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You already say Seoul and Gangnam. By the end of today you will be able to write them — 서울, 강남 — and read them off a platform sign.

This course has one advantage no other has: every public sign in Korea is bilingual. You read the Korean, you look down, and the romanisation tells you whether you were right. That is a free correction, dozens of times a day.

1 · A block is a syllable

English writes letters in a line: s-e-o-u-l. Korean stacks the letters of one syllable into one square block.

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

Block	Letters inside	Sound
서	ㅅ + ㅓ	seo
울	ㅇ + ㅜ + ㄹ	ul

서울 — 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 sign
ㅏ	a — as in father	right	강남 Gangnam
ㅓ	eo — as in son	right	서울 Seoul
ㅗ	o — as in go	below	종로 Jongno
ㅜ	u — as in soon	below	출구 exit
ㅡ	eu — lips flat, unrounded	below	버스 bus
ㅣ	i — as in machine	right	신촌 Sinchon

Six vowels, six places on the map

3 · Eight consonants, eight signs

Letter	Sound	What the shape shows	On a sign
ㄱ	g / k	tongue back at the soft palate	강남 Gangnam
ㄴ	n	tongue tip behind the teeth	남산 Namsan
ㄷ	d / t	ㄴ with a lid	동대문 Dongdaemun
ㄹ	r / l	the tongue flicking	서울 Seoul
ㅁ	m	the closed mouth, from the front	명동 Myeongdong
ㅂ	b / p	ㅁ opening at the top	버스 bus
ㅅ	s	the tongue narrowing to a gap	신촌 Sinchon
ㅇ	silent / ng	the open throat	이태원 Itaewon

4 · Read these off a platform

서울

seoulSeoul서 (ㅅ+ㅓ) + 울 (ㅇ+ㅜ+ㄹ). The ㅇ at the top of 울 is silent.

강남

gangnamGangnam — "south of the river"강 = river, 남 = south. Both blocks end in a consonant.

명동

myeongdongMyeongdongBoth blocks end in ㅇ, so both end in *ng*.

Day 1 words

서울

seoulSeoul

place

강남

gangnamGangnam — south of the river

place

명동

myeongdongMyeongdong

place

버스

beoseubus

noun

출구

chulguexit

noun

남산

namsanNamsan — South Mountain

place

Build the block for "seo" — ㅅ with the vowel ㅓ to the right.

“seo”

Write "Seoul" in Hangul.

“Seoul”

Revised Romanization — the rules on every signThe romanisation printed under every station name follows this standard. Knowing it is how you check yourself.National Institute of Korean Language

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 서울 and 강남 without looking.
I know both jobs of ㅇ.