[The Editors' Verdict] The Extinction of Hangeul: 'Promotion Campaigns' Are Not the Answer

[Asia Economy, Trend Managing Editor Jung Doohwan] The Irish language holds the distinction of being the third oldest language in Europe with written records, following Latin and Greek. Up until around the year 1000 AD, it was a language that continued to spread aggressively. However, by the 1990s, the number of devoted speakers within Ireland itself had dwindled to fewer than 9,000. In effect, it has become a language preserved only in history. Despite being taught in every school in Ireland, the language has faced extinction because it is rarely used at home and has become associated only with rural farmers.

This is an excerpt from "Vanishing Voices," written by British anthropologist Daniel Nettle and linguist Suzanne Romaine. The authors warn, "Nearly half of the world’s languages known to us have disappeared over the past 500 years," and emphasize, "The extinction of languages is not a phenomenon limited to ancient empires or remote, underdeveloped regions."

Is our language, Hangeul, free from the risk of extinction? This is a question that came to mind while observing the recent controversy over the phrase "simsimhan sagwa" ("sincere apology").

Many in the older generation lament the "ignorance of the youth" when the word "simsim" (meaning "deep and earnest") was misunderstood and mistranslated as "boring." Yet even among the younger generation?those considered smart by their peers?many confessed, "Honestly, this was the first time I learned the real meaning of the word," and "I had always thought of it as the 'simsim' I already knew."

We were taught, and have taken pride in, the idea that Hangeul is a scientific and superior language. Discovering a beautiful native Korean word often felt as delightful as finding a four-leaf clover in the grass.

But there is an undeniable fact: the identity of Hangeul is being shaken. While we feel proud to hear that the global spread of "K-culture" is leading more foreigners to learn Hangeul, within Korea itself, the language is facing a crisis amid a flood of foreign words and unidentifiable neologisms.

Language is even making communication between generations difficult. If you laughed in disbelief at a variety show where "bwijade" was presented as the opposite of "deja vu," you might already be someone who struggles with intergenerational communication. "Bwijade" is not just a wordplay that reverses the syllables of "deja vu," but a neologism meaning "to feel unfamiliar with something experienced every day."

The younger generation has a surprisingly strong aversion to Hangeul’s notoriously difficult spelling rules. Even journalists, for whom writing is a profession, often get confused by spacing rules. Some question why it is necessary to strictly follow these rules, arguing that even if "hal su itda" ("can do") is written without a space ("halsu itda"), the meaning is still clear. While we criticize expressions like "kingwangjjang" (a nonsensical, nationality-less phrase), the younger generation counters, "But the meaning is clear."

Of course, it is true that their destruction of the language is serious. However, a coercive approach that insists, "You are wrong," and judges right and wrong is no longer effective. Campaigns such as "Let’s use our beautiful and pure language" have long since lost their impact.

Perhaps it is our society’s tradition of treating difficult Sino-Korean expressions as a "mark of the educated" that has brought about Hangeul’s current crisis. We should ask ourselves why we feel compelled to use expressions like "simsimhan sagwa" in the first place. Rather than blaming the language of the new generation, we must begin by considering and understanding their linguistic habits. Otherwise, Hangeul, too, may become a language used only by elderly people in the countryside, just like Irish.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.