How to read Korean

[Joo.K]

How to read Korean

I think many foreign people wonder how to combine Korean letters with one letter. Actually It's very easy and fun! You will enjoy knowing how to combine them. When you combine Korean letters, you also can create new meanings!  :shy: Let's start!

ㅅ

This is a consonant and it's pronounced as 's'.

Of course you can't read anything with just this one consonant,

so here's a vowel to go with it:

ㅏ

This is the vowel a as in father.

Now, in order to combine them into a Korean character, all you have to do is to try to fit them into an imaginary little square box. This is done by writing the letter ㅏ right next to ㅅ, like this:

사

Can you guess how this character is pronounced?

it's pronounced "sa" and it's the Korean word for 'buy'. Easy, isn't it?

ㄴ

This is a regular n. Can you guess how to write na now?

나

Every character represents one syllable, so if you wanted to write baba for example, you would need two characters, one for each ba.

Now it's time for a little exercise. Try to read and understand the following word.

바나나 (hint: ㅂ is a consonant and it's pronounced as 'b' or 'v')

Every Korean syllable has to start with a consonant. That makes it easy to identify the beginning and end of syllables, but what about syllables that start with a vowel, such as the beginning of the famous Korean greeting "annyong haseyo"? Those syllables need a placeholder consonant that isn't pronounced. Since its influence on the pronunciation of the syllable is zero, it is written like a zero, too. (That's how you can remember it anyway)

[Cloudy]

Banana?

:grin:I love all these helpful posts.

[mccanono]

Anneonghaseyo Joo.K!

Learning Korean alphabets (hangeul) is so much easier than learning the Japanese Katakana and Hiragana.

I actually managed to memorize all characters within a day, which I haven't been able to do with Katakana and Hiragana until now. haha.

Looking forward to being your chingu!

[Pinoy90]

Thank you for the knowledge so far! I am having a hard time in understanding at first, but I am going to try to learn how to read and write Korean. I was wondering if you have a YouTube channel because I learn easier by visual aid and listening.

[OddVisions]

Wow! This was really helpful and it didn't make me feel like an untaught child while learning. I especially like the word 사 since it's now the first Korean word I've learned to spell in the language. I also hope I'm not getting too ahead of myself but it does seem like an easy language for me to pick up as long as I keep with it.

I look forward to more lessons in the future!