500 years ago,
King Sejong the Great of Korea led the creation of
Hangeul, an alphabet which, in its simplicity, helped more Koreans become literate and communicate more easily. King Sejong would be proud of how little Hangeul has changed over time, and its increasing popularity thanks to Korean superstars like Psy. There’s even a fast growing YouTube channel,
TalkToMeInKorean, dedicated to teaching people around the world how to use Hangeul and speak Korean.
Last year we
partnered with the
National Hangeul Museum in Seoul to promote and make the language more widely accessible. The museum officially opened yesterday and we’re pleased to contribute two dedicated exhibition spaces that utilize technology to encourage more people to discover this fascinating language.
The Hangeul Playground is a fun and interactive way for kids to learn about what lies behind each individual letter in the alphabet. Foreigners who are less familiar with the language can dive into the phonetics of Hangeul, or even use our voice recognition technology to try to spell out their names in Korean. The museum has also created a
Hangeul Learning Center website, which explains the development of the Hangeul alphabet and how words are composed using Hangeul’s twenty-nine letters.
Today on the
Google Korea homepage there’s a special doodle by designer
Sang-bong Lie, commemorating the language. The work shows bits of fabric twisted into the shape of Hangeul letters, representing the exuberance of Koreans’ daily lives. The splashes of color are inspired by
dancheong, the paintwork found on traditional wooden buildings throughout Korea.
So head on over to the
Hangeul Learning Center, pick up a few words and see if you can decipher the doodle!
Posted by Kate Park, Communications Manager, Google Korea
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