Hangeul
We are so glad that you have enrolled in Foundational Korean: Hangeul! We hope that over the next four weeks you not only enjoy learning about the historical development of the Korean alphabet, but also that you come to better understand and appreciate the complexity and thoughtfulness behind its design. Each module will provide you the necessary knowledge to understand the appearance of the letters that are used to represent vowels, consonants, and syllables. While enrolling in the course is "free" as a small preview, please unlock each module to participate in the course at your own pace. When you feel comfortable please also rate our course with the block on the right so we know what you have thought!
The Survival Korean Team
Time: 4 weeks
Level: Beginner
Skills: Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening
한글
Hangeul: Origins and Influences
Welcome to the first lesson in Foundational Korean: Hangeul! By now, it is likely that you already know that the Korean language is written using an alphabet and that the name of the alphabet is Hangeul. However, there's a lot more to understanding 한굴 than just these two simple facts. This lesson will be insightful and help you further develop your knowledge and deepen your understanding of the writing system currently used to encode the Korean language.
Lesson: 4-8 hours
Concept Study: 1 hour
Welcome to the second lesson in this course about one of the most iconic features of Hangeul. While the Korean language is currently written using an alphabet, the letters in this alphabet are also uniquely arranged into a block that corresponds with a morpho-phonemic unit. In simpler terms, the block of letters not only tells you how to pronounce the word, but also indicates a root morpheme which often corresponds to a Sino-Korean word.
Lesson: 2 hours
Concept Study: 30 minutes
Welcome to the third lesson in Hangeul that will cover the symbols for all of the consonants and vowels that make up the alphabet! There are 10 basic vowel and 14 basic consonant symbols (there are more if you count double consonants or some dipthong vowels as a single vowel) and due to the forwardthinkingness of the design, you can learn to recognize basic letters in a week! It will take longer, of course, to get proficient at reading and writing but this lesson will start your journey on solid ground.
Lesson: 1-2 hours
Pronunciation Practice: 1 hour
한글
Hangeul: The Final Consonant Position
Welcome to the final lesson in Foundational Korean: Hangeul! Now that we have learned the history of the alphabet, the core idea of the syllable block, as well as the individual letters and their sounds, we have one final (pun intended) feature to learn about: the final consonant position. This position in the syllable block is tricky because although the spelling matches historical root morpheme spellings, these do not necessarily match pronunciation. There are far, far fewer sounds that can actually be made in this position, but this also changes depending on the consonant or vowel that comes after.