Writing the Korean Alphabet

A while back, maybe five or so months ago, a friend of mine was excited over a new music video of her favorite band coming out. Nosy as I am, I asked for a closer look, and realized she was talking about a Korean pop boyband. Almost immediately I was out, believing that I wasn't going to be interested. Turns out I was still curious, and I watched the video. Now before I get into my reaction about that, earlier that year I had a guest dance teacher at my studio come in. Surprisingly enough, he taught us a dance to AOA's "Heart Attack," which is a Korean girl group song. This previous experience, which I enjoyed a lot, made my curiosity peak. So, I ended up watching GOT7's "If You Do." My first reaction was confusion, because a third of the time they actually sang in English! My second reaction was "Oh my goodness, this is absolutely TERRIBLE."  It was the epitome of over-dramatic frustrated boyfriend, they had strange clothes on, and, Jesus, there was a dance break!  I think the only reason I watched more was because the dancing was actually on point. Anyway, this all leads to one point, which is immersing yourself in the music of the language you are currently learning helps you familiarize yourself without really having to study. So every blogpost will include a little ditty so you can listen to some good music while you study! Click here for this weeks song!

So now we get into the basics! The Korean alphabet, Hangul! Its relatively simple. For me, I relied on writing them over and over again to memorize them. These are the simplest characters and the first you should learn :)

아...ah
야...yah, when there are two lines coming out, you add the "y" sound.
어...uh
여...yuh
오...oh
요...yoh
우...ooh, this one has a soft "o" sound, sort of like the phrase "ooh lala"
유...you
으...euh, think "ew"
이...ee

These are vowels paired with the silent consonant "ㅇ"
Every time you write these down, say it out loud!  It helps a lot.

Next, Learn the consonants! The easiest way to learn them is with the vowel "ㅏ"

가...gah (pronounced with a soft "k" sound)
나...nah
다...Dah (pronounced with a soft "t" sound)
라...rah (pronounced with either an "r" or "l" sound)
마...mah
바...bah

사...sah
자...jah (like "jah mon")
차...cha
카...kah
파...pah
타...tah
하...ha

These are the vowels and consonants of Korean Hangul! So these can be connected, meaning vowels don't have to stick to only the "ah" sound! It's like a mix and match alphabet. Happy Studying!