Language Information
Korean is the official and national language of both South Korea (the Republic of Korea) and North Korea (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea), and is spoken by approximately 80 million people. There are also significan Korean speaking communities in China, Russia, and Japan.
Linguistically, Korean is not close to any living language and is often classified as a language isolate.
Korean uses a unique alphabetical system, called "Hangul," to read and write for most purposes. Chinese characters are used in very rare situations as well, such as ancient idioms and names.
Learning Korean at IU
The Korean Language Program at IU offers all four levels of Korean from Elementary to Advanced. In all levels, the four fundamental language skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing will be enhanced, although the lower levels (elementary and Intermediate) will gear more toward speaking and listening skills, and the upper levels (advanced-intermediate and advanced) will gear more toward reading and writing skills. The courses in the lower levels consist of lectures (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and drill sections (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays).
In addition to language study, courses on Korean language and culture as well as on Korean linguistics are offered.
Recommended Korean resources for IU students
