These days, when the topic of literacy comes up, the phrase "the lack of Chinese character education is the reason" always follows. But honestly... isn't that a bit off-topic?
Literacy is not about memorizing the meanings of Chinese characters, but about understanding the flow and context of writing. In other words, it's the ability to grasp "what the text is trying to say."
This comes from much simpler experience than studying Chinese characters, and ultimately from reading a lot and thinking about it.
For example, if you read the sentence "Lunch will be served at 2 pm today" and mistakenly think that "lunch = Chinese food," and then shout "We need Chinese character education!", it's too much of a leap.
Just looking at the context will give you the answer. If it's not a place that serves Chinese food every day, "lunch" naturally means "lunch."
This is not a problem with Chinese characters, but a problem of logic and context.
Author Yoo Si-min also said this: "Korea has only just begun to exchange information through writing in the last 100 years or so." Before that, everything was communicated orally.
These days, however, it's so natural to listen to and understand information through audiobooks, YouTube, and short-form content.
Can we call that "literacy decline"?
It's just a generational difference in media habits.
Language is constantly changing. In the past, expressions like "the red leaves of Man Mountain" were used, but now it's enough to say "the mountain was all dyed red."
Words that are not spoken naturally disappear from writing as well.
To say "young people these days don't even know words" is simply a failure to recognize the changing times.
After all, we can't say that literacy has declined just because the current generation doesn't know Chinese characters or old words.
They understand information in their own way and absorb it much faster than we do.
If the world has changed, it's only natural that the way we read should change too.
