Korean language

The Korean language (??? / ???) is the most widely used language in Korea, and is the official language of both North and South Korea. The language is also spoken widely in neighbouring Yanbian, China. Worldwide, there are around 78 million Korean speakers, including large groups in the former Soviet Union, Australia, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Japan, and more recently the Philippines. The language is strongly associated with the Korean people.

Names

"Korean" is not the name used by Korean speakers as the name of their language. The Korean names for the language are based on the names for Korea used in North and South Korea.

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In North Korea, Korea is called Chos?n (??), and the language is most often called Chos?nmal (???), or more formally, Chos?n? (???).

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In South Korea, Korea is called Hanguk (??). There and outside of Korea, the language is most often called Hangungmal

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(???), or more formally, Hangugeo (???). The language is also sometimes referred to colloquially as Urimal (???) "our language". The standard language taught in schools is often referred to as Gugeo (??) "national language".

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All of Korea was also called Chos?n, and so many important linguistic works written during that period also refer to the language by the names "Chos?n?" or "Chos?nmal."

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