Hangeul preserves minority tribes’ language

A minority tribe in Indonesia has chosen to use Hangeul as its official writing system to save their endangered native language. The tribe in question is on the island of Buton in southeastern Sulawesi. Last July, elementary and high school students in Bau-Bau, the largest city in Buton Island, begun to learn their spoken language by Hangeul.

“I am happy now because Jjia jjia culture won’ be lost.”

An elementary school teacher named Abidin, in Buton Island, Indonesia carefully wrote down Hangeul on the board and asked his fourth-grade students how to read it in its native language “Jjia jjia”. They answered in chorus, “I eat fish”

They know little about Korea which is located 3,500 miles away from their Island. Until a couple of months ago, none of them had met a Korean, and it is still difficult for them to locate the Korean Peninsula on the map. Buton Island, however, officially adopted Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, as their writing system and has been teaching it to students to maintain and preserve their native language which has no alphabets.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the story of ‘Hangeul Island’ saying that a tribe in Indonesia decided to use Hangeul to express their spoken language which is on the verge of extinction. It said that Koreans are extremely proud of Hangeul created by King Sejong and are planning to globalize it against Chinese characters and the Roman alphabet. They mainly target the ethnic minorities whose own languages have no writing system.

Textbooks were completed and distributed to them by linguists at Seoul National University. “They hope to preserve their language and culture” said Professor Lee Ho-young, who is leading this project.

One of the Hangeul scholars in the 1990s devised a Hangeul-based alphabet for Lahu, spoken by the tribe living in southern China and Southeast Asia but it was failed to be used.


Inhabitants of the Buton Island are not only using the Korean writing system but also hoping to upgrade cultural exchanges with Korea, one of Asia’s strong economies. Last November, officials in Bau-Bau, the largest city in Buton Island, visited Korea, looked into enterprises, and were initiated in the know-how of tourist development industry. Amirul Tamin, Bau-Bau’s mayor, dreams of building a Korean cultural center in Bau-Bau and exporting seaweeds produced in the waters around to Korea. “Korean companies may invest in Bau-Bau and start their business here” said Mr.
Tamin.