“Read 7,000 Languages in Hangul”
King Sejong’s 582-Year-Old Design Meets Modern Linguistics
WIA (World Certification Industry Association) has released WIHP (WIA International Hangul Phonology), a system claiming to transcribe any language’s pronunciation using the Korean alphabet. Here are answers to the most common questions and skepticisms.
Q1. “7,000 languages in Hangul?” Isn’t that an exaggeration?
A. The secret lies in the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). Created by linguists in 1888, the IPA represents ALL human speech sounds using approximately 250 symbols. Every language—English, Swahili, Icelandic—uses combinations of these 250 sounds.
WIHP maps these 250 IPA symbols to Hangul. Therefore, any language expressible in IPA (approximately 7,000) can be read in Hangul.
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[IPA to Hangul Mapping]
Q2. Can’t the Latin alphabet do the same thing with IPA mapping?
A. Great question. But the answer is no.
Consider the “th” sound in English:
- think = /θ/ (voiceless)
- this = /ð/ (voiced)
Same spelling “th,” different sounds. English’s 26 letters can’t even properly represent its own 44 phonemes.
Hangul, however, is a “Featural Script”—the letter shapes themselves encode how sounds are produced. According to Wikipedia, “The only prominent featural writing system in actual use is Hangul.”
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[Hangul Featural Design]
Q3. King Sejong couldn’t have known about IPA, right?
A. That’s exactly what makes this remarkable.
| 1443 | King Sejong creates Hangul based on speech organ shapes |
| 1888 | IPA Association standardizes human speech sounds |
| 2025 | WIA discovers they map perfectly to each other |
582 years ago, without any concept of IPA, King Sejong created a phoneme-based writing system. It turns out Hangul and IPA were “meant to be together.”
Q4. What are the real-world applications?
A. Immediate use cases include:
- Travel: Vietnamese “Xin chào” → “신 짜오” (instantly readable)
- Language Learning: Accurate native pronunciation in readable form
- Business: Pronounce foreign client names correctly
- Accessibility: Combined with Braille for universal language access
- AI/Translation: Standardized pronunciation data format
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[WHIP Real World Usage]
Lives WIHP Will Change
A Vietnamese Grandmother’s Tears
Her daughter married and moved to Korea. Her grandson doesn’t speak Vietnamese—but with WIHP, he writes Vietnamese in Hangul and sends letters home. Grandma can’t read Vietnamese script, but she can read the Hangul pronunciation of her native language. She hears her grandson’s voice in those letters.
A Blind Person’s World Tour
Traditional Braille differs for each language. WIA Braille, combined with WIHP, is IPA-based—meaning one Braille system can represent 7,000 languages. Now, visually impaired people can learn to pronounce any language, anywhere they travel.
An African Child’s Identity
A child from a minority tribe with no written language. Their mother tongue was “unwritable.” Now, through WIHP, their language’s pronunciation is recorded in Hangul. What never existed before now exists. A voice becomes visible.
A First-Generation Immigrant’s Legacy
A Korean grandfather who immigrated to America. His grandchildren only speak English. His hometown dialect, the songs from his childhood… Recorded in Hangul through WIHP, his great-grandchildren can “read” their ancestor’s voice generations later.
Saving Dying Languages
According to UNESCO, one language dies every two weeks. Minority languages with shrinking speakers… WIHP can preserve their pronunciations in Hangul. Even when a language dies, its sound lives forever.
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[Lives Changed by WHIP]
Comparison: Existing Systems vs WIHP
| Feature | Google Translate | Romanization | WIHP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Languages | ~130 | Varies | 7,000+ |
| Accuracy | Machine voice | Inconsistent | IPA-based |
| Readability | Original script | Latin letters | Hangul (instant) |
| Offline | Requires internet | Yes | Yes |
15 Language Examples
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[7000 Languages Connected]
“Discovery, Not Invention”
WIHP didn’t create something new.
It discovered that King Sejong’s 582-year-old system
and the linguists’ 137-year-old IPA
were always meant to work together.
Academic Sources
- Wikipedia “Featural Writing System”: “The only prominent featural system is Hangul”
- arXiv Paper (2012): “Hangulphabet can be used as an alternative to IPA”
- Britannica: “Hangul consonants represent the shape of speech organs”
- Geoffrey Sampson (Linguist): First classified Hangul as a “featural script”
弘益人間 (Hongik Ingan) – “Benefit All Humanity”
WIA releases the entire WIHP system as open source.
Chrome Extension, Desktop App, and Mobile Keyboard—all free.
Try it now
WIA (World Certification Industry Association)
Website: wiastandards.com/wihp
GitHub: github.com/WIA-Official/WIHP
Contact: standards@wiastandards.com
<저작권자 ⓒ 코리안투데이(The Korean Today) 무단전재 및 재배포 금지>
