<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;font-size:12pt">Dear Kwang-On Yoo,<div>I am sure Ross was referring to numerous ŏnhae 언해 literature (some examples familiar to me are 노걸대언해, 몽어노걸대, 청어노걸대), books designed in a very specific manner to help Korean learners read and speak a foreign language. Basically in ŏnhae Korean letters were used as transcription symbols to indicate sounds and whole phrases of Chinese, Mongol, Manchu, and Japanese. </div><div><div> </div>Victor Atknine<br>59 Bledlow Manor Dr., <br>Toronto, ON M1E 1B1, Canada<br>Phone: 416-492-9794<br><br><div>CURRENTLY: <br>JSD Research Institute<br>356-8 Seonwha-dong, Jung-gu<br>Daejeon, 301-826, KOREA<br>Phone: (office) 070-8644-3044; (042) 222-0683, ext. 224; (cell) 010-9978-3817<br>E-mail: v_atk9@yahoo.ca<div><br></div><div
style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><br><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Kwang On Yoo <lovehankook@gmail.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Monday, September 14, 2009 4:17:59 AM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [KS] Hangul in Indonesia<br></font><br>Dear Prof. Ross King<br><br>I quote you;<br><br>"Sure, hangul was adapted to write Manchu, Mongol, Japanese and Mandarin
during Chosŏn (darn those pesky breves), but always for speakers (and
readers) of Korean."<br><br>This is very, very new to me.<br><br>Some good examples please.<br><br>Kwang-On Yoo<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Sep 13, 2009 at 1:32 PM, Ross King <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:jrpking@interchange.ubc.ca" target="_blank" href="mailto:jrpking@interchange.ubc.ca">jrpking@interchange.ubc.ca</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left:1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex;">I read this with great interest, and am wondering if anybody knows the identity of the woman's linguist father?<br>
<br>
I find this all rather pathetic. As soon as you divorce hangul from Korean, the language it was brilliantly designed to write, it becomes just another script -- we could write Jia-Jia with the Armenian script, if we wanted.<br>
<br>
Only worse, because if I were an Indonesian bureaucrat or political leader concerned with how to integrate -- linguistically and graphologically -- ethnic and linguistic minorities in a country with a few hundred of these and in a country noted for the success with which it has promoted Bahasa Indonesia, written with the Roman script, I'd be really annoyed at the Koreans doing this (especially if they were somehow allied with evangelical Christian proselytizing, which is never far from the scene with much of this).<br>
<br>
Sometimes it seems Korean scriptophiles are more eager to export their alphabet than they are to export what is a much more sensible package: their language, written with such a superbly designed script (superbly designed, that is, for Korean -- not Jia-Jia or whatever).<br>
<br>
All very impractical and unrealistic: the author of the article hit it on the head with 'quixotic'.<br>
<br>
Sure, hangul was adapted to write Manchu, Mongol, Japanese and Mandarin during Chosŏn (darn those pesky breves), but always for speakers (and readers) of Korean.<br>
<br>
RK<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
> People who recall the discussion of the use of Hangul among the<br>
> Jia-Jia people in Indonesia might be interested in the reporting of<br>
> Choe Sang-Hun in this morning's NY Times. See the link below.<br>
><br>
> Gari Ledyard<br>
><br>
> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/12/world/asia/12script.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Korean%20alphabet%20/%20Indonesia&st=cse">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/12/world/asia/12script.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Korean%20alphabet%20/%20Indonesia&st=cse</a><br>
><br>
><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</div></div>--<br>
Ross King<br>
Professor of Korean and Head,<br>
Department of Asian Studies,<br>
University of British Columbia,<br>
<br>
and<br>
<br>
Dean, Korean Language Village,<br>
Concordia Language Villages<br>
<br>
Mailing address:<br>
Ross King, Department of Asian Studies, UBC<br>
Asian Centre, 1871 West Mall<br>
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2<br>
CANADA<br>
<br>
vox: 604-822-2835<br>
fax: 604-822-8937<br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote></div><br>
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