KOREAN ALPHABETS

The Korean Alphabet consists of 24 Characters. King Sejong  is known as the man who invented the Korean Alphabet. He did this in 1443 with his group of royal scholars during the Chosun dynasty of Korea (1392–1910), and called it HunminjÚngum, translated this simply means Proper sounds to instruct the people. This has now come to be known as Hangul.

Until the creation of HunminjÚngum there had been no written Korean Language. Until this time Koreans who could read and write Chinese characters had done so. Sejong's reason for creating HunminjÚngôm was to give the Koreans the ability to write their own in their own way.

In the creation of the script, which differs only slightly from what it is today, it is believed that Sejong and the scholars probably referred to other writing systems. Such systems would have included Chinese and Mongolian Scripts. However the Korean script is based on their phonology. The Korean writing system “Hangul” is one of the most scientific and systematic writing systems in the world. Each character in Hangeul represents a unique sound in a systematic way, which makes it very easy and clear to learn this letter system. This is why Korea’s literacy rate is extremely high Hangul is made of an alphabet of 21 vowel and 19 consonant symbols, and you can write down whatever you hear in a unique way. You typically do not have to ask how to spell something. This is possible because one character in Hangeul is mapped to only one sound.

Korean alphabets, just like in English also consists of vowels and consonants. While you learn this letter system, you will be amazed to see how easy it is to learn and how powerful it is. You could even apply Hangeul to another language without a big problem. In this lesson, it is very important to have flash cards and perhaps a recorder as we mentioned earlier. This would facilitate quicker learning.

Lesson 1

KOREAN BASIC VOWELS

Hangul has a total of 21 vowel symbols. Among them are 8 basic vowels and 13 double-vowel symbols or diphthongs. The basic vowel symbols include:

ㅏ  is pronounced          [a]       (as the 'a' in father)

ㅓ is pronounced          [eo]      (as the 'o' in orange)

ㅗ is pronounced          [o]        (as the 'o' in home)

ㅡ is pronounced          [oo]      (as the 'oo' in boo)

ㅜis pronounced          [u]        (as the 'u' in bull)

ㅣis pronounced          [ee]      (as the 'ee' as in feet)

ㅔis pronounced          [ae]      (as the 'ai' in bait)

ㅐis pronounced          [e]        (as the 'e' in pet)

VIDEOS/AUDIO FILES

See YouTube video files below

 

HANGEUL VERSUS NIGERIAN LANGUAGE GUIDE.

Let us identify some common Nigerian words that has the same sound made in this vowels.

VOWEL SCRIPT	KOREAN EXAMPLE	NIGERIAN EXAMPLE
ㅏ	사랑     sarang  meaning love	Baba, Father, Asaba.
ㅓ	서울   Seoul   the capital of South Korea	Orange,Butter,Olopa(Police in Yoruba).
ㅗ	봄  bom  meaning  spring	Boat, Soul, Owerri.
ㅡ	하늘       haneul  meaning sky	Uyo,rule,
ㅜ	만두 mandu  meaning dumpling	Pool, Book,.
ㅣ	집    jib   meaning house	Ink, Seat, Iyawo.
ㅔ	레몬  remon  meaning  lemon	Bait, Sail,Ewedu.
ㅐ	맥주    maekju  meaning beer	Lend, Lemon, Akure.

VOCABULARY FOR THIS LESSON

Let’s look at the vocabulary for this lesson

VOCABULARY	ROMANIZATION	MEANING
사랑	Sarang	Love
서울	Seoul	The capital of South Korea
봄	Bom	Spring
하늘	Haneul	Sky
만두	Mandu	Dumpling
집	Jib	House
레몬	Remon	Lemon
맥주	Maekju	Beer

TEST

LETS SEE A SIMPLE TEST
Match each hangeul lettering to its pronounciation.