Local name: 한국어 hangugeo in South Korea, 조선어 joseoneo in North Korea and China, 고려말 goryeomal in former Soviet states
Language family: Language isolate or Altaic > Koreanic > Korean (disputed)
Native speakers: ~ 75 millions (ne.se, 2010)
Script: Hangul
Official in: South Korea, North Korea, China (Yanbian prefecture)
Spoken mostly in: South Korea, North Korea, China (esp. Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces), United States, Japan, Canada

Korean is considered a language isolate by many researchers, i.e. it has no known relatives. Others group it together with Japanese, Turkish, Mongolian and other languages in the proposed Altaic family, but the existence of such a language family is disputed.

Like many languages in East Asia, Korean has been influenced by Chinese and used to be written with Chinese characters, which are still used marginally. However, the main writing system for Korean is Hangul, which was developed in 1443. Hangul is an alphabet, where the design of the consonants is based on their place of articulation. Also vowels follow a logic scheme. Syllables are grouped together and can be read in blocks.

South Korean Standard: “Haewa baram
Speaker: Lee Kangmi (이강미) Age at recording: 29 (2014) Geographical reference: Seoul, KR (Google Map) Writing system: Hangul Transcription scheme: Revised Romanization


해와 바람이 누가 더 힘이 센지를 놓고 다투었다.
길가는 나그네를 보고 해가 말했다.
“좋은 생각이 있어. 우리 중 저 나그네의 외투를 벗길 수 있는 쪽을 더 강하다고 인정하는 게 어때? 자네부터 해 보게나.”
그래서 해는 구름 뒤로 숨고, 사나이를 향해 바람이 있는 힘껏 불어제끼기 시작했다.
하지만 바람을 더 세차게 불수록 나그네는 외투를 단단히 여미었다.
결국 바람이 좌절하고 물러나자, 이제 해가 앞에 나섰다.
해는 나그네를 향해 따스한 햇볕을 쬐기 시작했다.
얼마 지나지 않아 나그네는 외투를 입고 걷기에는 너무 덥다고 생각하게 되었다.

Haewa barami nuga deo himi senjireul notgo datueotda.
Gilganeun nageunereul bogo haega malhaetda.
“Jo-eun saenggagi isseo. Uri jung jeo nageuneui oetureul beotgir su inneun jjogeur deo ganghadago injeonghaneun ge eottae? Janebuteo hae bogena.”
Geuraeseo haeneun gureum dwiro sumgo, sanaireul hyanghae barami inneun himkkeot bureojekkigi sijakaetda.
Hajiman barameul deo sechage bulsorok nageunaneun oetureul dandanhi yeomieotda.
Gyeolguk barami jwajeolhago mulleonaja, ije haega ape naseotda.
Haneun nageunereul hyanghae ttaseuhan haetbyeoteul jjoegi sijakaetda.
Eolma jinaji ana nageuneneun oetureul ipgo geotgieuneun neomu deopdago saenggakage doeeotda.