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gdimension
Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Location: Jeju
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 Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:34 am Post subject: Delusions of Grandeur |
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Hangul was a great invention, no doubt. And I've spent a fair amount of time studying and enjoying the spoken word in Korea, too.
But, this guy is a nut:
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| ``We welcome this decision by the so-called United Nations,�� said Han Il-han, chairman of the Hangul for the World Association (HWA) in a news conference in Seoul. ``The world is divided by too many languages, but now with a Korean-speaker as Secretary-General, we hope there will be further steps towards unification.�� |
He was referring to the recent designation of April 1st as "World Hangul Day". And, yes, I believe he was talking not of N-S Korean unification, but of the unification of the WORLD in speaking and using Korean! Now, that's some chutzpah!
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| The stated objective of the HWA founders is for Korean to be the dominant global language by 2087 |
They've had some success:
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| ``Many people from inferior races can now read and write their own languages in Hangul,�� Mr. Han said. |
"Inferior races", no less.
English teachers may be a thing of the past...
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After graduating, Mr. Han�s group embarked on a program of identifying languages with weak grammatical structures and limited vocabulary, which could be replaced by Korean, and languages with highly irregular spelling systems which could benefit from Hangul.
English, which has highly irregular spelling, is an obvious target, but the group has so far avoided what it describes as ``imperialist tongues.�� Others being avoided are Spanish, French and Mandarin despite the fact that many ethnic Koreans living in countries controlled by speakers of those languages have been pushing the HWA to endorse their own local initiatives. |
So, they are avoiding "imperialist tongues" in their imperialist conquest. Pot, kettle...
Read the full, amusing article here.
Edit: This has got to be an "April Fool's" article, right? |
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The Hierophant
Joined: 13 Sep 2005
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:49 am Post subject: Re: Delusions of Grandeur |
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| gdimension wrote: |
This has got to be an "April Fool's" article, right? |
Heh heh. Yes, I'd say so  |
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leebumlik69
Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Location: DiRectly above you. Pissing Down
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:49 am Post subject: |
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wow. Excellen post. The Korea bashers will have a fieeeld day and they're right to. It's incredibly racist. I notice the web site has the "superior" spelling of Hankook
I still maintain though that all this is just part of their own inferiorority complex.
Korean people (like many Asians) will generally always be insecure about their past and being overshadowed technologically by the west. Therefore to lash out against this, and so reassure each other of the future of the Han, they will seemingly ALWAYS try to imbue a facade of superiority.
Facade really is the important word here. I just wish Korean people could be Korean people again. They certainly aren't inferior to "Westerners" in any way, and if they were it would be NOTHING to do with advances in technology etc.
Last edited by leebumlik69 on Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:53 am; edited 1 time in total |
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leebumlik69
Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Location: DiRectly above you. Pissing Down
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:53 am Post subject: Re: Delusions of Grandeur |
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| The Hierophant wrote: |
| gdimension wrote: |
This has got to be an "April Fool's" article, right? |
Heh heh. Yes, I'd say so |
Time before it gets edited or removed after original post. My money's on 25 hours! 
Also remember the old Korean saying, you've probably heard as many times as I have. You know the one:
"~If you joke about something serious it's because part of you means it"
I hear that from Korean people X 1000 times more than any other people I've met.
So, my question:
"Is there something you're trying to tell us Korea?"
At least, it's a little spill of Korean secrecy that they so rarely show us.
It's almost like a hidden cry from a Korean to other Koreans, that goes something like this:
"Are we becomming the thing we're pretending to be!!!! ??"
Last edited by leebumlik69 on Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:06 am; edited 5 times in total |
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yingwenlaoshi
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:57 am Post subject: |
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| Afreel puking hool day |
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gdimension
Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Location: Jeju
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:01 am Post subject: |
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Yeah - I hope nobody takes this too seriously.
The article got me when I first starting reading it, but I was laughing out loud by the end (the bit about the "imperialist tongues" was excellent). |
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Woland
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:22 am Post subject: |
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Deleted. Fooled myself.  Good one. |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:14 am Post subject: |
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| When I read the article? I was like "What the hell?". It seemd so surreal, and I was like who would take this person seriously. This sounds like some dumb, sick joke. And it was a joke. As far as Hangeul, it is not as original as many Koreans believe. It was influence by other Asian scripts and some of the Asian scripts were influenced by a Semitic, Aramaic alphabet. |
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Brady
Joined: 25 Jul 2006
Location: Bucheon
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:23 am Post subject: |
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| I'd be all for it if they invented a letter for "th," "z," "f," "v," and "r." |
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Travelous Maximus
Joined: 15 Jan 2007
Location: Nueva Anglia
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:45 am Post subject: |
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| Adventurer wrote: |
| When I read the article? I was like "What the hell?". It seemd so surreal, and I was like who would take this person seriously. This sounds like some dumb, sick joke. And it was a joke. As far as Hangeul, it is not as original as many Koreans believe. It was influence by other Asian scripts and some of the Asian scripts were influenced by a Semitic, Aramaic alphabet. |
No way, Jose. Don't you know language was invented 5,000 years ago in Korea? |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 4:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Do they realise that most people in the world could not find Korea on a world map and ex-pats here are often asked 'What language do Koreans speak?' when they go home? |
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R-Seoul
Joined: 23 Aug 2006
Location: your place
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 4:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
| Do they realise that most people in the world could not find Korea on a world map and ex-pats here are often asked 'What language do Koreans speak?' when they go home? |
Even when I was in Taiwan I had people asking if I lived in North or South Korea. 'Korea nobody knows ya'. |
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jaganath69
Joined: 17 Jul 2003
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Why do a certain breed of Korean cultural commentators view globalisation and the spread of ideas as some kind of zero-sum, nineteenth-century game? Moreover, why do they fail to miss the point that cultural artifacts are not propagated simply by proclamation of their superiority? Soft power, cultural strength is usually a legacy of current or former hegemony, military or economic strength. The last isolated nation (Britain) to send its language (English) around the world did so by virtue of the world's greatest navy, extensive trade and colonisation, a former colony that took over its mantle as world superpower (the USA) and the creation of a global media based largely in that former colony. Just how does Korea plan to do this? |
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markhan
Joined: 02 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:49 pm Post subject: |
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| jaganath69 wrote: |
| Why do a certain breed of Korean cultural commentators view globalisation and the spread of ideas as some kind of zero-sum, nineteenth-century game? Moreover, why do they fail to miss the point that cultural artifacts are not propagated simply by proclamation of their superiority? Soft power, cultural strength is usually a legacy of current or former hegemony, military or economic strength. The last isolated nation (Britain) to send its language (English) around the world did so by virtue of the world's greatest navy, extensive trade and colonisation, a former colony that took over its mantle as world superpower (the USA) and the creation of a global media based largely in that former colony. Just how does Korea plan to do this? |
You do know that this article is a joke, right? It is April Fool's Day. |
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venus
Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Location: Near Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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| markhan wrote: |
| jaganath69 wrote: |
| Why do a certain breed of Korean cultural commentators view globalisation and the spread of ideas as some kind of zero-sum, nineteenth-century game? Moreover, why do they fail to miss the point that cultural artifacts are not propagated simply by proclamation of their superiority? Soft power, cultural strength is usually a legacy of current or former hegemony, military or economic strength. The last isolated nation (Britain) to send its language (English) around the world did so by virtue of the world's greatest navy, extensive trade and colonisation, a former colony that took over its mantle as world superpower (the USA) and the creation of a global media based largely in that former colony. Just how does Korea plan to do this? |
You do know that this article is a joke, right? It is April Fool's Day. |
WTF?
April Fools Day is Sunday! |
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