Introduction:

Not long ago, the song ‘Gangnam Style’ bombarded YouTube channels with its inimitable style and Korean accent, though the song was in English. Now we have an end number of popular Korean bands starting from BTS to Exo to Big Bang- making waves into the Indian market. Korean being a unique language and hence there is a dearth of translators and interpreters and with Korean products swarming these jobs can not only be demanding but highly paying as well. And if it is the career that has attracted you to learn Korean then let me guide you along the path of Korean alphabets and their relevant pronunciations.

• A Peek into History

The Korean alphabet is popularly known as Hangul or Hangeul and it has a fascinating history. For hundreds of years, the lower-class Koreans didn’t have any defined script and most of them were illiterate. The educated lot used to write in classical Chinese characters. It was only in 1443, the King Sejong The Great invented the Korean alphabet named Hangul. After his promulgation of Hangul, the communication between people with little or no education became fluid.

• Basic idea about Hangeul or Hangul

 It combines the Korean word ‘Han’ means ‘Great’ and ‘Geul’ means ‘script’. One unique fact about this script is- it mimics the shape of the mouth while pronouncing the corresponding sound. The Korean alphabet consists of 24 basic letters- 14 consonants and 10 vowels. Once you dive into detail, you will discover 19 complex letters with 5 tense consonants and 11 complex vowels – all of them used for combining basic letters. I know that you may be feeling exhausted but Hangul is a very scientific script so once you start practicing it often you will find the logic behind it. Korean texts are now typically written from left to right with spaces between the word with western style punctuation.

• Pronunciation

 The sound of 14 consonants of the Korean language change depending on the fact whether they stand at the beginning, middle, or at the end of the sentence. You may start making a chart of Korean alphabets but if you are using English letters to pick up the sounds then let me be honest with you that it will be the closest representation though not exact!

• Multibhashi

 Quite frankly, it would be ideal to hire a trainer to catch the right pronunciation technique. Here the role of Mutibhashi comes into the picture. It’s an ed-tech platform, where you may get professional trainers for personal or group sessions. Multibhashi maintains transparency by sharing with you regular recordings and curriculum. As I have mentioned before that learning a language takes time and effort and with a trainer by your side, you can practice regularly and keep your motivation intact. The only condition that is required is to maintain regularity, to see prominent results. Apart from Multibhashi, there are several other apps like FluentU, Mondly, Duolingo, Babbel, etc, from where you may learn basic pronunciation techniques but having an expert trainer has its own benefit.

• Conclusion

The language learning path has lots of blind turns so just like driving you to need to be wide awake and alert. Korean being one of the revered languages in the world, you may find yourself lost and out pretty soon unless you remain adamant with your regular practice and perseverance, even if it is as little as giving 15 mins per day.