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Lesson 1 : Korean alphabet

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1. Introduction
2. Hangeul writing block
3. The basic letters: Consonants
4. The basic letters: Vowels
5. The basic letters: Examples
6. Compound Vowels
7. Double(tense) Consonants
8. Wrap up
9. Advertisement
10. Attachment
Introduction: For those who chose to learn Korean alphabet first

Youve just made the best choice!

Our main goal is to help you pick up the Korean language in a short period of time.
There is a reason why we recommend to start with the Korean writing system first.
LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING!!

1. Because it is the BEST way to learn Korean quicker and is EASY to learn!
2. Korean alphabet is called Hangul in English, but it is written Hangeul according to
the Romanization system rule in South Korea.
3. It is one of the most scientific and convenient writing systems in the world.
4. Hangeul is phonogram which has 24 letters that consist of 14 consonants and 10
vowels.
5. Many people say that pronunciation is the hardest part in learning Korean. But, after
you learn Hangeul and some rules, you will be able to read any word written in Hangeul.
6. The fact that one Hangeul letter has only one pronunciation makes Hangeul easier to
learn and different from some other phonetic languages.

Study Guide
1. Just read the material casually and follow the guidelines.
2. All the Romanized Koreans in helping you understand the pronunciation is based on the
official Korean language Romanization system rule in South Korea.
3. We will try not to be wordy. We always show you only the gist.

Speak imperfectly, Communicate perfectly

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Hangeul writing block
Hangeul letters are grouped into blocks.
Here are 4 basic blocks.
C : Consonant, V : Vowel
type (1) type (2) type(3) type(4)

C C
C V C V
V V
C
C
LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING!!
1. Instead of being written sequentially like the letters of the Latin alphabet, Hangul letters
are grouped into blocks.
2. Please do not struggle to memorize all the types of the blocks now, because we will get
back to them later anyway. There are more than 4 types actually.
3. Just remember that Hangeul letters are grouped into blocks each of which transcribes

a syllable.

(Han geul)
type(3) type(4)
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The basic letters: Consonants
First, lets learn the 5 basic consonants.
LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING!!
1. These 5 basic consonants are based on the concept of five elements of yin yang five
elements philosophy. (Google it)
2. These 5 basic consonants modeled the shape of human tongue, lips and throat when
making the sound. Therefore, it is EASY to memorize.
Hangeul Romanization When you make the sound of this letter : model

[g] your tongue go flat, modeled the shape of flat tongue

the tip of your tongue touches the upper gum ridge slightly.
[n] modeled the shape of the tongue touches the upper gum ridge

[m]
your upper and lower lips meet, modeled the outline of the
lips in contact with each other

[s]
your upper and lower teeth get closer and blow the wind
between them, modeled the shape of the teeth met

[no sound] with vowels, your throat wide open. modeled the shape of
wide open throat

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The basic letters: Consonants
Now Lets learn all the other consonants
LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING!!
1. The rest of the consonants are derived from the 5 basic consonants.
2. When you make the sound of the derived consonants, your tongue, lips or throat will
make the same shapes as do when making the sound of its origin consonant.
3. You can write the derived consonants adding just one to three strokes to the basic
consonant.

[g] [k]

[n] [d] [t]

half way
[r/l]

[m] [b] [p]

between R
and L

[s] [j] [ch]

[no sound] [h]

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The basic letters: Consonants
This is the actual order how Koreans memorize the consonants.

[g] [n] [d] [r/l] [m] [b] [s] [ ] [j] [ch] [k] [t] [p] [h]
, and this is the actual name how Koreans call them.
[giyeok] [nieun] [digeut] [rieul] [mieum] [bieup] [siot] [ ieung ] [jieut] [chieut] [kieuk] [tieut] [pieup] [hieut]

LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING!!

1. You dont have to remember the actual name of the consonants here. Of course, you
can do that if you have enough time.
2. , and It would help you remember the initial and the final sound.
e.g. [giyeok] has its initial sound [g] and final sound [k], and [hieut] has its
initial sound [h] and final sound [t]. But, youd better learn the actual name of the
alphabet in Korean without Romanized letters. We will get back to that later. DO NOT
bother now.
3. But, you should definitely remember the first sound of them.
4. You can easily remember the sound if you match the shape of the consonants with the
models used when they were invented.
5. If you add vowel to each consonant, it will be much easier to remember the sound. Well
show you what we are talking about later again.
6. Hangeul does not have [f], [r], [v], [z] and th[],[] sound. Just remember that.

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The basic letters: Vowels
1. Vowels in Hangeul are very simple. There are 10 basic vowels. Lets start with the
simplest ones first.
2. Basic Hangeul vowels were made based on yin and yang philosophy. Therefore, how
you feel when you see the shape of the vowels is very important.
Hangeul Romanization How you feel :

When you make a sound, do you feel like its
[a] going forward or backward? Yes, forward.

[eo]
When you make eo sound, do you feel like its
going forward or backward? Yes, backward.

[o]
When you make o sound, do you feel like its
going up or down? Yes, up.

[u]
When you make u sound, do you feel like its
going up or down? Yes, down.

[eu]
When you make eu sound, do you feel like its
horizontal or vertical? Yes, horizontal.

[i]
When you make i sound, do you feel like its
horizontal or vertical? Yes, vertical.

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The basic letters: Vowels
Lets learn 4 iotized vowels. I dont even know what iotized means.
Lets just say there are 4 more basic vowels in Hangeul.

6 basic vowel 4 more

study tips
[a] [ya] 1. , , , sound like 4 basic
vowels with y put in front of

them.
[eo] [yeo] 2. We say sounds like putting
y in front of , because we

explain it in English.
[o] [yo] Let me put it this way. [a] and
[ya] actually are in the same

category in term of the sound.
[u] [yu] Thats why those have only
one stroke difference. So, that

one stoke adds [y] sound.
[eu]
Now, weve done studying

[i]
10 vowels in Korean
alphabet.

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The basic letters: Examples
Its getting a bit boring. Lets make an actual word with one consonant and one vowel
based on what weve learned so far.
(consonant)
type (1) (vowel)

[no sound] C V
[a]

tip 1 : [ ieung ]
tip 2 :

does not have any sound,
Using block type(1) put consonant
therefore when it combines with a
on the left and vowel on the
vowel in the block, the word
right.
sounds the same as the vowel.

[no sound]
C V
[i]
[ ieung ]

Yes, IT IS EASY!!!
We told you!!!
[a-i] = kid Now you with me?
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The basic letters: Examples
Ok. one more word before we get into the compound vowels.

(consonant) type (2) (vowel)

[g]
C

V
[u]

tip 1 :

If you are looking for an easier way to tip 2 :
practice the pronunciation, you Using block type(2) put consonant
should try to make the sound of on the top and vowel on the

consonant first and then vowel, bottom.
then try to put it together like one
word.
C
[d]
V
[u]

[gu-du] =
dress shoes
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Compound Vowels: Vertical + Vertical
We can make new vowels with the combination of 2 vowels out of the 10 basic vowels.
There are only 11 combinations. Lets take a look at them.
LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING!!
1. Do not think its difficult. Because its not.
2. Fortunately the first two have the same sound and the last two also have the same sound.
study tips

[ae]
=+ =[a]+[i] 1. I guess you wonder how [a]+[i]
makes [ae] sound. Those were

originally diphthongs, but
[e]
=+ =[eo]+[i] theyve evolved into pure
vowels. Id like to say it was to

make new vowels with a
[yae]
=+ =[ya]+[i] combination of already-
existing vowels.
2. Its not mathematics.

[ye]
=+ =[yeo]+[i] 3. In reality, and sound
almost same.
4. In reality, and sound
Lets put consonant to them and see how they look like. almost same.
5. Adding one short stroke to

, , , gives [y] sound and makes

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Compound Vowels: Horizontal + Vertical

[wa] =+ =[o]+[a] study tips

1. I really dont recommend you

see the Romanization for
[wae] =+ =[o]+[ae] these compound vowels.
2. Just see what vowels are in it.

3. Say and
[oe] =+ =[o]+[i] consecutively , and make it
faster to make a one word.

what does it sounds like?
[wo] =+ =[u]+[eo] 4. Do you even need more
explanations? : )

[we] =+ =[u]+[e]
5. Just one thing! I think you
might realize that
doesnt sound as explained

[wi] =+ =[u]+[i]
here. actually sounds
almost the same as .

6. Do not memorize them! just
[ui] =+ =[eu]+[i] understand them.

, , , , , ,
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Double(tense) Consonants
Sorry. There is one more thing you should learn about the consonant.
Its the double consonants.
Its emphatic sound of the basic consonants , , , , .

Basic Double study tips

1. Only 5 double

[g] [kk]
consonants and no
more.
2. Just write the relevant

[d] [tt]
basic consonants twice
as a one letter.
3. They make stronger

[b] [pp]
sound with stronger air.

[s] [ss]

[j] [jj]

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Wrap up
As we promised before, Lets add one vowel such as [a] to make it easier to remember
the sound of the consonants

[ga] [kka] [na] [da] [dda] [r/la] [ma] [ba] [ppa] [sa] [ssa] [a] [ja] [jja] [cha] [ka] [ta] [pa] [ha]

[gu] [kku] [nu] [du] [ddu] [r/lu] [mu] [bu] [ppu] [su] [ssu] [u] [ju] [jju] [chu] [ku] [tu] [pu] [hu]

This is the end of the lesson #1.

How was it?
It might be a little bit difficult, of course, for foreigners.
Yes, we cheated. There are actually more than 14 consonants and 10 vowels. But,

LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING!!

1. Those additional consonants and vowels are all derived from the basic ones.
2. After King Sejong invented Hangeul in 1443, one of the scholars In-ji Jeong who were
participated in the invention said
"a wise man can acquaint himself with Hangeul before the morning is over, even a stupid
man can learn them in the space of ten days.

So, how long did it take for you? : D

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What we are going to provide you on our website :
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2. Some examples to know how you use what youve learned in Lesson 1
3. Drawing order of each individual letter of Hangeul.
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Attachment : How to pronounce Romanized Korean
Lets see how to pronounce Romanized Korean.

Consonant Romanization Pronunciation

[g] sounds like g of grey
[k] sounds like c of crayon
[n] sounds like n of name
[d] sounds like d of dream
[t] sounds like t of train
[r/l] sounds like l of lemon
[m] sounds like m of miracle
[b] sounds like b of brain
[p] sounds like p of play
[s] sounds like s of steel
[j] sounds like j of juice
[ch] sounds like ch of chucky
[no sound]
[h] sounds like h of home

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Attachment : How to pronounce Romanized Korean
Lets see how to pronounce Romanized Korean.
Consonant Romanization Pronunciation
[a] sounds like a of Korea
[ya] sounds like y of
[eo] sounds like u of urban
[yeo] sounds like yu of yuppie
[o] sounds like alphabet o [ou] without the last
sound [u]
[yo] sounds like yo [you] without the final sound [u]
[u] sounds like oo of rooster
[yu] sounds like u of Unicef
[eu] no English equivalance, but kind of sound like the
last e sound of use
[i] sounds like i of idiot
[ae] sounds like a of apple
[e] sounds like e of energy
[yae] almost the same as [ye] in reality
[ye] sounds like ye of yes

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