¤ Korean Language Basics ¤

montanadaver

A short primer on Korean should assist folks in learning this wonderful language.

Word Structure
Korean word structure is formed by combinations of consonants and vowels much like English.  It is consistent and has few exceptions which makes it much easier to learn than English.

Vowels
ㅏ(ah)  ㅑ(yah)  ㅗ(oh)  ㅛ(yoh)
ㅓ(uh)  ㅕ(yuh)  ㅣ(ee)  ㅡ(uhh)
ㅜ(oo)  ㅠ(yoo)
There are more vowels than listed above, however these should suffice to get started.

Consonants
ㄱ(g/k)  ㄴ(n)  ㄷ(d)  ㅁ(m)  ㅂ(b/p)  ㅅ(s)  ㅇ(silent/ng)
ㅈ(j/ch)  ㅊ(ch)  ㅋ(k)  ㅍ(p)  ㅎ(h)
There are, of course, more consonants than listed above.

Pronunciation
Many of the vowels and consonants are easy to pronounce using the letters next to them as shown above.  However, a few of the vowels are sounds that are a bit more difficult to know without a concrete example.  For example: 'ㅡ'  is the same sound you might make if you really didn't like something.  There basically isn't a direct English equivalent, the 'uhh' sound is about as close as you can come without actually hearing it!  More examples below:
(ah) as in "far", (yah) as in "yacht"
(oh) as in "cope", (yoh) as in "yodel"
(uh) as in "up", (yuh) as in "yuck"
(ee) as in "teeth"
(oo) as in "juice", (yoo) as in "you"

Forming Syllables
There are 4 basic shapes for Korean syllables and all are combinations of vowels and consonants.  One or more syllables typed or written together form words. 'C' for consonant, 'V' for vowel

나  - Which would sound like 'Nah'.  The structure is C followed by V to the right.

난  - Which would sound like 'Nahn'.  The structure is C followed by V to the right and another C immediately below the first group.

누  - Which would sound like 'Noo'.  The structure is C with V immediately below.

눈  - Which would sound like 'Noon'.  The structure is C with V immediately below and another C immediately below that.

Hopefully this will give the reader some flavor of the language and encourage learning and the asking of questions.

southboca · Active Poster Joined: 13 Mar 2007 Posts: 100

UNESCO considers Hangul one of the best designed alphabet systems. (Little known fact: The vowels in Hangul represent the placement of the tongue in the mouth.) Hangul is so well-recognized that one of the awards from UNESCO given to those who help reduce the illiteracy rate is called the King Sejong Literacy Prize, after the creator of Hangul.