Learning Korean is not as hard as it seems. I took me less than 3 months to go from beginner to intermediate Now that’s what I call progress. With these tips, you will be speaking Korean in no time. How to learn Korean now!

How To Learn Korean

Learn the alphabet

Now, before you tell me that it’s too hard, listen to the facts. Hangul(the Korean alphabet) was invented because using Chinese characters was very complicated. So Sejong the Great held a competition for a linguist to make an easy alphabet. This means that the Korean alphabet was made so people could learn it. This is why it is the easiest writing system in the world. I learnt it in under a day and some people claim it can be learnt in under 20 minutes. Hangul has 19 consonants and 21 vowels(some of them are just vowel combinations which means this lowers the number) and they all have an equivalent in English. Obviously, the pronunciation is different but it gets easier over time but if you become a fluent speaker it will be very easy.

Start off with basic vocabulary then learn the grammar

If you didn’t already know that Korean has a totally different sentence structure than English, at least you know now. So as you probably know English’s basic sentence structure is Subject Verb Object, however ,Korean’s basic sentence structure is Subject Object Verb. So this basically means that I go to the shop would be I shop to go-in Korean they don’t use a and the. You see how this cause a problem for English speakers as we are not used to this. This is why people may say Korean is a hard language for us because when we learn languages like French and German there are hardly any main grammar structure differences.

In terms of vocabulary, my advice to you would be to learn 5-30 a day, depending on how well you are good at memorizing words. Then integrate the vocabulary into grammar rules/phrases that you learn because if you learn the grammar and you don’t know any Korean words it will be harder to progress in your learning. For example, if you learn the words

I(저는) Like(좋아하다) and Apples(사과)

one day you could combine it with the basic sentence structure Subject Object Verb. So this would be I apples like and in Korean it would be

저는 사과 좋아해요.

Do not learn using romanization

This is defiantly the worst thing to do. Romanization is basically writing a language that uses characters using English letters. For example 저는 would be jeonun. The reason why this so bad is, it stops you from developing proper pronunciation and reading Korean confidently because you would be relying on the English. When you first start Korean I say its ok when you’re learning basic phrases like anneonghaseyo(hello) because it helps you gain confidence but when you start learning vocab you should stop. Just trust me when I say your Korean will be so much better if you don’t use romanization.

Find your learning material

Everyone learns differently, so I can’t give you a certain textbook to study from and say you will become fluent with it. It’s all up to your preference and how you learn/study. Personally, I started off watching YouTube videos to see how other people learnt Korean so I had an idea of what to do. Then through some amazing people, I found Talk to Me in Korean.

This website saved me and it enabled me to progress in the language. They have a range of grammar and vocabulary textbooks that are written by native Korean speakers so they are written very naturally. They also have books for intermediate speakers so if you really want to develop your Korean you have the choices.

It has a book about hangul for beginners which is really good. You can choose between online grammar lessons or getting a deeper explanation in the textbook that comes with a workbook. These books go up to level 8; level 8 being the hardest level.

I found that talk to me in Korean is very useful in my ongoing study of Korean. They also answer questions on YouTube which is very useful. I’m not sponsored by them but I just really wanted to give you a place to start your research. There are also many resources out there that are very useful so don’t hesitate to look at them.

My Favourite Talk to Me in Korean Books:

My First 500 Korean Words

The Korean Verbs Guides

My Weekly Korean Vocabulary:Book 1: With 1600+ Everyday Sample Expressions

Talk To Me In Korean Level 1 workbook

Practice to become a fluent speaker

This is the most important thing to do once you have done all of the steps. Without practice there would be no reason to learn the language anyway. Writing, reading, listening and speaking are what you focus on and you can practise them in different ways. Some are harder than others but you will eventually get the hang of it. In terms of listening and speaking, listening to K-Pop, K-Dramas and Variety shows can help you and may even improve your pronunciation. Speaking, on the other hand, is not so easy. If you don’t have any Korean friends or live near a lot of Korean people you won’t be able to practice your speaking. However, you could record yourself speaking and try to fix the areas that don’t seem right or make friends online from places like Hello Talk or speak with a teacher on places like italki. This way becoming a fluent speaker will be easier because your learning from native speakers. See how easy it is to learn Korean.