All about the Korean alphabet, Hangeul

Want to learn Korean? Do you need information about the Korean language? Do you want to know the history of Hangeul?

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Hangeul (한글) is the name of the Korean alphabet. It is the official script of South Korea and North Korea. In 2022, Korean ranks 27th among the most spoken languages ​​in the world with nearly 80,000,000 speakers.

In this article, you will discover:

• The origins of Hangeul.
• How Korean Writing Works.
• How to write in Korean.

The origins of Hangeul

Initially, Korea uses Hanja (한자 or 漢字), which comes directly from Chinese writing. In the 15th century, King Sejong the Great of the Joseon Dynasty developed a script as part of the literacy of the people. Indeed, this one not having access to education, encounters many difficulties with the Hanja. Conversely, the Hangeul system aims to be easy to access, therefore easily assimilated even by “poorly educated” people. Subsequently, the successor of Sejong the Great forbade the use of this script. This one will not make its return until 1894.

How does Hangeul work?

Hangeul is broken down into 40 characters called Jamos (자모). These Jamos are divided into several categories;

• consonants (14 in number)
• double consonants (5)
• vowels (10)
• compound vowels (11)

There are also consonant clusters, however, they are uncommon and quite annoying to assimilate in the Korean language! If you don't know them, this will in no way hinder your learning!

Korean is a syllable-based language. Namely that the different characters each represent a sound. All you have to do is group them together (respecting the syllabic structures), and you're done!

Here are summary tables of the 40 characters.

Korean consonants

Korean double consonants

Korean vowels

Korean compound vowels

Write Hangeul

Beyond learning characters, Hangeul follows a precise structure in writing.

First possibility: consonant (single or double) + vowel

Second possibility: consonant (single or double) + vowel + consonant

It can sometimes happen that in writing, a word can “begin” with a vowel. In this case, it is necessary to use the silent consonant ㅇ in order to respect the syllabic structure.

To help you learn Hangeul

As for learning Hangeul itself, you will have to go through the classic “by heart” method. But being known as an accessible language, there is nothing to worry about!

For the written part, this can potentially confuse you since Korean writing is a very different character system from letters. You regularly practice writing Hangeul helps you quickly assimilate the characters (you can also take the opportunity to learn them orally at the same time)

We can advise you the following to help you write Hangeul

Korean Writing Notebooks: The Basics (Assimil - Kim-Juquel Inseon)

A book that I have personally used, this one explains in a simple way how to write Hangeul. It can be found on the Internet or in stores such as Cultura or Fnac. Perfect to start writing!

Small Korean writing notebook (Larousse - Sunmi Jang)

Like the previous one, it is a writing notebook, this one will explain the procedures for writing the characters, and it has an informative part on Korean culture (the impact of Hangeul in Korea).

Our Korean Vocabulary Ebook

This book brings together the 400 most useful phrases for traveling in South Korea.

Start learning Korean now.

In this article, we have therefore explained the origins and purpose of Hangeul, the structure of the Korean language as well as how to write it.

We have also provided some sample materials to help you learn to write Hangeul.

Do not hesitate to leave in comments your impressions and say if the article enlightened you on the subject!

Thank you for reading this article to the end!

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Written by @soojuu_boi on @koreanxwear