How I learned 한글 (hangeul), the Korean alphabet

It was around spring break of 2012 that my love of Korea blossomed. I had known about K-Pop for a while, but it was around this time that K-Pop and K-Dramas became an everyday thing. There wasn't a day when I wasn't thinking about something Korean. I could deal with not understanding what they were saying all the time or not understanding some of their cultural aspects. But there was one thing I couldn't deal with. I couldn't read hangeul. It is Korea's script, and I felt completely distant that I couldn't read it. So I decided that I would learn.

The best resource that I used to learn hangeul was the YouTube channel, SweetandTasty. Professor Oh is a wonderful person. As far as I know, she wasn't paid to make her set of four videos on how to read Korean. And she does a fabulous job of explaining each vowel, consonant, dipthong, and double consonant. Though the first lesson she made was a little low quality, she still taught the necessary pronunciation. I think that she was brought up speaking both English and Korean, so she has the qualifications to teach Korean, and the skills to explain in English without the barrier that some people who were brought up speaking exclusively Korean face.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdiR-6e1h0o Here's the link to her first lesson. You'll be able to find the next lessons from there.

Her second lesson came two years after her first lesson. And I can totally understand the delay. Getting into the grove of making anything into a routine is tough. I'm just glad that she continued, regardless of the delay. It's not like I was one of the people who waited two years for lesson two, so I'm not complaining. Lesson two was where I learned what I came for. Hangeul! I remember writing down each consonant paired with "ah" in a random order in a grid shape and practicing pronunciation of each character. It was so rewarding when I could read each one without having to use my cheat sheet to see which one it was.



Her third lesson goes over double consonants, which, I still don't have a firm grasp on. That's the thing about learning languages. The moment you learn something that you are sure about, someone else tells you that you aren't quite right. I understand the basic concept of them, that they're stressed sounds. But I just wasn't born hearing the difference between the double one and their single relative.

Professor Oh's last lesson on the alphabet was over dipthongs and boy, did I spend a lot of time on this video. Dipthongs are confusing to anybody. I didn't even know what it was before I clicked on her video. I kept thinking that they all look alike and the only differences are so small that they normally didn't even register. The way that I justified their similarities was looking at my struggles of differentiating the letter S and 5 when I was little and learning them. I had SUCH a hard time with them. I remember my father being so frustrated with me that he'd get mad and I'd start crying. So in that light, dipthongs difficulty is justified.

I hoped this summary of what each lesson taught helped those who want to learn hangeul. And, honestly, it's one of the easiest Asian alphabets to learn, if not the easiest. It's only the pronunciation that's a little difficult. ;)

Throughout my learning of Korean there have been little, specific examples that have a different pronunciation than what I initially thought. It's one of those things that you have to learn as you go, and that you can't learn in one sitting. I believe that she explains that you'll learn them as you go along, and that's why she doesn't teach all of them.

There have been other ways that I expanded my understanding of hangeul, but they weren't as influential as Professor Oh's teachings. I truly believe anyone who is wishing to learn hangeul should check out her videos. They're more than you'll learn from anyone else (at least the people I've come across). She's a great teacher and I wish you luck in your hangeul learning. (: