한국어

Learn Korean: the complete guide

Korean has about 82 million native speakers in South Korea, North Korea and the diaspora. Its alphabet, Hangul, can be learnt in a day, but its grammar (subject-object-verb, particles, long verb endings and speech levels) makes FSI rank it among the hardest languages for English speakers.

The short answer

Korean is written in Hangul, an alphabet you can learn in a day or two, and has verb-final grammar with speech levels. This guide covers pronunciation, grammar, tools and TOPIK, with a roadmap from zero.

Native name

한국어

Family

Koreanic

Script

Hangul (+ occasional Hanja)

Tones

Not tonal

Word order

SOV

Native speakers

82 million

FSI category

FSI class hours

2200

Romanisation

Revised Romanization

Kungfucius difficulty

4 / 5

안녕하세요 annyeonghaseyoHello

감사합니다 gamsahamnidaThank you

Your first week

Learn Hangul in your first two days, then learn the sound-change rules (batchim linking) straight away. Romanisation will only slow you down.

Biggest hurdle

Verb endings and speech levels

Best first resource

Talk To Me In Korean (lessons) or the King Sejong Institute courses

Kungfucius says: The alphabet takes an afternoon; the speech levels take the rest of your life.

Everything on this language

Korean 한국어Learn Hangul in a dayLearn Hangul in a day: how the Korean alphabet works, 14 basic consonants and 10 basic vowels, syllable blocks, and the pronunciation traps to watch.Korean 한국어How hard is Korean, really?How hard is Korean, really? Hangul, pronunciation, grammar and speech levels rated honestly, with FSI hours and the parts that are easier than they look.Korean 한국어Survival Korean phrasesSurvival Korean phrases for travel and daily life: greetings, polite requests, food, transport and hotels, with Hangul, romanisation.Korean 한국어How to check into a hotel in KoreanHow to check into a hotel in Korean: phrases for reservations, passports, deposits, Wi-Fi and checkout, with Hangul, romanisation.

Varieties & dialects

standard variety · 한국어 / 조선말KoreanSouth Korean (Seoul-based) and North Korean (Pyongyang-based) standards differ in spelling rules, loanwords and some vocabulary.

Mistakes learners make

Grammar · CommonDifficulty with Classifiers/Measure WordsUsing the wrong measure word, or none, when counting nouns in Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese. Mandarin alone has dozens in common use.Pronunciation · Very CommonDifficulty with PhonemesFailing to hear or produce sounds that do not exist in your native language. English speakers struggle with Mandarin zh/z/j and ü, Japanese long vowels, and the Korean three-way consonant contrast.Grammar · Very CommonDropping ArticlesLeaving out 'a' and 'the' when speaking English, common among speakers of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Russian, whose languages have no articles. The reverse problem for English speakers is overusing 一個 (一个) yí ge in Chinese.Vocabulary · CommonFalse FriendsWords that look or sound familiar but mean something else. Between Chinese and Japanese, shared kanji words are a minefield, and Japanese katakana English is its own trap.Grammar · UncommonIgnoring Evidentiality MarkersFailing to mark how you know something (seen, heard, inferred) in languages where grammar expects it. Korean and Japanese use endings for hearsay and inference that English leaves to words like 'apparently'.Pragmatics · CommonIgnoring Pragmatic/Politeness LevelsSaying something grammatically correct but socially wrong, too blunt or too casual. Japanese keigo and Korean speech levels make this the signature intermediate mistake.Grammar · Very CommonIncorrect Preposition UsageUsing the wrong preposition because prepositions rarely map one-to-one between languages. Chinese uses coverbs (在 zài, 給 gěi, 跟 gēn) and Japanese uses postpositional particles (に ni, で de), which confuse English speakers.Grammar · CommonIncorrect Word Order in QuestionsForming questions with the wrong structure. English inverts and adds 'do'; Chinese keeps statement order and adds 嗎 (吗) ma or leaves the question word in place; Japanese adds か ka.Grammar · Very CommonL1 Sentence Structure TransferCopying your native word order into the target language. English speakers put the time, place and verb in the wrong slots in Chinese, and the verb anywhere but last in Japanese and Korean.Grammar · CommonSubject-Verb Agreement ErrorUsing a singular verb with a plural subject or vice versa ('the dogs runs'). Speakers of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese, whose verbs never change for person or number, find this English rule easy to forget.Pronunciation · CommonUnaspirated/Aspirated Consonant ConfusionNot distinguishing consonants that differ only by a puff of air. In Mandarin, b/p, d/t and g/k differ by aspiration, not voicing; Korean has a three-way contrast (ㄱ/ㅋ/ㄲ).

When you feel like giving up

“If you feel like you’re losing everything, remember that trees lose their leaves every year, yet still stand tall and wait for better days to come.”

Kungfucius

Keep reading

/languages/korean/how-hard-is-korean//languages/korean/hangul//tools/best-apps-to-learn-korean//tests/topik//compare/japanese-vs-korean/