Korean/RWP/Lesson 2

Learn Korean (Introduction) Read, write, pronounce Korean: Course — Lesson 1 • Lesson 2 • Lesson 3 • Lesson 4 • Lesson 5 • Lesson 6 • Summary Orthography • Essential Pronunciation Rules • Advanced Pronunciation Rules Grammar • Conversation

Consonants learned in Lesson 1:

Basic 예사소리	Letter (jamo)		ㄴ				ㅂ		ㅇ
	Romanization Pronunciation		n [n]				b or p [b] or [p]		- (initial) silent

Vowels learned in Lesson 1:

Letter (jamo)	ㅏ
Romanization Pronunciation	a [a]

Welcome back! This is the second lesson of "Learn to read, write and pronounce Korean".

In the last lesson, you already learned four letters: ㅂ (bieup), ㅏ (a), ㄴ (nieun) and ㅇ (ieung). In this lesson, you will learn four new letters. Combined with the four you already know, they will open up quite a few Korean words to you.

The consonant ㅁ (mieum)

ㅁ (mieum) stroke order

Sound sample of ㅁ (mieum) (help·info)

The first new consonant to learn is ㅁ (mieum):

Letter (jamo):	ㅁ
Pronunciation:	[m]

ㅁ (mieum) is pronounced just like a regular English m. Be careful not to confuse it with 'ㅇ', which doesn't have corners.

Letter (jamo):	ㅁ	ㅏ	=>	마
Pronunciation:	[m]	[a]		[ma]

Exercise

Try to read the following Korean words that contain the letter ㅁ (mieum). Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual.

Korean: 마나마 (hint: the capital city of Bahrain)

English: ma-na-ma (transliteration), "Manama"

Korean: 안남 (hint: the name of Vietnam before it became "Vietnam")

English: an-nam (transliteration), "Annam"

Korean: 암만 (hint: the capital city of Jordan)

English: am-man (transliteration), "Amman"

The vowel ㅣ (i)

ㅣ (i) stroke order

Sound sample of ㅣ (i) (help·info)

The first new vowel to learn is ㅣ (i):

Letter (jamo):	ㅣ
Pronunciation:	[i]

The vowel ㅣ (i) looks much like the English letter I and is pronounced like the i in "machine", so it's easy to remember. It also looks similar to the Korean letter ㅏ (a), except that the dash to the right is missing. (Note: all Korean vowels are based on long horizontal or vertical lines, most with short dashes attached to them.)

Letter (jamo):	ㅁ	ㅣ	=>	미
Pronunciation:	[m]	[i]		[mi]

Exercise

Try to read the following Korean words that contain the letter ㅣ (i). Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual.

Korean: 나미비아 (hint: a country in Africa)

English: na-mi-bi-a (transliteration), "Namibia"

Korean: 빈나 (hint: the capital city of Austria)

English: bin-na (transliteration), "Vienna"

The consonant ㄹ (rieul)

ㄹ (rieul) stroke order

Sound sample of ㄹ (rieul) (help·info)

The next consonant, ㄹ (rieul), has two different sounds:

Letter (jamo):	ㄹ
Romanization:	l or r
Pronunciation:	[ɾ] or [l]

ㄹ (rieul) is pronounced like the l in let or like the r in the Spanish word árbol, and is transliterated as r or l.

Letter (jamo):	ㄹ	ㅏ	=>	라
Romanization:	r	a		ra
Pronunciation:	[ɾ]	[a]		[ɾa]

Exercise

Each of these words has ㄹ (rieul). Translate each word into English. Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual.

Korean: 바바라 (hint: a personal name)

English: (ba-ba-la) Barbara

Korean: 이란 (hint: a country in the Middle East)

English: (i-lan) Iran

Korean: 리마 (hint: the capital of Peru)

English: (li-ma) Lima

Korean: 마닐라 (hint: the capital of the Philippines)

English: (ma-nil-la) Manila

Korean: 말리 (hint: a country in Africa)

English: (mal-li) Mali

Korean: 릴 (hint: a big city in France)

English: (lil) Lille

Korean: 마일 (hint: a distance measurement)

English: (ma-il) mile

Korean: 리비아 (hint: a country on the north coast of Africa)

English: (li-bi-a) Libya

Korean: 알바니아 (hint: a country in the Balkans)

English: (al-ba-ni-a) Albania

The consonant ㄱ (giyeok)

ㄱ (giyeok) stroke order

Sound sample of ㄱ (giyeok) (help·info)

Finally, the consonant ㄱ (giyeok) will unlock lots of words to you:

Letter (jamo):	ㄱ
Pronunciation:	[g] or [k]

ㄱ (giyeok) is pronounced like the k in sky or the c in scrape. It is not aspirated, so it does not sound like the c in cry or vacation. Many English speakers liken it more to the g sound. It is transliterated as g or k. Be careful not to confuse it with ㄴ (nieun). When ㄱ (giyeok) is combined with a vowel such as ㅏ (a) or ㅣ (i), it changes shape slightly:

Letter (jamo):	ㄱ	ㅣ	=>	기
Romanization:	g	i		gi
Pronunciation:	[k]	[i]		[ki]

Exercise

Translate these words with ㄱ (giyeok) into English. Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual.

Korean: 가나 (hint: a country in West Africa)

English: (ga-na) Ghana

Korean: 리가 (hint: the capital of Latvia)

English: (li-ga) Riga

Korean: 기니 (hint: a country in West Africa)

English: (gi-ni) Guinea

Korean: 가이아나 (hint: a country in South America)

English: (ga-i-a-na) Guyana

Korean: 감비아 (hint: a country almost completely enclosed by Senegal)

English: (gam-bi-a) Gambia

End of lesson 2

Very good! You have now learned 8 Korean letters already and the rest won't be difficult either. Feel free to continue with the next lesson.

Consonants learned so far:

Basic 예사소리	Letter (jamo)	ㄱ	ㄴ		ㄹ	ㅁ	ㅂ		ㅇ
	Romanization Pronunciation	g or k [g] or [k]	n [n]		r or l [ɾ] or [l]	m [m]	b or p [b] or [p]		- (initial) silent

Vowels learned so far:

Letter (jamo)	ㅏ									ㅣ
Romanization Pronunciation	a [a]									i [i]

Learn Korean (Introduction) Read, write, pronounce Korean: Course — Lesson 1 • Lesson 2 • Lesson 3 • Lesson 4 • Lesson 5 • Lesson 6 • Summary Orthography • Essential Pronunciation Rules • Advanced Pronunciation Rules Grammar • Conversation