The Korean Alphabet (Hangul)

Today I’m going to focus on Korean language - more specifically, the alphabet (yes, Korean has an alphabet).  About four years ago, some Korean friends of mine taught me the Korean alphabet (called the Hangul) but I need to brush up my knowledge a bit.  I'll try to sum up what I can remember, and if I make any errors, please let me know in the comments!  Again, I am not an expert, I am just communicating what I remember and what I've learned.

Hangul was created by the court of King Sejong the Great in the 1440s.  You can actually see King Sejong on the 10,000 Korean Won bank note.  The Hangul was created to be very easy to learn, especially when compared to Chinese script, which was difficult to learn and used primarily by the aristocracy.  According to the Hunmin Jeong-eum Haerye, a document from the 1440s explaining the Hangul, "A wise man can acquaint himself with [the letters] before the morning is over; a stupid man can learn them in the space of ten days."  Since we're not stupid, let's go over the Hangul and learn it quickly!

Let's break it down section by section.  First, in the blue section, we have consonants:

These are pretty straightforward, though a few of them may seem a bit confusing at first.  Some of these consonants produce a sound somewhere in between two consonants that we use in our English alphabet.  These are ㄱ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅂ, and ㅈ.  

ㄱ produces a sound somewhere in between a "G" and a "K".  If you think about it, these two letters in the English alphabet are actually pronounced in about the same area of the mouth: with the back of the tongue pressed up against the back of the roof of the mouth.  You can also actually hear an example of this letter in the well-known K-Pop song "Gangnam Style" by PSY.  Listen closely, and you'll hear that the first "G" in Gangnam is actually somewhere between a "G" and a "K". 

ㄷis between a "D" and a "T", which actually confused me the first time I met my friend Da Un (다운).  I couldn't tell if she was saying "da" or "ta"!  Once again, if you think about the way we say the English letters "D" and "T", they are both pronounced with the tongue pressed up against the back of the top front teeth.

ㄹ is between "R" and "L", which I suppose to sort of sound similar--I'd say the shape of your mouth is similar when pronouncing "R" and "L", but your tongue is in a different place.

ㅂ is between a "B" and a "P", which are both pronounced at the front of the mouth with the lips pressed together.  A friend of mine who was learning Korean really liked calling people 바보 (usually written as pabo in Romanized letters), which means "foolish" or "stupid".  He wasn't being mean, that was just his sense of humor.  It was pretty funny.  Anyway, I can remember when he and our Korean friends pronounced 바보, the firstㅂ sounded more like a "P", whereas the second one sounded more like a "B".

Finally, ㅈ is between a "J" and a "Z", but can also have a "Ch" sound to it as well.  Again, just as with these other "combination" consonants, all of these sounds (J, Z, and Ch) are produced with the front teeth placed together.  You can hear it in the song "I Am the Best" by the K-Pop group 2NE1.  The title of the song is written 내가 제일 잘 나가 (Naega Jeil Jal Naga), and you can see (and hear) this letter in the third and fourth syllables.

The next thing you'll notice here are the double consonants, which have a slightly darker blue background in the chart above.  They produce a stronger sound than the single consonants.  Similarly, you'll see the consonants ㅋ, ㅌ, and ㅍ, which are pronounced "K", "T", and "P".  These may seem like repeats of ㄱ, ㄷ, and ㅂ, but they are not.  These letters produce the harder "K", "T", and "P" sounds we are familiar with in English, as you will hear in the names Kevin, Tony, and Patrick.

The rest of the consonants, ㄴ, ㅁ, ㅅ, ㅇ (ng as pronounced at the end of -ing), ㅊ, and ㅎ, are simply pronounced as described in the chart.

That's the end of the consonants!  Now on to the vowels.  These red boxes contain the basic vowels:

Most of these produce sounds similar to vowels in English:

ㅏ is "ah" as in father

ㅓ is sort of an "uh" sound, like in the word run.  Or Cubs (maybe next year...).

ㅗ is "oh" as in so

ㅜ is "oo" as in moon

ㅣ is "ee" as in see.  I find this one very easy to remember because it looks like the letter I!  

Finally, we get to the letter ㅡ.  I normally see this written in the English alphabet as "eu".  According to KoreanFluent.com, this is how you pronounce this letter:

(i) Say "ah";
(ii) While maintaining the "ah" sound, slowly close your jaws until your upper and lower teeth are about to touch (but they shouldn't touch);
     (The tongue should remain relaxed.)
(iii) The sound you are now making is this vowel.  

Similarly, a Korean friend of mine told me that the horizontal line of the letter represents the shape your mouth should be making when pronouncing its sound.  This seems to match up well with the explanation above.

The vowels in the darker red blocks are very easy once you know how to pronounce those described above.  Let's look at ㅏand ㅑ.  As we now know, ㅏ is pronounced "ah" as in father.  ㅑ looks exactly the same but with an extra line; it is pronounced "yah".  For all of these vowels - ㅑ, ㅕ, ㅛ, and ㅠ - they are pronounced the same as the other vowel they resemble except with a "y" sound at the start.  So in that case, ㅕ is yuh, ㅛ is yoh, and ㅠ is yoo.  It is very simple - just remember that the extra line means add a "y"!

Now, on to the yellow section:

These are the vertical diphthongs. 

ㅐ is pronounced like the "a" sound in apple, and just like the basic vowels above, an extra lines adds a "y" sound.  ㅒ, therefore, is pronounced like "ya" like in yak.

ㅔ has an "eh" sound, as in bet; and adding an extra line causes ㅖ to sound like "yeh" as in yet.
These vertical diphthongs are pretty easy!

And now, the purple section, or horizontal diphthongs:

These looked pretty challenging when I first looked at them, but much like most of these Korean letters, once you break them down, they're not that bad.  As we know they are diphthongs, which are a combination of two vowels in one syllable.  Let's take a look at ㅘ.  This contains the ㅗ, which as we know sounds like "oh", and theㅏ, which is "ah".  Now say these two sounds together quickly.  What we end up with is sort of a "wah" sound (like in the word water) which is exactly whatㅘ sounds like!   

Therefore:

ㅙ is pronounced like the "wa" sound in "wack"  - or like a crying baby (waaaaaaah!)

ㅚ is actually the same as ㅙ in modern Korean

ㅝ is "wo" or "wuh".  Although we've switched from ㅗ to ㅜ at the beginning of the diphthong, it still ends up producing a "w" sound.  Again, just pronounce the "oo" sound of ㅜ and the "uh" sound of ㅓ together quickly.

ㅞ sounds like "weh" like in Wendy
 
ㅟ is pronounced "wee", like a certain Nintendo console

ㅢ is sort of like "ui" - this one is difficult just because that ㅡ sound isn't really replicated in English.  Just remember the description of how to shape your mouth, as addressed above, and quickly add the "ee" sound of ㅣ after it.

As we come to the end of this little guide to the Hangul, I do have a few special notes.  The first especially pertains to vowels, but could in some cases deal with consonants as well.  I've learned that it is very important to be aware of your own accent!  I am originally from the suburbs of Chicago and currently reside in Northern Wisconsin, so I am subject to the Northern Cities Vowel Shift.  I was completely unaware of my accent until I read about this; now I can actually hear it in my own speech.  For example, when I say the word "box", it probably sounds a lot like "backs" to people outside the Great Lakes region of the United States.  Being from the Chicago area, I probably say the name "Bob" like "Bab" and "Pat" like "Pyat" - much like these guys!

Secondly, there are a few exceptions to the above-stated rules of Hangul.  The first I'll address deals with the letter ㅇ.  As we've learned, it typically produces a "ng" sound, but this isn't the case when the letter is at the beginning of a syllable.  When this happens, the letter is actually silent.  We can see this in the word 고양이 (cat), which is pronounced "go-yang-ee".  The last two syllables begin with the silent ㅇ; if this letter was not silent then a Korean cat would be a "go-ngang-ngi", and that really doesn't roll off the tongue well!

Another special case is in regards to the letter ㅅ.  When it is the final letter of a syllable, it can sometimes shift from a "s" sound to a "t" or a "d".  We can see this in the word 맛 (taste), which is pronounced "maht".  Talk to Me in Korean, a fantastic website for learning Korean, explains it well:

 When [ㅅ] is NOT followed by any word, it’s pronounced as [t], ending the word there. When it is followed by 있어요, it becomes an [S] sound, making 맛있어요 pronounced as [ma-si-sseo-yo].  When it is followed by 없어요, it becomes a [D] sound, making 맛없어요 pronounced as [ma-deop-seo-yo]. -From Talk to Me in Korean, Level 1, Lesson 12

Finally, the letter ㅂ can sometimes exhibit an "m" sound rather than "b/p".  This is notable in the word감사합니다 (thank you), pronounced "gam-sa-ham-ni-da".  The third syllable, 합, looks like it should be pronounced "hap"; however, "gam-sa-hap-ni-da" does not roll off the tongue as easily as "gam-sa-ham-ni-da", as it causes an awkward break between the "p" at the end of "hap" and the "n" at the beginning of "ni". 

There may be other exceptions to the sounds of the Hangul, but this is currently all I am aware of at the moment.  For more information by some actual experts, I highly recommend Talk to Me in Korean.  You can buy their entire program, but alternatively, you can access their short lessons for free by looking under the "Curriculum" tab at the top of the page.  Each lesson has a sound file you can listen to or download, and free pdf pages outlining the materials covered.  You can also start here, where they can teach you Hangul better than I ever could!  It costs $30 for the entire 1 hour and 30 minute Hangul course, and while I have not yet done it, it looks to be well worth the cost.

That is all for today!  I will likely continue to revisit the Korean language, as it is something I would like to someday master. 

Update Nov. 7, 2015:

I just found this music video for this song by Louviet:

The video uses kinetic typography, and once you get comfortable enough with your understanding of Hangul, you can follow along!  You may not know the meaning of the words they are singing, but you can at least read it.  A fun exercise to strengthen your understanding of Hangul!

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Resources Consulted/Cited:

"Hangul." Wikipedia. October 10, 2015. Accessed October 11, 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul.

 "How to Pronounce Korean Vowels." Korean Translation Services. 2008. Accessed October 11, 2015. http://www.koreanfluent.com/cross_cultural/korean_alphabet/korean_pronunciation_keys/basic_vowels_key.htm.

Hunmin Jeongeum Haerye, postface of Jeong Inji, p. 27a, translation from Gari K. Ledyard, The Korean Language Reform of 1446, p. 258 - quote accessed October 11, 2015 through Wikipedia.

Kim, Darim. "Periodic Table of Hangul." November 1, 2010. Accessed October 11, 2015. http://keytokorean.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/02.08.Hangulposter-AboutLetters.jpg. 
Sun, Hyunwoo. "Level 1 Lesson 4 / I'm Sorry, Excuse Me / 죄송합니다, 저기요". Talk To Me In Korean. December 24, 2009. Accessed October 11, 2015. http://www.talktomeinkorean.com/lessons/l1l4/.

Sun, Hyunwoo. "Level 1 Lesson 12 / It's Delicious, It Tastes Awful, Thank You for the Food / 맛있어요, 맛없어요, 잘 먹겠습니다, 잘 먹었습니다." Talk To Me In Korean. February 1, 2010. Accessed October 11, 2015. http://www.talktomeinkorean.com/lessons/l1l12/. PDF lesson notes.