History of Hangul | Korean Consonants | Korean Vowels | How Korean is spoken

Korean Vowels

• Single Vowels

  Hangul contains 10 basic vowel sounds all of which are fairly easy to pronounce and remember. They are generally spelled (and pronouced) with the silent 'o' as the intial consonant. Again, vowels should be much easier to learn than the consonants.

• Dipthongs (vowel combinations)

  The main problem with dipthongs is that they can be quite difficult to distinguish between each other. Being able to generalize the sounds at the begining is the key to learning these syllables. Looking at the chart above, how different is the first and third syllable? Not much. Confusing (or blending) the two sounds does not cause much confusion for the listener. However, they are different and an effort to make some distinction is necessary.

  When writing the dipthongs, the consonant (here 'o') is written followed by the vowel sounds from left to right.