한글 (Hangul)

Bismillahirrahmanirahim...

What is that 한글 thing I wrote up there? It is "Hangul" the series of alphabets in Korean language being used in Korea just like a-b-c in english, alif ba ta in arabic, and many more in other languages. Why I suddenly learn this thing? How would this benefit me?

Actually one of my dreams is to be like my late grandfather. I was told by my Ayah (the way how I call my dad at home) that my late grandfather can speak 6 languages. He was a sailor back then and since he had to travel to many places in the world, definitely he need to learn several languages to communicate with the locals. If I am not mistaken he knows Malay, English, Urdu, Tamil, and I forgot what are the other two languages. That story really impressed me a lot and I started to set my own goal that I should be able to speak more languages than my grandfather did in the past. 

My late Grandfather (Aki) and Grandma (Wan) with us - my brother (red) , cousin (white) and me (blue)

Actually, I have some kind of interest in learning extra languages apart of my mother tongue language - Malay and our country's second language English. I did learn German language in the past when I was in the high school - it was compulsory for us to learn one foreign language there. Currently while doing my medical degree in Czech republic, again I have to learn their language since not everyone in the hospital can speak English. Alhamdulillah, at least now I am able to understand, write and speak Čeština even though it is not as fluent as the natives. 

Insha Allah (with Allah's will), my next goal is to learn these languages:

1. Arabic
2. Mandarin
3. Korean
4. German (I do need to learn it back since I didnt use it much nowadays)
5. Czech (I need to practice this to prevent myself from forgetting this language)

So now back to Hangul (Korean alphabets). Actually I found one interesting history about it - who created it, why it was created in the past etc. I got this info about The Great King Sejong of Korea who created it in wikipedia and some other articles in the internet.

The Great King Sejong of Korea - the creator of Hangul

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_hangul

Hangul was promulgated by the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty, Sejong the Great. Sejong's scholarly institute, the Hall of Worthies, is often credited with the work, and at least one of its scholars was heavily involved in its creation, but it appears to have also been a personal project of Sejong

The project was completed in late 1443 or early 1444 and published in 1446 in a document titled Hunmin jeong-eum "The Proper Sounds for the Education of the People", after which the alphabet itself was named. Sejong explained that he created the new script because the existing idu system, based on Chinese characters, was not a good fit for the Korean language and were so difficult that only privileged male aristocrats (yangban) could afford the time and education to learn to read and write fluently. The vast majority of Koreans were left effectively illiterate. 

Hangul, on the other hand, was designed so that even a commoner with little education could learn to read and write: "A wise man can acquaint himself with them before the morning is over; a stupid man can learn them in the space of ten days.

So this is the basic history how Hangul (the korean alphabets) was created in the past. 

So, yesterday I try to find out how the korean letters are written since they look totally weird to me. It was difficult actually to learn every single consonants and vowels in this language. I think it is even harder than Czech!! They have as well the combined vowels and combined consonants to form syllables! It is indeed very challenging but this attracts me to learn more in details. 

Guess what, I found an interesting article on how to learn Hangul in 15 minutes! It is clearly illustrated in series of pictures like 9gags pictures which become a series of story line. You guys should try this! I did learn and remember the letters pretty well after going through the pictures. So here is it! Have a look! Click on the picture to make it larger.... 

Insha Allah I hope that by learning more languages I could speak to many people in the world and thus able to tell them about Islam. Surely if we try our best to speak other's language, they will definitely pay extra attention listening to us. Just like here in Czech republic, people would be happy if we try to speak their language. I did have several experience in the past when the secretary of Obstetrics and Gynecology Department turned from a bossy fierce monster to a nice graceful lady with a big smile in her face! Haha.... 

Insha Allah, I hope that by being able to speak several languages in the future, it will be easier for me to reach the community and hence I can tell them about Islam. Well I wish all of you to have fun learning the letters! One letter per day is better than nothing at all :) 

ajimdiah, Praha, 31/3/2015