08-05-2008 18:15

Hulbert Extolled Superiority of Korean Language

Homer B. Hulbert
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

A respected English teacher during the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) eulogized the beauty of the written Korean language hangeul in a report recently found in the United States.

The Hulbert Memorial Society Monday made public the ages-old document on the occasion of the 59th year of Homer B. Hulberts death.

The document showed that Hulbert called Korean superior to English as a medium for public speaking.

``So far as we can see, there is nothing in Korean speech that makes it less adapted to oratory than English or any other Western tongues. In common with the language of Cicero and Demosthenes, Korean is composed of periodic sentences. Each sentence reaches its climax in the verb, which comes at the end; and there are no weakening addenda that often makes the English sentence an anticlimax, Hulbert wrote in the report.

He also spoke highly of the grammatical superiority of Korean.

``In Western languages, differences in sex, number and person, are carefully noted. But in the Korean language, these are left to the speakers and the hearers perspicacity and attention is concentrated upon a terse and luminous collocation of ideas. This is often secured in the West only by a tedious circumstance, Hulbert said.

``Another feature of the Korean language is its great number of mimetic words. As Korean colors are drawn directly from nature, so a great number of its words are phonetic descriptions.

Hulbert was one of a few Americans who served in Korea as English teachers during the Joseon Kingdom. He first stepped on Korean soil in 1886 and worked at the Royal English School, the first state-backed Western-style school in Korea, and later worked as a special envoy for King Kojong.

Kim Dong-jin, chairman of the Hulbert society and executive vice president of Standard Chartered First Bank, found the document at Colombia University in September 2006.

The report written by Hulbert was insert ed in the annual report of the Washington-based Smithsonian Institution. It was published in 1903.

An event to commemorate the 59th anniversary of his death was held Tuesday in Seoul, with the participation of several dignitaries including National Assembly Speaker Kim Hyong-o.

pss@koreatimes.co.kr