Say what? Language hurdles plague two Koreas after years of division
▻https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-northkorea-southkorea-dictionary/say-what-language-hurdles-plague-two-koreas-after-years-of-division-idUK
“There were confounding moments because there were terms I never heard of while working and living just in South Korea,” he said, describing blank looks from some North Korean workers when he used the word “container,” which is pronounced similar to its English term in South Korea.
Between the South’s increasing adoption of international terms and the North’s political sensitivity to some words, the growing language divide is complicating cooperation on a range of joint cultural and economic exchanges as ties between the neighbours improve.
To counter the confusion and promote a feeling of unity, the South Korean government is working to restart an obscure academic project aimed at developing a common Korean language dictionary with the North.
North and South Korea speak the same language based on the #Hangeul alphabet, but after decades of division, only about 70 percent of words are mutually understood, according to some experts.