Hanja

Hanja (한자; 漢字 ; literal meaning: "Han character(s)"), or more rarely spelled, Hancha, also translated Sino-Korean characters, are what Chinese characters (Hanzi) are called in Korean, but specifically, they refer to those that the Korean language borrowed and incorporated into their own language, changing their pronunciation. Unlike the Japanese Kanji, which has altered and simplified many characters, Hanja are almost entirely identical to modern traditional Chinese[?] Hanzi.

Table of contents 1 History 2 Education 3 Uses 4 Pronunciation 5 Vocabulary 6 See also 7 External Link 8 References

History

Hanja was the sole mean of writing Korean until King Sejong the Great invented Han-geul in the 15th century. However, even after the invention of Han-geul, most Korean scholars continued to write in Hanja.

There were some systems developed earlier, to use simplified forms of Chinese characters that phonetically transcribe Korean, called idu (이두 ; 吏讀) and hyangchal (향찰 ; 鄕札), but for the most part Koreans had to learn literary Chinese to be literate.

It was not until the 20th century that Hanja became truly dominated by Han-geul. Officially, Hanja have not been in use in North Korea since 1949, immediately abandoned after the North-South Division.

Education

Hanja are still taught as courses (that have recently became non-compulsory) in South Korean high schools. Hanja educations begins in grade 7 (junior high school) until graduation of senior high school at grade 12. A total of 1800 Hanja (about 100 less than Kanji) are taught: 900 for junior high, and 900 for senior high (starting in grade 10). Post-secondary Hanja education continues in some liberal arts universities.

The 1972 promulgation on basic Hanja for educational purposes were altered in December 31, 2000 to replace 44 Hanja with 44 others. The choice elimination and exclusion caused heated debates prior to and after the 2000 promulgation.

In overseas universities, a sample of Hanja is a requirement for students of Korean Studies of Koreanology. Those who became graduate students[?] usually acquire at least the 1800 basic Hanja.

Uses

Nowadays, Hanja are mainly used in some South Korean and overseas Korean (see Korean-American) newspaper headlines and book titles. The amount of Hanja in publications varies from writer to writer.

Most importantly, Hanja are kept for personal names, for example, Kim Il-sung and Syngman Rhee have names in both Han-geul and Hanja (same pronunciation). However, an increasing minority of Koreans have names that can be written only in Han-geul.

Hanja is still used in Han-geul dictionaries to distinguish between words of the same Han-geul, for example, many homophones are written in Han-geul as 수도 (sudo), including:

1. 修道 "spiritual discipline"
2. 受渡 "receipt and delivery"
3. 囚徒 "prisoner"
4. 水都 "city of water" (e.g. Hong Kong and Naples)
5. 水稻 "aquatic rice
6. 水道 "aquatic duct"
7. 隧道 "tunnel"
8. 首都 "capital (city)"
9. 手刀 "knife of hand"

Hanja dictionaries are organized by radicals, like Hanzi and Kanji.

Pronunciation

The pronunciations of Hanja is not identical to the way the Chinese pronounce them. Concepts learned from China, such as some jargons on technology and philosophy, have related pronunciation. For example, 印刷 "print" is yìngshuā in Chinese and in-soae (인쇄) in Hanja pronunciation. (Other good examples?)

But some of those ideas and things that had already existed in Korea have pronunciation dissimilar to Chinese, for example, the Hanja pronunciation of 女 ("woman") is yeo (여), but in Chinese, it is nǚ. In this case, only the character is acquired, not the pronunciation. (Any more good example?)

Vocabulary

A great deal of Hanja vocabulary were directly borrowed from Chinese vocabulary. Small number of Sino-Korean words were coined by the Koreans. Most terms, especially academic ones, has been borrowed from Japanese. The Japanese translated numerous Western words (mainly English and German) into Sino-Japanese terms by coining or reusing words. Under the Japanese annexation, they were borrowed into Korean systematically changing their pronunciations.

The table below contains words different between Hanzi and Hanja: (Please add more.)

English	Hanja	Hanzi	Han-geul
letter	片紙	信	편지 (pyeonji)
tissue	休紙	草紙	휴지 (hyuji)
gift	膳物	贈品	선물 (seonmul)
bill	外上	帳單	외상 (oisang)
dining table	食卓	餐桌	식탁 (sigtag)
cheque	手票	支票	수표 (su-pyo)
name card, business card	名啣	名片 or 咭片	명함 (myeongham)
maid	食母	女傭	식모 (sigmo)
prohibit, cancel	休止 or __束	取締 or 取消	휴지 (hyuji) or ? (?)
work	工夫	學習	공부 (gongbu)
very	大端	非常	대단 (daedan)
prisoner	囚徒	囚犯	수도 (sudo)
side room	舍廊, 斜廊	側房	사랑 (salang)

Some Hanja have characters in inverse order from Hanzi of China.

English	Hanja	Hanzi	Han-geul
noon	午正	正午	오정 (o-jeong)
compass	羅針盤	羅盤針	나침반 (nachimban)

Some Sino-Korean words derive from kun readings[?] of Kanji. They consist of pure Japanese terms, so most of them are grammatically incorrect in Chinese.

English	Hanja	Japanese	Han-geul
Aikido	合氣道	合気道	합기도 (hapkido)
assembling	組立	組み立て (kumitate)	조립 (chorip)
big sale	大賣出	大売出し (ōuridashi)	대매출 (daemaechul)
building	建物	建物 (tatemono)	건물 (geonmul)
estimate	見積	見積もり (mitsumori)	견적 (gyeoncheok)
share or stock	株式	株式 (kabushiki)	주식 (jusik)
match	試合	試合 (siai)	시합 (sihap)
procedure	手續	手続き (tetsuzuki)	수속 (susok)

See also

• Kanji, the Japanese equivalent of Hanja.
• Han unification

External Link

• A basic course in Hanja (http://www.learnkorean.com/whanja/hclassindex.asp)

References

• Hannas, William. C. 1997. Asia's Orthographic Dilemma. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 082481892X (paperback); ISBN 0824818423 (hardcover)
• DeFrancis, John. 1990. The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0824810686