The Korean language has both consonants and vowels just

like English.

Let’s learn the consonants to start.

First, let’s take a look at the English alphabet. Instead of looking at the actual letters, let’s just look at the sounds they make.

In doing so, we can find the closest equivalents in Korean so that we can start to make associations.

In Korean, there are no, or sounds, so let’s take

them out.

The rest of the sounds can be made using the Korean language; however, the (“kw”), , (“ks") and sounds:

a) Can only be made by combining two or more sounds

For example: The X sound can be made by combining the K and S sounds (X = K + S). Try it now!

OR

b) Cannot stand alone and need to be followed by a vowel

sound

For example: In Korean, we can create the sounds or

but not the standalone sound.

So, let’s take these four letters out as well since there are no direct equivalents:

Finally, let’s remove the English vowels, since we are first focusing on the consonant sounds.

How many are left in red?

.

But we can group C and K together, since in English, they make the same sound.

This leaves a total of 12.

Let’s take a look at those 12 first. Since we’re learning to read a new language and have never seen these foreign

looking character shapes before, it

will be very difficult for us just to

memorize them. Therefore, we need

to link them to something already in

our minds in order to create an

association.

Let’s do this using a visual learning

technique to associate the new characters with pictures and

sounds we already know.

The first letter of the English word in the picture has the same sound as the Korean character.

This will help to start to create the associations.

The character , which has a sound similar to in English, looks like a bed with a post at either end.

Make this association in your mind. Write it down and commit it to memory.

Likewise, the character could be seem as a doorframe or

the panels on a door. Correspondingly, this character makes the sound .

The Korean character has the appearance of a gun and sounds similar to an English .

The same goes for ㅎ(), which looks like a man with a hat, and ㅈ () which could be seen as a jug with a spout at the top.

Try creating these associations now.

When you’re ready, let’s continue on!

Next is the character , which has 5 strokes and could be compared to the rungs of a ladder. Its sound is most similar to an English and can be made the same way by pressing

down with your tongue.

Finally, there are the characters , , and, which have the sounds , and respectively.

The is a square box like a message on a phone or a piece of mail.

The points up and to the right like a compass pointing to the north (and the east at the same time).

The is like a seashell or clam, having only two strokes which slightly overlap.

How are we doing so far?

Let’s do an exercise to see if we’ve got the first set of characters down!

Feel free to go back and review what we’ve covered so far.

Flip to the next page when you’re ready.