Mistakes Koreans make that you shouldn’t repeat (1): Confusion between 한글 and 한국어 (plus a bonus: 국어)

Hello!

In this article, I’d like to talk about a common confusion among many Koreans.
When you finish reading, see if you notice this mistake when talking to any Koreans you meet!

한글 = Korean alphabet / Korean letters
한국어 = Korean language

Unfortunately, a large number of Koreans confuse 한글 and 한국어.

Why? Is it because both words start with 한?

Or because they don’t clearly grasp the difference between 글 (letter, character) and 말 (language)?
Whatever the reason, it’s better not to repeat this mistake.

Some people exclaim: “Oh dear, he’s saying bad words! King Sejong must be turning in his grave!”

Or: “What’s with this incomprehensible sentence? Brrr, destroyers of 한글!”
👉 They're all wrong to say that.

(1) The ones being criticized simply spoke or wrote incorrectly. They didn’t distort the letters ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ … ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ!
Fortunately, everyone still knows how to write ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ … ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ correctly.

(2) King Sejong didn’t create 한국어, but invented 한글, the writing system for Korean, in 1443.
You don’t create a language overnight! 😆

🫠 Regrettable Fact 1
All over the world, there are institutes teaching 한국어 (the Korean language). But they’re often called 한글 학교 (Hangul alphabet schools)!
Yet people don’t go there just to learn 한글 and then leave—they go to learn 한국어!

🫠 Regrettable Fact 2
During 한글날 (Korean Alphabet Day) in South Korea, many TV programs talk about proper usage, vocabulary, or rediscovering expressions.
But none of that has anything to do with 한글!
On that day, TV should rather teach how King Sejong initiated and completed his monumental project!

💫 Let’s Go Further
Interesting point: Koreans aren’t really used to calling their language 한국어. They say 국어 or, more colloquially, 한국말.
☝️ 국어(國語) means “national language.” It’s the term used both for the school subject and the language itself.
한국어 is used more in international contexts.
It seems that few countries use such a name for their language.
French speakers say “français,” English speakers say “English,” for both the language and the school subject.
(Let me know if there are comparable cases to 국어 in other cultures.)
☝️ 한국말 = 한국어
말 (a purely native Korean word meaning “language”) corresponds to -어 (a suffix meaning “language”).
The word 한국말, less formal, is thus more common than 한국어 in casual speech.
But it’s not just about register: even at school, Koreans call their language 국어, so they’re not used to saying 한국어!

🗯️ Little Anecdote
One day (I was 25 😆), I had a job interview in France with Korean executives. Talking about my interests, I said: “I study 한국어 to better blah blah…”
And then they gave me a puzzled look—I felt like they thought there was something wrong with me...!
I thought, “Darn, why didn’t I say 국어? A slip of the tongue! Maybe because I was abroad?”
I quickly followed up: “Nowadays, a lot of people make mistakes—even university professors or big public figures don’t always speak or write well…”
But they didn’t seem to really understand. Of course: like many, they weren’t very attentive to such details… Alas!

🫤 For Those Who Are Confused
Explain it to them like this (especially to Koreans, haha!):

한글 = the Korean writing system
한국어 = the language spoken on the Korean peninsula for millennia

Think of the “language versus language” relation:
·       French (프랑스어) : 한국어
·       Chinese (중국어) : 한국어
·       Russian (러시아어) : 한국어
·       Arabic (아랍어) : 한국어

And the “writing versus writing” relation:
·       Latin alphabet (알파벳) : 한글
·       Chinese characters (한자) : 한글
·       Cyrillic alphabet (키릴 문자) : 한글
·       Arabic script (아랍 문자) : 한글

Let’s also remember that there are small communities which have adopted 한글 to write their own language.
Since 한글 doesn’t mean 한국어, they shouldn’t be confused—especially since 한글 is no longer used only for Korean.
If 한글 meant 한국어, what would become of the languages of these minorities? 😵‍💫
This really shows the problem with calling a Korean language school 한글 학교. 😵‍💫

💫💫 Let’s Go Even Further
Similar to 국어(國語), the Korean word 모국어(母國語), meaning “mother tongue,” also contains the element 국 (國 “country, nation”).
In French and English, the expression “mother tongue” doesn’t have that notion of “nation.”
It would be interesting to explore this subject further, but let’s stop here.
Incidentally, the word 모어(母語) is often preferred by linguists—and personally, I prefer it to 모국어.

See you next time!