Korean Language

Korean is the official language of South Korea and is classified by most linguists as a language isolate. It incorporates a significant number of loan words from Chinese. Korean uses an indigenous writing system called Hangul (한글), created in 1446 by King Sejong, to provide a convenient alternative to the Classical Chinese Hanja (한자) characters that were difficult to learn and did not fit the Korean language well. South Korea still uses some Chinese Hanja characters in limited areas, such as print media and legal documentation.

The Korean language in South Korea has a standard dialect known as the Seoul dialect, with an additional four dialects (Chungcheong (충청), Gangwon (강원), Gyeongsang (경상), and Jeolla(절라)) and one language (Jeju (제주) in use around the country.