Korean/RWP/Lesson 2

Consonants learned in Lesson 1: hide the following: - (initial)silent Vowels learned in Lesson 1: hide the following: Welcome back! This is the second lesson of "Learn to read, write and pronounce Korean". In the last lesson, you already learned four letters: ㅂ (bieup), ㅏ (a), ㄴ (nieun) and ㅇ (ieung). In this lesson, you will learn four new letters. Combined with the four you already know, they will open up quite a few Korean words to you. The consonant ㅁ (mieum) ㅁ (mieum) ㅁ (mieum) stroke order.png bilabial nasal.ogg The first new consonant to learn is ㅁ (mieum): Letter (jamo): ㅁ Pronunciation: [m] ㅁ (mieum) is pronounced just like a regular English m. Be careful not to confuse it with 'ㅇ', which doesn't have corners. Letter (jamo): ㅁ ㅏ => 마 Pronunciation: [m] [a] [ma] Exercise Try to read the following Korean words that contain the letter ㅁ (mieum). Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual. 마나마 the capital city of Bahrain ma-na-ma (transliteration), "Manama" 안남 the name of Vietnam before it became "Vietnam" an-nam (transliteration), "Annam" 암만 the capital city of Jordan am-man (transliteration), "Amman" The vowel ㅣ (i) ㅣ (i) ㅣ (i) stroke order.png Close front unrounded vowel.ogg The first new vowel to learn is ㅣ (i): Letter (jamo): ㅣ Pronunciation: [i] The vowel ㅣ (i) looks much like the English letter I and is pronounced like the i in "machine", so it's easy to remember. It also looks similar to the Korean letter ㅏ (a), except that the dash to the right is missing. (Note: all Korean vowels are based on long horizontal or vertical lines, most with short dashes attached to them.) Letter (jamo): ㅁ ㅣ => 미 Pronunciation: [m] [i] [mi] Exercise Try to read the following Korean words that contain the letter ㅣ (i). Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual. 나미비아 a country in Africa na-mi-bi-a (transliteration), "Namibia" 빈나 the capital city of Austria bin-na (transliteration), "Vienna" The consonant ㄹ (rieul) ㄹ (rieul) ㄹ (rieul) stroke order.png Alveolar tap.ogg The next consonant, ㄹ (rieul), has two different sounds: Letter (jamo): ㄹ Romanization: l or r Pronunciation: [ɾ] or [l] ㄹ (rieul) is pronounced like the l in let or like the r in the Spanish word árbol, and is transliterated as r or l. Letter (jamo): ㄹ ㅏ => 라 Romanization: r a ra Pronunciation: [ɾ] [a] [ɾa] Exercise Each of these words has ㄹ (rieul). Translate each word into English. Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual. 바바라 a personal name (ba-ba-la) Barbara 이란 a country in the Middle East (i-lan) Iran 리마 the capital of Peru (li-ma) Lima 마닐라 the capital of the Philippines (ma-nil-la) Manila 말리 a country in Africa (mal-li) Mali 릴 a big city in France (lil) Lille 마일 a distance measurement (ma-il) mile 리비아 a country on the north coast of Africa (li-bi-a) Libya 알바니아 a country in the Balkans (al-ba-ni-a) Albania The consonant ㄱ (giyeok) ㄱ (giyeok) ㄱ (giyeok) stroke order.png Voiced velar plosive.ogg Finally, the consonant ㄱ (giyeok) will unlock lots of words to you: Letter (jamo): ㄱ Pronunciation: [g] or [k] ㄱ (giyeok) is pronounced like the k in sky or the c in scrape. It is not aspirated, so it does not sound like the c in cry or vacation. Many English speakers liken it more to the g sound. It is transliterated as g or k. Be careful not to confuse it with ㄴ (nieun). When ㄱ (giyeok) is combined with a vowel such as ㅏ (a) or ㅣ (i), it changes shape slightly: Letter (jamo): ㄱ ㅣ => 기 Romanization: g i gi Pronunciation: [k] [i] [ki] Exercise Translate these words with ㄱ (giyeok) into English. Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual. 가나 a country in West Africa (ga-na) Ghana 리가 the capital of Latvia (li-ga) Riga 기니 a country in West Africa (gi-ni) Guinea 가이아나 a country in South America (ga-i-a-na) Guyana 감비아 a country almost completely enclosed by Senegal (gam-bi-a) Gambia End of lesson 2 Very good! You have now learned 8 Korean letters already and the rest won't be difficult either. Feel free to continue with the next lesson. Consonants learned so far: hide the following: - (initial)silent Vowels learned so far: hide the following: