首先因为朝鲜的语言属于阿尔泰语系，与中国的汉藏语系不太一样，但是古代朝鲜文化落后，一直没有发明自己的文字，所以只能沿用中国汉字。但是，汉字还是无法充分地表现韩语的发音和朝鲜民众的思想感情，普通朝鲜平民根本不识汉字，只有朝鲜贵族、官员会使用汉字，称为“吏读文字”，而普通朝鲜平民只能以口头方式进行文化交流，他们的生活知识和年积月累的农业耕种经验和农耕方法也都无法长久的流传下去。

　　在美版知乎上有网友的提问：韩国人在1446年发明韩文之前(1446年以前，例如公元800年)说韩语吗?(我问的是说而不是写的)? 我们来看看国外网友是如何看待这个问题的吧。

　　论坛话题：韩国人在1446年发明韩文之前(1446年以前，例如公元800年)说韩语吗?(我问的是说而不是写)?

　　韩国网友的观点

　　Koreans have always spoke Korean, I understand that many people think that this language was created but it has been around since….. no one knows. King Sejong merely wanted to create a writing method that could be learned by anyone.

　　韩国人一直说韩语，我知道很多人认为这种语言是被创造出来的，但它从.....开始就存在了没有人知道。世宗只是想创造一种任何人都能学会的书写方法。

　　Koreans used Chinese Characters for many years and to be honest it was not the same, Kind of how many English speakers try to Romanize the language, It simply does not work and I try hard to make it work but it will never be possible without a few more characters.

　　韩国人使用汉字很多年了，说实话，这是不一样的，有点像很多说英语的人试图把语言罗马化，这根本行不通，我努力让它发挥作用，但没有几个字符永远不可能。

　　To answer your question, Koreans have always had the same language maybe over 10,000 years but no one knows.

　　回答你的问题，韩国人一直使用同一种语言，可能超过10000年，但没有人知道。

　　韩国网友的观点

　　Of course, he spoke in Korean, but when he wrote or wrote documents, he used Chinese characters similar in pronunciation to the meaning of such Chinese characters because there was no Korean.

　　当然，他说的是韩语，但他在写文件时，因为没有韩语，所以使用了与汉字发音相近的汉字。

　　When King Sejong created Hangul, many aristocrats opposed it.

　　世宗开创韩文时，很多贵族都反对。

　　The Chinese characters came to Korea around 108 B.C. At that time, the national name was Joseon, and Koreans call it Gojoseon to distinguish it from the Joseon kingdom of the same name later.

　　汉字在公元前108年左右传入韩国，当时的国名是朝鲜，为了与后来的朝鲜王国区分，韩国人称其为古朝鲜。

　　The method of using Chinese characters was called Idu, which uses Chinese characters' yin and Hun to express Korean.

　　这种使用汉字的方法被称为Idu，即用汉字的阴和浑来表示韩语。

　　In other words, it is a word that goes along with the yin and meaning of the Chinese characters.These Chinese characters were used by the aristocracy in Korean history, and most ordinary people did not know them. Since Chinese characters are hieroglyphics rather than phonetic ones, the number of characters is too large, with 36,000 such characters.

　　换句话说，它是一个与汉字的音和意义相辅相成的词。在韩国历史上，这些汉字是贵族使用的，大多数普通人都不知道。由于汉字是象形文字而不是音标，所以汉字的数量太大了，有36000个。

　　Therefore, because it was difficult to learn Chinese characters, most of the classes that knew the defects were aristocrats, including bureaucrats, and even generals were ignorant of Chinese characters because they were uncivilized.

　　因此，因为汉字的学习困难，知道汉字缺陷的阶级大多是贵族，包括官僚，甚至将军也不懂汉字，因为他们是未开化的。

　　The selection of government officials in Korean history was made by the aristocracy and the commoner class with such Chinese characters, most of which were selected by aristocrats or by commoners with aristocrats as teachers.

　　在韩国历史上，政府官员的选拔是由具有这种汉字的贵族和平民阶层进行的，其中大部分是由贵族或由贵族担任教师的平民选出。

　　The reason for this is not that they know all the letters in Chinese characters, but that they put the books of famous philosophers and intellectuals in Chinese characters as a test question.

　　之所以这样做，不是因为他们知道汉字里所有的字母，而是因为他们把著名哲学家和知识分子的书用汉字写成，作为考题。

　　Therefore, they usually had to study for 20 to 30 years if it was short or 10 years long.

　　因此，他们通常要学习20到30年，如果是短的或10年长的。

　　Therefore, in the old days when it was difficult to make ends meet, it was difficult to get ahead in the world by learning Chinese characters, taking tests, and being selected as a government official. So naturally, the aristocracy took up many government posts, and the common people became part of it. History glorifies the creation of Hangeul by King Sejong, but my personal thoughts differ slightly.

　　因此，在入不敷出地过去，学汉字、考试、选官，都很难在世界上出人头地。很自然地，贵族占据了许多政府职位，而平民也成为其中的一部分。历史颂扬世宗创造韩文，但我个人的想法略有不同。

　　Historically, it is difficult to create an easy-to-learn article for the people. Therefore, we should consider the historical background of King Sejong's creation of Hangeul. The political system of the Joseon Dynasty was different from the previous political system.

　　从历史上看，要给老百姓写一篇易学的文章是很困难的。因此，我们应该考虑世宗创造韩文的历史背景。朝鲜的政治体制与以前的政治体制不同。

　　During the Joseon Dynasty, there was a system called Uijeongbu. Uijeongbu is the same as the current parliamentary system. There were three officials from each department at the top of the list. When the king made a decision, the king could give orders only when he and the government were in agreement. Thus the king's authority was weakened and the authority of management was strengthened.

　　在朝鲜时代，有一种叫做议政府的制度。议政府与现行的议会制相同。每个部门有3名官员名列前茅。当国王做出决定时，只有在他和政府同意的情况下，国王才能下达命令。这样一来，国王的权威被削弱了，而管理的权威被加强了。

　　No matter what order the king was going to make, when the opposition from Uijeongbu became impossible, King Sejong, the smart king, thought of strengthening his royal authority.

　　无论下达什么样的命令，当议政府的反对变得不可能时，聪明的世宗国王想到了加强王权。

　　It is the people's support that is the power of any country. For example, the king ordered the land to be distributed for the people. King was making a public announcement to inform the Guards of these orders. If all the people are aware of the writing, the king's will is conveyed to the people, but if the people are not aware, serious problems arise.

　　人民的支持是任何国家的力量。例如，国王下令将土地分配给人民。金正在向近卫军发布公告，通知他们这些命令。如果所有的人民都知道这个文字，国王的旨意就会传达给人民，但如果人民不知道，就会出现严重的问题。

　　When the king asked the nobles who knew the writing what it was about, even if it was a good meaning to give the land to the people who didn't know the writing...If the order is against the nobles, the aristocrats would say, "The king does unnecessary things again," and all the people would find the king doing unnecessary things.

　　当国王问懂文字的贵族这是什么意思，即使把土地给不懂文字的人是好的意思。如果命令是针对贵族的，贵族就会说:“王又做了不必要的事。”所有的人民就会发现王做了不必要的事。

　　However, if anyone has easy reading and writing, the people read the contents of the notice without asking the nobles and find out that the king works for them. So many aristocrats opposed making Hangeul, and even after making Hangeul, they faced a lot of opposition.

　　然而，如果有人能轻松地阅读和书写，人民没有问贵族就看了通知的内容，发现国王为他们工作。因此，很多贵族反对制作韩文，即使在制作韩文之后，他们也面临着很多反对。

　　King Sejong made many books in Korean, but Hangeul was not used in the national affairs, and it spread throughout the years through novels, and all Koreans used Hangul like Hanjae.

　　世宗用韩文写了很多书，但韩文并没有在国政中使用，而是通过小说流传了多年，韩国人都像韩载一样使用韩文。

　　韩国网友的观点

　　By the dynasty of Koryo (918–1932), definitely yes. Before that, the evidences are too scant to discuss.

　　到了高丽王朝(918-1932)，肯定是这样。在此之前，证据太少，无法讨论。

　　Written evidence of Korean language before the invention of Hangeul in 1443 (this year is the suggested year of actual invention, and 1446 is the year of its official publication) are, honestly, very scant, and often very hard to decipher because Koreans employed a tactic somewhat similar to modern Japanese to write their own language with Chinese logosyllabary. During the dynasty of Koryo, there are some written records of the contemporary language spoken in Korean peninsula. The wordlist clearly shows that the language is Koreanic.

　　在1443年韩文发明之前(这一年被认为是韩文真正发明的年份，1446年是韩文正式出版的年份)，老实说，朝鲜语的书面证据非常少，而且往往很难破译，因为韩国人使用了一种与现代日语类似的策略，用汉语字音来书写他们自己的语言。在高丽王朝时期，朝鲜半岛的现代语言有一些书面记录。单词表清楚地表明这种语言是韩语。

　　There are no surviving books made before the ‘Samguk Sagi’ (11th century) in Korea, and almost all of the engraved texts are written in Classical Chinese, so studying about Korean language before the dynasty of Koryo is very tough.

　　在《三国史记》(11世纪)之前的韩国没有现存的书籍，而且几乎所有的铭文都是文言文，因此研究高丽王朝以前的韩国语非常困难。

　　Before the unification of Korea in 660s, it is not sure if the languages of rival polities (namely, Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla, and Gaya) were close to each other or not. ‘Samguk Sagi’ and other books made during Koryo dynasty contains some Korean texts mainly coming from Silla (the victor), and those seems Koreanic, but information about the other lost polities are very scant.

　　在60年代统一之前，高句丽、百济、新罗、伽耶等敌对势力的语言是否相近，目前尚不清楚。高丽时期的《三国史记》和其他书籍中包含了一些主要来自新罗(战胜国)的韩语文本，这些文本似乎是朝鲜语，但关于其他失落政体的信息非常少。

　　Most scholars don’t give a question about those records about Silla, because multiple sources are all showing that some Koreanic language which is related to the language of Koryo was spoken in the kingdom of Silla. And simply, considering the continuity of Silla - Koryo - Joseon dynasties ruling the same region, there is no reason to suspect a harsh language switch there. The existence of so called ‘Old Korean’ (the language spoken in Silla) seems safe to claim.

　　大多数学者不会对这些关于新罗的记录提出疑问，因为多种来源都表明，新罗王国曾说过一些与高丽语有关的朝鲜语。简单地说，考虑到新罗-高丽-朝鲜统治同一地区的连续性，没有理由怀疑那里发生了严厉的语言转换。所谓的“古朝鲜语”(新罗使用的语言)的存在似乎是有把握的。

　　Before the unification by Silla in 660s, for the most of the time being, Silla could control only a small corner of the peninsula, being the weakest polity before the 6th century. Before that period, Goguryeo, Baekje, and Gaya were rampant, but their languages are little known. Some records claim that they all spoke closely enough to Silla so that there were no need of serious interpretation, but there are strong political motives (unification of Korea) to falsely claim that. Some scholars, based on some word evidence, claim otherwise.

　　在660年代新罗统一之前的大部分时间里，新罗只能控制半岛的一个小角落，是6世纪以前最弱的政体。在此之前，高句丽、百济、伽耶等民族虽然非常猖獗，但语言却鲜为人知。虽然有记载说，他们都与新罗进行了非常密切的对话，因此没有必要进行严肃的解释，但有强烈的政治动机(统一朝鲜)。一些学者根据一些文字证据，提出了相反的观点。

　　‘Buyeo-Japonic hypothesis’ (I forgot the exact name of the hypothesis, sorry), claims that Goguryeo, Baekje and Japan belong to same language family, contrary to ‘Three Han tribes’ (its identity is dubious, but it always includes Silla), which are the ancestors of Koreanic-speaking people.

　　“富余-日本假说”(我忘了这个假说的确切名称，抱歉)认为高句丽、百济和日本属于同一语系，与“三汉”(身份不明，但总包括新罗)相反，“三汉”是说朝鲜语的人的祖先。

　　In the kingdom of Baekje, the legend claims that the ruling class came from ancient Buyeo tribal kingdom (which is also an ancestor group of Goguryeo), while the peasants were among those ‘Three Han’ tribes. And there is a record that the ruling class and the peasants of Baekje called their king with different name, which may be a clue that those two classes spoke different languages. But again, these claims are based on only scant and dubious evidence.

　　在百济，统治阶层的传说是古代扶余族(也是高句丽的祖先)的后裔，而农民则是“三汉”的后裔。此外，百济的统治阶层和农民对国王的称呼也有不同的记录，这可能是两个阶层使用不同的语言的线索。但是，这些说法都是基于有限且可疑的证据。

　　Speaking of Gaya, it’s more problematic because the matter is now a politically sensitive matter between Korea and Japan. People of Gaya are supposed to be one of those ‘Three Han tribes’ which also includes the people of Silla. But the problem is, the ancient tribal confederation of Gaya seems to be somehow related to ancient Japan.

　　说到伽倻，这是韩日之间的政治敏感问题，因此问题更大。盖亚人被认为是“三个汉部落”之一，其中还包括新罗人。但问题是，古伽耶的部落联盟似乎与古日本有某种联系。

　　It must be ‘under heavy cultural influence from Japan’ at least (based on archaeological excavations), if not Japonic at all. Written history of early Silla (as in ‘Samguk Sagi’) is full of ‘resistance against Japanese hegemony’, which is quite doubtful considering the distance between Yamato government of Japan and Korea, so it makes us suspect some Japonic powers around the southwest of Silla or at least in Kyushu in Japan. But again, the situation like ‘Koreanic people in Gaya under suzerain of Japan’ is not an impossible scenario. Language situation of Gaya maybe not so related to its Japan-like culture or political structure. Again, there are too scant evidence.

　　至少(根据考古发掘)，它肯定“受到了来自日本的沉重文化影响”，如果根本不是日本的。新罗早期(如《三国史记》)的文字记载中充满了“抵抗日本霸权”的内容，考虑到日本的大日本政府与朝鲜的距离，这是相当令人怀疑的，因此我们怀疑在新罗西南部或至少在日本九州附近有一些日本势力。但是，像“日本宗主国统治下的盖耶朝鲜族”这样的情况并不是不可能发生的。伽耶的语言情况可能与它的日语没有太大的关系

　　韩国网友的观点

　　Spoken language cannot just pop up at any specific time in a culture. Koreans were speaking Korean spoken language 한국말 for all those long years in our history. 5,000 years of record.

　　在一种文化中，口语不可能在任何特定的时间突然出现。韩国人说韩语口语한국말在我们漫长的历史中已有5000年的记录。

　　If you can read Classical Chinese, this will help you understand. Check the first sentence - Since our spoken language is different from that of China, writing and speaking doesn match…

　　如果你能读懂文言文，这将有助于你理解。检查第一句——因为我们的口语和中国的不一样，写和说不匹配…

　　The fact that Koreans speaking our language means it was spoken in this land for thousands of years like other languages in the world.

　　事实上，韩国人说我们的语言意味着它在这片土地上像世界上其他语言一样说了数千年。