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Korean Byte Lesson 0 - Part 1: Reading and Writing Basic Vowels

Welcome to Lesson 0!
Your journey to learning Korean starts right here. In this lesson we will cover the 6 basic vowels out of the twenty-one total vowels in the Korean writing system.
Along with learning how to properly write and pronounce each vowel, you will also learn how to construct basic syllables using what we have covered in todays lesson.

Pronunciation

 ㅏ  'a' as in "father"
ㅓ 'eo' as in "aw" for the beginning of end of a word. Or  'eo' as in "young" for the middle of a word.
ㅗ 'o' as in "more"
ㅜ  'u' as in "who"
ㅡ 'eu' as in "new"
ㅣ 'i' as in "see"

            

'ㅇ' is silent in front of a vowel

You can make a syllable with one vowel by putting the silent 'ㅇ' that acts as a consonant in front of the vowel.
Note: 'ㅇ' is pronounced like the 'ng' in 'ing' when placed after a vowel.

Vertical and Horizontal vowels

Vowels like ㅏ, ㅓ, and ㅣ are vertical vowels and ㅗ, ㅜ, and ㅡ are horizontal vowels.
When you combine these vowels with the silent 'ㅇ', the vertical vowels will be placed to the right, when the horizontal vowels will be placed below the silent  'ㅇ'.

Vocab

이 - two
이 - teeth
오 - five
아이 - child
오이 - cucumber
위 (pronounced 'wi') - stomach
응 (pronounced 'eung') - yes (casual, familiar form)

Homework

1: Practice writing each vowel, properly combining it with 'ㅇ' to make a readable syllable.
(e.g. '우' '이')
2:  Memorize each vocab word. It helps to say each word out loud as you write them.

 P.S. Please let me know what you think of this first lesson and if you have any questions!