Vanishing languages, including Cia-Cia, recorded in Hangul... ‘Hunminjeongeum Globalization Forum’ to be held

[Financial News]  
Hangul is being used as a writing system to record languages around the world, including in Indonesia, South America and Siberia. Following the development of a way to write the language of Indonesia’s Cia-Cia people in Hangul, writing systems based on Hunminjeongeum have also been developed for the languages of Bolivia’s Aymara people and Siberia’s Nanai people.
An international academic forum will be held to showcase examples of how Hunminjeongeum has been used to record languages around the world and in education.
Yonsei University’s Institute for East and West Studies said on the 12th that it will hold the “Hunminjeongeum Globalization Forum 2026” on Nov. 18 at the Grand Auditorium of Yonsei University’s Yoonjae Hall. The forum’s theme is “The World’s Endangered and Disappearing Languages and Cultures: Preserving Them Through Hunminjeongeum.” The institute is hosting the event, with the Hunminjeongeum Globalization Foundation and the Hunminjeongeum Society organizing it.
In 2009, the Hunminjeongeum Globalization Foundation and the Hunminjeongeum Society developed and distributed “Cia-Cia Jeongeum,” a system for writing the language of the Cia-Cia people on Buton Island, Indonesia. They later expanded their work to include “Aymara Jeongeum” for Bolivia’s Aymara people and “Nanai Jeongeum” for Siberia’s Nanai people. They also supported the distribution of “Chitembo Jeongeum” for the Pygmy people of Congo, Africa.
The forum will examine 17 years of work developing and disseminating writing systems, as well as the creation of textbooks and dictionaries and examples of recording folk tales. It will also discuss challenges in education and cultural preservation for languages without a writing system or with a limited written record.
A calligraphy and painting exhibition titled “Old Stories of the World,” featuring legends passed down in communities whose languages are at risk of extinction, will also be held at the venue.

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