Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wo buxihuan hanguoren]

For the life of me I can't think of a single Korean invention, or radical new technology.

Any ideas? I want to teach countries and related inventions to my advanced class on Wednesday. Please don't be snide and say kimchi which is Chinese in origin or anything else cheesy like that. Looking for something Korean-invented that is actually known and used throughout the world. Throw me a bone here and help a brother out!

Thanks.

[Qinella]

Have you not been banned yet?

That's a better topic for this conversation.

[wo buxihuan hanguoren]

[Guri Guy]

Here is a few:

[JAWINSEOUL]

- The metal plates for the printing press
- Measurments for rain
- Hangul
- MP3 players
ect...

[wo buxihuan hanguoren]

[wo buxihuan hanguoren]

[mervsdamun]

Koreans claim to have invented ironclad warships but that is very much open to debate (what they call geobukseon).

[Guri Guy]

Hangeul was not exactly original either although it was a signifigant improvement for the Korean people. It was not widely used until the 20th century though so I can't say that it's impact on the world stage has been awe inspiring.

Many linguists and other scholars that study such things seem to think Koreans got the idea from the Mongols. The Mongols occupied Korea for over a century and the Mongols had set about getting a script for their language so they wouldn't have to use Chinese. Sound familiar? They enlisted the help of Tibetan monks to do so. Likely the Koreans used the same idea. It might also explain why Hangeul was not popular until the 20th century as it might have been associated with the Mongols who were considered a barbaric people.

'Phags-pa script
Origin

In 1269, Khubilai Khan commissioned a Tibetan Lama called Matidhvaja Sribhadra (1239-1280) to create a new alphabet for Mongolian. At that time, Mongolian was written with the Uighur alphabet, which wasn't really suitable for the task. Khubilai wanted the new alphabet to reflect the sounds of Mongolian more accurately, and also hoped that it would help to unify his vast, multilingual empire and could be used to write other languages. Sribhadra created an new alphabet based on the Tibetan alphabet.

Inspite of being actively promoted by the Mongol government, the 'Phags-pa alphabet was not adopted by the Mongolians or the Chinese. The most recent example of 'Phags-pa writing dates from 1352.

'Phags-pa alphabet



King Sejong and his scholars probably based some of the letter shapes of the Korean alphabet on other scripts such as Mongolian and 'Phags Pa, and the traditional direction of writing (vertically from right to left) most likely came from Chinese, as did the practice of writing syllables in blocks.

Even after the invention of the Korean alphabet, most Koreans who could write continued to write either in Classical Chinese or in Korean using the Gukyeol or Idu systems. The Korean alphabet was associated with people of low status, i.e. women, children and the uneducated. During the 19th and 20th centuries a mixed writing system combining Chinese characters (Hanja) and Hangeul became increasingly popular. Since 1945 however, the importance of Chinese characters in Korean writing has diminished significantly.

[blackjack]

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseon_Dynasty#Science_and_culture)

"Many Korean inventions are from this period, such as the first Asian sundial and the world's first water-powered clock. Also, King Sejong saw the development of the world's first rain gauge, made by court scientist Jang Yeong-sil. [1] During the Joseon period, the metal printing press, invented during the Goryeo dynasty in 1232, supplanted the wood-block printing press in China. �

and

"During the war, Koreans developed powerful firearms and high-quality gunpowder and the Turtle ships, the first cannon-bearing ironclad warships in world history."

[Richard Krainium]

The first sundial in Asia, the water clock, the rain gauge and the metal printing press.

Fortunately, they didn't invent dorks who play D & D, nor did they invent internet trolling, so you can't give a class on something you are an expert at.

[ruffie]

The pubic fluff n' dry technique.

[wo buxihuan hanguoren]

No recent inventions at ALL? Christ, with all the hours that they spend studying you'd think there would at least be one from the last 50 years.

Anyway, thanks to all who replied (except for that Qinella lady), but I am going to choose a different topic for my advanced class. Actually, I've been reading up a lot on African history lately and think I will do a topic about that instead, educate them about Africa in English, might even try and get some debates going because Africa is a neutral place for Koreans I figure, but yeah, thanks for the answers.

[wo buxihuan hanguoren]

[ruffie]