Bring back Hanja (漢字)!
Re: Sales Soar for Children’s Books Written in a Combination of Korean and Chinese Characters
Hanja (漢字) are the Chinese characters originally used in the Korean language (70% of Korean vocabulary comes from Chinese). North Korea barely uses them anymore, and the same trend toward disuse of Chinese characters has been happening in South Korea for decades. The above article is a good sign that they might be coming back. Chinese characters are a rich source for expressing meaning in Korean, esepcially as different characters have the same pronunciation in Korean.
As an example of the confusion that can arise by not using Chinese characters, a Korean Protestant friend told me that when whe read that Jesus Christ was reffered to as inja (인자) repeatedly in her Korean Bible, she thought that it meant, in her translation, "nice guy" (仁子), not "son of man" (人子).
Re: Sales Soar for Children’s Books Written in a Combination of Korean and Chinese Characters
Hanja (漢字) are the Chinese characters originally used in the Korean language (70% of Korean vocabulary comes from Chinese). North Korea barely uses them anymore, and the same trend toward disuse of Chinese characters has been happening in South Korea for decades. The above article is a good sign that they might be coming back. Chinese characters are a rich source for expressing meaning in Korean, esepcially as different characters have the same pronunciation in Korean.
As an example of the confusion that can arise by not using Chinese characters, a Korean Protestant friend told me that when whe read that Jesus Christ was reffered to as inja (인자) repeatedly in her Korean Bible, she thought that it meant, in her translation, "nice guy" (仁子), not "son of man" (人子).
Redeemed by Our Savior, I work out my salvation with fear and trembling in Pohang, South Korea, where I live with my wife, daughter, and son and teach English at a science and technology university. Baptized a Methodist and raised a Missouri Synod Lutheran in Buffalo, NY, I spent six years as a guest of the Anglican Communion before being received by the Grace of God into the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church on the Feast of Saint Andrew, my patron, anno domini 2002.
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