Obviously, you first need to learn the Korean alphabet because it's extremely useful, and it's essential for taking your learning any further. Romanizations aren't the best and should be avoided when learning Korean because your pronunciation may be extremely off and it's difficult to learn Korean. Did you know Koreans can barely understand a Korean sentence when it's romanized?( x )

I'm going to teach you all of the consonants and vowels today!

Consonants:

ㄱ [g/k] - Pronounced like the g in game

ㄴ [n] - Pronounced like the n in name

ㅁ [m] - Pronounced like the m in mom

ㄷ [d] - Pronounced like the d in older. Your tongue should be at the roof of your mouth

ㅇ [silent/ng] - If placed at the front of a character, then the ㅇ is silent. If placed at the end of a character, then the ㅇ makes an ng sound like in the word wrong.

ㅅ [s] - Pronounced like the s in story. When paired with certain vowels, the s sound changed to sh; more aspirated. 

ㅂ [b] - Pronounced like the b in boy. It is un-aspirated

ㅈ [j] - Pronounced like the j in jam. It is un-aspirated. 

ㄹ [r/l] - The pronunciation changes depending on where the ㄹ is in a character. At the end of a character, before another consonant (밀당) the sound stays as a l like in lake. If there are two ㄹ's in a row (몰라), the sound remains an l that is held for a bit longer. When there is a ㄹ before another vowel (알아), then their is a mix between r/l. The r is a "tap" noise similar to the "t" in writer. Notice how your tongue taps the roof of your mouth. The r does the same also similar to the r in caro in Spanish. 

ㅎ [h] - Pronounced like the h in home. 

ㅋ [k] - Pronounced like the k in kite. It's more aspirated than ㄱ. 

ㅌ [t] - Pronounced like the t in top. It's more aspirated than ㄷ.

ㅊ [ch] - Pronounced like the ch in cheek. It's more aspirated than ㅈ

ㅍ [p] - Pronounced like the p in pit. It's more aspirated than ㅂ. 

Double Consonants:

It's hard to explain these because they're literally double the consonants shown which means they have a stronger sound.

ㄲ [gg] - This is pronounced as a stronger ㄱ. When you get ready to say ㄱ, push off harder to make it stronger.

ㅆ [ss] - This is pronounced as a stronger ㅅ. When you get ready to say ㅅ, make the hiss stronger.

ㅉ [jj] - This is pronounced as a stronger ㅈ. When you get ready to say ㅈ, push off harder to make it stronger.

ㄸ [dd] - This is pronounced as a stronger ㄷ. When you get ready to say ㄷ, push off harder to make it stronger.

ㅃ [bb] - This is pronounced as a stronger ㅂ. When you get ready to say ㅂ, push off harder to make it stronger.

Vowels:

ㅏ [a] - Pronounced like the a in father.

ㅓ [eo] - Pronounced more like uh. There is no exact sound in English that is exactly similar. 

ㅗ [o] - This is pronounced like a solid "O". Sort of like the o in grow. Your mouth forms an "O" shape when you say grow and that's the shape you want to keep.

ㅜ [u] - This is pronounced like the oo in the word moon. 

ㅣ [ee] - This is pronounced like the ee in meet.

ㅡ [eu] - There is no exact sound in English that relates to this, but to achieve the correct mouth shape, say the double o's in goose, but don't round your lips. That's the sound you have to produce.

ㅛ [yo] - This is the same as ㅗ but with a y sound in front like in the word yet. 

ㅠ [yu] - This is the same as ㅜ but with a y sound in front like in the word y​et. 

ㅕ [yeo] - This is the same as ㅓ but with a y sound in front like in the word y​et. 

ㅑ [ya] - This is the same as ㅏ but with a y sound in front like in the word y​et.

Dipthong (Complex + Compound) Vowels:

ㅔ [e] - This is pronounced like the e in dress. 

ㅐ [ae] - This is pronounced like the e in dre​ss as well. There is no sound different between the two. 

ㅒ [yae] - This is pronounced like the beginning of yet or ye​s. 

ㅖ [ye] - This is pronounced like the beginning of yet or yes. 

ㅘ [wa] - This is pronounced like the wa in water.

ㅙ [wae] - This is pronounced like the we in wet. 

ㅚ [we] - This is pronounced like the wa in way. Avoid saying the y or even forming your lips to say it. Only the wa should be pronounced.

ㅞ [we] - This is also pronounced like the we in wet.

ㅝ [wo] - This is similar to the pronounciation of the wo in woah. 

ㅟ [wi] - This is pronounced like the wee in weed. 

ㅢ [eui] - This does not have a w sound in it. This is a combination between ㅡ and ㅣ. 

Ta-Da! You've finally learned all the components of the Korean alphabet, so let me teach you how to use these components. First thing first, do you remember how I said ㅇ was silent when it's in the beginning of a character? Well, if you ever want to make a sound like ah from the symbol ㅏ, you can't just put ㅏ. You must place ㅇ in front of the ㅏ like this: 아. Since the ㅇ is silent, only the vowel is actually voiced. 

You're probably wondering how do you combine all these new characters you've learned, so I'll show you how. I found this nifty chart online that basically shows all the possible combinations you can make. The source is this website, I did not create this [ x ]. 

Now you've learned the basic characters and sounds of Korean. There are some things that I have not talked about in this lesson, but I will explain them later on. Some sounds change depending on what consonant follows, and when there are two consonants on the bottom, usually only one is pronounced. 

Since you have learned how to read and write these characters, I'll give you some practice characters to pronounce on your own. The answers will be in the next lesson ^^ 

잡지

뉴스

서로

화장실

외국

웨딩

답답