Korean Language Lesson - Unit 1

Unit 1 - Learning Objectives
(제1권 - 학습 목표)
 * Writing, Pronunciation, Romanization and Typing of the Korean alphabet (한글)
 * Greetings and general expressions
 * Using the markers 은/는 [EUN/NEUN] and 도 [DO], understanding their grammatical significance
 * Using the verbs 이다/아니다 [IDA/ANIDA] (is/isn't) to make statements and questions

The Korean Alphabet
(한글)

The Korean alphabet 한글 [HANGUL] consists of 21 vowels and 19 consonants. To many at first it looks like a bunch of lines and circles, however there is a pattern to it all and it is a very scientific language. It is a phonetic language just like English and with the alphabet you can build up character blocks that represent sounds. For example:

a) ㅂ + ㅣ = 비→[BI] →Rain

(Also a well known K-Pop artist)

b) ㅍ + ㅔ + ㄴ = 펜→ [PEN] → Pen

(Pen is one of the many English words imported into Korean)

Each character block can take up to 4 characters from the Korean alphabet. When constructing character blocks it is very much like Lego. In total there are over 11,000 legal builds, that sounds kind of scary but once you have learned all 40 members of the Korean alphabet it’s a piece of cake.

We will also teach you how to Romanize the Korean alphabet which will be particularly useful for you in the beginning. There are several Romanization systems, we will teach the government standardised one known as RR. You can find it here. This will be the most useful since all official signs, text books and information hubs in Korea use this standard. Remember though many people may spell their name with older or alternative standards, therefore in these circumstances it is best not to use RR. Two examples are SAMSUNG and HANGUL, which should be spelt as SAMSEONG and HANGEUL under the RR standard, however Samsung and Hangul were Romanized before RR standard came along so naturally the spellings must remain.

Lastly Korean has lots of little spelling tricks that alter its pronunciation when read, for example something that is Romanized as GATI (같이) is actually pronounced as [GACHI (가치)]. We will try to use square brackets to reveal these irregular pronunciation tricks. Ok let’s get started!

Vowels

{C}The first 8 vowels are the core vowels, the last 2 are combinations of the core vowels we will talk about more below. Care must be taken in pronouncing ㅓ[EO] and ㅗ[O], ㅜ[U] and ㅡ[EU], and lastly ㅔ[E] and ㅐ[AE] as they can sound very similar to beginners but to Korean speakers they are very different. The inability to perfectly Romanize Korean characters to some extent causes ambiguity here for English speakers.

{C}These vowels are variations of the core vowels (excluding ㅣ[I] and ㅡ[EU]). The vowel sounds are exactly the same, except they are now pronounced with a [Y] sound preceding them. Notice this is indicated by simply adding an extra bar to the core vowel. Therefore ㅓ [EO] becomes ㅕ[YEO] and so forth.

Finally we have 5 more vowel combinations. Care must be taken in identifying the difference between ㅚ [OE] and ㅙ [WAE], and also ㅟ [WI] and <span lang="KO" style="font-family:"Batang","serif";mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-language:KO">ㅢ [UI]. These two vowel combinations can be hard to tell apart upon hearing.

Consonants
Core Consonants:  The above are the core Korean consonants, many fall somewhere between the pronunciation of 2 characters in the English language, and often it depends on where in the character block the character is placed. For example 국 is pronounced as [GUK]. At the beginning of the character block ㄱ takes the [G] sound, however at the end of the character block it takes the [K] sound. Furthermore ㅇ is a special case, when it is the first letter in a character block it is silent, or alternatively it adopts the sound of the last character present in the preceding character block. For example 먹어요 is pronounced as [머거요 (MEOGEOYO)]. For more details on these rules go here.

Double Consonants: These consonants borrow the sounds from some of the core consonants above, however their pronunciation is much tighter. For example ㅅ which sounds like an [S] in English, becomes ㅆ which sounds more like [C] in English. For example think of the difference between the words SELL and CELL, there is a tightening of the airflow through the mouth to say CELL, whereas SELL is pronounced almost in the same way but much more loosely. The same rule applies when attempting to pronounce double consonants in Korean.

{C}Capped Consonants: These consonants too borrow from our core consonants (except ㅎwhich is new). These consonants are pronounced sharper with air thrown in behind them. So now the [G/K] sound is now a sharp [K] sound (e.g. [K]etchup), similarly the [D/T] sound is now a sharp [T] sound (e.g. [T]eacher). The ㅎcharacter actually has some significance here too. Whenever a Korean character block ends in ㅎ, and then is followed by ㅈ, ㄱ, ㄷ or ㅂ starting the next adjoining character block, then the ㅎ morphs these sounds into ㅊ, ㅋ, ㅌ or ㅍ respectively. For example 많다 is pronounced as [만타(MANTA)]. Since ㅎ looks like a man in a hat (or cap), then to help us remember this pronunciation trick, we can imagine that the man in the hat takes it off, and caps the character next to him. More pronunciation tricks will be introduced in Unit 2.

Now you have been introduced to all the basic Korean characters (자모 [JAMO]), you need to learn them off by heart with flash cards or quizzes. If you happen to have a smart phone this app below could be helpful in this respect. Remember with quizzes and flash cards, since the characters have no position in a character block their reading/Romanization is like to vary a bit between each app.

<p style="text-indent:0cm">Furthermore for those who wish to quiz themselves via computer, here is a site that will help them.

Character Building
<p style="text-indent:0cm">It is not always immediately clear how to construct each character block, however the diagram opposite is a good reference in regards how to. Notice as a rule of thumb, the Initials (red) and Finals (blue) are always consonants, and the Medials (yellow) are always vowels. The longest bar in a vowel character decides whether it will be placed on the right side (long vertical bar: ㅓ,ㅑ, etc) or sandwiched in the middle/placed on the bottom (long horizontal bar: ㅗ,ㅠ, etc).

Typing in Korean
Typing in Korean is a very important skill as it means that you can now practice your language skills online and not just offline. The first thing to do is set up your computer up to type Korean. If you use Windows XP, the link below should be helpful. For Vista and Windows 7 it should be very similar. There are plenty of online videos that show you how to do this, so if you have a Mac or Linux setup Youtube will definitely help.

<p style="text-indent:0cm"> Below is the official layout of a Korean keyboard (once again the government endorsed standard, however there are many others out there too). Firstly you can toggle between English and Korean by hitting the 한/영 key on the bottom right, or if your computer does not have this button (which it probably doesn’t since you are in New Zealand) then hitting the bottom right Alt key will do the same thing. Once you are in Korean mode you can simply type Korean as shown below. To type the letters ㅃ, ㅉ, ㄸ, ㄲ, ㅆ, ㅒ and ㅖ simply hold down the Shift key at the same time, just as if you were trying to type a capital letter in English.



Once you have mastered typing Korean you will want to flex your skill set somewhere. Facebook chat is a good start, however if you don’t have many Korean speaking friends I recommend chatting at a site called Hanlingo. It is a language exchange chat room, in which you can chat in Korean if you wish. Beware though every now and then there are a few trolls there, however Hanlingodoes have a strong community of people who have been members for many years, so there is a chance to make good friends there too.

<p style="text-indent:0cm"> Furthermore many Koreans use NateOn, there is now an English version available for downloadtoo. It effectively is the Korean version of Skype or MSN.

<p style="text-indent:0cm"> Lastly many Koreans have a Cyworld (kind of like a homepage), however these days it is not so necessary to have one as many Koreans have migrated to Facebook. Cyworld has failed to expand internationally, mainly due to Korean internet laws which are very strict (due to North Korea being next door, cyber attacks etc), every site by law requires you to prove that you are you. Naturally this makes it difficult for many Korean internet companies to tackle the international market. However rules are beginning to be relaxed now. If you really want a Cyworld, I suggest getting help from a Korean friend. If you have a Cyworld you could do such things as maintain a diary in Korean etc. It is also linked to your NateOn account too, as Cyworld has been absorbed by the company Nate.

<h2 style="text-indent:0cm"> Greetings & General Expressions <p style="text-align: right;">(인사와 일반 표현)

<p style="text-indent:0cm"> Firstly before we introduce you to some Korean vocabulary, here is a link to a reasonably in depth online dictionary if you wish to put together your own vocabulary lists. Here are the links below:
 * <p style="text-indent: 0cm;"> English/Korean (영/한)
 * <p style="text-indent: 0cm;"> Chinese/Korean (중/한)
 * <p style="text-indent: 0cm;"> Japanese/Korean (일/한)

<p style="text-indent:0cm"> Here are several common greetings and general expressions.

Grammar
<p style="text-align: right;">(문법)

은/는 – Subject Marker
은/는 are subjective markers, highlighting the topic in a sentence or what is being contrasted. For a word ending in a vowel, 는 is used, conversely for a word ending in a consonant then 은 is used. Subjective markers should immediately follow the subject it is marking.

오늘은 목요일입니다. → Today is Thursday.

In this sentence the word today is the subject/topic. We choose 은 over 는 because 오늘 ends with a consonant, furthermore this is the appropriate marker because what we want to say is today is Thursday, as opposed to tomorrow or any other day in the week, thus we are effectively suggesting contrast as well. This is important to remember as there are several subject markers in Korean, each denoting something different about the subject; the following marker is another example.

도 – Too, Also, As well Marker
The marker 도 is used after the subject or object to suggest ‘too’, ‘also’ or ‘as well’. Furthermore this marker is able to replace other markers, including 은/는 above.

이 사람은 러시아 사람입니다. → This person is Russian. 진짜? 저 사람도 러시아 사람입니다. → Really? That person over there is also Russian.

이다 & 아니다 – Is/Are & Isn’t/Aren’t
이다 and 아니다 are the respective words for saying something is or isn’t something, i.e. the word BE in English. Here we will introduce the polite forms of the word.

IS: 이다 (basic form) → 입니다 (formal form) ISN’T: 아니다 (basic form) → 아닙니다 (formal form)

To produce a question using either of the verbs in formal form, we simply drop the 다 and replace it with 까 and add a question mark.

Q: 학생입니까? → Are you a student? YES: 네, 학생입니다. → Yes, I am a student. NO: 아니요, 학생이 아닙니다. → No, I am not a student.

Lastly notice we used the marker 이 after the word for student in our negative reply. 이 and 가 are subject/object markers, 이 follows a consonant ending character blocks whereas 가 follows a vowel ending character blocks. When stating that something in fact isn’t something, one of the object markers 이 or 가 needs to immediately follow the subject you are speaking about.

<h2 style="text-indent:0cm"> Culture Challenge! <p style="text-align: right;">(문화 도전!)

1. This is a common Korean expression, what do you think it means?

OTL

(Hint: Look carefully, what do you see?)

2. What do you think this means? ㅋㅋㅋ …and this: ㅎㅎㅎ