►Korean Class

[Nekotakun]

Hello to everyone who is interested in Korean, it's a very beautiful language and plus it's fast and easy to learn. I hope you can learn Korean with this thread.

 

Firstly we're going to start with learning hangeul, meaning the korean alphabet.

 

Hangeul step 1

 

In this lesson, you will learn:

Consonants: ㄱ, ㄴ, ㅁ, ㄷ, ㅇ

Vowels: ㅏ, ㅜ, ㅗ, ㅣ

 

ㅏ (vowel) This is a vertical vowel and written to the right of the consonant. Think of the

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

 

ㄱ (consonant) This is pronounced like a mix between a G and a K at the beginning of a word. It is unvoiced like a K, but unaspirated like a G. Think of the in . However, when found between vowels, the sound is voiced and makes a /g/ sound. IPA symbol: /k/ /g/.

 

ㅜ (vowel) This sound makes an "ooh" sound, similar to 'moon' or 'blue' or the U sound in Spanish (i.e. usted in "usted"). This is a horizontal vowel and written below the consonant. IPA symbol: /u/.

 

ㄴ (consonant) This sound is the same as the N sound in English. IPA symbol: /n/.

 

ㅗ (vowel) Think of the Canadian or Scottish O. Many speakers do not say aw-oo or o-oo like Americans and do not say ay-oo like Londoners. This is a straight "o" sound, tight but not as tight as the ㅜ. This is a horizontal vowel and written below the consonant. IPA symbol: /o/.

 

ㅁ (consonant) This sound is the same as the M sound in English. IPA symbol: /m/.

 

ㅣ (vowel) This sound is similar to the 'ee' sound in 'see' or 'free.' A little quicker though, more like the in but not the Scottish "happay." This is a vertical vowel and written to the right of the consonant. IPA symbol: /i/.

 

ㄷ (consonant) This is pronounced like a mix between the sounds of a T and a D at the beginning of a word. It is voiceless like a T and unaspirated like a D. Think of the in . However, when found between vowels, the sound is voiced and makes a /d/ sound. IPA symbol: /t/ /d/.

 

ㅇ (consonant) ㅇ represents no sound when found in the initial position of a syllable. Instead, it simply acts as a placeholder since vowels cannot be written by themselves. However, if ㅇ is in the final (bottom) position, it makes an NG sound, eg 'sing' or 'wrong', but these final position sounds will not be discussed until step 4 of this lesson. For now, think of it as a placeholder for a consonant when only a vowel sound must be written. IPA symbol: /./ /ŋ/.

 

Examples

 

가구 (furniture)

가나다 (Korean alphabet, i.e. abc)

가다 (to go)

가두다 (to lock in)

고구마 (sweet potato)

고기 (meat)

고모 (father's sister)

구두 (dress shoes)

기도 (prayer)

나가다 (go out)

나누다 (to divide)

나무 (tree)

나오다 (to come out)

나이 (age)

누가 (who)

누구 (who)

누나 (older sister)

다가가다 (approach to someone)

다니다 (to go to, work, school etc)

도구 (instrument,tool)

마다 (every)

마디 (joint, knot)

모기 (mosquito)

아기 (baby)

아마도 (maybe,perhaps)

아우 (man's younger brother-but not used anymore)

아이 (child)

오다 (to come)

오이 (cucumber)

이기다 (to win)

이모 (mother's sister)

[Nekotakun]

Hangeul step 2

 

In this lesson, you will learn:

Consonants: ㅅ, ㅂ, ㅈ, ㄹ

Vowels: ㅐ, ㅔ, ㅓ, ㅡ

 

ㅐ (vowel) For North Americans and Brits, this the "e" in dress. For Australians and New Zealanders, this is the "a" in trap.

 

ㅅ (consonant) This is an "s" sound. It can be aspirated or unaspirated. When combined with the vowel ㅣ, ㅑ, ㅒ, ㅕ, ㅖ, ㅛ or ㅠ, it is pronounced with an "sh" sound. You can also bunch up your tongue like you are forming the "y" in "yodel." (For Mandarin speakers, this is like the "x" in "xin" in Hanyu Pinyin.)

 

ㅔ (vowel) This sound used to sound different from ㅐ. The sound is not reliably distinguished anymore, but the vowel length can be shorter in length than ㅐ and a little more tense, too. For North Americans and Brits, this is like the "a" in face, but clipped. Most speakers combine an "eh" and an "ee" together. Just use the first part. For Australians and New Zealanders, this is the "e" in dress.

 

ㅂ (consonant) This is pronounced like the "p" in trap. It is unaspirated like a b, but voiceless like a p. However, when found between vowels the sound is voiced and makes a /b/ sound.

 

ㅓ (vowel) There is no exact sound from English to which ㅓ may be compared. Its sound is somewhere between an "uh" sound and the 오 sound you previously learned. In some dialects it is like the sound in . Try to keep it unrounded or loosely rounded. Listen to the audio file carefully! IPA symbol: /ʌ/.

 

ㅈ (consonant) This is pronounced like the "ch" at the end of "match." It is not aspirated like the "ch" in "cheek," but between vowels, it is voiced like the "dg" in "badger."

 

ㅡ (vowel) There is no exact sound to which ㅡ may be compared in English, so listen to the audio file carefully. Make your mouth say the "u" in "flute" or the "oo" in "goose," but do not round your lips. This is close to what you want.

 

ㄹ (consonant) This sound is capable of making both an R and an L sound. Native Korean words never begin with ㄹ, so expect to hear "l" or a flap "r" or even an "n." At the end of words and before consonants, it is an "l." When repeated it is an "l" held for a longer amount of time. Between vowels it is a "flap r." Do note that this is not exactly the English "r," which is usually [ɹ~ɻ]. This is a flap R, [ɾ], like the "d" in "rider" or the "t" in "writer" as spoken by Australians and North Americans. It is identical to the "r" in the older Scottish accent and in older Received Pronunciation it was the "r" between vowels. Americans once mocked the Brits as being "veddy British" because their "r" in "very" was like the American "d" in "Teddy." For Spanish speakers, it is similar to the lone "r" in "caro."

 

Examples

 

가게 (store)

가로 (the width)

가로수 (trees lining a street)

가르마 (a part in one´s hair)

가사 (the words of a song)

가수 (singer)

가스 (gas)

가루 (powder)

개 (dog)

개미 (ant)

거기 (there)

거리 (street,distance)

게 (crab)

기내 (the inside of a plane)

기다리다 (to wait)

고래 (whale)

구조 (rescue)

나라 (country)

나르다 (to carry)

나이 (age)

나사 (screw)

나비 (butterfly)

내리다 (to go descend)

네 (yes)

내 (my)

네모 (square)

너구리 (raccoon)

노루 (roe deer)

노래 (song)

다리 (leg, bridge)

다시 (again)

대구 (Daegu, the name of a Korean city)

데우다 (to reheat, to heat up)

도마 (chopping board)

도시 (city)

두부 (soybean curd,tobu)

드디어 (finally)

드라마 (drama)

라디오 (radio)

러시아 (Russia)

마루 (wooden floor)

마리 (counter used for counting the number of animals)

마르다 (to get dry)

마시다 (to drink)

머무르다 (to stay)

매다 (to tie)

매미 (cicada)

매우 (very)

머리 (head)

메다 (to shoulder)

메모 (memo)

모두 (every)

모래 (sand)

모르다 (to not know)

모자 (cap,hat)

무게 (weight)

무대 (a stage)

미래 (future)

미로 (labyrinth)

미소 (smile)

[yaoi4fans]

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

Thank you so much for the lessons!~~ I've been trying to learn Korean for a while~~ cheetah5

[Karin]

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

I love Korean dramas and K-Pop so I'm so happy you started this Korean lesson. I wanna know more Korean but it looks so hard! I'll try. :Jumping around:

[Nekotakun]

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

Thank you so much for the lessons!~~ I've been trying to learn Korean for a while~~ cheetah5

 

You're welcome, I hope you can learn faster with these lessons ^_^

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

I love Korean dramas and K-Pop so I'm so happy you started this Korean lesson. I wanna know more Korean but it looks so hard! I'll try. :Jumping around:

 

I love K-pop and K-drama too, at first it might look complicated but korean alphabet has the most less letters in all of the asian languages(japanese,chinese etc.) so it's the most easy one to learn plus there're words that come from english as well so it makes it much more easier sometimes so remember a certain word ^_^

[Tetsu]

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

are there lots of 's' rather than 'sh' sounds in korean how?

[5588ekflal]

Wow i am Koreanㅋㅋㅋㅋ 신기하네요 이거ㅍㅋㅋㅋ

[voide]

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

thanks for the lesson! i hope you'll continue this. and is there any way i can listen to the pronunciation? i really liked to learn the basic. thanks!