By Suha Al Subaihi
The School of Foreign Languages at the University of Jordan (UJ) celebrated Hangeul Day today, marking 579 years since the creation of the Korean alphabet (Hangul) by King Sejong. The event was organized by the King Sejong Institute at the university and held in the Languages Garden on campus.
The celebration, which attracted many students from the school and the university, featured several interactive booths that introduced visitors to the beauty of the Korean language and culture.
Among those were a writing booth, where students had the opportunity to write their names in the Korean alphabet, and an information booth, which provided a historical overview of the origin of Hangul and its significance in Korea.
The event also included cultural contests, traditional Korean games, and the serving of popular Korean food. Souvenirs from Korea were distributed to participants in an atmosphere that reflected the spirit of cultural exchange and academic cooperation between Jordan and Korea.
In his remarks, Dean of the School of Foreign Languages, Prof. Marwan Al-Jarrah, emphasized that celebrating Hangul Day aligns with the school’s mission to promote awareness of world languages and their cultures, highlighting the importance of giving students opportunities to explore different cultures through extracurricular activities organized annually by the school and the King Sejong Institute.
He added that Hangul Day is a national holiday in South Korea, celebrated annually by the Korean people in honor of the creation of their alphabet; one of the most systematic and clear writing systems in the world.
Designed to be easy to learn and phonetically precise, Hangul is based on scientific and linguistic principles, making it a model that combines functional efficiency with linguistic beauty.
It is noteworthy that Hangul consists of 14 consonants and 10 vowels, created according to three main principles: imitation, stroke order, and position of sound (initial, medial, and final). The consonants were designed based on the shape of the speech organs used in pronunciation, while the vowels were inspired by symbols representing the three elements of the universe: earth, human, and sky.