What is Hangul? The Korean Alphabet Explained for Language Learners

Kawa
Dec 1
4 min read

Updated: 5 days ago

Interested in learning Korean, but intimidated by how it looks? You’re not alone.

With the rise in popularity of k-pop and media like K-Pop Demon Hunters, you might be tempted to start learning Korean too. The general discourse around the language is that it’s super hard to learn and even more so to become fluent, but did you know that the Korean alphabet Hangul (한글) was actually created for reading and writing to be more accessible to people? After reading this short article, you’ll be ready and more motivated to continue learning Korean.

What is Hangul? The Korean Alphabet Explained

Hangul (한글) is the modern writing system for the Korean language. The alphabet has 24 letters that are in use today, with 14 of them being consonants (자음) and 10 vowels (모음). These can be combined into 16 more consonants and 11 vowels.

The language is described as a syllabic alphabet since consonants and vowels are paired together into syllables.

Korean syllables always begin with a consonant. If the syllable begins with a vowel, the consonant ㅇ (can be read as “ng” or silent, 이응) is used at the start instead, followed by the vowel. This consonant is silent in this case. For example, the vowel “a” is written as “아” using ㅇ +ㅏ(a).

There are more rules to syllables, but you will encounter them and start to recognize them as you see more of the language. For now, try to focus on just recognising the letters themselves.

https://preply.com/en/blog/korean-syllables

Korean Hangul chart shows consonants and vowels with Romanization and pronunciation guides. Informative text notes sound differences.

From https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hangul_letters.jpg

How was Hangul invented?

In the 15th century, Literary Chinese was the primary language used for writing alongside native phonetic writing systems. However, this kept most of the lower-class people away from writing and reading. That’s when the fourth king of the Joseon dynasty, King Sejong, personally created an easier writing system that would allow more people to use the language in writing. Other accounts mention that King Sejong ordered the Hall of Worthies (Korean royal research institute) to create Hangul, however the veritable account emphasizes him having created it personally.

The new alphabet was completed around January 1444, and the official publication date in 1446 on October 9 became a commemorative day known as Hangul Day.

What about Hanja? Do I need them to learn Korean?

Hanja refers to Chinese characters that were used in Korean writing. These usually differ in pronunciation when compared to the same Chinese characters. While Hanja were still in use up until the 20th century, they’ve been in decline in the 21st century.

You do not need to know Hanja to learn Korean. Instead, Hanja may help you learn vocabulary or understand a word’s origin. It can also help if you plan on understanding old idioms, read old academic texts or practice calligraphy.

Should I use romanization?

Romanization (writing Korean using Latin letters) isn’t an accurate way to depict Korean. Instead of using romanization, we highly recommend practicing the sounds and pronunciation of Korean instead. A lot of letters have different pronunciations depending on their placement within a syllable and the next syllable.

What’s next?

After being comfortable with recognizing the letters, you can practice pronunciation, practice reading to increase your reading speed, and try writing in Korean!

Using the Korean Keyboard

Install the keyboard depending on your device, then start typing and see how the letters come together! Because of the rules for building syllables, some letters will automatically move onto the next syllable (for example if you write a vowel or type a letter when there’s already a syllable of 4).

If you’re using a physical keyboard, you might have to get used to the letter layout as well. Personally I always type and guess the letters until I find the one I need.

Tip: Use an on-screen keyboard to see where the letters are placed.

Here’s a beginner’s guide for mobile and physical keyboard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgbvv7uOsFQ

Learn How To Read And Write Hangul

With your keyboard set up, you can start practicing writing in addition to reading. Here are some free resources you can use to learn how to read or write in Korean.

Practice makes Perfect

The truth is it will take some time to become comfortable with Hangul considering it’s an entirely new writing system. If you want to speed up the process, we recommend practicing on a daily basis even if it’s for just 5 minutes a day.

You can practice by:

Looking up and writing words in Korean, practically learning both new words and repeating them,
Pronouncing words and longer sentences out loud even if you don’t understand what you’re saying,
Writing down song lyrics word by word,
Participating in reading practice events,
Practice alongside a native.