Chinese character Usage in Comtemporary Korean Language

 

1. Chinese Character Usage in Korean Language over Time

 

As people who learn Korean language know, many amount of words in Korean language originate in Chinese character system. This kind of words is called '한자어'(Hanja-eo) in Korean. The proportion of 'Hanja-eo' differs among scholars, but it is known that it accounts for more than half of Korean words.

 

Hanja-eo consists manly of words derived from the old Chinese, but some are imported from Japanese and made in Korea.

 

It has a feature that can be written in both Hangul and Chinese Character(it is called '한자'[Hanja] in Korean), therefore, the answer for "which writing system has to apply to write Hanja-eo?" has differed from each period or people.

 

The word, '한국어', which means 'Korean language', is hanja-eo, so it can be written as '韓國語', and both words have same meaning and pronounciation in Korean language.

In Contrast, another word, '한글', which means 'Korean alphabet', is not hanja-eo(it didn't originate in Chinese), so it has not Chinese character pair.

 

> 1st Era - Only Chinese Character or Only Hangul (15C ~ late 19C)

 

Although Hangul, which makes write Hanja-eo easier, was invented in 1443 during 'Joseon' dynasty, the reason why Hangul did not completely replace Chinese characters include the influence of Chinese culture still in the modern era and the consciousness of authority among bureaucrats.

 

So until 19th century, Hangul was mainly used in the private sector such as novels, letters, and learning, etc, but official documents are still written by Chinese characters.

 

 

< (left) a novel written in Hangul(Hongildong-jeon) / (right) a writing of minister written in Chinese Character (Jingbirok) >

 

 

> 2nd Era - Mixed Use of Chinese Character and Hangul  (late 19C ~ 1980s)

 

As Chinese influence declined and Western forces infiltrated East Asia in the late 19th century, in 1894, the government finally began to publish official laws and documents in Hangul mainly as part of the reform. At the same time, in the private sector, many scholars have studied the spelling of Hangeul to make it more common.

 

As a result, writing Korean only in Chinese characters has disappeared, however, a new writing style of mixing Chinese characters with Korean was born at the same time. 

 

Chinese character notation was used to show off culture, but since many words related to western knowledge and technologies were imported through Japanese at that time, the such a notation helped to understand the meaning of the new word.

 

This trend of mixed use Hangul-Chinese character has been continued even in the Republic of Korea since the establishment of the democratic government until 1960s. At this time, almost all Hanja-eo were written in Chinese character rather than Hangul.

 

<Newspaper articles in 1950>

 

At the time, publications were written vertically, and most Hanja-eo (that is derived from Chinese characters) were written in Chinese characters instead of Hangul. This method of using Chinese characters is simillar to that of Japanese.

 

 

<Newspaper articles in 1972(up) and 1988(down)>

 

In 1968, as the president Park Jeonghee announced the Hangul only usage plan and Chinese character education was temporarily abolished, the frequency of using Chinese characters decreased.

 

As a result, in 1980s most of publication are written only in Hangul not Chinese Character. Until the end, it was the newspaper that was using Hangul-Chinese Character mix-style writing. However, since most korean people used Hangul in their daily lives and they were uncomfortable with reading Chinese characters, there are many criticism to media stubbornly using Chinese characters.

 

 

 

> 3rd Era - Limited Use of Chinese Character (1990s ~ today)

 

 

<'Hankyoreh', the first newspaper written entirely in Hangul in 1988>

 

At this time, the 'Hankyoreh' newspaper, the first newspaper using pure Hangeul, appeared, and it resonated with the public and changed the authoritarian journalism. In addition, it was second newspaper to attempt horizontal writing, which was already applied in Korean publications from 1980s.

 

 

<Newspaper articles in 1995(up) and 1999(down)>

 

In 1990s, the popularity of using Chinese characters has been clearly lowered by the spread of digital culture and the appearance of the newspaper only written in Hangul. As a result, other newspapers also began to rarely use Chinese characters except for the headlines.

 

Since the late 1990s, the use of Hangeul has been established in all newspapers, and horizontal writing has been applied instead of vertical writing.

 

In this way, the tendency of Korean publications to use Chinese characters continues to be similar.

 

 

 

 

2. So, Are Koreans able to read/write Chinese Characters?

 

Many Koreans, especially younger people, are unfamiliar with the use of Chinese characters. In addition, in the current curriculum of school in Korea, it is not mandatory subject, therefore they are not obliged to learn it at least.

 

However, since Hanja-eo still has a huge portion on modern Korean, understanding of basic Chinese characters is recognized as common sense among Koreans.

 

Therefore, most Koreans study basic Chinese characters for educational(especially for those who learn Chinese or Japanese) and liberal arts purposes and they can read words written in Chinese characters even if they do not write it themselves.

 

 

Exceptionally, people engaged in law need to understand Chinese characters because there are terminology in them used in Korean law. For students / researchers majoring in Korean history, Korean ancient literature, or East asian history, studying Chinese characters is essential due to their academic characteristics.

 

<Chinese Character Learning Book, for children(left) / for adult(right) >

<source>

1. https://m.blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=gjswnsdl07&logNo=221121768044&proxyReferer=https:%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F 

2. https://m.blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=taehyun0629&logNo=221285921023&proxyReferer=https:%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

 

 

3. When is Chinese characters used in contemporary Korean?

 

As a conclusion, almost all Korean learners do not need to know Chinese characters.

 

Because, as I said before, most of the publications in Korea are written only in Korean, and Chinese character is rarely used in essential parts of life. Therefore, in Korea, there is very little inconvenience even if you do not know it.

 

 

However, for some limited purposes, Chinese character is still useful. The reason is that it is different in form and structure from Hangul. Using Chinese character is effective when its characteristics that is abbreviable, aesthetical and has variety form of letters is required.

 

I introduce some type of Chinese character is mainly used in Korea. This will help to understand Koreans' perception of when it is useful to use Chinese character.

 

 

Usage 1. To abbreviate or To highlight a word to one(or short) letter

 

Since Chinese characters are logogram, we can make sentences or phrases shorten if we use these characters. Therefore, in reports or especially newspaper headlines, Hangul is replaced with Chinese character in order to contain a lot of information in a limited space.

At this time, it is usually written in 'one' letter to give readability and to highlight that letter.

 

 

Chinese characters found in newspaper headlines are mainly used to indicate the words or phrases below.

 

 > 1. Country name

 > 2. Frequently used nouns

 > 3. Frequently used adjectives (mainly indicating quantity or degree)

 > 4. Specific phrase or postposition

 > 5. Specific person

 

 

<A Newspaper at 05/19/20>

 

<EXAMPLE 1 : Country Name>

北

At first, The word '北', is pronouned '북'[buk], means '북한' and 'North Korea(DPRK)' in English. So, as the example above, the phrase '北간첩' can be rewritten in '북한 간첩'. (This means 'A North korean spy'.) 

But '北간첩' is shorter than '북한 간첩' and the former can highlight the country of the subject. Therefore country name is often written in 'One' Chinese Character when we write headlines.  

 

In Korean, some countries can be written by Chinese character as well as Hangul. The following Chinese characters are used in Korean to mean a country.

 

 

韓 [한; han] : 한국, Republic of Korea(South Korea) ☞ Not using for refer to North Korea

中 [중; jung] : 중국, China

日 [일; il] : 일본, Japan

美 [미; mi] : 미국, United States

北 [북; buk] : 북한, North Korea

南 [남; nam] : 한국, 남한, Republic of Korea(South Korea)

   ☞ Mainly used to contrast with North Korea or to write in parallel with it

獨 [독; dok] : 독일, Germany

佛 [불; bul] : 프랑스, France

伊 [이; i] : 이탈리아, Italy

泰 [태; tae] : 태국, thailand

印 [인; in] : 인도, India

印尼 [인니; inni] : 인도네시아, Indonesia ☞ Exceptionally this is a two letter-word 

 

 

 

<EXAMPLE 2 : Some Common Nouns and Proper Nouns that Can Describe People or Group >

靑

For the same reason above, some common or proper nouns can be written in Chinese Character. 

 

The word '靑', is pronouned [청][cheong], means '청와대' and 'The Blue house; the Korean presidential residence' in English. So, as the example above, the phrase '논란에 선긋는 靑' can be rewritten in '논란에 선긋는 청와대'. (This means 'Blue House, drawing a line at the controversy'.) 

 

The following Chinese characters are used in Korean to describe people, groups, places, government etc.

 

> For Human

人 [인; in] means 사람, 인간 / person, human

男 [남; nam] means 남자,남성 / male

女 [여 or 녀; yeo or nyeo] means 여자,여성 / female

 

> government or public agencies of Korea

檢 [검; geom] means 검찰, 검찰청 / public prosecutor, public prosecutors' office

警 [경; gyeong] means 경찰, 경찰청 / police agency, police officer, police

靑 [청; cheong] means 청와대 / Cheongwadae(the Blue House, the Korean presidential residence)

軍 [군; gun] means 군대 / the force, the military

 

> group or places

社 (사; sa) means 회사, 기업 / company, enterprise, coperation

産 (산; san) means 산업 / industry, the industrial circles

學 (학, hak) means 학교, 학원, 학계 / school, (private) institute, academia

政 (정; jeong] means 정치 / politics, political circles

硏 (연, yeon) means 연구소, 연구원 / institute, research center, research circles

大 (대, dae) means 대학교 / university, college

 

 

 

<EXAMPLE 3 : replace a postposition or phrase >

 

Chinese characters also can replace some postpositions* or phrase in Korean. 

* In Korean, postpositions has similar role to prepositions in English 

發 

At first, The word '發' is pronouned [발; bal] and also be able to written in '발' in Hangul. So the sentence above, '학원강사發 22명 확진', can be written as '학원강사발 22명 확진'.  '發' means the preposition 'from' in English and means '~로부터', '~에서 출발한', '~에서 시작된' in Korean. this sentense means 'From one lecturer, 22 infected by the virus' and can be also translate into this Korean sentence, '학원강사로부터 22명 확진'.

 

前

The word '前' is pronouned [전; jeon] and also be able to written in '전' in Hangul. So the sentence above, '입실前', can be written as '입실 전'.  '前' means the preposition 'before' in English and means '이전', '~전에' in Korean. This sentense means 'Before Entering' or 'Before enter the room'.

 

>more words

 

前 [전; jeon] means '이전', '~하기 전에' / 'before'

後 [후; hu] means '이후' ,'~한 후에' / 'after'

對 [대; dae] means 'A 대 B', '~를 향한', '~에 맞선' / 'A versus B', 'toward', 'against'

發 [발; bal] means '로 부터', '~에서 출발하는', '~에서 시작하는' / 'from' 

 

年 [연 or 년; yeon or nyeon] means '매년', '1년에' / 'a year'

月 [월; wol] means '매달', '1달에, 1개월에' / 'a month'

日 [일;  il] means '매일', '1일에', '하루에' / 'a day'

 

 

 

<OTHER CASES 1 : Symbolize a specific person >

 

Chinese characters are also used to symbolically represent the president, the leading politician, etc. with one letter of the last name(mainly) or first name. At this time, the character represented by the Chinese character changes according to the time the writing was made. (Almost same as the relationship between sports players and their back numbers! :) )

 

文 [문; mun] : 문재인 대통령 (President Mun Jae-in)

朴 [박; bak] : 박정희(at 1960~1970) / 박근혜(at 2000~2010) (both are ex-president)

 

 

 

<OTHER CASES 2 : Common Adjectives or prefix>

 

大 [대; dae] : 크다 / big, large

小 [소; so] : 작다 / small

多 [다; da] : 많다 / many, much

少 [소; so] : 적다 / few, little

高 [고; go] : 높다 / high

中 [중; jung] : 보통이다, 중간이다 / intermediate, middle

低 [저; jeo] : 낮다 / low

 

全 [전; jeon] : 모든 / every, all

有 [유; yu] : 있다 / have, be

無 [무; mu] : 없다 / have no, be no

 

新 [신; sin] : 새로운 / new

舊 [구; gu] : 오래된, 지금은 없은 / old, former, ex-

生 [생; saeng] : 살아있는, 신선한, 날것의 / alive, fresh, uncooked

故 [고; go] : 작고한, 돌아가신 / departed, deceased , the late

 

不 [불 or 부; bul or bu] means / 'in-', 'non-'

非 [비; bi] means / 'un-' ,'non-'

反 [반; ban] means  / 'against', 'anti-'

 

 

 

 

Usage 2. To give an aesthetic effect or an intense impression

 

Chinese character is different from Hangul and have various shapes, so if it is used, Koreans will be impressed about it in text. Therefore Chinese characteres are often used shop, product and advertising design. It is suitable for expressing a classical or traditional atmosphere in Korea.

 

 

 

<EXAMPLE 1 : To Appeal Korean Traditional Atmosphere>

 

 

 

Trademarks for Korean traditional Products or products that emphasize such style often use Chinese characters. Moreover, in order to highlight the traditional atmosphere, it is also used to describe products in advertisements.

 

An example above(top left), this is a product of '안동 소주'(soju), Korean traditional local drink. '一品' which is written above that product means 'top quality article'.

 

Another example above(top right), this is a product of ginseng tea. Ginseng is well known as a Korean specialty, Product name written in Chinese characters on the packaging conveys the traditional image better.

 

Last example above(bottom), this capture image is TV ads of a cosmetic. Some Korean cosmetics emphasize Korean themes. These are popular not only in Korea but also in foreign countries. This image shows a chinese character '秀', that means 'excellence', so excellence of this product as well as traditional theme can be shown through such an ad.

 

As such, for highlighting the characteristics of products, some following chinese characters is used.

 

名品 명품 : masterpiece

手製 수제 : hand-made

秀 수 : excellence

新 신 : new, brand-new

 

 

 

<EXAMPLE 2 : To Give Exotic Feeling of East Asian Countries (Japan, China, Taiwan etc.)>

 

Chinese character also widely used in other East asian countries(Japan, China, Taiwan etc.), so it is often used for trademarks or logos of which brands and products originated from them, or utilizing the image of them.

 

An exemple image above, this is a brand advertising of a beverage franchise. This franchise is established by Korean company, but the beverages sold in this franchise are Taiwanese style 'brown sugar bubble tea'. So this franchise was named '黑花堂'(흑화당), which is Chinese style name. And this name is also written in Chinese Characters. Such a distinctive brand naming has an exotic impression to Korean, so it is effective in generating consumer interest and curiosity.

 

 

 

<EXAMPLE 3 : To Emphasize Visually or verbally what they want to show>

 

> source(right) : https://m.insight.co.kr/news/224739

 

Goods above are nationwide and very popular products in Korea. '辛라면', a Korean-style Ramen(left imgage) was launched in 1986 and '眞露소주', liquor has been produced since 1924.

 

The chinese character, '辛' means 'hot' or 'spicy', so '辛라면' means 'Hot Ramen'. This word can translate to '매운 라면' by Korean, but the expression '매운 라면' is too common to use as specific product name. Therefore the brand naming and design of '辛라면'(This can be written as '신라면' in Hangul.) was a very appropriate choice to recognize the taste and product name of this to consumers. As result, the packaging design of '辛라면' has changed several times, but emphasized letter, '辛' has never changed over time.

 

<packing design in 1990s(left) / renewed brand naming and design in 2010s(center) / retro style new product in 2010s(right)>

'眞露'(written as '진로' in Hangul) is the product name and the name of the comany that create this product. The brand design of '眞露' continued without significant changes until the 1990s. But since the late 1990s, people have preferred Korean and English notation over time, and think that trademarks written in Chinese Characters are old-fashined. So it has been changed to '참이슬' in 1998, the Korean brand name instead of '眞露'.

 

On the other hand, from the mid 2010s, 'Retro style' trend appeared in Korean culture as a whole, nostalgic-inspired designed products have been re-released. These products are characterized by using a lot of calligraphic or Chinese characters that were commonly used until the 1980s.

 

 

 

> source : https://bigsta.net/tag/%ED%95%9C%EC%9E%90%EA%B0%84%ED%8C%90/

 

 

Chinese characters are somtimes used in signboard and logo designs.  

 

The Chinese character logo with the design on the right above gives a classic feel and is suitable for giving the trust of an attorney's office.

 

On the other hand, in the case of the left above, the signboard is designed wih a metal texture without a background. These designs are retro style though, but it is recognized as a trendy design in Korea these days. 

 

 

 

 

In addition, some Chinese characters are used to convey several layers of meaning through using the same pronunciation as other Korean words.

 

An example left above, there is a phrase '多가치'. '多' means 'many' or 'much' and '가치' means 'value', so '多가치' means 'much value'. But '多가치' is pronounced as '다가치' in Korean, it also same as pronunciation of '다같이' that means 'all together'. As a result, the phrase, '多가치' written on this event poster expresses the theme of 'much value' of this event and the intention of the event, 'all together'!

 

Other example right above, name of a bottled water is '빼어날 수'. A Chinese character, '秀' as seen before means 'excellance' in English, and '빼어나다' in Korean, So Koreans understand '수' as meaning of '秀' in this case. Meanwhile, other Chinese character, '水' as you can see at the image above means 'water', and also is pronounced '수'. So, the expression, '수' in the name of the bottled water above symbolizes the meaning of 'excellence' and 'water' simultaneously.

 

 

 

<EXAMPLE 4 : Some Common Idiomatic Phrases or words>

 

 

Finally, there is a Chinese character word or phrase used symbolically in Korean culture.

 

At first example(left image), there is a phrase, '謹賀新年' means 'Happy new year', this is mainly used on New Year's card rather than ordinary text.

 

Second(center image), '福' means 'fortune' in English. This letter often can be seen with a pocket picture like above, and this pocket image is called '복주머니'(means 'lucky bag' in English). The letter, '福' is used as a symbol of good luck.

 

Last example(right imgage), these Chinese character words can be seen in some type of event(marriage, funeral, etc.). In Korea, there is a culture where visitors send a certain amount of money in an envelope to the owner of the event. At this time, there are Chinese character words related to the content of the event on the envelope.

At marriages,  '祝 結婚' is written on envelope and this means 'Congratulations on your marriage.'.

At funerals, '賻儀' is used and this means 'goods to aid in funeral'.

 

 

 

 

Usage 3. To clarify the meaning of words from homonyms

 

 

There are many homonyms in Korean, especially in case of Hanja-eo. Although Koreans can understand most of these words through context, sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the meaning of a word by context alone. Therefore, in order to express the meaning of the word clearly, Chinese characters are added to the Hangul notation.

 

 

For example phrase, '성인의 지식', '성인' has several meaning and is able to rewritten by different Chinese character words according to that meaning. One is '成人', its meaning is 'adult', and The other is '聖人' which means 'saint'. So, this phrase can be translate to 'knowledge of adults' or 'knowledge of saints' if authors expects the reader to be confused while reading the text, they will write as follows.

 

'성인(成人)의 지식' or '성인(聖人)의 지식'

 

 

In other cases, when using words that are not in the dictionary or are not familiar to the public, or when using a new word in Chinese characters, the Chinese characters are written together to help readers understand these words.

 

source> http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0002545163&CMPT_CD=P0010&utm_source=naver&utm_medium=newsearch&utm_campaign=naver_news

 

 

An example above, the word '명징' is written together with the Chinese character notation, '明澄'. The reason is that the word, '명징' is a refined expression that is rarely used in ordinary life, so many people even do not know what it means. '명징' or '明澄' means 'clean and clear'(figuratively). 

 

As explained earlier, Koreans do not know Chinese characters very well at present, so it is difficult to fully understand '明澄'. However, the Chinese character, '明' is well-known to Korean, so they will be able to roughly understand the original meaning of '明澄' or '명징' from the letter '明'.