The easiest way to learn how to pronounce Korean names may surprise you.
If you ask most people, they’ll go into in-depth examples of the various ways to say the Korean name by using English characters.
And that is the problem right there!
No matter how good you get at Korean, you will always have confusion and mistakes when pronouncing Korean names using English letters. The reason is because the Romanization of Korean characters into English letters is imprecise, inconsistent, and confusing.
Even Koreans have trouble with this!
As you get to meeting more Koreans, you’ll often hear that they think their names are too difficult for you to pronounce.
That isn’t true! The only reason that you will have trouble with Korean name pronunciation is because the tools you have for reading the name aren’t accurate.
The best way to fix this is to get the right tools for the right job.
In other words, the best way to learn how to pronounce Korean names is to learn Hangul (the Korean alphabet)!
These days, learning Korean is exciting because you can learn to read Hangul in less than 60 minutes, thanks to this free guide.
Download the guide, go through the activities, and then you’ll be reading Korean names with complete accuracy before you finish you next meal or coffee!
Once you know how to read Hangul, pronouncing Korean names will be a cinch.
Below are the three points you need to know about how to pronounce Korean names.
1. Why Romanized Korean Names Are Confusing
Let’s say you see a Korean name written in Romanized Korean that looks like this:
JaeHun
Does this mean 재훈 (JaeHoon) or 재헌 (JaeHeon)?
This is a common problem that people face with writing Korean names in English. Koreans will use various combinations of English letters to spell their names in English depending on their personal preferences, so it’s hard to know how to pronounce their Korean name until you ask or you make a mistake trying it.
Therefore, it’s easier, way more precise, and less embarrassing to use Hangul!
2. Standard Korean Name Structure
Korean names are broken down into three syllables. Let’s look at an example name:
김민수
- 김 is the first syllable, and also the person’s family name. It’s written first.
- 민수 takes the second and third syllable places, and is the person’s given name. It can be written on it’s own or after the family name.
In rare cases, a Korean person’s first name can also be one syllable or three syllables. Here are some examples.
One Syllable First Name:
- First name: 준
- Family name + first name: 김준
Three Syllable First Name:
- First name: 빛이찬
- Family name + first name: 김빛이찬
Some common family names are: 김, 박, 정, 윤, 문, 이, 최, and 강.
There will be many different Korean first name combinations. Although some will be more common than others, you’ll constantly run into new ones you’ve never heard of!
3. Converting from Hangul to Romanized Korean
If you absolutely need to convert a name from Hangul to English letters, your best bet is to follow the standard Romanization of Korean System. If you use these rules, you’ll reduce your chances for confusion.
Consonant Characters
| Hangul | Romanized (First) | Romanized (Final) |
|---|---|---|
| ㄱ | g | k |
| ㄲ | kk | k |
| ㄴ | n | n |
| ㄷ | d | t |
| ㄸ | tt | – |
| ㄹ | r | l |
| ㅁ | m | m |
| ㅂ | b | p |
| ㅃ | pp | – |
| ㅅ | s | t |
| ㅆ | ss | t |
| ㅇ | - | ng |
| ㅈ | j | t |
| ㅉ | jj | – |
| ㅊ | ch | t |
| ㅋ | k | k |
| ㅌ | t | t |
| ㅍ | p | p |
| ㅎ | h | t |
Vowel Characters
| English | 한국어 (Korean) |
|---|---|
| ㅏ | a |
| ㅐ | ae |
| ㅑ | ya |
| ㅒ | yae |
| ㅓ | eo |
| ㅔ | e |
| ㅕ | yeo |
| ㅖ | ye |
| ㅗ | o |
| ㅘ | wa |
| ㅙ | wae |
| ㅚ | oe |
| ㅛ | yo |
| ㅜ | u |
| ㅝ | wo |
| ㅞ | we |
| ㅟ | wi |
| ㅠ | yu |
| ㅡ | eu |
| ㅢ | ui |
| ㅣ | i |
Let’s Romanize the name “윤민지” using the rules above.
윤 = Yun
민 = Min
지 = Ji
Put them together and you’ve got “Yun MinJi”.
You will definitely see variations on how Korean names are spelled in Romanized Korean, but that’s how it’s done according to the Romanization rules.
Remember, the easiest way to pronounce Korean names is to learn Hangul!
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
