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You order kimchi without thinking about it. By the end of today you will be able to write it — 김치 — and read it off a menu.

That is the whole method of this course: you already know the sounds. All that is missing is the writing, and Korean writing was designed in 1443 to be learned in a morning.

1 · A block is a syllable

English writes letters in a line: k-i-m-c-h-i. Korean stacks the letters of one syllable into one square block.

So 김치 is not six letters. It is two syllables, each drawn in its own square:

Block	Letters inside	Sound
김	ㄱ + ㅣ + ㅁ	gim
치	ㅊ + ㅣ	chi

김치 — two blocks, two syllables

2 · The first six vowels

Every block must contain a vowel. A tall vowel (like ㅏ) sits to the right of the consonant. A flat one (like ㅗ) sits underneath. That is the entire layout rule.

Letter	Sound	Sits	On a menu
ㅏ	a — as in father	right	밥 bap — rice
ㅓ	eo — as in son	right	떡 tteok — rice cake
ㅗ	o — as in go	below	고기 gogi — meat
ㅜ	u — as in soon	below	국 guk — soup
ㅡ	eu — lips flat, unrounded	below	그릇 geureut — bowl
ㅣ	i — as in machine	right	김치 gimchi

Six vowels, and a dish for each

3 · Eight consonants, eight dishes

Letter	Sound	What the shape shows	Word
ㄱ	g / k	tongue back at the soft palate	국 guk
ㄴ	n	tongue tip behind the teeth	냉면 naengmyeon
ㄷ	d / t	ㄴ with a lid	닭 dak — chicken
ㄹ	r / l	the tongue flicking	라면 ramyeon
ㅁ	m	the closed mouth, from the front	물 mul — water
ㅂ	b / p	ㅁ opening at the top	밥 bap
ㅅ	s	the tongue narrowing to a gap	소고기 sogogi — beef
ㅇ	silent / ng	the open throat	이모 imo

4 · Read these off a menu

김치

gimchikimchiㄱ+ㅣ+ㅁ, then ㅊ+ㅣ. The ㅁ underneath is the *m*.

밥

bapcooked rice — and, by extension, "a meal"One block: ㅂ + ㅏ + ㅂ. Same letter top and bottom.

불고기

bulgogibulgogi — "fire meat"Three blocks. 불 = fire, 고기 = meat. Korean names food by what it is.

Day 1 words

김치

gimchikimchi

noun

밥

baprice · meal

noun

고기

gogimeat

noun

국

guksoup

noun

물

mulwater

noun

불고기

bulgogibulgogi (grilled marinated beef)

noun

Build the block for "bap" — ㅂ, then ㅏ, then ㅂ underneath.

“rice”

Write "kimchi" in Hangul.

“kimchi”

Before the quiz

I know which of ㅏ ㅓ ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ ㅣ go right and which go below.
I read a block top-left → top-right → bottom.
I can write 김치 and 밥 without looking.
I know both jobs of ㅇ.