▶ Some experts say that Korean is bad for expressing concepts. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger said Greek and German were the best languages for philosophical study. But they were not born at such an advanced level: they are simply regarded as suitable languages for philosophical study because countries using the languages have produced numerous distinguished philosophers. Hence the value of some Korean academics’ efforts to publish a Korean dictionary of philosophical terms and find Korean equivalents to foreign jargon.

▶ Philosophy professor Lee Ki-sang at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies is taking up the challenge to find Korean replacements for difficult Heidegger coinages like “Geworfenheit” and “Zuhandenheit.” However, Prof. Cho Dong-il at the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Seoul National University says a deeper understanding of Chinese characters is necessary for the development of Hangul, stressing the common cultural tradition of countries using Chinese characters in East Asia.

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