Reading, Writing, and Robots

I'm attempting to learn some Korean before I leave. Since the writing system is based on phonetic letters rather than characters or iconographs, it is reasonable to be able to recognize letters and even read relatively quickly. There are more letters if you count diphthongs, iotized vowels, and double consonants, but here is the basic run-down.


I started studying it and then I came across this roadsign. Instead of interpretting it as a junction in the road, my first thought was, "A Korean letter!"


In other news, a friend recently sent me a link to this article in the Korean Times. It's about how robots will be introduced in English classes in Korea as teaching assistants, and eventually be full-on teachers. It will apparently be more cost-effective to just have robots teach English. I thought it was a joke at first, but it seems pretty serious. Good thing I'm going to Korea sooner than later before my job is rendered completely obselete and replaced by a machine.