Learn to speak Korean

1. 1

   Week 1: sounds and greetings

   Say hello (안녕하세요) and thank you (감사합니다) until they feel natural. Learn the sounds that differ from English, and say ten short sentences about yourself. Korean sounds change when words connect, so the way a sentence is written is not always the way it is said. Listen first, then say the sentence aloud and compare. Verbs come last and particles mark the roles.

2. 2

   Week 2: everyday requests

   Learn to order, ask the price, ask where things are and say you do not understand. Build each as a full sentence and say it three times.

3. 3

   Week 3: questions and answers

   Practise question words and the answers to them. Listen to each Korean sentence first, then say it, then compare.

4. 4

   Week 4: short exchanges

   Chain sentences into a mini conversation: greet, introduce yourself, ask a question, answer one. Record yourself and listen back.

Korean is written in the Hangul script. You learn to read it alongside speaking; you do not have to master it first.

Longer than European languages, mostly because of grammar and vocabulary. Hangul is quick to learn, and speaking is worth practising from the start.

A good first target sentence: 물 좀 주세요. (Please give me some water.).

• Ten to twenty minutes, same time every day.
• Say everything out loud, even when alone.
• Learn whole sentences, not isolated words.
• Repeat yesterday's sentences before learning new ones.
• After a couple of weeks, find a conversation partner or tutor and use what you have practised. At 30 minutes a day, Korean reaches working proficiency in roughly 12.1 years, and you will be speaking well before that.