Well, thinking about studying in South Korea or
just because of your love for K-pop, K-Drama, and Korean Culture. Whatever
reason you got for learning the Korean language, I have a few things that you
must know before starting to learn Korean.
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1. Hangeul | Alphabetical Script for
writing Korean
Hangeul is the system of alphabets used for writing
the Korean language. This system was first generated by King Sejong in 1443 and
is known to be one of the easiest alphabetical systems to learn. You can just
be able to read basic Korean in just 1 or 2 hours.
2. Alphabets in Hangeul | Quantity, and types
Just like the English language, Korean also has both consonants and vowels in its script. It has 24 basic alphabets that include 14 consonants and 10 vowels but there are also doubled consonants and combined vowels as well that are quite important because of their different sounds. So, in conclusion, Hangeul has
* 14 single consonants
* 5 doubled consonants
* 10 single vowels
11 combined vowels
3. 3. Syllables in the Korean language
Basically, a syllable is a word or a part of a word
that has a vowel sound in it and that vowel can either be surrounded by a
consonant or not. You can understand syllables of English by looking at these
examples
But in the Korean language, Syllable is a single
block of letters that can contain 2, 3, or 4 letters.
In Koreans, a word must start with a consonant that is followed by a vowel. A single syllable can either be consisting of 2, 3, or 4 letters, and each of them has a specific order of alphabets.
* 2 letters syllable
* 3 letters syllable
* 4 letters syllable
4. 4. Different sounds of same consonants |
Consonants at initial and final positions
So, so another thing that beginners in the Korean
language might be confusing is Different sounds of the same consonants
depending upon their position. As in Korean, a consonant can take any of,
initial or final position in a word and it has a different sound depending upon
that.
5. 5. Combined final consonants
The consonants that come at the end of a syllable
i.e. at the final position, can either be from single or doubled consonants
that are mentioned above. But other than these, there’s a set of combined
consonants that are used only in the final position and create 4 letter
syllables. These are
6. 6. Consonants Assimilation
Now, another important concept, that is necessary for pronouncing Korean words accurately is Consonants assimilation. It is that the sound of the consonants at the final position might change depending on the consonant that comes next. There are a few standard rules for each combination of consonants being assimilated and just a little bit of practice can make you become fluent in reading the Korean language.
7. 7. Formal and Informal conversation |
Honorific and Non-honorific forms
In the Korean language, people use a formal
conversation style (honorific form) when talking to strangers, elders or to pay
respect to anyone. Meanwhile for talking to friends, family, or anyone whose
closer, informal sentences (non-honorific form) are used. Both types have a
different kinds of sentence endings.
This article is written by Umme E Aiman Jalali, one of the contributors at the School of Literature.
