Let’s make things easy on ourselves!
If you’re new to the Korean language, you may think it’s very difficult. After all, it has it’s own alphabet and the sentence structure is different than English. We’re not off to a good start!
However, there are ways to simplify the Korean language. On this page we’ll tell you about five easy ways to learn Korean.
Try them out, use the ones you like, and forget about the rest.
Sounds simple enough, right?
Let’s get to it!
1. Sixty Minute Korean Alphabet
One easy way to learn Korean is to first study the Korean alphabet (Hangul).
It’s much better and more precise than Romanized Korean. Learning Hangul will make it much easier to learn Korean faster in the long run.
It’s a fairly simple alphabet to learn. Most people can do it in one hour if they have the correct teaching material.
The correct teaching material means having ways to connect Hangul with the English alphabet. Most people try to brute force their Hangul learning through memorization. This is both excessively difficult and boring.
Instead, it’s better to figure out easy ways to remember the Korean characters by connecting them with things you already know in English. That way, you’ll recognize the character much more easily, and you’ll know what sound it makes.
Then you’ll be reading Hangul in no time!
Download this free Hangul guide, and you’ll be reading Korean in about 60 minutes.
Maybe faster!
Most people learn Hangul surprisingly fast!
2. The Korean English Union
There’s a special union between the Korean and English languages. Think of it as a kind of marriage.
A while back, Korean and English started dating and they hit it off. After getting permission from each side of their respective families, they decided to make it official and get married. It was a wonderful ceremony, wasn’t it?
The Union of Korean and English
Well, they decided to have a kid. Both Korean and English wanted to pass on their family names, but they couldn’t agree on what to call the child. Finally, they made a compromise and called the baby “Konglish”.
Korean + English = Konglish
Fun story, isn’t it?
Well, Konglish is a very real thing. Just like the story of the “Korean English Union”, there are words in Korean that are a mix of the Korean and English languages. These words are called “Konglish”.
Generally, Konglish is a word in Korean that is similar or the same as to the English word. For example:
| English | 한국어 (Korean) |
|---|---|
| Menu | 메뉴 (mae-nyu) |
| Fork | 포크 (po-keu) |
| Chocolate | 초콜릿 (cho-kol-leet) |
| Ice cream | 아이스크림 (ah-ee-seu-keu-ream) |
| Pizza | 피자 (pi-za) |
Studying Konglish is an easy way to learn Korean because you already know many of the words. Plus, the pronunciation of Konglish words is sometimes different than English, so it’s a fun way to say the same words you’ve been using for years!
If you signed up to receive the Korean alphabet guide already, you will get a free lesson on Konglish, too.
3. Associations and Stories
An easy way to learn Korean is to come up with associations and stories to help remember the words.
The reason why this is effective is because most Korean words are not similar to English words.
For example, the word for “desk” is “책상” (check-saang).
The words “desk” and “책상” sound nothing alike. What should we do?
This is where a story will come in handy.
Imagine that you know a student, his name is Saang (상). Well, Saang is a hard-working student, and he always gets A’s. But those A’s don’t come easy! He makes sure that his homework is 100% correct every day. So after he finishes it, he goes back to “check” (책) it. In other words:
Saang checks his homework at his “책상” (check-saang).
Use stories that other people have made, or come up with your own!
4. Korean Word Families
The Korean language has word families. They are called “합성어” in Korean, which means “compound word”. The compound words share some of the same elements in their words.
For example, the world languages all end with the same “어” syllable in Korean.
| English | 한국어 (Korean) |
|---|---|
| Korean language | 한국어 |
| Japanese language | 일본어 |
| Chinese language | 중국어 |
| German language | 독일어 |
The people from respective countries of those languages all end with the same “인” syllable:
| English | 한국어 (Korean) |
|---|---|
| A Korean person | 한국인 |
| A Japanese person | 일본인 |
| A Chinese person | 중국인 |
| A German person | 독일인 |
The roots of those words represent the countries’ names in Korean:
| English | 한국어 (Korean) |
|---|---|
| Korea | 한국 |
| Japan | 일본 |
| China | 중국 |
| Germany | 독일 |
The word families become easier and easier to spot as you learn the language, so keep an eye out for them. It’s an easy way to learn Korean!
5. Korean Language Wheels
Don’t reinvent the wheel, especially when it comes to the Korean language!
The key to learning Korean is to choose the right material so it becomes simple to learn. That way you become more motivated and you stick with it. It should always be fun and interesting!
When you’re choosing your Korean study material, make sure you have a plan in place that will teach you Korean using effective methods. It is a shame to hear about people spending weeks learning the Korean alphabet, when they could have learned it in 60 minutes with the right resources!
There are many Korean language learning programs out there. They range from light to intensive, free to expensive, online to 1:1, and boring to thrilling.
Make sure you evaluate courses properly and pick the one that matches your style and goals best. They should be using up-to-date techniques and material and taught in a way you can easily understand.
Take the Korean programs out for a test drive before you commit to the program. The better developed the “wheel”, the smoother your Korean language learning ride will be!
Much more fun to drive these wheels than to invent them!
Wrap Up
If you need some resources for choosing your course, here are a few pages to check out:
- Killer Resources for Learning Korean
- Learn Korean: How To Choose the Best Course
- Learn Korean Online: How to Avoid Choosing the Wrong Program
What strategies do you use to make Korean learning easy?
Learn to read Korean and be having simple conversations, taking taxis and ordering in Korean within a week with our FREE Hangeul Hacks series: http://www.90DayKorean.com/learn
