Online dictionary launched to save Jeju language

Jeju Island, a beloved tourist spot, is home to Jejueo, a language on the brink of extinction despite the island's popularity.

To preserve the language and promote its learning among young generations, the Jeju Dialect Institute launched an online dictionary on Tuesday, which contains over 20,000 word definitions. It also features a collection of Jeju dialect content spanning from literature to songs and videos.

The digital source, built upon the institute-made dialect dictionary released in 2021, aims to preserve the island's decadeslong linguistic heritage while addressing misrepresentations of Jejueo words found on other online platforms, Institute officials said. The online format is also expected to facilitate faster and easier updates.

Jejueo stands apart from other Korean dialects as both exceptionally distinct and underutilized, due to the island's isolation from South Korea's mainland.

Its unique linguistic features, including remnants of medieval Korean, set it apart so significantly from standard Korean that even mainland Koreans often struggle to understand it.

In December 2010, UNESCO classified Jejueo as critically endangered, adding it to its Atlas of the World's Endangered Languages. UNESCO estimated that fewer than 10,000 people spoke Jejueo, primarily elderly individuals over 70.

The population of Jeju Island, as of July, was around 670,000.