Korean Language Hacking and Travel Tips

Are you thinking of visiting Korea soon? Then it will help if you know how to speak Korean.

Learning the Korean language is inherently easy compared to other language learning programs. It has many words and phrases that are adapted from English, after all.

Without further ado, let's start our Korean lessons!

Understand the Korean Alphabet

If you want to learn Korean fast, then you need to memorize the Hangul or the Korean alphabet.

Compared to the Chinese or Japanese scripts, it is not as complicated. That's because this was invented by King Sejong to help his people speak Korean in ten days.

For one, the Hangul is phonetic, with figures that mirror the way of its speaking.

Secondly, the Korean alphabet is composed of only 24 letters -- a far cry from the more than 50,000 Chinese characters available.

Thirdly, Korean pronunciation mostly reflects the way the words are written.

Compared to English words, you don't have to worry about Korean words having silent letters. One of the only notable exceptions is the character ㅇ, which is silent when used as an initial consonant.

Practice Writing Korean Syllable Blocks

In contrast to another language, Korean words are written in a structure known as a syllable block. This contains a beginning consonant, a middle vowel, and an optional final consonant.

At the bare minimum, a word contains two letters -- one consonant and one vowel.

Learning Korean Numbers is Important

To help you learn Korean numbers, you need to memorize the Sino-Korean system.

As this is used in money and calendar dates, you should master the first ten numbers, plus 100, 1000, and so forth. For example, the number 2 is 이 and the number 10 is 십. Therefore, the number 22 is 이십이.

You also have to master the native Korean numerical system. That's because you are going to need this to tell your age or a certain quantity when buying.

Intonation is Not a Problem When Speaking Korean

When speaking Korean, you don't have to worry much about pronunciation. While a syllable block may have different meanings, it is pronounced all the same.

Learn the New Language with Konglish

If you're looking for an easy way to learn Korean, then you should familiarize yourself with Konglish.

As the name suggests, these are words based on the English language. The best examples for these easy-to-use words include taxi, ice cream, and computer.

Read Up On Korean Grammar

Pronoun use is prevalent in the English language, but that's not the case with Korean phrases.

That said, you should start learning the Korean verbs since they vary according to tense and politeness. The changes are predictable though, as all you need to consider is the final consonant or vowel.

Korean verbs remain the same even when the pronouns change. To illustrate, the word "to do" (하다) retains the same meaning even if it is used as "they do," "I do," or "he/she does." The Korean words 먹어요, on the other hand, can be used to denote "I eat," "they eat," and "we eat."

The same rule applies to adjectives. You only need to use the word 'delicious' (맛있는) to ask if the food is yummy. At the same time, you can use the same word (맛있는) to tell someone that you ate something delicious.

Korean grammar tenses make for easier learning, too. You don't have to worry about different terms, like is vs. was or buy vs. bought. All you just need to do is add a Korean word at the end of the sentence to change the word eat (먹다) to ate (먹었다).

You Don't Have to Start Learning Complex Lessons Until Later

If you want to know how to speak Korean like a native, then you need to skip the difficulties -- at least for now.

Some people find Korean lessons difficult because of the hierarchical nature of the language. That's because the Korean vocabulary varies according to the person you talk to.

To be on the safe side, new language learners should use words in the regular form (those that end with 'yo').

As you take more Korean lessons, you can focus on the different language levels. For example, if you're conversing with a younger Korean speaker or someone close to you, you can omit the 'yo.'

However, if you're going to a job interview, you will want to learn the distant Korean vocabulary words (ending in ‘-imnida’ or ‘-sumnida’).

When using honorifics to speak Korean, you will need to use some special words. They're only about 20, so it's not that hard to learn these.

Another thing to remember when learning Korean language honorifics is that you shouldn't use it when you talk about yourself. You can, however, speak Korean honorifics when you talk about your grandparents.

Korean language learning may be difficult at first, but it gets easier as time progresses. As long as you follow the Korean learning tips above, you’re well on your way to speaking like a Korean native!