Hangul: Full List of Reading Rules in Korean 

Hello Jamila! Thank you for your comment! My answer will be a bit long, so please bear with me :) So, the problem is that there are two things that most people mistake for one another. These are Transcription (actual pronunciation) and Transliteration (conversion of one script to another). So, Korean Romanization is basically the conversion of Korean letters to Latin letters. Romanization is not intended to convey sounds. In order to know how to accurately pronounce Korean words, ideally, one should refer to the IPA (International Pronunciation Alphabet). Before recording the lessons, I thought for a long time whether to use romanization or a simplified version of the transcription. The paradox with romanization is that, if a person with zero knowledge of the Korean language sees, say, the word 회사 (hoesa), then he will not be able to read it correctly. It turns out that in order to learn Korean, he needs to learn romanization. It's like, in order to learn Korean, you have to learn English first. It doesn't make much sense. Yes. It was possible for me to use romanization in all my lessons. It's not that hard to learn. But the question is, for what? In my opinion, romanization is practically useless, since it does not convey the exact or even approximate sound of Korean words and often misleads beginners, because they think romanization is transcription. What I use in my videos is also not perfect. But, I tried to make learning Korean easier. Some people here argue with me in the comments, even sometimes in a very aggressive manner saying that, let's say 가구 is pronounced as Gagu, not Kagu. However, much to their dismay, 가구 is pronounced more or less like Kagu. Whoever is reading this comment now, if you don't believe me, go and search for 'IPA 가구', and you will see this Ka̠ɡu. And if you still do not believe, even the International Pronunciation Alphabet, then do the following experiment. Type 가구 in Google Translate and let it be heard several times by a person who is not at all familiar with the Korean language. Then ask him to write down what he hears. Don't ask him, do you hear Gagu or Kagu. Just let him write what he hears. If he has no hearing problems, he will write Kagu. Finally, the romanization of Korean has not always been the way everyone sees it in textbooks. The romanization used in Korean textbooks is called Revised Romanization. Before that, McCune-Reischauer Romanization and Yale Romanization were used. Let me give you some examples for comparison and easier understanding. 가구, 밥, 시간, 몹시 Revised Romanization: Gagu, bap, sigan, mopsi McCune-Reischauer: Kagu, pap, shigan, mopshi Yale Romanization: Kakwu, pap, sikan, mopsi IPA: ka̠ɡu, pa̠p̚, ɕʰiɡa̠n, mo̞(ː)pɕ͈i Transcription that I use here: Kagu, pap, shigan, mopshi (I don't use McCune-Reischauer. It's just a coincidence. I am using something more or less close to IPA) My goal is to teach the language quickly and easily, not to train linguists. Therefore, after much hesitation, I decided not to use romanization, but a simplified transcription. Phew~ If you don't mind, let me actually pin your comment because people often ask this question.

@@KOREANFULLCOURSE great explanation!! Indeed, Romanization helps a lot beginners (like me😊) to understand how to pronounce letters and syllables. However, I believe that after a first general understanding of pronunciation, we need to move forward and refine how we speak in order to get closer and closer to how a native speaker speaks.

Whoever is reading this, there is one mistake in this lesson. I said that ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ sound as G, D, B when they are between vowels (it is true), and as K, T, P in all other cases (it is false). ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ can also sound as G, D, B when they are preceded by either ㄴ,ㄹ,ㅁ,ㅇ. E.g. 한국 - han Guk (ㄴ → ㄱ) 경기 - kyŏng Gi (ㅇ→ㄱ) 살다 - sal Da (ㄹ → ㄷ) 한복 - han Bok (ㄴ→ㅂ) etc.

@@KOREANFULLCOURSE does "can" mean that there isn't a way to know?

@@noone_2425 No, it always sounds as G, D, B if it satisfies the rule mentioned above.

:))) Hello^^ That's so awesome. I didn't know that. I've never checked Korean language on Duolingo. Thanks for sharing your story^^ Also, I want to say that 3 rules are missing in this video. I just completely forgot about them when I was making this lesson. Check out the pinned message with time stamps. I mentioned one of three missing rules. I will add two more soon :)

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💜💜💜💜

틀린것도 있는데요?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

How to download po ?

Thank you 😊❤️

Thank you so much Katia for your kind words. I am happy that even advanced learners find something new in these lessons :)

Hello^^ Thank you so much for your comment. It was interesting to read. You are a real linguist by heart because I see you understand how much logic is actually in this single video. Yeah, it took me 10-20 hours to make this video. I had to think about overall structure of the lesson (sequence of rules, how to visually make it easy to understand, pick best examples, teaching technique, script, etc. :) Oh, I am Korean but not a native speaker :) Yes, I agree, it's difficult to teach your own language because everything seem natural to us lol Feel free to ask me if you have any questions. P.S. I also used to learn Spanish. I don't know what is your level but there is one really cool RU-vid channel that helped me a lot. You can check his website where you can find his YT lessons www senorjordan com

안녕하세요 :) 반갑습니다. 감사합니다^^ 좋은 하루 되세요~

Thank you Michelle to you as well :) I am also happy to see you here. Feel free to ask me questions about Korean language if you need any help ^^

Hello^^ Welcome to the club! :)) Feel free to ask me questions if you get stuck :) If I know the answer I will reply for sure!

Thank you^^

I am happy to hear that ^^ If you have any other questions, feel free to ask :)

Hello! :) Thank you so much! I read all comments but I may reply slow (immediately ~ up to 72 hours) :) Can you give me an example of a quiz you are talking about, please? Thank you^^

good job 잘하시네요

Thanks to you too^^~~~

🥰 Thank you, 니하리카 씨^^ P.S. I forgot to mention one more rule in this lesson. Please, watch next lesson too where I explain the rule.

Thank you ^^

👍

I actually have been over this video a few times and realize I wasted a fair bit of time on romanization. I can now feel the bits clicking into place and the rules aren't so hard to grasp after a couple of rewatches. There is a certain logic and consistency to most of the rules with a few exceptions that are tough to nail down. There is another comment below about the HanGuK vs. HanKuK issue which threw a spanner in the works but was explained via another rule. Glad I found this content, very helpful!

:) I am happy this lesson popped up just in time, before you completely gave up. I recommend you to head over to the 'Korean Alphabet & Grammar' playlist. I sorted all lessons so you can learn step by step. You can also use other playlists as additional study material (Listening Practice, Vocabulary, Hanja, etc.)

@@KOREANFULLCOURSE Sure, thanks a lot❤

Thank you!~~

Khamsamnida

Say it again, I was like what,what the hell, these exceptions are put there to confuse me

You're welcome! Exactly :) It may take time to learn the rules, but once you learned you can save more time on memorizing how to pronounce each word. 'Learn once, use everywhere' :))

Totally agree!

Omg, I am very sorry. I thought I replied to you. Seems like I read it and either got suddenly busy or fell asleep lol Really sorry for so late reply. Please head over to 'Alphabet &Grammar' playlist. I already sorted lessons there in a logical order so that you don't need to think what to learn next. ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

Thank you^^

Thank you^^ 🙂

Hello^^ I am happy you liked them :) Yeah, because level B2 will cover almost 99% of all Korean grammar. So, for levels 5 and 6 you will just need to learn new words and high level expressions you can find in fiction books and newspapers. And to learn all this you don't need anybody's help, but your own.

Ohhh Okk Thanks a lott:)

Thank you!

♥️🙂

Hi

Recién lo noto. T_T

Hello^^ Do you mind if I correct your sentence? 저는 한곡어를 잘앵싶다 -> 저는 한국어를 잘 하고 싶어요.

You're welcome^^

Don’t give up Cindy! Remember that as kids we mispronounce words without embarrassment and one day it just becomes second nature. As kids we don’t even know the rules we just repeat what we hear. Just repeat what you hear and remember it won’t always feel this complicated and there are others like me that are right their with you..

@@JustAnotherNameYo thank you so much ❤️ because of you I won’t give up ❤️

😂😂😂 tiene un buen sentido del humor. Well... :)) Korean ㄹ sounds more or less like 'dd' in the word 'Daddy'.

Oh, 얼굴 - eol-gul (G, not K). I forgot to include a reading rule. If any of these letters: ㄴ or ㄹ or ㅁ or ㅇ are followed by any of these: ㄱ or ㄷ or ㅂ then you should read ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ as G, D, B (not K, T, P) A few examples here: 한강 haNGang (ㄴ → ㄱ) 결국 kyeoLGuk (ㄹ → ㄱ) 심각하다 shiMGak.... (ㅁ → ㄱ) 강국 kaNGGuk (ㅇ → ㄱ) ------- 간다 kaNDa (ㄴ → ㄷ) 들다 teuLDa (ㄹ → ㄷ) etc.

practice and see the video multiple times.

repetition. repetition. repetition. 😁😁😁

Thank you^^

Hello~ Thank you for an interesting question. I don't remeber if I mentioned this in the 'Full list or reading rules' video lesson, but if ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ are preceded by ㄴ, ㄹ or ㅁ, then ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ should be pronounced as G, D, B. I think it's a universal phonetic rule for all or at least the most world languages.

@@KOREANFULLCOURSE Thank you for clearing things up, that makes sense. Also since you're reading this I would like to tell you that your content is very helpful and well structured.

Thank you~ If you have any other questions, feel free to ask any time^^

Thank you Craig~ :) I would suggest you to start with 'Korean Alphabet & Grammar' playlist. You can use other playlists as additional study material to train your listening skill and build vocabulary.