Jeong Inji’s preface鄭麟趾序
有天地自然之聲，則必有天地自然之文。所以古人因聲制字，以通萬物之情，以載三才之道，而後世不能易也。然四方風土區別，聲氣亦隨而異焉。蓋外國之語，有其聲而無其字。假中國文字以通其用，是猶枘鑿之鉏鋙也，豈能達而無礙乎。要皆各隨所處而安，不可强之使同也。
Where heaven and earth have sounds that are of themselves so, there must be writing that is of itself so in heaven and earth. Therefore the ancients made letters in keeping with sound, so as to open a way for the meanings of all things and to carry the way of the Three Powers (三才); and later ages could not alter it.
Yet the lands and climates of the four quarters each differ, and so sound and breath differ along with them. In general the speech of those outside China has its sounds but lacks its letters. They borrow the letters of China to make them serve their use, which is like fitting a square handle into a round hole: the two go against each other. How could it pass through without obstruction? In short, everything should be at ease according to the place where it stands; it cannot be forced into sameness.
吾東方禮樂文章，侔擬華夏。但方言之語，不與之同。學書者患其旨趣之難曉，治獄者病其曲折之難通。昔新羅薛聰，始作吏讀，官府民間，至今行之。然皆假字而用，或澁或窒，非但鄙陋無稽而已，至於言語之間，則不能達其萬一焉。
The rites and music and the writings of our East may be set beside those of China. Only our speech is not like theirs. Those who study the writings grieve that their meaning is hard to make plain, and those charged with lawsuits are vexed that the turnings of a case are hard to follow through.
In former days Seol Chong (薛聰) of Silla first made the clerkly reading (吏讀), and offices and common folk use it to this day. But it is all a matter of borrowed letters, and so it is sometimes awkward and sometimes blocked. Not only is it rough and without ground, but when it comes to setting down speech it fails to convey even one ten-thousandth part of it.
癸亥冬，我殿下創制正音二十八字，略揭例義以示之，名曰訓民正音。象形而字倣古篆，因聲而音叶七調，三極之義、二氣之妙，莫不該括以二十八字而轉換無窮。簡而要，精而通，故智者不終朝而會，愚者可浹旬而學。以是解書，可以知其義。以是聽訟，可以得其情。字韻則淸濁之能辨，樂歌則律呂之克諧。無所用而不備，無所往而不達。雖風聲鶴戾，鷄鳴狗吠，皆可得而書矣，遂命詳加解釋，以喩諸人。
In the winter of the year gyehae our king first made the twenty-eight letters of the Correct Sounds, set out examples and meanings for them in brief, and named them the Correct Sounds for Instructing the People. The letters, depicting shapes, resemble the old seal script, and the sounds, following the spoken sound, fit the seven modes. There is nothing in the sense of the Three Ultimates and the marvel of the two breaths that they do not enclose, and with twenty-eight letters the turnings and changes are without end.
Being brief yet to the point, and exact yet freely passing through, the clever grasp them before a morning is out, and even the dull can learn them in ten days. Using them to unfold a text, one can know its meaning; using them to hear a lawsuit, one can get at its truth. In the sounds of the letters one can tell clear from muddy, and in song one can make the measures even. In every use there is nothing lacking, and wherever one goes there is nothing that does not pass through. Even the sound of the wind, the cry of the crane, the crowing of the cock and the barking of the dog can all be written down. At last he commanded that a detailed explanation be added to enlighten the many.
於是，臣與集賢殿應敎臣崔恒、副校理臣朴彭年、臣申叔舟、修撰臣成三問、敦寧府注簿臣姜希顔、行集賢殿副修撰臣李塏、臣李善老等，謹作諸解及例，以敍其梗槪。庶使觀者不師而自悟。若其淵源精義之妙，則非臣等之所能發揮也。
Thereupon this servant, together with Choe Hang (崔恒), Eunggyo of the Hall of Worthies; Bak Paengnyeon (朴彭年) and Sin Sukju (申叔舟), Bugyori; Seong Sammun (成三問), Suchan; Gang Huian (姜希顔), Jubu of the Office of Royal Kinsmen; and Yi Gae (李塏) and Yi Seonno (李善老), acting Busuchan of the Hall of Worthies, have respectfully composed the several explanations and examples and set out their framework. It is so that those who look upon them may grasp them of themselves without a teacher. As for the marvel of their deep root and exact sense, that is not what we servants are able to bring to light.
恭惟我殿下，天縱之聖，制度施爲超越百王。正音之作，無所祖述，而成於自然。豈以其至理之無所不在，而非人爲之私也。夫東方有國，不爲不久，而開物成務之大智，蓋有待於今日也歟。
Reverently we consider that our king is a sage sent down by heaven, and that in laying out institutions he has surpassed a hundred kings. His making of the Correct Sounds was accomplished out of what is of itself so, with nothing taken over from any who went before. How could it be other than that its utmost principle is present everywhere, and that this was no private doing of a man? Indeed, it is not that there has not long been a state in the East; yet the great wisdom that opens out all things and brings affairs to completion has, it seems, been waiting for this day.
正統十一年九月上澣，資憲大夫禮曹判書集賢殿大提學知春秋館事、世子右賓客臣鄭麟趾拜手稽首謹書。
On an early day of the ninth month of the eleventh year of Jeongtong, this servant Jeong Inji (鄭麟趾) — Jaheon daebu, Minister of Rites, Grand Academician of the Hall of Worthies, Administrator of the Office of Annals, and Right Guest of the Crown Prince — with hands joined and head bowed, respectfully writes this.