Word Wednesday: Introduction to Hangul

So, really, if you are going to learn a language, you should learn it properly.  I know a lot of foreign teachers that just memorize phrases, or just "pick things up."  Which, that's all well, and good, but since my goal is fluency...and my background is Anthropology...I study language like a linguist.  That is, I focus on all aspects of the language (reading, writing, speaking, listening) as well as the nuances in speaking, gestures, colloquialisms, etc. and the origins and formation of words and phrases.  It's a busy way to study, but thorough.

Anyway, you can't possibly expect to learn Korean without Hangul.  Ok, you can, but really the system is so logical and, once you understand it, intuitive, it just makes sense that you should know it.

So, if you look at an English/Hangul computer keyboard, it looks like this:

It looks intimidating and the Hangul phonetic sounds are not on their corresponding English letters.  So, typing in Hangul can take some getting used to, but if you'll notice, all the consonants are on the left and all the vowels are on the right...so that will cut down on a lot of hunting for the right letter.

But, let's look at this handy-dandy little chart instead:

A little better, yes?

So, I don't want to overload you...even broken down into parts, it can be intimidating to see the letters so dramatically different.  Don't worry about the pronunciations just now, we'll talk about that later along with some tips I have picked up.