Korean/RWP/Lesson 2

Learn Korean (Introduction)

Read, write, pronounce Korean:
CourseLesson 1Lesson 2Lesson 3Lesson 4Lesson 5Lesson 6Summary
OrthographyEssential Pronunciation RulesAdvanced Pronunciation Rules
GrammarConversation

Consonants learned in Lesson 1:
Basic
예사소리
Letter (jamo)
Romanization
Pronunciation
n
[n]
b or p
[b] or [p]
- (initial)
silent
Vowels learned in Lesson 1:
Letter (jamo)
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)

edit
 
ㅁ (mieum) stroke order
Sound sample of ㅁ (mieum) (help·info)

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

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

Exercise

edit

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)

edit
 
ㅣ (i) stroke order
Sound sample of ㅣ (i) (help·info)

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

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

Exercise

edit

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)

edit
 
ㄹ (rieul) stroke order
Sound sample of ㄹ (rieul) (help·info)

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

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

Exercise

edit

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: (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)

edit
 
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):
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 (nieun). When ㄱ (giyeok) is combined with a vowel such as ㅏ (a) or ㅣ (i), it changes shape slightly:

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

Exercise

edit

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

edit

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)
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)
Romanization
Pronunciation
a
[a]
i
[i]
Learn Korean (Introduction)

Read, write, pronounce Korean:
CourseLesson 1Lesson 2Lesson 3Lesson 4Lesson 5Lesson 6Summary
OrthographyEssential Pronunciation RulesAdvanced Pronunciation Rules
GrammarConversation