Dear Sir
I am looking to have a Korean alphabet (Hangul) input method editor developed. Current Korean IMEs are arranged as illustrated below in figure 2. I’d like to rearrange the current commonly used layout to appear as figure 3 illustrates. Specifically, I’d like both IME on Windows as well as a mobile app. If this is a project that you can complete, please let me know approximately how long it would take as well as an estimate on the cost to complete this project. If satisfactory, I would be happy to discuss the possibility of further projects in the future.
I await your prompt reply. Thanks.
Figure 1. English alphabet keyboard layout
Q W E R T Y U I O P
A S D F G H J K L ;/:
Z X C V B N M ,/< ./> (/)/?
Figure 2. Current Hangul keyboard layout
ㅂ ㅈ ㄷ ㄱ ㅅ ㅛ ㅕ ㅑ ㅐ/ㅒ ㅔ/ㅖ
ㅁ ㄴ ㅇ ㄹ ㅎ ㅗ ㅓ ㅏ ㅣ ; / :
ㅋ ㅌ ㅊ ㅍ ㅠ ㅜ ㅡ , /< . /> (/) /?
(/): shift & strike
only 2 tabs “ㅒ, ㅖ” are using. No capital letters in Hangul.
Figure 3. Newly arranged Hangul keyboard layout
ㅂ ㅈ/ㅊ ㄷ/ㅌ ㄱ/ㅋ ㅅ/ (Z) ㅎ
ㅣ ㅜ[ㅠ] ㅏ[ㅑ] ㅓ[ㅕ] ㅗ[ㅛ] ㅡ
ㅁ/? ㄴ/, ㅇ [v]/. ㄹ [R]/ ㅍ [ㅍ] (-) or
(shift) (CTRL) (Space) (ALT)
[**]: double-type. (/): shift + single-type
[ㅍ] is new symbol with a dot atop of “ㅍ”, for sound “F
{ /(Z)} may be don’t’ need.
On Hangul
Consonants: ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ
Vowels: ㅏ ㅓ ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ ㅣ ( ㅑ ㅕ ㅛ ㅠ )
Hangul (Korean alphabet) has 14 consonants and 10 vowels (6 basic sounds). Single Hangul characters are treated as particles of letters. A complete letter must contain both consonant and vowel, creating a block shape. (ex:강,서) A complete block letter cannot contain only consonants or only vowels. Each block letter is treated as a single syllable. There are also combination consonants and combination vowels used to indicate alternate sounds and meanings.
When vowels are combined, new vowel particles are created to indicate compressed diphthongs.
E.g. ㅘ (ㅗ+ㅏ O+A=WA), ㅝ (ㅜ+ㅓ¬¬U+E=Wurh)
[ㅇ: ie-ung] is a consonant that creates no sound when it placed at the start of a letter.
When “ㅇ” combines with vowels like “ㅏ,ㅓ,ㅗ,ㅠ,ㅣ”, the results are “아,어,오,유,이” which are complete letters blocks and make vowel sounds.
[ㅇ] makes an “-ng” sound when it is placed at the base of a letter and closes the syllable. (앙, 낭, 강)
The various alphabets in the world are connected in a string (displayed in a line) to create words, but in Hangul, each letter must consist of consonant and vowel elements and must be combined in a set.
Vowels have two types: vertical (ㅏ,ㅓ,ㅣ,ㅑ,ㅕ) and horizontal (ㅗ,ㅜ,ㅡ,ㅛ,ㅠ). Consonants are attached to the left of vertical vowels, as in “가,너,디,랴,며,” and above horizontal vowels, as in “보,수,으,죠,츄.”
Consonants are also attached to the bottom of letter blocks for syllabic closure when necessary, as in “강,넉,딘,볻,술,음.”
In order to indicate for “mama” in Hangul one would write “마마”, ”momo” would become “모모”, and “mam” is “맘”.
In case of “맘” or “모”, if Hangul characters are simply connected into a string to create “ㅁㅏㅁ” or “ㅁㅗ”, complete letters are not created and these fail to represent any sounds. To reiterate, consonant and vowel elements must be assembled into letter blocks.
In order to type “마마”, one would strike the characters “ㅁ,ㅏ,ㅁ” then “맘” would be shown on screen, but once one strikes the character “ㅏ,” “ㅁ” would shift from the bottom of the first letter block to a second letter block to become “마마” because “ㅏ” cannot create a letter by itself.
The theory behind Hangul is as follows:
Displaying: ㄱㄴㄷㄹㅂ, ㅏㅑㅓㅕㅗㅛㅜ --> fails to make complete letters
Combining: ㄲ ㅄ ㄼ ㅀ, ㅘ ㅝ ㅙ ㅢ --> creates new particles
Assembling (combining consonant and vowel):
가나돔랄꽃왜씌 --> complete letters that indicate sounds
Current Hangul programs are created with this theory of letter construction in mind.
It is critically important that the new program follows this theory as well.
Figure 4 (same as Figure 3). New program for mobile APP.
You may need to download Korean language pack in order to view Hangul.