Free Korean Course

As of the latest estimates, about 81 million people worldwide speak Korean. This includes around:

• 51 million in South Korea
• 25 million in North Korea
• 5-6 million Koreans living abroad

The Korean diaspora is mainly concentrated in China, the United States, Japan, and Russia, with smaller communities in countries like Canada, Australia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam.

Korean is spoken primarily in South Korea and North Korea, where it is the official language. Beyond the Korean Peninsula, it is also widely spoken in various countries due to large Korean diaspora communities. Some of the main countries with significant Korean-speaking populations include:

China: Over 2 million ethnic Koreans, mainly in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and major cities.

United States: About 1.7 million Korean Americans, with large communities in cities like Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta.

Japan: Over 800,000 Korean speakers, concentrated in areas like Osaka and Tokyo.

Russia: Particularly in the Russian Far East, there is a Korean-speaking population of around 170,000.

Canada: Approximately 230,000 Korean speakers, especially in Toronto and Vancouver.

Australia: Roughly 150,000 Korean speakers, mainly in Sydney and Melbourne.

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan: Historical Korean communities have around 170,000 speakers, primarily due to migration during the Soviet era.

Vietnam: Around 200,000 Korean speakers, reflecting strong business ties and a growing expatriate community.

Smaller communities of Korean speakers can also be found in Brazil, Argentina, Germany, and New Zealand.

Korean can be written in both horizontal and vertical directions:

Horizontal (Left to Right): This is the most common reading direction in modern Korean, especially in South Korea. It’s used in books, websites, signage, and everyday writing.

Vertical (Top to Bottom, Right to Left): Historically, Korean was written vertically in columns, starting from the top right of the page and moving to the left. This style is still sometimes used in calligraphy or traditional settings, such as on invitations, formal documents, or in some North Korean publications.

Modern Korean predominantly uses the horizontal left-to-right format.

Korean belongs to the Koreanic language family, which includes Korean itself and the Jeju language spoken on Jeju Island. While Korean is sometimes classified within the broader Altaic language hypothesis—grouping it with languages like Turkish, Mongolic, and Tungusic—this idea is widely debated and lacks consensus among linguists.

Unlike languages with extensive family trees, such as Indo-European or Sino-Tibetan languages, Korean is considered a language isolate by many linguists. This means it has no confirmed, widely accepted linguistic relatives, making it unique in structure and vocabulary compared to other languages

Korean uses the Hangul alphabet, a unique and phonetic writing system that was invented in 1443 by King Sejong the Great and scholars of the Joseon Dynasty. Hangul is known for its scientific design, specifically intended to be easy to learn and use.

Key Characteristics of Hangul

Alphabet Structure: Hangul consists of 24 basic letters—14 consonants and 10 vowels. Additional complex consonants and vowels are created by combining these basic letters.

Syllable Blocks: Letters are arranged in syllable blocks, which each form one syllable. Each block can include an initial consonant, a vowel, and sometimes a final consonant (or "batchim"). For example, the word "Hangul" (한글) is made up of two blocks: 한 (han) and 글 (geul).

Phonetic Design: The shapes of Hangul’s consonants reflect the position of the speech organs (mouth, tongue, teeth) when pronounced, making it visually intuitive for learners.

Comparison to Other Alphabets

Unlike alphabets such as the Latin alphabet, which is written sequentially in a line, Hangul’s syllable blocks give it a square and compact appearance more similar to Chinese characters, although it functions completely phonetically.