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Level: Hangul Videos

Learn Korean with KoreanClass101.com! Today we have a special feed for all you newbies out there! Today, we’ll get you started on how to read and write Hangul. For those of you that may not know, Hangul is the Korean writing system. It’s one of the easiest and most logical writing systems out there. King Sejong (the king that created Hangul) said “A wise man can acquaint himself with them before the morning is over; a stupid man can learn them in the space of ten days.” Get yourself acquainted with Hangul and start your journey today! Be sure to stop by KoreanClass101.com and let us know what you think!
hangul video

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Hangul Videos . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

61 Responses to “Video #1 - How to Read and Write Hangul”

KoreanClass101.com says:

There are 3 more videos of this kind. These will can be found in the premium learning center. Be sure to tell us what you think!

For those of you that already know Hangul:

How long did it take you to learn Hangul?
Was it easy? Hard?

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Matthew (매튜) says:

When and where will those 3 videos be available? This video was very helpful. I have been trying to learn Hangul for a very long time and this was the best explained so far. Now I know basically how it works. Thank you all very much for your efforts!

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Keith says:

thanks for your feeedback matthew :) The other 3 videos are already done. We just need to put a few finishing touches. They will be up on the site most likely by the end of the week :D

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Jimmy B says:

Very well done! I loved the “illustrated podcast” feel to it.

I love it!

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says:

Hangul was the first thing I learned when I started with Korean. I bought a book called “Your first 100 words in Korean” it was very helpful….now it comes with a CD I think so it might be even more so now. It really didn’t take long at all, I was very happy with that.

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Jimmy B says:

I tell you, I wish I hadn’t used Romanji as a crutch with Japanese… though to be fair, while Hirigana/Katakana are pretty knowable and roughly equivalent to learning Hangul (though Hangul seems easier to me), to do any reading in Japanese you need a few hundred Kanji.

Thank you, Korea, for getting wise back in the 1600s. :grin:

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jisho says:

You know, kanji help a lot while reading any random Japanese text - and you can get a general meaning of unknown compounds too!

Pity that nowadays hanja aren’t used that much in Korean as well :( .

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steved says:

Great video introduction to 한글!

When I learned this originally I did not rely on romanization at all, only to get the basic sounds of the Korean alphabet. I think if you rely too much on Romanization then you will have a tendancy to read the words as you would in English and most of the time that doesn’t work right.
So you could memorize what the Romanization is supposed to sound like or just memorize a new alphabet. The Korean alphabet is very straight forward and with a little practice shouldn’t be a problem for anyone. Once again, great job. Thanks!

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Keith says:

i learned hangul when I was a kid, so I don’t really remember if it was hard or easy. But I do remember back in junior high school. A friend and I were bored in class. So i taught him how to read Hangul…. it literally took 1 period!

Back in New York, I always go to noraebang (karaoke) with my friends. I usually go with a lot of Koreans, but there are also a lot of non-Koreans as well. And all my non-Korean friends can read along at the noraebang when we’re singing Korean songs.

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steved says:

It could be a good code to write phonetic English using the Korean alphabet.

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和지혜 says:

I’m 16 years old and 1/4 Korean and I’ve been wanting to learn Korean to understand part of my heritage. I was having problems understanding certain parts and thinking of giving up when I came across your site. Thank you Seol, Hyunwoo, and Keith! You guys are doing a great job!

P.S. To all of you who are having problems learning Hangul, don’t give up! It’s simple! It’s like working with the English alphabet: one sound for each symbol.

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maxiewawa says:

When someone explained Hangeul to me I thought it was quite easy but it’s actually really difficult! :razz: Consonants change sound according to where they are.

입니다 hasn’t got a ‘b’ in it, 깨끗하다 hasn’t got an ’s’…

But I figure if I can master English spelling I’ve got to be able to get Korean eventually!

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선현우 says:

Matthew(매튜), Jimmy(지미), John(존), Jisho(지쇼), Steve(스티브), 지혜, Max(맥스) // :grin: :grin:

화이팅 to everyone, and thank you for all your support for KoreanClass101.com and your enthusiasm about learning Korean!! It really makes everyone working behind the scenes feel good about the work!!

Keith and Seol are doing a great job as you guys all know, and we’re doing our best to make this podcast really the best ever on the net, so don’t give up, and keep up your efforts!! :D And help us spread the word!! :-)

:grin: :grin: 코리안클래스101 화이팅!!!

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maxiewawa says:

재 한국 이름은 금 입니다. :mrgreen:

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Daniel K says:

I had a bizarre introduction to reading and writing hangeul. When I was thinking of coming to Korea to teach English, I was given the Korean Tourism Organization’s travel guide by a recruiter at a job fair. It included a basic explanation of hangeul. Being the language dork that I am, I noticed that I could read the place-names in the guide using the basic hangeul reading chart they gave. And that’s how I first learned to read hangeul!

I’m interested in how some people say it’s really easy to learn to read and write hangeul (”I did it in one afternoon!”), while others struggle for weeks to get the basics (”All the vowels look the same!”). While it is an intuitive language to read compared to some others, there are many little tricks along the way, from the beginner level (the differences between ㅅ, ㅈ, and ㅊ), to the more advanced levels (when ㅅgets read as a “t” sound, and when ㅂ gets read as an “m” sound).

I’m convinced it’s some quirk in our minds that makes the difference. I consider myself a language person, yet I had some sort of learning block whenever I would try to read ㄱ and ㄴ. I would constantly mix up their sounds, just like I often would with ㅗand ㅜ.

Good luck to everyone learning hangeul. It really is a cool writing system!

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g-won says:

hangul wasn’t so difficult for me. I actually learned it in school when I was bored in class. My friend taught me in like 40 mins… I got the basics down. sometimes it gets hella hard.. alot of my friends are korean, so i always go to noraebang with them. and i always try to read along while grooving. although the rap songs are too fast for me.

1tyme… is one time for your mind…. hahah that’s all i know from that song. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

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Keith says:

hmmm.. I guess when everyone says “Hangul is easy” I think they’re referring to the basics. It seems like everyone is having at least a little bit of trouble with phonetic changes. But I’m telling you folks!! When you start to read hangul at a fast pace, the phonetic changes will come naturally.

입니다 (ibnida) 3x fast = 임니다 (imnida)
같이 (gati) 3x fast = 기치 (gachi)

And please don’t forget to enter our “Hangul Day contest!” Last day is coming up soon!! :grin:

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Jimmy B says:

The only thing for it is practice: That’s why even though I don’t get most of it, I do try to read Hyunwoo’s blog transcript.

And you’re right - Hangul is “conceptually” easy, but the true power comes in being FAST and learning the consonant transforms.

For my own part, I’m always mixing up O and U…

I also have to say it’s VERY fun to be engaged in the beginning of a very cool project with you people - I think that this will take off like JPod! Or CPod!!!

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Jacqueline (쟈클린) says:

Hangul is so easy! :grin: I learned it like in an hour. :lol:

But I’m still confused with some of the sounds of some letters that are soooo simlilar, so i hope you guys explain those . :roll: :grin:

Here they are with some examples:

The Plain, Tense, and Aspirated Consonats

ㄱ, ㅋ, ㄲ
개, 깨
공, 콩

ㄷ, ㅌ, ㄸ
달, 탈, 딸

ㅂ, ㅍ, ㅃ
불, 풀, 뿔
발, 팔, 빨래

ㅅ, ㅆ
사다, 싸다

ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅉ
자다, 차다, 짜다

Please clarify this. :grin:

I really need help on this, ’cause i don’t know how to distiguish those words.

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João Paulo • 전 says:

This video was great. Really nice job!! :wink:

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Daniel K says:

Jacqueline,

The way I understand it, they are very similar sounds. From speaking to my Korean co-workers, I understand that context plays a huge role in understanding what someone else says. So while it is important to understand the pronunciation difference between, say, 개 (dog) and 게 (crab), context is really important there. My co-workers told me that if the context isn’t clear, even native Korean speakers might have trouble understanding which word is being said.

Now, about the similar consonants…
The aspirated consonants are said with a small release of breath. The difference between ㄱ and ㅋ can be illustrated with the phrase “of course.” The first, non-aspirated one (ㄱ) is the “c” sound when you’re saying the phrase calmly. The second, aspirated consonant (ㅋ) is like if you’re angry or surprised, when you say “of COURSE!” The “C” sound gets louder, and that’s the sound you should aim for when you pronounce the ㅋ consonant.

As for double/tensed consonants… those are trickier, and I still can’t totally get those right! I understand that you’re suppose to produce those sounds while tensing your tongue and throat, and you can’t release any breath. Tricky!

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Jean says:

I absolutly love this site! Keith, you and Seol are so fun and entertaining! I love listening to the podcasts =]

I was so excited to find that there will be more videos! They will be on the free content, right? I hope so!

Please keep making more podcasts! :razz:

The aspirated consonants are still making me go ….O.o
but I’ll get the hang of it sooner or later. ^_^

I can’t wait to be finally able to understand the kdramas and korean songs without subtitles XD

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maxiewawa says:

한곡 친극 하그 식당 에 있었어요.
She was trying to explain those tricky Korean consonants, getting me to sound them out. My spittle all over the table (I think that was for ㅌ, and ㄸ) and I was hocking up phlegm like someone with tuberculosis (ㅋ) before she was satisfied with my pronunciation. I still don’t think I got it right though.
But for some reason when she speaks Korean, it sounds like a lovely melody, and nothing like when I speak it.

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Keith says:

jacqueline - the sounds can be quite tricky. We have all the sounds in the learning center. I think that’s the best way to learn it, just by the sounds. Possibly if you have a Korean person around you, get them to show you. Otherwise you’ll have to learn through books - which is not really ideal when you’re talking about listening and speaking :P

I guess we should have a lesson on the differences. We’ll see what we can come up with! :mrgreen:

Jean - thanks for the support and nice feedback!! Keep on listening :D

ㄱ, ㄲ, ㅋ
ㄷ, ㄸ ㅌ
ㅅ, ㅆ
ㅈ, ㅉ, ㅊ
ㅂ, ㅃ, ㅍ

Sounds like a good lesson :)

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Keith says:

지혜 - Thanks for commenting. If you have any questions or comments, let us know! We’re always here to help.

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Jacqueline (쟈클린) says:

Daniel K thanks for your explanation. :smile:

and Keith that sounds like a really good lesson ! :grin:

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Seol says:

wow~ manay comments!

I know some may feel Hangul is not easy at all-.-
But after a few hours of struggle(or a few days ^^)
you will find yourself who reads the signs and letters of streets!

I am one hundred percent sure that Hangul is a lot easier than Japanese or English :razz:

BTW, I hate Kanji-.-

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Matthew (매튜) says:

Where exactly are the other Hangul videos? I can’t see them in the Learning Centre!

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The KoreanClass101.com Blog says:

[…] If you missed the first video, you can watch it over here […]

maxwell says:

Hi keith and seol,
I am from singapore, I like to watch korean drama and hear music is very nice and like to learn korean language. Ya I come to search on the web and came pass by your website, I find it great I can learn more that I like your website. You and soul are great teachers. Ya is like very entertaining. :wink:

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kangmin says:

Hello everybody, I’m Kangmin from HUFLIT University (HCMC, Vietnam). I’m really into learning your language; but I have trouble with my Korean speaking skill b/c I have almost no any opportunities communication with Korean…What do you guys think I otta do to improve this skill? I’m looking forward to your reply
Yours friend,

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선현우(Hyunwoo Sun) says:

Hi Kangmin, welcome to the website!! How long have you been learning Korean? If you can already speak it to a certain level, you can join some Korean community websites and make friends there, or if it’s the language that you want to focus more on for the time being, you can practice by leaving comments here about the lessons that you’re publishing. :-)

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maxiewawa says:

Chào Kangmin!

Welcome to the site. Do you have Skype? It’s really useful for someone in a situation like you. Download Skype here: http://www.skype.com/intl/en/

And put your name down here:
http://www.koreanclass101.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=72&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc

Someone will popup to practice korean with you before you can say 누구에??

Chào!

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michelle says:

OH MY GOD
you won’t even believe how helpful that video was to me ! i mean i knew all the characters and sounds for the consonants and vowels, but i didn’t know the blocks and orders
wow, that was SO helpful

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matinga says:

tru dat!

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ghost says:

hi !!…. mm about the video class “how to writte korean ” class 1, the vowels,
you said there`s 10 vowels, but i know theres 12 actually.

am i wrong ???
im not really good explaining myself =.=

anyway… 10 or 12 ???
thanks for the videos ^^

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Joy says:

hello! i would like to know the days in korean language? how do you say, moday, tuesday wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday and sunday?

khamsahamnida

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kangmin says:

Hi, friends ! I’ve not seen you guys for ages, how are you doing?
I often surf the Net and learn Korean at http://www.hanquocngaynay.com ( Korea today- a website founded by Korea Embassy in Vietnam). There’s a course called ” Let’s speak Korean” of which some lessons [lesson 2,3,4,5,6,7] I can’t open with Window media or Real player and there are some missing lessons as well. Please help me to inform this obstacles to them or give me some guidance!! Btw, if you guys have a chance to go to Vietnam ;I’m willing to be your tour guide
my e-mail : mr.zro88@yahoo.com.
Thanks for you time.

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Edyta says:

I like korean characters a lot more than Japanese or Chinese. It looks so clearly;P

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Mandy says:

I really don’t understand how the writing in general works. Sure I can use the placeholder but how do I use the consonants if there are more than one?

Are there spaces between words?

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선현우(Hyunwoo Sun) says:

Mandy :)

The consonants get smaller to fit into the squares when there are more than one used in a single syllable, and yes, in Korean, we use spaces between words to distinguish them. :)

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patoweisha says:

thank you so much for this very helpful video.. now, i had a better understanding on how to write and read hangul.. more power and may you help more people like me who’s eager to learn hangul.

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선현우(Hyunwoo Sun) says:

patoweisha :)

Glad to hear that you found this video helpful :) And thank you very much for stopping by to say hi!

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ciao says:

yoboseo ?
haha
just kidding
:grin:
that video is so helpful …
hasamnida !!
:lol:

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isamm says:

thanks for the help :mrgreen:

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yedz says:

annyong haseyo!!!please help me how to write ,read,and understand korean…i dont know what to do in your website…im sorry….could you please help me…..cause im just 13 years old

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yedz says:

please please help me learn korean…..i want to learn because if ever i can go to kore…for a work i can speak ,read,and write korean…..

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Gemma says:

Ive tried everything and I still cant understand Hangul. I cant figure out how to put them together and create words and read them :cry:

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vyvy2410 says:

chao tat ca ban. minh o viet nam. minh dc 1 nguoi ban cho wed nay vao coi. minh vao day thay nhung tin nhan.rat vui dc lam wen voi tat ca moi nguoi. :razz:

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song hee ray says:

:razz:

niiiiiiiic videos
i hope easy learn

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Toshiro's Girl says:

haha. First lesson and already have 2 pages of notes! :shock:

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ioana says:

Hello. I am interested to learn Corean. Couls a native speaker to help me. I am from EUROPE. my address is : ioana_buzgariu@yahoo.com. just let me know. bye bye

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Kioka says:

Hie everyone!
I’m new here :roll:
Why can’t watch this vid?! Some videos here take too long to load..what should i do? I don’t have that much time to wait cause I only have spare time during nights but still have to limit it cause i have to study.

Actually I already know how to read and write hangul but still I want to learn from the beginning :grin:

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Mohammad Al-Mamun says:

this is very easy and really helpful to the beginners!

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Scott says:

Hey guys I wanted to know some stuff. I am on 7 day trial and I cant see the other two videos but like I understand the constonant goes in middle and vowel goes on right or bottom depending if it is longer horizontal or vertical. But how does that make a word? Like for example (I used google translate XD so NO I dont know how to type korean) hello in korean is 안녕하세요 but like how do those symbols equal hello? All I see are consonants and vowels but no words or anything. Please help?!

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니키타 says:

Hi ! I need help about the pronounciation rule when a word has compound consonants. Example of compound consonants; ㄳ ㄵ ㄼ ㄶ ㄺ ㄻ . How do I know which initial sound I should pronounce first? Please advice. 감사함니디.

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KoreanClass101.com says:

:razz: Hi, 니키타.

For those compound consonants, you can read the sound of first consonant. For example, You can read 앉다(anda) as ‘안따(antta). The second consonant usually make the following consonant on different letter gets stronger sound (다-> 따)

There are many rules applying to how to read those double consonants, and we are working on the lessons now. But please keep in mind that usually you need to read only the sound of first consonant.

I hope this helps.

Thank you.

- Jaehwi / Koreanclass101.com

p.s. Could you write down how to read the verb 읽다?

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니키 says:

Hi Jaehwi. Thank you for your advice. It does help me a lot! Thank you again. The word you wrote is ilda. Means, read? :)

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KoreanClass101.com says:

:razz: Hi, 니키.

That’s perfect! Yes, the word is 읽다(ildda), which means ‘to read’.

If you have any questions about Korean language, please let us know. : )

Thank you. 감사합니다.

- Jaehwi / Koreanclass101.com

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니키타 says:

OH right… ildda.. double D. Forgot about that. 감사함니다!

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