Is Korean written left to right or top to bottom?
Kathy R.
It can be both. Like other East Asian scripts like Chinese or Japanese, Korean script may be written horizontally or vertically. But in today's Korea, overwhelming majority of Korean is written horizontally, to be read from left to right.
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| An article from Chosun Ilbo, dated July 9, 1970 about bus companies. The headline is written horizontally, while the body is written vertically. (source) |
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My old Korean and Chinese history professor used to joke that the Chinese were more positive than Westerners. Because when the Chinese read they move their heads up and down. Westerners move their heads left and right.
ReplyDeleteFor beginner students of Korean it is also quite useful to know that vertical writing is most commonly encountered on wall menus. I remember being stumped on my first encounter with vertically written hangeul in a hole in the wall eatery.
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=ghdy07&logNo=40117764281&viewDate=¤tPage=1&listtype=0
i remember korean comic books being read from the back of the book to front and left to right :D
ReplyDeletethis was also when I was a kid which was 20 years ago...
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ReplyDeleteWhen it's vertical, is it always from right to left?
ReplyDeleteAnd does anyone know why did this shift happen? Was there some reason to it or was it simply an evolution of readers preferences?
I've only ever seen it go from right to left when it's vertical. I believe Hankyoreh was first newspaper to be printed horizontally and read from left to right (in 1988). A look at the 4 newspapers in Naver's News Library shows that the Maeil Gyeongje changed to this format around 1997, and the Kyunghyang Shinmun and Donga Ilbo around 1998. I don't know why, though. It's an interesting question.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much.
ReplyDeleteI have a black belt in taekwondo and on my belt it says my name and "taekwondo alliance" in vertical Korean calligraphy, I would like to get it as a tattoo but horizontally. What changes need to be made, can I just turn the characters 90 degrees?
ReplyDelete