What is Hangul?
Hangul (한글) is the Korean alphabet — the writing system, not the language itself. The language is Korean (한국어). It was created in 1443 under King Sejong and promulgated in 1446. Hangul is featural, meaning the shapes carry information about the sounds instead of being arbitrary. Five consonants were drawn from the speech organs: ㄱ the tongue root closing the throat, ㄴ the tongue against the upper gum ridge, ㅁ the shape of the mouth, ㅅ a tooth, ㅇ the throat. The rest are built from those five by adding strokes. The vowels follow a different logic entirely: they combine three symbols standing for sky, earth and human.
How many letters are in the Korean alphabet?
Twenty-four basic letters: 14 consonants and 10 vowels. Beyond those there are 5 tense consonants (ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ) and 11 compound vowels (ㅐ ㅒ ㅔ ㅖ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅢ), which are built from the basic letters rather than being new shapes. That makes 40 letters in total.
How long does it take to learn the Korean alphabet?
It depends on the learner, and published estimates vary widely. As a rough guide, learners commonly report recognising the letters within a few days, and reading slowly but accurately — final-consonant rules included — within a couple of weeks. Reading fluently takes considerably longer, because at that point the limit is vocabulary, not the alphabet. Treat “learn Hangul in one afternoon” claims with care: they usually mean letter recognition alone, and skip batchim entirely.
Should I learn Hangul using romanization?
Use it to get started, then drop it quickly. This is the single most consistent piece of advice across Korean-learning sources. Romanized spellings encourage an English-accented pronunciation that hardens and becomes hard to correct later.
How do Korean syllable blocks work?
Korean letters are not written in a line — they are packed into square blocks, one block per syllable. Each block needs a consonant first and a vowel second. Vertical vowels (ㅏ ㅓ ㅣ) go to the right of the consonant; horizontal vowels (ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ) go underneath. A final consonant, if there is one, goes at the bottom. When a syllable starts with a vowel sound, the silent ㅇ fills the consonant slot: 아, not ㅏ.
Why can I read Korean but not understand what I hear?
Because written Korean does not map one-to-one onto spoken Korean. Several sound-change rules apply when syllables meet — a final consonant sliding into a following vowel (연음), ㅎ dropping, consonants turning aspirated or nasal. The most common by far is that sliding: 한국어 is written with the ㄱ at the bottom of 국, but pronounced as though it began the next syllable.
Is SKAI Hangul free?
Yes — SKAI Hangul is free to download on the App Store and Google Play, and covers the full path from the first vowel to batchim and sound rules.
Who made SKAI Hangul?
It was built by a Korean-language teacher with a master's in Korean Language Education, who has taught Korean to university students in the Netherlands. The curriculum was shaped around the parts learners actually find hard.
