How to Begin Reading Korean [Master Hangul in 10 Steps]

Picking up Korean reading is quite simple, as I managed to learn it in roughly a week.

One minor point of confusion is that sources don't always agree on the total number of letters in the Korean alphabet—some state 24, while others say 40. Certain Hangul "letters" are actually combinations of other letters, so the 24 can be thought of as the "core" letters, with the others being compound letters.

No matter the exact count, the logical connections between the letters make Hangul easy to learn.

This guide is designed to be a practical resource to get you started with reading, so I won't focus heavily on details like stroke order and spelling rules right now (though you might want to learn those later).

1. Learn the basic Korean consonants (ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅅ, ㅈ, ㅎ)

In Korean, consonants have names that don't match their sounds perfectly, similar to English. (For instance, W is called "double-u," which isn't the sound it makes in words.) Right now, it's most important to concentrate on the sounds themselves, but I've included the letter names below as well.

Note: The sound descriptions above are only approximations, and this applies to the entire post. Additionally, letters can have different sounds depending on their position in a word (which we'll discuss a bit later).

2. Learn the basic Korean vowels (ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅡ, ㅣ)

Vowel names are the same as the sounds they represent.

Since these vowels are all built around a horizontal or vertical line, they might be a little easier to remember initially than the consonants.

3. Try reading in Korean!

Now, using what you've learned about the sounds, try to guess how the following word is pronounced:

하나

When you think you know, click on the video below to check.

하나 means "one," and, as you heard, is pronounced hana.

Letters are read from left to right, just like in English, and the word above has two groups of letters, each forming one syllable. In Korean, syllables are organized into blocks.

Here's another example where you can observe this structure.

머리 (head)

Once you think you've figured out the sounds for the word above, click the Pinkfong video clip below to see if you're reading it right.

Let's try another word, this time with just one syllable block.

밥 (rice, meal)

Here, three letters are combined into a single syllable.

Korean syllable blocks can have between two and four letters. They're read from left to right and top to bottom.

So, for 밥 (bap), the letters are read in this sequence: ㅂㅏㅂ.

First, you read the 바 on the top line of the block, then the ㅂ on the bottom.

4. Learn how to use the silent consonant (ㅇ)

In this next part, we'll focus on just one letter. This letter is technically a consonant, but you might find that odd because it doesn't produce a sound we typically link with consonants.

In fact, often it makes no sound at all.

The letter ㅇ (ieung) in Korean resembles an English "o," and it serves a special function in Korean syllables.

Remember: Korean syllable blocks can contain two to four letters. Sometimes, a syllable block is just a consonant followed by a vowel. Other times, it's a consonant, then a vowel, then another consonant.

But what about a syllable that's just a single vowel? Or what if a syllable starts with a vowel?

Well, that's not allowed, and that's where ㅇ comes in. When ㅇ comes before a vowel at the start of a syllable block, think of it as a silent placeholder. It accompanies the vowel without making a sound.

However, you'll also see ㅇ after a vowel, at the end of a syllable. In this position, it sounds like the "ng" in English words ending in "ing."

See if you can figure out the pronunciation of the words below before using the video clips to check your answers.

Here, we'll learn a couple of family-related words from a Kebikids video.

엄마 (mom)

아기 (baby)

How did you do?

5. Learn the Korean hard consonants (ㅊ, ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ)

As you can see, these consonants look similar to some we learned earlier. You might notice their sounds are somewhat related too. For example, if ㄱ is roughly like an English "g" sound, then ㅋ (which looks like the same letter with an extra line) can be considered a stronger "k" sound.

Again, remember these are just approximations, and ㄱ can also make a "k" sound.

6. Learn the Korean “y” sound (ㅑ, ㅕ, ㅛ, ㅠ)

When you notice two short parallel lines on a Korean vowel, that vowel will include a sound similar to the English "y."

Now, let's try something new. We'll practice reading with some words you likely already know, using this funny video where a couple decides what to eat.

Try this one:

피자

Got it?

Click the clip below to hear the Korean pronunciation.

Now let's try a longer word:

파스타

In the word for "pasta," you can see that in the middle syllable, 스, the ㅅ is placed above the vowel ㅡ. This happens because ㅡ is a horizontal vowel, so it goes below the ㅅ instead of to its right.

And now, a word that uses one of those "y" vowels (hint: this one is also a food):

라면

You got it, right?

In the Maangchi video below, you can confirm the pronunciation.

And, you can also learn how to prepare some tasty Korean 라면.

7. Learn the Korean double consonants (ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ)

You can probably guess the pattern here. These consonants are written as doubles of some basic consonants and are pronounced with more force than their single versions.

8. Learn the Korean double vowels (ㅐ, ㅔ, ㅒ, ㅖ)

Here, we have vowels created by combining previous ones:

ㅐ (ae) and ㅔ (e) are both pronounced somewhat like "eh." In terms of pronunciation, they are nearly the same. You just need to memorize which words use which spelling.

ㅒ (yae) and ㅖ (ye) follow a similar pattern. They are almost identical in modern speech and are like the above letters but with a "y" sound added.

9. Learn the Korean vowel clusters (ㅘ, ㅙ, ㅚ, ㅝ, ㅞ, ㅟ, ㅢ)

We're almost there! Here are more vowel clusters you'll find in Korean words that you need to know how to pronounce.

As you can see, we again have some vowel combinations that sound identical—specifically three variations of "weh"—but it's crucial to know all of them for correct spelling.

For a comprehensive review of all the combined vowel sounds above, check out this excellent and fun video from Mina Oh of sweetandtastyTV that covers all the complex and compound vowels and includes a mini Korean drama at the end.

In the video, you'll see that "Professor Oh" pairs all the vowels with the consonant ㅇ, as this is how they typically appear in syllables. With ㅇ, some vowels become complete words, like 왜 (wae), meaning "why." You'll also notice that in each case, the ㅇ occupies the top or left position in the syllable, as it must come before the vowel.

10. Practice reading full Korean sentences

Now, let's test your reading skills with the words below. Here are a couple more words from our family video.

아빠 (dad)

가족 (family)

Here we have an example of a consonant-vowel-consonant syllable where the middle vowel is horizontal. Instead of a consonant and vowel on top with a consonant below, like in 밥, we see the letters in the second syllable of this word stacked completely horizontally.

But can you say it?

In the clip above, what's actually said is 우리 가족이야 (uri gajok-iya), or "This is my family." 우리 can mean "our" or "my" depending on the situation, but be careful not to type it as 오리 (ori), which means "duck."

Speaking of typing, you might have noticed a pattern in how the letters in this post were ordered. I aimed to introduce simpler letters first to make the more complex ones easier later on, but I also organized them in a way that makes sense for learning to type.

For instance, the first set of consonants in this post covers the top left part of the keyboard in order and then moves down to the next row, also from left to right. In other words, ㅂㅈㄷㄱㅅ is essentially the Korean equivalent of QWERTY (or QWERT, to be precise), and I've presented the letters in that sequence.

So, if you pay attention to the letter order in this post or take notes accordingly, it should help when you begin learning to type.

Honestly, typing in Korean is quite logical and simple to start with, so feel free to begin typing Hangul right away.

But let's continue with our reading practice!

I bet you can figure out this next one.

치킨버거

Okay, so there are a few 치킨 in the 치킨버거 from this Burger King ad. But that's fine because now you know the words for 치킨 (chicken) and 버거 (burger). 치킨 is a handy word to know since fried chicken has a significant history in South Korea.

For some slang, 치맥 (chimaek) refers to the combination of chicken and beer and is a blend of 치킨 and 맥주 (maekju — beer).

Let's finish up with one last phrase that will test much of what you've learned and introduce something new:

괜찮아요.

This phrase, which is very useful, is the polite way to say "I'm okay" or "It's okay."

Let's break it down:

With 괜, we have ㅙ between two consonants. That's g, wae and n, making the sound gwaen.

With 찮, we have a consonant cluster, or two consonants together, at the end. The rules for pronouncing consonant clusters at the end of syllables can be complex, and we haven't even delved into how consonants can change based on their position in a word in general.

This video on 받침 (batchim, the final consonant in a Korean syllable), which is one of two from KoreanClass101, starts to explain some of these points.

For this specific word, just know that the ㅎ at the end is silent. So, 찮 is pronounced chan (like "chahn").

The other two syllables should be easy for you now. The phrase can also be used as a question: 괜찮아요? (Are you okay?)

And that's basically it!

As mentioned earlier, there are cases where Korean sounds change or aren't entirely consistent. A common irregularity is that the consonants ㅅ, ㅈ and ㅊ, when at the end of syllables and followed by another consonant or at the end of a word, take on a "t" sound instead of their usual sounds. This is evident in their full names:

시옷 (shiot)

지읒 (jieut)

치읓 (chieut)

The knowledge you've gained from this post should be sufficient for you to start learning Korean words and sentences.

My tips for learning to read Korean from scratch

Get a deeper understanding of how Hangul works

As you've seen, Hangul is arranged into squares to create syllables. Every syllable must include at least one vowel and one consonant and must always start with a consonant. The syllables are then combined to form words, similar to English.

Let's use the word hangul as an example. In Korean, it's written as 한글. The first syllable 한 is formed with the consonant ㅎ + the vowel ㅏ + the consonant ㄴ. The second syllable is spelled: consonant ㄱ + vowel ㅡ + consonant ㄹ.

One more thing to remember: in writing, every syllable block must begin with a consonant, but some words and syllables are pronounced as if they start with a vowel, like 안녕하세요 (annyeong-haseyo — hello). When this happens, the consonant ㅇ is silent.

Memorize the alphabet in chunks

The great thing about self-study is that you can proceed entirely at your own speed. Maybe you're eager to start reading and have a free afternoon to learn all the Korean letters in one go. That's fantastic! Go for it!

But for those of us with busy schedules or who feel a bit nervous about tackling a new alphabet, it's perfectly okay to take it step by step.

Decide what amount is manageable for you. I'd suggest setting a goal of five to ten letters to learn at a time, and give yourself the same timeframe to learn each group (e.g., one week per set). You can always increase the number of letters you learn in each period as you grow more comfortable.

Next, create a vocabulary list of words that use these letters. For example, if your first group of letters is ㅏ, ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅠ and ㅣ along with the silent ㅇ, your vocabulary list might include:

아이 (a-ee or child)

우유 (oo-yoo or milk)

오이 (oh-ee or cucumber)

이 (ee or 2)

오 (oh or 5)

아이유 (a-ee-yoo or K-Pop idol IU’s name in Hangul)

Starting with this small list, you can learn another group of letters and expand your vocabulary each week. It works well if you alternate between learning vowels and consonants to make it easier to discover new words.

Learn pronunciations as you go

You'll learn the letters more quickly—and remember them better—if you listen to the pronunciation while you learn each letter.

zKorean has a useful chart showing the appearance and sound of Hangul letters. It's essential, of course, to know the correct vowel pronunciations since several Korean vowels are quite different from English ones. However, it's also very important to know the correct consonant pronunciations, because in Korean some consonants are pronounced differently depending on their position in a word.

For example, at the start of a word the letter ㅅ is pronounced with an "s" or "sh" sound, like in 사랑 (sarang — love) or 시간 (shigan — time), but at the end of a word ㅅ makes a hard "t" sound, like in 뭣 (mot — what).

While you're learning, make sure to say the letters out loud every time you read them, until the sounds become more natural. Read entire words aloud as you build your vocabulary list. You might start by sounding out each letter individually, but soon you'll be reading whole syllables—and then complete words—quickly by sight.

Review what you’ve learned

Now it's time for some review. But it doesn't have to be boring! The best part about learning to read Korean is that there are many different ways to practice.

I'm a bit traditional: I love using paper flashcards, and maybe you do too! Alternatively, you could try Anki's digital flashcards and practice your reading on your phone. You can also use the multimedia flashcards on the Lingflix program. Lingflix uses authentic videos—such as music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and transforms them into personalized language lessons. You can try Lingflix free for 2 weeks. Visit the website or get the iOS app or Android app. P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)

Get comfortable with the letters by writing in Korean as much as you can, even if it's just simple things like people's names and vocabulary lists at first. When you're ready to form simple sentences, you can learn all about proper Korean punctuation here.

Or you could even try writing in "hanglish" (English words and sentences written in Hangul) if your vocabulary still needs work. It's a surprisingly amusing way to write, especially when you read it all out loud at the end.

Read about things that genuinely interest you. What made you want to learn to read Korean in the first place? Start working toward that goal as soon as you can.

If you enjoy Korean pop culture, follow idols and actors on their social media accounts. For example, you can go on Instagram and follow G-Dragon ( @xxxibgdrgn ), EXO’s Chanyeol ( @real__pcy ) and CL ( @chaelinCL ).

You're all ready to start typing, speaking and learning Korean.