An-nyeong ha-sae-yo, everyone! This has been the 4th post of #JomKoreanwithMawen, have you been enjoying the whole new language learning experience so far? In the past 3 lessons, we have learnt 10 vowels and started with 3 consonants. We are reaching half-way in unlocking all the Hangul alphabets. Just stay strong and we are very close to the success!
Have you downloaded all the worksheets and practiced writing them these few days? Remember this, practice makes perfect! You can go back to the previous lessons to have a recap: part 1, part 2 and part 3.
In this lesson, we are learning three consonants: ㄹ-, ㅁ- and ㅂ-. Watch the video lesson first before making any notes referring to the written materials, especially on the correct pronunciation as the romanization is not always the best representation for the sound.
The first consonant has a more complicated shape, with the combination of (ㄱ), (ㅡ) and (ㄴ). It represents a sound that similar like ‘l’ and ‘r’. Most of the Korean terms do not have this sound, therefore you can observe that this consonant is most commonly found in loan words. Loan words are vocabularies that derived from foreign language. However, they will sounds different that the original pronunciation as they are adapted into the Korean reading patterns.
Example
1. (라)면 : ra-myeon (instant noodles)
2. (로)켓 : ro-ket (rocket)
3. (라)디오 : ra-di-o (radio)
4. 하(루) : ha-ru (radio)
The second one is easy to remember of its shape. It looks just like a rectangle. You can write (l) as your first stroke, followed by (ㄱ) and close the box last. It has a sound of ‘m’ and ‘b’ in English romanization. It’s closer to the ‘m’ sound, if we compare with the next consonant later.
Example
1. (마)레이시아 : ma-re-i-si-a (Malaysia)
2. (머)리 : meo-ri (head)
3. 마마무 : ma-ma-mu (Mamamoo)
4. 모자 : mo-ja (hat)
The last consonant for this lesson will be sounded similar like ‘b’ and ‘p’ in English. The shape of this character is like a container with a lid, or a tank filled partially with water. But, we need to write it in the correct sequence, from left to right, and top to bottom. We will draw two (ㅣ) strokes, then complete with another two (ㅡ) across the lines. The sound of this consonant can be confusing, as it is somehow sounds very similar like ‘p’, but mostly close to the ‘b’ in English.
Example
1. (바)지 : ba-ji (pants)
2. 보다 : bo-da (to see)
3. 바보 : ba-bo (idiot)
4. 비싸 : bi-ssa (expensive)
Congratulations! You have learnt 10 vowels and 6 consonants so far, you have mastered in total of 16 Hangul alphabets. You are near to master all the alphabets soon. Keep up the pace and more video and written lessons will be up to guide you in learning Korean happily. I stress out one point: practice! practice! practice! Download the worksheet below, print out and practice writing now!
Before that let me cheer you all with cute boys for your hard work all these while! #fighting #BTS
Learn Korean with me through #JomKoreanwithMawen video series, while enhance your understanding through lesson posts in MyDaehan to give you the best learning experience! You can refer to other video lessons in mastering the consonants better, and I found out Korean Unnie in YouTube teach me a lot of tips in differentiating and reading the correct Korean pronunciation!
In next post, we will continue learning consonants, unlocking all 24 cute Korean alphabets by the end of this series!
Tune in every Saturday for new lesson posts and follow our Instagram @mydaehan2020 for #JomKoreanwithMawen video lesson series!
Author
Melvin Tan
Content Manager (Language)
Online Supporter of Korean Embassy in Malaysia
Bio-science student in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Korean Enthusiasts
Korean learner for 10 years, but still amateur
Instagram: @tanmawen
MyDaehan 🍂 