A little Hangeul history

Hangeul was created under King Sejong in the fifteenth century: the letters were completed in 1443 and proclaimed in 1446 with the Hunminjeongeum, a text explaining them. The original system had 28 letters; modern Korean uses a smaller basic set plus additional combined forms.

Basic consonant shapes were explained through the speech organs used to make their sounds. Related consonants add strokes. The original vowel design used ideas of heaven, earth and the human being, with related forms built from a few elements. These ideas can help you notice letter families, but pronunciation still comes from listening.

Before Hangeul, writing relied heavily on Chinese characters and systems that adapted them to Korean. Chinese-derived characters, called Hanja, still occur in some names, specialist texts and explanations; they are not required for this introductory Hangeul course.

Hangeul is used in South Korea, North Korea and Korean communities worldwide. Names for the alphabet, spelling conventions and pronunciation can differ. This course uses contemporary standard South Korean pronunciation and spelling.