A popular saying about the alphabet is, “A wise man can acquaint himself with them before the morning is over; even a stupid man can learn them in the space of ten days.” This saying should be enough to get you over your fear about learning Korean. It may look hard and even identical to Chinese and Japanese characters but that’s not the case. The Korean alphabet or hangul was invented with the primary purpose to make learning the language easier. There are always shortcuts ways around learning by yourself, like signing up for a korean course in singapore. This article attempts to provide just that. Read on for our easy guide to understanding Korean script.
Learn The Korean Alphabet
The first and foremost step towards understanding Korean is learning the Korean alphabet – Hangul. The alphabet is the basic unit of a language and in this case, you’ll have to memorise it. However, you need not stress as the Korean language only has 24 alphabets.
Memorize The Vowels And Consonants
Another great piece of news is that Hangul has both vowels and consonants. It contains 11 vowels and 14 consonants. Committing these to your memory is not a daunting task at all and would probably take all of an hour.
Learn To Read Words
If you want to understand a script then you’ll have to learn certain words as you will be taught in a Korean lesson if you take one up. There are some common words which you would have to remember. These are not hard at all and it is more pertinent for you to better understand the Korean. Also, once you have memorised the alphabets and identified vowels and consonants, it would not be hard for you to write words.
Attempt To Pronounce Words
Once you have learned to read words, then you’ll also have to attempt pronouncing those words. The Korean language has very few words which are not pronounced the way they are read or written. Once you are able to pronounce words, understanding the script will be a piece of cake for you. It will take practice but, as we all know, practice makes perfect.
Collect Vocabulary
After you have learned to read and pronounce words, the next step would be to grow your vocabulary. Don’t be afraid of the word ‘vocabulary’. Your task is to understand the Korean script and not write scholarly literature. You only need vocabulary words that are important for you to understand the language.
Try To Read Their Simple Books
Pick up a book taught to in Korean primary schools and try to understand it. If a primary school kid can read it then you can at least attempt to read it. These books will be a stepping stone towards your better understanding.
Korean may not seem legible at first but once you understand its alphabet it will become a lot easier. Follow this simple guide to better understand Hangul.
