I'm Korean, and i've been studying English for a while now. Let me tell you, it hasn't been easy. There were times when i thought, "Why does English have so many silent letters?" or "Why do 'read' and "read" look the same but sound different?" No matter how much i studied, English pronunciation just didn't make sences to me.
And that got me thinking—maybe it's the same for people learning Korean.
A lot of people look at Hangul and think it’s complicated, but trust me, it’s actually one of the easiest writing systems in the world. If English spelling drives you crazy (like it does for me), you’re going to love how logical Hangul is.
I’ve helped a few of my foreign friends learn Hangul, and I noticed something. The ones who just memorized the letters without understanding how the system works struggled the most. But the ones who took a step back and learned why Hangul is built the way it is? They picked it up surprisingly fast. So, let me show you how to read Hangul in a way that actually makes sense.
Hangul Looks Hard, But It’s Not. Trust Me.
The first time I tried reading English, I was completely lost. I saw words like "knight" and "knee" and thought, "What’s the point of the ‘K’? Why is it even there?" It felt like I had to memorize every single word individually because spelling and pronunciation didn’t always match.
Hangul doesn’t have that problem. Every letter has one sound. Once you know the letters, you can read anything. No silent letters. No weird exceptions. No guessing.
And here’s something cool: Hangul was actually designed to be easy to learn. It wasn’t randomly developed over centuries like English spelling. It was created with logic and simplicity in mind.
How Hangul Works (It’s Easier Than You Think)
Hangul has consonants and vowels, just like English. But instead of writing letters in a straight line, we put them together into blocks that form syllables.
Let me show you what I mean:
- In English: H A N G U L
- In Korean: 한글 (Han-gul)
Each syllable gets its own block, and each block contains at least one consonant and one vowel (sometimes an extra consonant at the end).
Here’s an example:
- 한 (ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ) (H + A + N)
- 글 (ㄱ + ㅡ + ㄹ) (G + EU + L)
Once you get used to this structure, Hangul stops looking like a bunch of random shapes and starts making sense.
Hangul Sounds That Might Confuse You
When I first started learning English, I kept messing up words like "beach" and "sheet" (and yeah… that got me into some awkward situations). If you’re learning Korean, you’ll probably run into similar struggles.
Here are some Korean letters that might trip you up:
ㄱ (g/k) – It sounds like a soft "G" (as in "go"), but sometimes like "K" (as in "kite").
ㄹ (r/l) – This one is tricky. It’s not exactly "R" or "L," but somewhere in between.
ㅂ (b/p) – Kind of like a mix between "B" and "P."
And vowels:
ㅓ (eo) – This one confuses a lot of learners. It’s not quite "O" or "U," but somewhere in between.
ㅗ (o) vs. ㅜ (u) – "O" is pronounced with rounded lips, while "U" sounds like "oo" in "food."
At first, they might feel strange to pronounce, but the more you hear them, the more natural they’ll sound. Trust me, I had the same problem with "R" and "L" in English.
Let’s Read Some Korean Words Right Now
You don’t really learn Hangul by just memorizing letters. You learn it by reading real words.
Try reading these:
👉 한국 (Hanguk) – Korea
👉 사랑 (Sarang) – Love
👉 커피 (Keopi) – Coffee (Sounds like "coffee" because it’s a borrowed word)
👉 택시 (Taeksi) – Taxi
See? You’re already reading Korean. That wasn’t so bad, right?
One Last Thing: Don’t Rush It.
I used to stress out so much about getting my English pronunciation perfect. But the more I obsessed over it, the harder it got.
Learning Hangul is the same. If you try to learn everything in one day, you’ll feel overwhelmed. But if you just practice a little bit every day, you’ll get better without even realizing it.
I promise—if you spend just 15 minutes a day practicing, you’ll be reading Korean within a week. Once you can read, everything else (listening, speaking, even grammar) becomes easier.
Oh, and next time, I’ll break down Korean consonants and vowels so you can master them one by one. Stay tuned!