Writing on signs in South Korea
Circles and lines in blocks
Korean Hangul builds each syllable as a square block of simple shapes: circles like ㅇ, short lines and corners like ㄱ and ㄴ.
- Circles inside the characters are the giveaway: Chinese and Japanese rarely have them.
- Each block is one syllable, like 한 or 국.
- Shop fronts are often crowded with big Hangul signs, one above another.
14 photos, grouped by the clue they show.
Key clue Shop sign 7
Key clue Street sign 7
South Korea: what its writing looks like
Korean is written in Hangul, an alphabet invented in the 15th century. Its letters are simple shapes, circles, lines and corners, packed into square blocks, one block per syllable.
The circle ㅇ is the easiest clue: it appears in a lot of Korean words and almost never in Chinese or Japanese writing.
Hangul is used all over South Korea. Road signs add the name in Latin letters, and some old signs still use Chinese characters.
Look-alikes: how to tell them apart
Japan
TaiwanJapanese mixes Chinese characters with rounded kana, and Taiwan uses complex Chinese characters only. Neither has Hangul's circles.
Questions about the writing in South Korea
How do I recognise Korean writing?
Look for square blocks made of circles, straight lines and corners, like 한 or 국. The circle ㅇ is the giveaway.
Do Korean road signs use English?
Yes. Most road signs show the place name in Hangul with a Latin-letter version below.