A basic introduction to Hangul

An introduction to Hangul
INTRODUCTION
Hangul – The Korean Alphabet
The official writing system for South Korea is Hangul (한글), which is the name for the Korean Alphabet system. Learning the Korean alphabet, Hangul, is much easier than learning Romanization of Korean.

Hangul Meaning
“Han” means “Korean”, and “gul” means “letter”. Put them together, and you’ve got the term “Korean letter”, or “Korean Alphabet”.

Hangul is an alphabet, similar to the Roman alphabet used by English speakers. The only two differences are Hangul blocks syllables, and there are no lowercase or capitalise letters in Hangul. No matter when it is used, the letter is always written the same way.

Letter Sounds in Hangul
The sounds of the Korean alphabet are very similar to those of the English alphabet. This makes it simple to learn because the English sounds can be used to learn the Korean letter sounds.

The Korean alphabet is made up of consonants and vowels that combine to form syllable blocks. These syllables can be sounded out in the same way that words in English can.

Hangul Audio Charts
Click the Hangul alphabets for audio.
Hangul Chart: Korean Consonants

g
n
n
r/l

m
b
s
no sound/ng

j
ch
k
t

p
h
kk
tt

pp
ss
jj


Hangul Chart: Korean Vowels

a
ya
eo
yeo

o
yo
u
yu

eu
i
ae
yae

e
ye
wa
wae

oe
weo
we
wi

ui		      


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