WHY LEARN THE KOREAN LANGUAGE?
WHERE IS KOREAN SPOKEN?
The Korean language is spoken by over 70 million people worldwide, mainly on the Korean peninsula. It is also spoken by about 800,000 ethnic Koreans living in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in the northeastern part of China. According to the United Nations, Korean is the 9th most widely spoken language in the world, after English, Chinese, German, French, Russian, Spanish, Japanese, and Arabic.
WHAT IS HANGEUL?
Korean has a unique alphabet called “Hangeul” which was created during the 15th century by the Great King Sejong in an attempt to improve literacy rates amongst the general population. “Hangeul” is made up of 10 vowels and 14 consonants and is considered to be one of the easiest to learn writing systems in the world. Every year, UNESCO awards the King Sejong prize to a person or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to the fight for literacy.
WHAT IS KOREA’S ECONOMIC RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINA AND HONG KONG?
The Republic of Korea has a long history of economic ties with Hong Kong and is one of China’s biggest trading partners. There are currently over 650 Korean companies operating in Hong Kong and over 30,000 operating in the whole of China. In 2006, the trade volume between China and Korea grew to USD130 billion; according to recent figures, China is Korea’s leading export market and Hong Kong is its 4th.
KOREAN SECTION IN THE SCHOOL OF MODERN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES
With effect from the 2008/2009 academic year, the School of Modern Languages and Cultures is offering undergraduate students the opportunity to minor in Korean. The Minor in Korean aims to provide students with a good command of the Korean language, with equal emphasis on reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills, as well as insight into Korean culture and society.
The School’s Korean Section was established in September 2007. In addition to the Minor, it offers a three-level programme introducing Korean language and culture and leading to the award of the Certificate in Korean. The Certificate programme is open to HKU students in all faculties.
Effective January 2008, a new course entitled “Korean for Beginners” is available to members of the public. For further information, please visit the School’s public course website: http://www.hku.hk/smlc/cpll/public/