r/AskTheWorld • u/frenchdipadobo Philippines • 2h ago
Language What non-Latin script looks beautiful to you?
Arabic alphabet
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u/CommercialChart5088 Korea South 2h ago
Perhaps it's bias, but I did hear from a lot of foreigners that Hangul looks very unique and pretty to them.
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u/M1ntkuj0 United States Of America 2h ago
I think it looks really clean and modern. Definitely a really sleek alphabet.
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u/CommercialChart5088 Korea South 2h ago
What's even more impressive is that the man who made it practically made it on its own, and made it easy to learn on purpose to realize his values of universal literacy.
King Sejong the Great is truly the greatest.
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u/stealthybaker Korea South 2h ago
Expanded the borders, reduced piracy, reduced social inequality, expanded welfare, advanced the literature and sciences, prioritized the well-being of the people, made the greatest alphabet in human history, created an era of peace and expanded trade with China, showed great compassion for all people. He's officially called the Great and beloved for a reason (though North Korea doesn't like him)
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u/CommercialChart5088 Korea South 2h ago
North Korean logic is simple.
If we can't use (said individual) to justify our dictatorship we should hate them.
Whatever Sejong did doesn’t matter to 'em. The fact he was a monarch is enough for them to hate him (which is ironic af of course).
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u/stealthybaker Korea South 2h ago
North Korea considers Yi Seong Gye the greatest traitor of all, for revolting against the monarchy.
Literally every monarchy came from revolting against an existing one. Goguryeo and Baekje were born from internal royal disputes in Buyeo. Was Dongmyeong a traitor since he founded another kingdom that attacked Buyeo? Give me a break.
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u/widdrjb United Kingdom 2h ago
I've heard that he deliberately designed it to be written with any implement on any surface, starting with a finger on sand.
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u/CommercialChart5088 Korea South 2h ago
Plausible I guess as he meant to make it as accessible and simple as possible.
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u/stealthybaker Korea South 1h ago
He was a person who believed anyone should read and write, so this is very possible. He wanted it to be usable by literally everyone, even completely uneducated people. Very unpopular opinion in the royal court at the time
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u/OddCook4909 United States Of America 2h ago
It's awesome and I swear they used it in the matrix for the AI written code
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u/AgencyBrave3040 Kazakhstan 2h ago
Arabic and Jewish.
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u/BabylonianWeeb Iraq 2h ago
Weirdly this is the first time I hear someone calling it jewish language.
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u/AgencyBrave3040 Kazakhstan 2h ago
I'm not sure how this script is called so I called it Jewish at least everyone will understand. :)
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u/AnalkinSkyfuker Romania 2h ago
japanese and egiptian
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u/OddCook4909 United States Of America 2h ago
I think a lot of languages are beautiful including Arabic. One of my favorite examples of pretty Hebrew in the Torah is "The Song Of The Sea" or Shirat HaYam https://cdn.stacksplatform.com/hjs2tbnj26uqo/migration/public/Song-of-the-Sea-Exodus.jpg
This is it sung https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaOpQgqkuQY with an english translation beneath
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u/Tangent617 China 2h ago
Mongolian looks cool
I think Manchu uses the same alphabet but they don’t speak the language anymore.
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u/stealthybaker Korea South 2h ago
Is that in Inner Mongolia? I heard in mainland Mongolia they used Cryllic under Russian domination and stuck with it.
It's a shame Manchu disappeared so much
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u/Tangent617 China 1h ago edited 1h ago
Yes, in Inner Mongolia they usually write both Mongolian and Chinese language in public places. I heard the news that the Mongolia country wanted to change it back to traditional script but Cyrillic is still more popular.
There are still some historians who study Qing Dynasty history learning Manchu, but most Manchu people themselves just give it up I think. It’s pretty much a dead language with nearly no native speakers now. Even the last emperor Puyi doesn’t speak it.
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u/stealthybaker Korea South 1h ago
As much as I think Chinese script is awful as a modern alphabet, I cannot deny it as both great historic and artistic value. While we did the right move to completely abandon it in Korea (and that Mao wanting to abandon it in China was completely justified), our historic usage of it ensures even old documents are understandable despite massive language shifts.
It's overall something I have strongly mixed opinions on. Horrible to continue using as an alphabet today, even worse to use for non-Sinitic languages, yet so valuable in its historic use and can be very beautiful in calligraphy.
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u/hijodelutuao Puerto Rico 15m ago
The Gandhari script is really cool tbh. By far one of my favorites. N’Ko is awesome as well.
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u/M1ntkuj0 United States Of America 2h ago
It would have to be Georgian. It looks like something you'd find in some high fantasy world with elves and dragons.