Hangeul exports to Indonesia subject to dumping ?

From the start*, the promotion of Korea's alphabet in the Indonesian city of Bau-Bau (on a Southeastern Sulawesi island) has always looked much stronger on the "supply" side than on the "demand" side. So I'm not very surprised to learn that the people supposed to adopt hangeul are becoming more... demanding as they get closer to accepting the gift.

The Korea Times reveals that Bau-Bau mayor (Amirul Tamim) is now asking for infrastructures that never were part of the deal**. Not to the Hunminjeongeum Society, the Korean association that initiated the operation, but directly to Seoul Metropolitan Government, apparently caught into the trap after the visit of an Indonesian delegation in late 2009.

Koreans are now weighting the pros of cons of giving in to blackmail, because that's basically what it comes down to : "You showed me the letters ? Now show me the money !"

But there shouldn't be any ultimatum. And the fundamental question should be asked to Mayor Tamim : do you really want this alphabet ? The Hunminjeongeum Society desperately wants to plant a hangeul flag overseas, but if the adoption of Hangeul doesn't happen naturally, it will never happen.

I'm pretty sure King Sejong would never have wanted this beautiful alphabet forced down the throat of an Indonesian tribe. Or subject to bribery or dumping, like some vulgar kind of consumer goods.

At last, there is some evolution on the city website since 2009 (beyond the URL, now baubaukota.go.id) :


Thanks to small icons in the upper right corner, visitors now have a choice of language between Indonesian and Korean or, to be more accurate, between "Indonesia" in bahasa Indonesia and "Korean" in English. Unfortunately, baubaukota.go.id/kr leads to this blank page with the message "Website will be back soon" :


I haven't checked the site since 2009, so I can't tell if the said website has ever existed. But since the message is written in English, I wouldn't bet a buck on it.

To be continued (?).

Seoul Village 2011
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* see "Hangeul lands in Bau-Bau, Indonesia... to save the Cia !" and "Hangeul, take a Bau-Bau"
** see "Hangeul education on Cia Cia stalled"

Hangeul, take a Bau-Bau

Remember the people of Bau-Bau, Indonesia, who are experiencing the Hangeul alphabet for their cia-cia language * ? As expected, a delegation recently arrived in Seoul to meet with subzero temperatures, a warm welcome, and Santa King Sejong.

The warm welcome included the traditional picture behind a large banner - an embarrassing moment no one can bypass during "events" in Korea**. The banner splashed two versions of a message celebrating their arrival in Seoul, the city of Hangeul : one in Hangeul AND in Korean, the other in Bahasa Indonesia.

You would have expected at least one version in Hangeul AND in Cia-Cia but no. So this kind message can be read by people who understand Korean and Indonesian, but - theoretically - can't be read by the people of Bau-Bau. Organizers obviously missed the point, unless their point was this one : we want to spread Hangeul everywhere for people to see, and care less about people who use it. That's definitely not what the Hunminjeongeum Society had it mind, but this large banner definitely looked like a big Freudian slip.

Seoul Village 2009

* see "Hangeul lands in Bau-Bau, Indonesia... to save the Cia !"

** I've been recently caught behind one as well, and was mercifully spared the usual shot with the lifted fist and the "paï-ting !" scream - this "fighting !" became popular after advertising campaigns during the 2002 World Cup.

Hangeul lands in Bau-Bau, Indonesia... to save the Cia !

According to The HunminJeongeum Society (HunminJeongeum Research Institute), representatives from Bau-Bau decided to use the Korean alphabet in order to preserve their own language, a dialect that lacked a writing system.

Created in 1443, Hangeul is often praised by linguists as the most efficient alphabet ever invented and indeed, it takes only a few minutes to understand how it works. Still, Hangeul needed some help to reach Bau-Bau, the most populated town (120,000 inhabitants) of Buton island, at the Southwesternmost point of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The HunminJeongeum institute has been trying to export Hangeul for years. The easiest and most obvious entry points are non written languages with a limited reach and on the verge of extinction : a writing system means an easier conservation, transmission, and of course a global reach via the internet.

Last year, the vice president of the association (headed by Seoul National University Professor Kim Ju-won), Chun Tai-hyun, Professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, announced in a Korean Times interview* that representatives from Bau-Bau would visit Korea to learn Hangeul and find out how to implement it. "In Indonesia, ethnic minority communities are losing their own spoken languages. We realized that the Korean alphabet could actually help preserve these endangered local languages."

The said trip bore interesting fruits : a comprehensive textbook in Hangeul created by the Institute and titled "bahasa jjia-jjia 1", and a Korean center soon to be opened (see Yonhap article*).

I found this information both exciting and surprising : If it were say in Thailand, where the national language uses a specific writing system, I would understand the trial... but Bahasa Indonesia itself, the Indonesian language, has adopted the Latin alphabet about one century ago. Indonesian is spoken everywhere, even if many dialects survive, and Latin alphabet already offers a potentially global reach. Choosing an alphabet is a founding moment, and picking a different alphabet almost has to have a political meaning...

I did some quick research :

- on the island's official website (baubau.go.id), there's nothing about the issue yet : all pages seem written in perfect Bahasa Indonesia... as much as I can tell (I haven't practiced the very little I know for 20 years !).

- on the always fascinating UNESCO Atlas of endangered languages, I found only Busoa ("vulnerable") and Taloki ("definitely endangered") in the area. If Indonesia boasts about 130 endangered languages, this very one is not on the list.

- on the "Ethnologue report for Sulawesi, Indonesia", I found the language mentioned on the manual : in 2005, 79,000 people spoke Cia-cia language (or simply cia, which means "no") across this part of Sulawesi, but with many variant dialects. The language is said to be "vigorous" and spoken at "all ages", along with Indonesian and the dominant Austranesian language of Buton island, wlo (or wolio).

- I couldn't dig any clue in the political / social context that may cast a particular light on such a bold move from local representatives.

So my guess is that in this more "push" than "pull" operation, the survival of cia-cia language was not as essential as the opportunity to see how Hangeul performs in a completely new context. Professor Kim Ju-won is even more specific : "In the long run, the spread of Hangeul will also help enhance Korea's economy as it will activate exchanges with societies that use the language."*

I understand that this kind of arguments help raise funds for research, but I sincerely hope that linguistics remain the main topic, and that someone is planning to closely monitor the impacts. For example, I'm anxious to see if there is any impact on pronunciation.

If this thrilling (in all senses of the expression) experiment turns out to be a success, other local languages may be tempted to adopt Hangeul... if they simply don't catch the virus by contagion.

To be followed up...


* "Linguistics Scholar Seeks to Globalize Korean Alphabet" (Korea Times)
** featuring "writing, speaking and reading sections", "the tribe's history, language and culture" (definitely a must), and as a bonus "a Korean fairy tale" - see "Indonesian tribe picks Korean alphabet as official writing system" (Yonhap 20090806)