 한글 맞춤법, Korean spelling rules, were officially announced in 1988, with some updates later.

In South Korea, the National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원) studies the language and looks after the standard rules for spelling, pronunciation and loanwords. It also publishes free dictionaries online. As a learner, you can use them too.

The rules define 표준어, standard Korean. Standard Korean is based on the modern speech of Seoul. Of course, people in other regions speak their own dialects, and those are a precious part of Korean culture. But in schools, news and official writing, the standard language and standard spelling are used.

One language, two spellings

Korean is also used in North Korea, where the writing system is called 조선글. The letters are the same, but some spelling rules are different. For example, at the start of a word, South Korea often changes ㄹ and ㄴ sounds, while North Korea keeps them. The word for 'labor' is written 노동 in the South and 로동 in the North. The letters are shared, and people from both sides can read each other's writing.

Hangul in the digital age

King Sejong could not imagine computers, but his design works beautifully with them. Because Hangul has a small number of letters, it fits easily on a keyboard.

The standard Korean 자판, keyboard layout, is called 두벌식, which means 'two sets'. The consonants are on the left side of the keyboard, and the vowels are on the right. You type the letters one by one, and the computer automatically builds them into syllable blocks. For example, if you type ㅎ, ㅏ, ㄴ, the screen shows 한.

On phones, Koreans use several keyboards. One popular style has just three vowel keys, ㆍ, ㅡ and ㅣ, based directly on heaven, earth and human. Other people prefer a layout like the computer keyboard. Either way, Hangul is fast to type.

11,172 possible syllables

In computer systems, modern Hangul syllable blocks are included as ready-made characters. Their number is 11,172. Where does this number come from? There are 19 possible first consonants, 21 vowels, and 28 options for the final position (27 final consonants, or no final consonant at all). 19 × 21 × 28 = 11,172.

Not all of these blocks are used in real words, but every one of them can be written and read. This shows how systematic the design of Hangul is: a small set of rules creates a huge number of possible syllables.

Hangul around the world

Today, people all over the world are learning Korean. Some start because they love Korean music, dramas or food. Others study for work, school or family. The Korean government supports Korean language education abroad through the King Sejong Institute (세종학당), named, of course, after the king who started it all.

And here you are, one of those learners. More than 500 years after King Sejong wished that everyone could learn his letters easily, his wish has crossed every ocean.