Table of Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Consonants 3. Vowels 4. Character sets 5. Pronounciation 6. Misc
Warning: You need the Korean language pack installed on your computer to read some of the content.
1. Introduction:
This is a guide on how to read the Korean language. It will not teach you to understand what you are reading but simply to read the characters. To teach the meaning of everything could take years of education and I can't simply condense it all into one small post so I have decided that I will atleast teach you to read the characters. Why is this useful? Many times I see stuff in Korean that is translated into English phonetically that is far from the true way to pronounce that particular word. This will allow everyone the insight into how to correctly pronounce most Korean words and names. Names is probably the biggest reason I am writing this because sometimes the English phonetics don't correctly capture it so for those that care, you can read it the proper way. :D
2. Consonants
I will first start off with the consonants. Korean is very easy to learn to read if you are accustomed to English because each letter has a sound attached to it. You simply put all the sounds of the letters together and viola, you have your word.
ㄱ - G when at beginning or end, K between vowels. [IPA: k] ㄴ - N. [IPA: n] ㄷ - T when at beginning or end, D between vowels. [IPA: t] ㄹ - L when at beginning or end, R between vowels. [IPA: r] ㅁ - M. [IPA: m] ㅂ - P when at beginning or end, B between vowels. [IPA: p] ㅅ - S if none of the follow: Sh if followed by ㅣㅒㅑㅕㅠㅛㅖㅚ. T at the end of word. [IPA: s] ㅇ - Silent at beginning, Ng at the end. [IPA: ŋ] ㅈ - Ch at beginning, J between vowels, T at the end. [IPA: ʨ] ㅊ - Ch at beginning(a little stronger than ㅈ), T at the end. [IPA: ʨʰ] ㅋ - K as in king at beginning, K at the end. [IPA: kʰ] ㅌ - T as in terrace at beginning, T at the end. [IPA: tʰ] ㅍ - P as in popstar at beginning, P at the end. [IPA: pʰ] ㅎ - H as in hello. [IPA: h]
There is also the possibility you might see the same consonant together with itself such as ㄲㄸㅉㅃㅆ. These are pronounced similar to their originals but have a little more added force behind them. Later on we will learn to pronounce them out loud.
3. Vowels
Next we will learn the vowels. There are a few more in Korean than in English but I feel that you really only need to learn half of them and you can know the other half. You'll see what I mean.
ㅏ - ah (as in father) [IPA: a] ㅑ - yah (as in yard) [IPA: ja] ㅓ - uh (as in buck) [IPA: ʌ] ㅕ - yuh (as in yuck) [IPA: jʌ] ㅗ - oh (as in mow) [IPA: o] ㅛ - yoh (as in Yo-Yo) [IPA: jo] ㅜ - oo (as in boot) [IPA: u] ㅠ - yoo (as in ukulele) [IPA: ju ] ㅡ - eu (as in book) [IPA: ɯ] ㅣ - ee (as in bee) [IPA: i] ㅐ - ae (as in bear) [IPA: ɛ] ㅒ - yae (as yeah) [IPA: jɛ] ㅔ - eh (as in meh) [IPA: e] ㅖ - yeh (as in Yale) [IPA: je]
(Note: ㅔ and ㅐ are very similar in pronunciation but more on that later.)
4. Character Sets
Korean characters are set up as a group of letters that are put into slots. Each Korean character set can have as many as 4 slots or as few as 2 slots.
There are other variations as to the formation of each character but rather than have every single example it would be easiest to just teach the simple algorithm to follow. Reading the characters goes from left to right then top of bottom. It's like reading a book. All the examples are labeled in the other in which the characters would be pronounced. There are some odd exceptions to these rules but I will go into that later.
5. Pronunciation
Now I will go through the pronunciation of each of the vowels first. They are easier to learn and master. A good thing to practice is saying each character in order while writing them down if you care that much.
ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ ㅐ ㅒ ㅔㅖ were omitted because they are very similar to ㅐㅒ. You can get away with pronouncing them the same.
Sorry if my pronunciations aren't perfect. I have a bit of a sore throat. =(
Now I will move onto the consonants. The way consonants are, it is hard to simply say the consonant by itself. Generally each consonant's sound is taught in conjunction with ㅏ(this is why vowels were taught first). All these pronunciations will end with "ah" so keep in mind that is the sound from the vowel, the consonant's sound will come from the sound you hear before that.
This is all the letters of the alphabet that carry a sound. You might notice that ㅇ was omitted from the list. The reason for this is that when it is in the first character slot, it carries no sound. However if it is in any other spot, it has the "ng" sound. Next I will put together some simple practice words for you try.
This next one will be the final practice I will give you but you should go through the TLPD and try to read the names on there. This one is super hard.
BarracksThis is the player's name, not the actual building.
6. Misc This is my wrap up for this guide. I hope you found some use for it and enjoy it. If you have any questions or just want to talk you can always PM me or e-mail me at Colpanius@gmail.com. I'm sorry for any errors. I did everything to the best of my ability. For those that wonder my background in Korean: I am half Korean in heritage. My mom is full Korean and immigrated to America. I was born in America and raised here my whole life. I went to Korean language school from 1st grade til 6th grade to learn to speak, read, and write Korean. I am fairly proficient at all those areas. I love to watch Starcraft and Korean TV in my free time. I've been reading articles at TL for a while and decided I guess I could contribute this to the community. Also I realized how much it annoys me when people say stuff wrong because they don't know better. ^^
FAQ: Any chance of adding a download link to korean language pack? Have you tried going to Regional and Language options in your control panel, going to language, and checking Install Files for East Asian Languages. I believe that would allow you to read them.
Please leave comments on what I could improve or anything you think should be changed. Maybe if all goes well, I will expand this to include more! :D
-Colpan
Updates: 6-5-09: Added in IPA and expanded section 2 and 3 to be more comprehensive thanks to kaleidoscope.
Thanks a ton for the support. ^^ Hopefully it'll let people atleast learn how to pronounce gamer's names and such. Or just show off to their friends and read Korean signs. =P
@p3numbra I think that would work. Although I don't really know if I'd know how to pronounce 'ae' out of the blue. Thats the problem with romanization. =( It's never perfect.
Yes I know they are different meanings ^^ but for the purpose of reading and pronunciation, the difference is moot. Once someone wants to learn to understand, they'll have to learn the different uses. Trying to keep it simple for those that don't want to totally learn a new language. Sry ^^
Aw man! Another good guide...so good to choose the best one. Not sure about usefulness though, I mean you can read it but have no idea what it means T_T Kinda like English and big nasty words =D At least you can write what people are saying...or make your name =D
Thanks for taking your time out to do this lol buuutt..
iv been practicing these and in my head it sounds right to be, but am i saying it right? If its not to much trouble do you think that you could make a wav file or video using them all?
If possible much thankful
keep it going!!!
[edit] didnt realize you did that already..lol should of tried to click on them first. thanks man
On June 05 2009 13:06 ZeeTemplar wrote: Thanks for taking your time out to do this lol buuutt..
iv been practicing these and in my head it sounds right to be, but am i saying it right? If its not to much trouble do you think that you could make a wav file or video using them all?
If possible much thankful
keep it going!!!
Click on the stuff that is underlined and it links to an MP3 of how it sounds. ;-) There is also pronunciations for the stuff with spoilers under them. :D
On June 05 2009 13:19 MorningMusume11 wrote: so someone wanna give it a try with what I type =P
시발놈
i see shee bahl nohm
what? lol we suck..
[edit] maybe i suck..no pun intended lol it meants start fellow? O_o what the hell?
You got it basically right ^^ romanizing stuff is kinda hard but if ur pronouncing the 'o' in nohm with a long 'o' sound then you are right.
ahh okay yeah i was giving it a short 'o' and i was like wth D:. This will take some practice but im stoked . Maybe i can learn this by the end of the summer?
On June 05 2009 13:55 thopol wrote: On second thought, is there any way you could include IPA pronunciations? That is way convenient.
what are IPA pronunciations? I'm sure I could. ^^
International phonetic alphabet. Each sound in any language has a character that represents exactly how it is pronounced. That way there is no confusion. Regardless, it's very helpful.
there is no true k or g sound in korean, its kind of a mix of the two. It is the same concept for ㄹ. Its not R or L, just a mix of both.
Those are both pretty hard to learn to form your tongue in the correct manner and say it right. You can get away with both but people will know you really don't know Korean if you don't say it right but they'll know what you are saying. Maybe if i find more time, i'll try to go into detail on how tongue formations go and such for some of the harder characters to pronounce.
On June 05 2009 14:26 Colpan wrote: there is no true k or g sound in korean, its kind of a mix of the two. It is the same concept for ㄹ. Its not R or L, just a mix of both.
Those are both pretty hard to learn to form your tongue in the correct manner and say it right. You can get away with both but people will know you really don't know Korean if you don't say it right but they'll know what you are saying. Maybe if i find more time, i'll try to go into detail on how tongue formations go and such for some of the harder characters to pronounce.
i think thats what throws me off..is deciding which to use since in the english language its one or the other lol.
On June 05 2009 14:26 Colpan wrote: there is no true k or g sound in korean, its kind of a mix of the two. It is the same concept for ㄹ. Its not R or L, just a mix of both.
Those are both pretty hard to learn to form your tongue in the correct manner and say it right. You can get away with both but people will know you really don't know Korean if you don't say it right but they'll know what you are saying. Maybe if i find more time, i'll try to go into detail on how tongue formations go and such for some of the harder characters to pronounce.
i think thats what throws me off..is deciding which to use since in the english language its one or the other lol.
Tomorrow i'll try to throw together a short mp3 or something of me explaining how I personally make the sounds. ^^
On June 05 2009 13:55 thopol wrote: On second thought, is there any way you could include IPA pronunciations? That is way convenient.
what are IPA pronunciations? I'm sure I could. ^^
International phonetic alphabet. Each sound in any language has a character that represents exactly how it is pronounced. That way there is no confusion. Regardless, it's very helpful.
I'll look into it. I've never dealt with it before so I will have to put some time into understanding it.
On June 05 2009 14:33 meCh[dtr] wrote: Any chance of adding a download link to korean language pack?
Have you tried going to Regional and Language options in your control panel, going to language, and checking Install Files for East Asian Languages. I believe that would allow you to read them.
On June 05 2009 14:33 meCh[dtr] wrote: Any chance of adding a download link to korean language pack?
Have you tried going to Regional and Language options in your control panel, going to language, and checking Install Files for East Asian Languages. I believe that would allow you to read them.
On June 05 2009 13:19 MorningMusume11 wrote: so someone wanna give it a try with what I type =P
시발놈
i see shee bahl nohm
what? lol we suck..
[edit] maybe i suck..no pun intended lol it meants start fellow? O_o what the hell?
Aparently its the equivalent of motherf*cker. (According to google).
Great guide btw, bookmarked!
Yeah, so don't go around spamming that in the streets of seoul. You'll probably get mugged and be hospitalised for a year without the culprits ever being caught.
It took me only six months or so to correctly grasp the Korean alphabet. The hard part is now establishing a vocabulary and grammar/sentence structure.
On June 05 2009 16:01 GTR wrote: It took me only six months or so to correctly grasp the Korean alphabet. The hard part is now establishing a vocabulary and grammar/sentence structure.
Let me quote King Sejong the Great who introduced Hangul to the public in 1446: "A wise man can acquaint himself with them before the morning is over; a stupid man can learn them in the space of ten days".
On June 05 2009 13:19 MorningMusume11 wrote: so someone wanna give it a try with what I type =P
시발놈
i see shee bahl nohm
what? lol we suck..
[edit] maybe i suck..no pun intended lol it meants start fellow? O_o what the hell?
Aparently its the equivalent of motherf*cker. (According to google).
Great guide btw, bookmarked!
Yeah, so don't go around spamming that in the streets of seoul. You'll probably get mugged and be hospitalised for a year without the culprits ever being caught.
I think you can add in some more examples, relating to english words, to help in their pronounciation of korean alphabets.. I'll list them below.. Also note that every word = a syllable..
ㅓ = ŏ (as in fault) ㅕ= yŏ (as in york but without the r sound) ㅗ = o (as in owe) ㅛ = yo (as in yodel) ㅜ = u (as in do) ㅠ = yu (as in you) ㅏ = a (as in father) ㅑ = ya (as in yard but without the r sound) ㅐ= ae (as in bear/hair but without the r sound) ㅒ= yae (as in yeah) ㅔ= e (as in edelweiss) ㅖ= ye (as in yale) ㅡ = ŭ (as in heaven) ㅣ = i (as in tin, and as in see when coming to end of the word or before a vowel)
ㄱ = k/g (k sound at start and end of word) (g sound when between vowels, or [ㄴ/ㄹ/ㅁ/ㅇ]+ㄱ+ vowel)
ㄴ = n
ㄷ = t/d (t sound at start and end of word) (d sound when between vowels, or [ㄴ/ㄹ/ㅁ/ㅇ]+ㄷ+ vowel)
ㄹ = l/r (l sound at start and end of word) (r sound when between vowels)
ㅁ = m
ㅂ = p/b (p sound at start and end of word) (b sound when between vowels, or [ㄴ/ㄹ/ㅁ/ㅇ]+ㅂ+ vowel)
ㅅ = s/sh/t (s sound if it does not follow the btm two rules) (sh sound when coupled with ㅣ/ㅒ/ㅑ/ㅕ/ㅠ/ㅛ/ㅖ/ㅟ) (t sound at the end of word)
ㅇ = *silent/ng (*silent when at start of word) (ng when at end of word)
ㅈ = ch/j/t (ch sound at start of word) (j sound when between vowels, or [ㄴ/ㄹ/ㅁ/ㅇ]+ㅈ+ vowel) (t sound at end of word)
ㅊ = ch'/t (ch' sound {as in church but more pronounced strongly} if it does not follow the btm rule) (t sound at end of word)
ㅋ = k'/k (k' sound {as in king but more pronounced strongly} if does not follow the btm rule) (k sound at end of word)
ㅌ = t'/t (t' sound {as in terrace but more pronounced strongly} if does not follow the btm rule) (t sound at end of word)
ㅍ = p'/p (p' sound {as in popstar but more pronounced strongly} if does not follow the btm rule) (p sound at end of word)
ㅎ = h (as in hello)
There are dbl consonants which are to pronounce with more force than the single equivalent: ㄲ = kk (as in keep) ㄸ = tt (as in ten) ㅃ = pp (as in people) ㅆ = ss (as in songs) ㅉ = tch (as in judge)
On June 05 2009 13:19 MorningMusume11 wrote: so someone wanna give it a try with what I type =P
시발놈
i see shee bahl nohm
what? lol we suck..
[edit] maybe i suck..no pun intended lol it meants start fellow? O_o what the hell?
Aparently its the equivalent of motherf*cker. (According to google).
Great guide btw, bookmarked!
Yeah, so don't go around spamming that in the streets of seoul. You'll probably get mugged and be hospitalised for a year without the culprits ever being caught.
When i try that (install in control panel), i need a windows xp profession cd or whatever, but i don't have it, so a link would be nice . Nice guide anyway!
On June 05 2009 22:08 nataziel wrote: I study korean, why didn't I make this guide?
And GTR, are you serious that it took you six months? It took me like a week.
ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
maybe i'm over exaggerating i dunno when i first decided to learn hangul, but i can assure that it was easy as hell. edit: i think it was early 2007 and i fully grasped it by half way through the year.
the only stuff i struggle with is crap like 걶 etc.
You don't have to download them. If you wait a bit, a little bar should pop up that lets you play the file in the browser. Thats what it was doing for me. Sometimes it took a while to load.
니다, 죠/요 are common endings for Korean sentences. Since Korean follows a Subject-Object-Verb structure, you'll hear the verb at the end of the sentence. It's like how many English sentences use "is" - you just don't hear it all the time because it's located within the sentence.
Also, one sound I've never really gotten the hang of pronouncing in Korean is 의. What's the correct pronunciation for it?
Since ㄱ makes a "G" sound when at the beginning or end, and a "K" sound between vowels, it should make a "gah" sound in "가", right, since ㄱ is at the beginning? 가 Okay that's great. I think I understand it up til here but then there is the next one: 다 Since ㄷ makes a "T" sound when at the beginning or end, and "D" sound between vowels, why is it pronounced with a "dah" sound instead of a "tah" sound? The ㄷ is at the beginning, so it should make a "T" sound shouldn't it?
On June 19 2009 14:33 Grobyc wrote: I'm kind of confused on some pronunciation.
Since ㄱ makes a "G" sound when at the beginning or end, and a "K" sound between vowels, it should make a "gah" sound in "가", right, since ㄱ is at the beginning? 가 Okay that's great. I think I understand it up til here but then there is the next one: 다 Since ㄷ makes a "T" sound when at the beginning or end, and "D" sound between vowels, why is it pronounced with a "dah" sound instead of a "tah" sound? The ㄷ is at the beginning, so it should make a "T" sound shouldn't it?
It's a K sound at beginning or end, and a G sound if it's between vowels.. So let's say, meat = 고기 = kogi..
However, you may not want to use english to learn korean, cos there are so many different pronounciations, and will require you to differ between things like, ㄱ,ㄲ,ㅋ..
I still don't get it, the OP says it's a G sound at the beginning or end, not K. + Show Spoiler +
ㄱ - G when at beginning or end, K between vowels. [IPA: k]
And when it says in between vowels, does it mean it can be inbetween the vowels that aren't in the same character? I see the consonant in 기 is supposed to be a G sound, but is that because it is after the vowel in 고, and before the vowel in 기? I thought when it said between two vowels it meant in the same character.
i dislike the idea of having ㄱ being pronounced g/k depending on the location. for me, the easiest way to visualize it is that ㄱ is always g and ㅋ is always k.
On June 20 2009 04:21 LosingID8 wrote: i dislike the idea of having ㄱ being pronounced g/k depending on the location. for me, the easiest way to visualize it is that ㄱ is always g and ㅋ is always k.
Probably becos i'm singaporean, speaking singlish and chinese.. =P
On June 20 2009 04:21 LosingID8 wrote: i dislike the idea of having ㄱ being pronounced g/k depending on the location. for me, the easiest way to visualize it is that ㄱ is always g and ㅋ is always k.
Then wouldn't that make kal's example pronounced "gogi"? Or is it basically pronounced the same as "kogi"?
On June 20 2009 04:21 LosingID8 wrote: i dislike the idea of having ㄱ being pronounced g/k depending on the location. for me, the easiest way to visualize it is that ㄱ is always g and ㅋ is always k.
Then wouldn't that make kal's example pronounced "gogi"? Or is it basically pronounced the same as "kogi"?
if you think about it gogi and kogi are basically the same thing... lol
korean just write ㄱ as k because of it's forein language writing system. if you write 김택용 in english then it is kim taek yong, but in korea people pronounce it gim taek yong. i dont understand why the system is working like this.
anyway im new to here, and if you have any question about korean or starcraft, then feel free to ask.
nice to meet you and is my english good or not? im not confident with my english, im just stydying it h;;;;
Awesome guide. Although the subtleties in pronunciation make Korean one of the hardest languages to learn. If you mess up the pronunciation even slightly, no one understands what you're saying.
On June 21 2009 11:51 2b-Rigtheous wrote: Awesome guide. Although the subtleties in pronunciation make Korean one of the hardest languages to learn. If you mess up the pronunciation even slightly, no one understands what you're saying.
Korean is one of the easiest languages to learn. The subtleties and pronunciations can be learned easily merely through exposure to the language and you can pick it up without even trying. Grammar is simple as fuck. After that just learn some vocab.
Hm. Not bad. But the pronunciation of 바, 사, 다 aren't accurate.
You said 싸, and bah, dah (like, "Ni hen da" in Chinese). Korean consonants are much more breathy. S-haaa. B-haaaa. D-haaaa. The romanizations are fine. The sound clips aren't.
When you said Tempest's name, it sounded weird. 빡재영? 빡빡빡.
Rekrul, maybe for you, but not for most of us unfortunately. Not that it should dissuade your studies, but Korean is far from one of the easiest languages to learn. I disagree agree that the grammar is easy. It's confusing for an English speaker to learn subject markers and object markers The grammar is also back to front, which increases the difficulty further. Also, Korean has so many particles and endings that it can easily confuse the listener.Then you have to learn 반말 and 존댓말. (2 politeness levels). It's definitely a great language to learn, but a challenge to be sure. Anyone can get the basics, that's a piece of cake, but attaining real fluency, well that takes time. Good luck fellas.
Korean is very easy, at least compared to japanese, which I've studied for over 5 years (in HS, so not that high a level, but am currently studying it a uni). I've done one semester of korean and I can already hold a conversation, it's great. word order is so loose compared to japanese, particle usage is a lot easier (imo) grammar forms are easy to manipulate... Awesome language if you ever want to pick up another one.
On June 21 2009 22:01 nataziel wrote: Korean is very easy, at least compared to japanese, which I've studied for over 5 years (in HS, so not that high a level, but am currently studying it a uni). I've done one semester of korean and I can already hold a conversation, it's great. word order is so loose compared to japanese, particle usage is a lot easier (imo) grammar forms are easy to manipulate... Awesome language if you ever want to pick up another one.
Korean and japanese is a little similar in sentence structure.. So i bet it helps you in learning korean =D
I really wanna learn (aka speak fluently and good) korean and japanese too!
Yeah. I've met a lot of Korean learners over here. Generally, the people who think Korean is a piece of piss are:
A: Egotistical douchebags. Nuff said. B: Low intermediates in the language at most. Yeah. 한글 is as easy as it gets alphabet-wise and basic 있어요/ -에 가요/ 왔어요 etc. sentences are easy to manipulate. But beyond that, it gets a lot trickier. C: Korean to some extent. If you are brought up even a little bit in a language, it's so much easier to learn as you have much better natural-feel of what's right and wrong. I know this from learning Chinese.
edit: exception for japanese speakers. I believe them when they say it's easy for them, for obvious reasons.
edit: i just listened to the mp3 whatisprotoss is right, 박 should be more like 'pak' right?
No, that's even worse.
Bhak.
On June 21 2009 21:53 2b-Rigtheous wrote: Rekrul, maybe for you, but not for most of us unfortunately. Not that it should dissuade your studies, but Korean is far from one of the easiest languages to learn. I disagree agree that the grammar is easy. It's confusing for an English speaker to learn subject markers and object markers The grammar is also back to front, which increases the difficulty further. Also, Korean has so many particles and endings that it can easily confuse the listener.Then you have to learn 반말 and 존댓말. (2 politeness levels). It's definitely a great language to learn, but a challenge to be sure. Anyone can get the basics, that's a piece of cake, but attaining real fluency, well that takes time. Good luck fellas.
Korean is super easy. Two of my Japanese friends took a class for 3 months in Korea, and came back mostly fluent. They knew how to use the semi-formal tone perfectly. Once you know how to talk politely, it's easy to use the informal tone.
Why are people saying that Korean is so hard? It's so easy. I teach my friends how to read anything in Korean within 10 minutes. Seriously, a few months, and fluency is within reach.
I strongly disagree that within a few months you can obtain fluency. It's one thing to be able to read (which will only take you a few hours), it's another thing to be fluent. Fluency isn't basic stuff like, where's this? how much is that? How are you today? etc. That stuff is nothing. If someone can answer a difficult question such as: "why do you or don't you believe in God?" Then that's fluency. I highly doubt an English speaker studying Korean for only a few months can get anywhere close to fluency. A few years maybe. Japanese and Korean are very similar, so a Japanese speaker can probably achieve fluency in Korean within a year. Not so for English speakers though. .
I personally think people brag about being fluent, but they're nowhere near it. I've seen this many times with foreigners over here. They've claimed they're fluent and my Korean girlfriend is like, "what he said makes absolutely no sense at all..." Not to put people off learning Korean, fluency is definitely attainable, you just got to put in the work and the time. Don't expect to be fluent in 3 months, that's misleading.
On June 21 2009 11:51 2b-Rigtheous wrote: Awesome guide. Although the subtleties in pronunciation make Korean one of the hardest languages to learn. If you mess up the pronunciation even slightly, no one understands what you're saying.
Korean is one of the easiest languages to learn. The subtleties and pronunciations can be learned easily merely through exposure to the language and you can pick it up without even trying. Grammar is simple as fuck. After that just learn some vocab.
then all the sudden ur speaking fluently
I hope I can some day, I've been trying to learn for a while, but I just can't seem to comprehend it.
On June 21 2009 23:51 2b-Rigtheous wrote: I strongly disagree that within a few months you can obtain fluency. It's one thing to be able to read (which will only take you a few hours), it's another thing to be fluent. Fluency isn't basic stuff like, where's this? how much is that? How are you today? etc. That stuff is nothing. If someone can answer a difficult question such as: "why do you or don't you believe in God?" Then that's fluency. I highly doubt an English speaker studying Korean for only a few months can get anywhere close to fluency. A few years maybe. Japanese and Korean are very similar, so a Japanese speaker can probably achieve fluency in Korean within a year. Not so for English speakers though. .
I personally think people brag about being fluent, but they're nowhere near it. I've seen this many times with foreigners over here. They've claimed they're fluent and my Korean girlfriend is like, "what he said makes absolutely no sense at all..." Not to put people off learning Korean, fluency is definitely attainable, you just got to put in the work and the time. Don't expect to be fluent in 3 months, that's misleading.
Hahaha. Perhaps it is your Korean girlfriend who cannot understand.......
Hell, fluency doesn't mean that you have to be able to have philosophical conversation. If that were the case, most Americans aren't fluent at all. Fluency means that you're able to carry a comfortable, everyday conversation. It doesn't mean you have to have a huge vocabulary of difficult words. Every single day, I don't know what something means, so I ask, "What does that mean?" or "Uh, I have no idea." Fluency doesn't mean perfect.
Also, Rekrul is the perfect living example of an American who learned Korean. Guillaume Patry is doing just fine in Korea as well. And Rekrul said it. Korean is easy to learn.
In the end, it just becomes a practice of picking up more vocabulary words. That's what I do in both Korean and English every single day. "What does that mean?" Then you start using those new words and incorporate them into everyday language.
On June 21 2009 21:53 2b-Rigtheous wrote: Rekrul, maybe for you, but not for most of us unfortunately. Not that it should dissuade your studies, but Korean is far from one of the easiest languages to learn. I disagree agree that the grammar is easy. It's confusing for an English speaker to learn subject markers and object markers The grammar is also back to front, which increases the difficulty further. Also, Korean has so many particles and endings that it can easily confuse the listener.Then you have to learn 반말 and 존댓말. (2 politeness levels). It's definitely a great language to learn, but a challenge to be sure. Anyone can get the basics, that's a piece of cake, but attaining real fluency, well that takes time. Good luck fellas.
no dude...yeah you can say all that...but you can say all that and then some for other languages
korean is easy to learn
it's not as easy to learn as riding a bike, but it's easier to learn than other languages (still hard obviously)
On June 21 2009 21:53 2b-Rigtheous wrote: Rekrul, maybe for you, but not for most of us unfortunately. Not that it should dissuade your studies, but Korean is far from one of the easiest languages to learn. I disagree agree that the grammar is easy. It's confusing for an English speaker to learn subject markers and object markers The grammar is also back to front, which increases the difficulty further. Also, Korean has so many particles and endings that it can easily confuse the listener.Then you have to learn 반말 and 존댓말. (2 politeness levels). It's definitely a great language to learn, but a challenge to be sure. Anyone can get the basics, that's a piece of cake, but attaining real fluency, well that takes time. Good luck fellas.
no dude...yeah you can say all that...but you can say all that and then some for other languages
korean is easy to learn
it's not as easy to learn as riding a bike, but it's easier to learn than other languages (still hard obviously)
just remember not to emphasize AE (EY) pronunciations when speaking/learning Korean
And what whatisprotoss said is correct, Korean kinda leaks with 'hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh' so majority of the stuff is pronounced with a bahhhhhhhhhhhhk, sehhhhhhhhhhhhk, hahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhk etc.
yea i know bb is good to represent ㅃ.. romanizing korean in english is pretty vague for describing how they sound but i wouldn't think that using p for ㅂ is that far off? ㅍ could be like ppak maybe? o_O
A lot of the names of koreans translated into English are pretty poorly written out.
Park is more pronounced as 'bahk' in korean Lee is more of just 'ee' Choi is actually 'Cha' Seo is actually 'Suh'
There are probably more but I have to step out in a sec. I don't know why they decided upon these ways to write out the names that are so odd against the Korean pronunciation. Probably something done originally and just stuck.
On June 21 2009 21:53 2b-Rigtheous wrote: Rekrul, maybe for you, but not for most of us unfortunately. Not that it should dissuade your studies, but Korean is far from one of the easiest languages to learn. I disagree agree that the grammar is easy. It's confusing for an English speaker to learn subject markers and object markers The grammar is also back to front, which increases the difficulty further. Also, Korean has so many particles and endings that it can easily confuse the listener.Then you have to learn 반말 and 존댓말. (2 politeness levels). It's definitely a great language to learn, but a challenge to be sure. Anyone can get the basics, that's a piece of cake, but attaining real fluency, well that takes time. Good luck fellas.
no dude...yeah you can say all that...but you can say all that and then some for other languages
korean is easy to learn
it's not as easy to learn as riding a bike, but it's easier to learn than other languages (still hard obviously)
what a load of bullshit
yeah ur right the '(still hard obviously)' part was a load of bullshit
korean is soooo fucking easy to learn, what a simple language WOW
On June 21 2009 21:53 2b-Rigtheous wrote: Rekrul, maybe for you, but not for most of us unfortunately. Not that it should dissuade your studies, but Korean is far from one of the easiest languages to learn. I disagree agree that the grammar is easy. It's confusing for an English speaker to learn subject markers and object markers The grammar is also back to front, which increases the difficulty further. Also, Korean has so many particles and endings that it can easily confuse the listener.Then you have to learn 반말 and 존댓말. (2 politeness levels). It's definitely a great language to learn, but a challenge to be sure. Anyone can get the basics, that's a piece of cake, but attaining real fluency, well that takes time. Good luck fellas.
no dude...yeah you can say all that...but you can say all that and then some for other languages
korean is easy to learn
it's not as easy to learn as riding a bike, but it's easier to learn than other languages (still hard obviously)
what a load of bullshit
yeah ur right the '(still hard obviously)' part was a load of bullshit
korean is soooo fucking easy to learn, what a simple language WOW
EPT![[image loading]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/Colpan/2.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/Colpan/3.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/Colpan/4.jpg)
we suck..
