3. How to read and write Korean: Han-geul (2)

Miami Sunrise by Alex De Carvalho licenced by
CC BY 2.0 
 

Hello, everyone!
The spring break began, so what are you guys planning to?
I'm going to visit New York and Miami for this spring break.
I'm so excited :D
Maybe someone is gonna go back to home and chill out. Then, how about spending time reading my posts and learning Korean?


Todays topic is vowel.

ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ

those have only one sound each, and they can be combined to express complicated sounds.
Followings are their sounds and examples. (Their names are same as their sounds)

ㅏ[a]
 This pronounciation is 'a' of 'car' 
 ex) 사랑(love) : sarang

ㅑ[ya]
 Like this, you can just add 'y' sound when vowels get one more stroke compared to former one.
 ex) 양말(socks) : yangmal

ㅓ [ʌ /eo]
 It sounds like awe
 ex) 서울(Seoul) : seoul

ㅕ[yeo]
 ex) 여름(summer) : yeorum

ㅗ[o]
This has to be British 'O'. No exception. lol
ex) 공(ball) : gong

ㅛ [yo]
ex) 요리(cooking) : yori

ㅜ [wu]
same as 'u' or 'oo' sound. ('u' of put, 'oo' of 'cartoon')
ex) 우산(umbrella) : wusan


ㅠ [yu]
ex) 유리(glass): yuri

ㅡ [eu]
ex) 지은(my name★): Jieun

ㅣ[i]
ex) 이빨(tooth): ippal

From here, combinations of vowels are.

ㅐ(ㅏ+ㅣ)
[æ]
ex) 애기(baby) : aegi

ㅔ(ㅓ+ㅣ)
[e]
Actually, ㅐ and ㅔ sounds are so similar that nobody tries to distinguish them. Some people says 'ㅐ(ae)' sounds longer than 'ㅔ[e]', though.
ex) 게(crab): ge

ㅒ (ㅑ+ㅣ)
[yae]
Actually, there are only three words that include this vowel, so you can just remeber words below. They are all informal pronouns.
ex) 걔[he/she(when he/she is not here)] : gae
      얘[he/she(when he/she is here)] : yae
      쟤[he/she(when he/she is over there)] : jae

ㅖ (ㅕ+ㅣ)
[ye]
ex) 세계(world): segye
     
ㅘ (ㅗ+ㅏ)
[wa]
Imagine you are saying 'o' and 'a' sequentially.
ex) 과일(fruit): gwail

ㅙ (ㅗ+ㅐ)
[wæ]
This vowel actually sounds same as 'ㅚ', 'ㅞ', the next vowels, so nobody care about their differnce. Only thing you have to care about is to write right vowel depending on words.
ex) 왜?(why?): wae?

ㅚ (ㅗ+ㅣ)
[oi]
It's technically 'oi' sound, but it would be more practical to pronounce this and 'ㅙ', 'ㅞ' as 'ue' sound. Only news anchors pronounce it as 'oi'.
ex) 괴물(monster): guemul

ㅞ (ㅜ+ㅔ)
[ue]
ex) 궤도(track): guedo

ㅟ (ㅜ+ㅣ)
[ui]
ex) 귀(ears): gui

ㅢ (ㅡ+ㅣ)
[eui]
Pronounce 'ㅡ' and 'ㅣ' together really fast .
ex) 의사(doctor): euisa
 

Finally, we looked through all of the consonants and vowels of Korean!

Can you make syllables and pronounce them now? 

Try to pronounce 맥도날드 and guess what means. If you have right answer and leave comment, I would buy you a cup of coffee. Lol. 

Sadly, no video today, but I will return with something more interesting next week :)

Hopefully you guys have fantastic spring break !!!! 

2. How to read and write Korean: Han-geul

Hi, everyone! Are you having a good weekend?

I brought really important introduction about Korean today: Han-geul.
Hangeul is Korean alphabet. We make words and sentences with this amazing character.  

Hangeul was invented by King Sejong about five hundred years ago to encourage education of common people; at that time, Koreans had used Chinese characters for writing, and only noblemen could learn Chinese characters in the educational institute.

As going through changes, Hangeul had had its current shape and it is also admitted as the most scientific character in the world.

 
Let me show you Hangeul's appearance.
 
- consonants
ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ

- vowels
ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ

 

How does it look? I think it’s cute :)

In Hangeul, like English alphabet, there are consonants and vowels, but there are three different parts that each elements can be located. Here is an example.

 

Like this example, Korean letters must start with consonant(beginning), and have only one vowel. And mostly they have ending consonant, which is always located in the bottom of the letter.

 So, you can make a letter like below.

 

자 [ja] : a ruler

 ㅈ[j] +ㅏ[a] (beginning + vowel)

 

잘 [jal]: well

ㅈ[j] +ㅏ[a] + ㄹ[l] (beginning + vowel +ending)

Today, I’m going to tell you how to pronounce consonants. There are basic consonants and double consonants. First, here are phonetic alphabets of basic consonants and examples of pronounciations.  

  ㄱ (Giyuk) [k/g] 
  * softer than Englsh 'g' sound. when it is in ending, it sounds like 'k'
     i.e.) 가방 (bag) = gabang

  ㄴ (Niun) [n]
   i.e.) 나 (I/ me) = na

  ㄷ (Digut) [t/d]
    * when it is used as an ending, it sounds like 't' sound. And every endings with 'ㅅ', 'ㄷ', 'ㅌ', 'ㅈ', 'ㅊ', 'ㅎ' has 't' sound as ending consonant.
      i.e.) 다리(legs)  = dari
             곧(soon) = got (you should pronouce this like Brithish)
             옷(cloth) = ot
             꽃(flower) = kkot (powerful)
      

  ㄹ (Liul) [l/r]
    * complicated one. when it is ending consonant, it has 'l' sound. However, when it is beginning consonant, its sound depends on the existence of ending in its before letter, which is directly connected to it. When it meets ending consonant before it, or there is no letter before it, its sound is 'L'.
   i.e.) 난로 (heater):  nan-lo
          라면 (Koean ramen): lamyeon

 Except for this, 'ㄹ' has 'R' sound.
   i.e.) 가루 (powder): garu
          바람 (wind): baram
      
         
  ㅁ (Mium) [m]
  i.e.) 몸 (body): mom

  ㅂ (Biup) [p/b]
  i.e.) 밥 (meal): bab

  ㅅ (Shi-ot) [s]
   *when it is ending sound, it changes to 't' sound.
    i.e) 사람 (human) : saram
          옷 (cloth) : ot

  ㅇ (Yieung) [Ø/-ŋ]
 * As a beginning consonant, this is silent, but when it is an ending consonant, it sounds 'ng' in English.
    i.e.) 영 (zero) : young
         유아 (infant): yua

  ㅈ (Jiut) [ɖʒ]
    i.e.) 잔다 (sleep) : janda

  ㅊ (Chiut) [ʈʃ]
  * Stronger sound of 'ㅈ'.  when it its in the beginning, it has 'ch' sound.
Can you see ther littel line which distinguish 'ㅊ' and 'ㅈ'
     The sylabels below are the stronger version of 'ㄱ', 'ㄷ', 'ㅂ', and they sound same as its weak version when it is ending consonant.

  ㅋ (Kiuk) [c/k]
 * stronger version of 'ㄱ'
  i.e.) 코(nose) : ko

  ㅌ (Tiut) [t]
 * stronger version of 'ㄷ'
  i.e.) 토끼(rabbit) : tokki

  ㅍ (Piup) [p]
 * stronger version of 'ㅂ'
  i.e.) 파랑(blue) : parang

  ㅎ (Hiut) [h]
 * when it is ending consonant, it makes next beginnig consonant stronger. 
  i.e.) 하늘 (sky): haneul
         좋다 (like) : jota



 This is end of basic consonant! I know this can be difficult and complicated. But if you see the video I attached, it would be much easier to pronounce them. There are also explanation about double consonants pronounciation. Double consonants are too tricky for me to explain, unfortunately, you'd better watch this video.

 

Next post will be about vowels. Stand one more boring week, and you can read and write Korean!!
I'm finishing this post with "good night" in Korean.
잘자요~ (Jaljayo)

1. An-nyung haseyo !

안녕하세요!
Hi, everyone. I am Jieun Hong and I'm a visiting student from South Korea.
I started this blog for those who want to learn Korean. 'Ya(야)' means 'Hey' in Korean.
So I'm gonna post some useful information about Korean language and Korean culture once a week.
I know first time is hard, but I swear it's not gonna be that difficult !
My English is not perfect either. So don't be afraid of learning Korean.

For the first post, here is a funny video about Korean culture. This video is made by American guy Dave and he well compared Korean culture with American culture. I hope you guys enjoy the video :)





* 안녕하세요 "An-nyung haseyo": Hi (formal)
* 안녕 "An-nyung": Hi (informal)

 - You can say infomal An-nyung only to people who are younger or same age.