Cia-Cia is a language spoken by 93,000 Indonesians on Buton Island but written in Hangul, the Korean alphabet.
In 2008 this unusual pairing started with the arrival to Seoul National University of two teachers from the island, who came in to learn Hangul. One did not stay but the other, a Cia-Cia man, completed the training and took it back to Buton. The first students started learning the Korean alphabet soon after. You can read a 2009 article here about the beginning of the project.
Indonesia is one of the most linguistically diverse regions of the globe. Estimates vary about the number of languages (from 300 to 800), dialects being considered separate languages by some. Yet many of its languages and dialects are under threat for various reasons. Via-Cia however has managed to hang on and become a source of pride for its speakers.
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