How to Learn to Read in Hangul

Don't know how to read Korean?

Want to learn?

If you have a complimentary afternoon and a place where you lot can sit quietly with a loving cup of java, you tin do it today.

The thing about Hangul, the Korean alphabet, is that it's really pretty piece of cake to choice up.

Yous tin learn all the letters quickly.

And and then information technology's just a matter of knowing how to course them into syllables, which is also pretty easy.

At that point, even if you don't know all the nuances of pronunciation and don't always remember all the letter sounds, yous can start interacting with the linguistic communication and strengthen your understanding of written Korean equally you go along.

Right now, we're going to go right up to the point where you should get-go beingness able to translate Korean messages into sounds with a reasonable charge per unit of success.

And then, bookmark this post (or download it), head to your favorite coffee shop, order a latte (or cappuccino, or coconut milk cold brew or whatever) and prepare to Hangul!

Download: This blog postal service is available every bit a convenient and portable PDF that y'all can take anywhere. Click hither to get a copy. (Download)

How to Read Korean: Everything You lot Demand to Know About Hangul

I thing that tin be a fiddling confusing is that non everyone seems to agree on how many letters there are in the Korean alphabet.

Some sources say 24, others say twoscore. It really just depends on what y'all consider a letter. Some "letters" in Hangul are made up of combinations of other letters. And so, the 24 are sort of like the "original" letters, while the others are like compound messages.

Regardless of how you lot think of it, you lot accept to acquire all twoscore, but also regardless of how you call up of it, there aren't that many to acquire. And, the logical relationships that exist between letters brand Hangul uncomplicated and straightforward.

In this guide, I'm not going to fuss over details also much. There are some finer points to learning the alphabet, like stroke gild and all of the rules that go along with spelling and syllable structure, that you may want to brush up on at some indicate. This is meant to be a practical guide though and, above all, to get you lot up and running.

Basic Korean Sounds and Syllables

We're going to take this ane step at a time. Starting time up, a few basic consonants.

Some Basic Korean Consonants (ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅅ, ㅈ, ㅎ)

In Korean, consonants have names that don't stand for exactly to how they audio, merely like we exercise in English. (W is pronounced "double-u," for example, even though that's not the sound the letter actually makes in words.) It's probably most of import at this phase for yous to focus on the actual sounds, but I've included the letter names below too.

ㄱ (giyeok) sounds like "g" (hard "g" audio)

ㄴ(nieun)sounds like "n"

ㄷ (digeut) sounds similar "d"

ㄹ (rieul) sounds like "50" or "r"

ㅁ(mieum) sounds like "m"

ㅂ(bieup) sounds like "b" or "p"

ㅅ (shiot) sounds like "s" or "sh"

ㅈ(jieut) sounds similar "j"

ㅎ(hieut)  sounds like "h"

Note: Any of the to a higher place sound explanations are but approximations, and that remains the case throughout this mail service. Also, letters can produce different sounds depending on their place in a give-and-take (which we'll bear upon a bit subsequently).

There are a few mnemonic devices commonly used to teach some of the above:

ㄱ is shaped like a mun.

ㅁ looks like a chiliadouth, if you accept a adept imagination.

ㅂ looks like a bucket.

ㅎ could exist a kid's drawing of someone wearing a hat.

Here are some ways to call up the other letters:

ㄴ is not a bookend only rather a book-northward. (I'm distressing, I know that'southward terrible.)

ㄷ looks like a divining rod. I mean, sort of.

ㄹ is a winding road, though perhaps not equally long as the one in the Beatles vocal.

ㅅ looks like a wave in the sea about to crash on the shore.

ㅈ sort of looks like 2 car bumpers right up confronting each other, which might happen in a traffic jam.

Some Basic Korean Vowels (ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅡ, ㅣ)

Vowels don't accept names that are singled-out from their sounds. They're just called what they audio like.

ㅏ(a) sounds similar "ah"

ㅓ(eo) sounds like something betwixt "oh" and "uh"

ㅗ(o) sounds like "oh," merely more rounded

ㅜ(u) sounds like "oo"

ㅡ(eu) sounds similar "euh"

ㅣ(i) sounds like "ee"

Since these are all based effectually a horizontal or vertical line, they might exist a bit easier than the consonants to think right off the bat.

Korean Reading Practise with Basic Consonants and Vowels

Now, using your understanding of the sounds above, see if you can guess what the following word sounds like:

하나

When you think you have information technology figured out, click on the video below to hear information technology.

하나 ways "one," and, as you can hear, is pronounced hana.

Letters are read left to correct, as in English, and in that location are two groupings of letters in the word higher up, each of which makes up 1 syllable. In Korean, syllables are divided into blocks.

Here's another example where you can meet this format at work.

머리 (head)

When you think yous accept the sounds for the to a higher place word worked out, click on the clip from the Pinkfong video below to hear if you're reading it correctly.

By the style, this fun kids' video is available on FluentU with interactive captions (equally you lot tin see at the link above the video).

After reading through the rest of this guide, FluentU is a great resource for putting your Hangul cognition into practice and jumping right into learning total Korean sentences.

You can use the platform to look up words, create vocabulary sets, study with flashcards or test your knowledge with fun quizzes.

We'll keep to link to FluentU videos throughout this mail so you can get an idea of what type of content it has to offer. If y'all like what you see, check out FluentU with a free trial, and you'll before long know many more words than only 머리 (meori).

Now, let's effort another word, this fourth dimension merely a unmarried syllable block.

밥 (rice, meal)

Hither nosotros accept three letters squeezed into one syllable.

Korean syllable blocks tin can comprise anywhere between two and four letters. They're read left to right and meridian to lesser.

And so, in the case of 밥 (bap), the messages are read in this order: ㅂㅏㅂ.

Offset, you read the 바 on the elevation line of the block, then the ㅂ on the bottom.

Staring into the Void: The Silent Vowel Companion

In this next department, we're only going to larn one letter. This letter of the alphabet is technically a consonant, just you might take trouble thinking of information technology that way considering information technology doesn't make a sound that nosotros would normally associate with a consonant.

In fact, much of the fourth dimension, it doesn't brand any audio at all.

One Weird Korean "Consonant" You'll Run into All the Time (ㅇ)

The alphabetic character ㅇ (ieung) in Korean looks similar "o" in English language, and information technology plays a unique role in Korean syllables.

Remember how I said that syllable blocks in Korean can incorporate anywhere between ii and four messages? Sometimes, as we've seen, one of those syllable blocks can consist of a consonant followed past a vowel. Other times, it can consist of a consonant followed by a vowel that's followed by another consonant.

But what if at that place's a syllable that consists of just one vowel alone? Or, what if the syllable starts with a vowel?

Well, that can't happen, and that'due south where ㅇ comes in. When ㅇ precedes a vowel at the beginning of a syllable block, yous can think of information technology as a placeholder of sorts. Information technology accompanies the vowel in silence.

Still, sometimes you lot'll too see ㅇ later a vowel, at the stop of a syllable. In this instance, information technology's pronounced like the "ng" sound in words that end in "ing" in English.

Korean Reading Do with ㅇ

See if you tin estimate what the words beneath sound like before using the accompanying video clips to check yourself.

Here, we're going to pick up a couple of family-related words from a Kebikids video.

엄마 (mom)

아기 (infant)

How did you lot do?

YOLO: Ya's, Yo's and Difficult Consonants

Now, we're going to wait at some more letters. But if you lot've learned the letters above, these probably won't be every bit hard to retrieve.

Some More Korean Consonants That Might Look Familiar Now (ㅊ, ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ)

ㅊ (chieut) — sounds like the English "ch"

ㅋ(kieuk) — sounds like the English "k"

ㅌ (tieut) — sounds like the English "t"

ㅍ (pieup) — sounds like the English language "p"

As you tin run across, these consonants resemble some of the ones nosotros learned above. You may notice that their sounds likewise correspond somewhat. For example, if ㄱ is approximately similar an English language "chiliad" sound, ㅋ, which looks like the same alphabetic character with an added line, can be thought of as a harder "g" audio.

Again, note that these sounds are merely approximations and that ㄱ can also produce a "k" sound.

Some More Korean Vowels That Might Expect Familiar At present (ㅑ, ㅕ, ㅛ, ㅠ)

When you see two short parallel lines on a Korean vowel, the vowel is going to include a sound similar the English "y."

ㅑ (ya) — sounds similar "yah"

ㅕ (yeo) — something betwixt "yuh" and "yo"

ㅛ (yo) — sounds like "yo," but more rounded

ㅠ (yu) — sounds like "yew"

Korean Reading Practice with Added Consonants and Vowels

Now, we're going to attempt something different. We're going to practice reading with some words y'all already know in this humorous video where a couple tries to decide what to swallow.

Try this one:

피자

Got it?

Click the clip beneath to hear it in Korean.

At present let's effort a longer one:

파스타

In the case of the word for "pasta," you lot can see that in the middle syllable, 스, the ㅅ is stacked on top of the vowel ㅡ. This is due to the nature of the vowel. ㅡ is a horizontal vowel, so it goes nether the ㅅ rather than to the right of it.

And at present, a word that incorporates one of those "y" vowels (hint: this i is also nutrient):

라면

You got it, right?

In the Maangchi video beneath, you tin hear the pronunciation confirmed.

And, you can also learn how to make some delicious Korean 라면.

Doubling Up: The Final Messages

Here are some more letters that build on the ones above. This is the concluding batch. You're near at that place!

Korean Double Consonants (ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ)

You lot tin probably sort of guess where this is going. These consonants are written as doubles of some of the bones consonants higher up and are pronounced with more emphasis than their unmarried counterparts.

ㄲ (ssanggiyeok) — Romanized as "kk"

ㄸ (ssangdigeut) — Romanized as "tt"

ㅃ (ssangbieup)— Romanized as "pp"

ㅆ (ssangshiot) — Romanized equally "ss"

ㅉ (ssangjieut ) — Romanized equally "jj"

Some Fine, Upstanding Korean Vowels (ㅐ, ㅔ, ㅒ, ㅖ)

Here, nosotros have some vowels that are made from previous ones put together:

ㅐ(ae) andㅔ (due east) are both pronounced sort of like "eh." As far as pronunciation, they're basically interchangeable. You simply need to remember which words are spelled with which.

ㅒ(yae) andㅖ (ye) are the same sort of deal. They're most indistinguishable in modern pronunciation and are like the above messages with the "y" audio added.

More Korean Vowel Clusters (ㅘ, ㅙ, ㅚ, ㅝ, ㅞ, ㅟ, ㅢ)

Okay, we're on the dwelling house stretch! Here are some more vowel clusters that you lot'll see in Korean words that you need to know how to pronounce.

ㅘ (wa) — similar "wah"

ㅙ (wae) — similar "weh"

ㅚ (oe) — like "weh"

ㅝ (wo) — like "wuh" or "whoa" cutting brusk

ㅞ (we) — like "weh"

ㅟ (wi) — a bit like the French "oui," with your lips rounded

ㅢ (ui) — a flatter "we" sound, with your lips spread out

As y'all can run across, we once over again take some vowel combinations here that sound the same, specifically three "weh's," but information technology's important to know all of them for spelling purposes.

For a thorough rehashing of all of the combined vowel sounds in a higher place, check out this brilliant and entertaining video from Mina Oh of sweetandtastyTV that covers all the complex and compound vowels and throws in a mini Korean drama at the cease.

In the video, you lot'll notice that "Professor Oh" combines all the vowels with the consonant ㅇ, as this is how they would normally be written every bit syllables. With ㅇ, some of the vowels go consummate words, such as 왜 (wae), which ways "why." You'll as well discover that in each instance, the ㅇ takes the uppermost or leftmost position in the syllable, as information technology must precede the vowel.

Korean Reading Practice with All the Messages and Sounds

Now, let's round upwards everything y'all know and meet how well you tin read the words below. Here are a couple more words from our family unit video.

아빠 (dad)

가족 (family)

Now, hither we take an example of what happens when you have a consonant-vowel-consonant syllable where the vowel in the eye is horizontal. Instead of having a consonant and a vowel on acme followed by a consonant on the bottom, as with 밥, we accept a complete horizontal stacking of the letters in the 2d syllable of this give-and-take.

Merely can y'all pronounce it?

In the prune above, what'due south really said is "우리 가족 이야" (uri gajok iya), or "This is my family." 우리 tin can hateful "our" or "my" depending on the context, but don't mistype it as 오리 (ori), like I just did, because that ways "duck."

Speaking of typing, you may accept wondered if there was any item pattern to how the letters in this post were arranged. I did effort to teach the simpler messages first in order to make the complex ones that came later easier, but I too tried to lay them out in a mode that would be logical for learning how to type.

For example, the start set of consonants in this post cover the left uppermost part of the keyboard in gild and then jump downwardly to the next row, as well moving left to correct. In other words, ㅂㅈㄷㄱㅅ is basically your Korean QWERTY (or QWERT, if you desire to exist picky almost information technology), and I've introduced the messages in that order.

So, if you happen to pay attending to the order of the letters in this post or write them down in your own notes that way, hopefully this volition brand things easier once you start learning how to blazon.

Honestly, Korean typing is pretty logical and easy to begin with, and then don't hesitate to start typing Hangul now.

Only on with our reading practice!

I'll bet you tin can go this side by side one.

치킨버거

Okay, so there are a few 치킨s in the 치킨버거 from this Burger King commercial. But, that's okay because now you lot know the words for 치킨 (chicken) and 버거 (burger). 치킨 is a useful word to know because fried chicken has quite the history in South korea.

For your slang reference, 치맥(chimaek) refers to the combination of craven and beer and is a mashup of 치킨 and 맥주 (maekju — beer).

Permit'due south round things out now with one last phrase that will test much of what you've learned above and introduce a new concept:

괜찮아요.

This phrase, a useful one to know, is the polite version of "I'k okay" or "It's okay."

Let's break this down:

With 괜, we have the ㅙ between ii consonants. That'due south g, wae and n, which forms the sound gwaen.

With 찮, we have a consonant cluster, or a series of two consonants, at the end. The rules for how to pronounce consonant clusters at the finish of syllables become a chip complex, and nosotros actually oasis't even really gotten into how consonants tin change depending on their place in a word in full general.

This video on 받침 (batchim, the final consonant in a Korean syllable), which is one of two from KoreanClass101, begins to go over some of these points.

For this item word, though, all you demand to know is that the ㅎ at the terminate is silent. And then, 찮 is pronounced chan (similar "chahn").

The other ii syllables should be piece of cake for y'all to figure out at this point. In this scene from a Korean comedy film, the phrase is used as a question to ask, "괜찮아요?" (Are you okay?).

And that'south pretty much it!

As we've already discussed, in that location are some instances in which Korean sounds change or aren't completely consistent. One of the most mutual irregularities is that the consonants ㅅ, ㅈ and ㅊ, when used at the ends of syllables and followed by another consonant or when used at the end of a give-and-take, take on a "t" audio rather than the sounds they normally make. This can be seen in the spelled-out versions of their names:

시옷 (shiot)

지읒 (jieut)

치읓 (chieut)

This page from Larn Korean Language goes over some other irregularities. Simply, as a whole, Hangul is a fairly consequent alphabet.

The knowledge you've picked upward from this mail service should exist enough for you lot to get-go learning Korean words and sentences.

Yous're all gear up to start typing, speaking and learning Korean.

Download: This blog postal service is available as a convenient and portable PDF that y'all can take anywhere. Click hither to get a copy. (Download)

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Elisabeth Cook is a freelance writer who blogs at Lit All Over.

dickeythibely.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/korean/how-to-read-korean/