and the plural, and the subject is often left out in the conversational mode when it is understood.
Another thing Chinese, Korean (and Japanese) have traditionally had in common is the existence of different “levels” of politeness and formality, based on social class, rank, and age as espoused by China’s famed political and social philosopher Confucius.
Korea is often described as the most Confucian of all countries in the Confucian sphere of Asia, and appears to have gone further than either the Chinese or Japanese in developing different levels of language. In fact, Korean language experts say that Hankuk Mal was designed to reveal and maintain the social status of the speakers rather than to communicate clearly.
The etiquette levels of Korean are based on the use of different words and on the choice of word endings. There is also a category of Korean, known as chondae mal (chohn-die mahl) , which means “polite speech,” or “honorific speech,” that refers to vocabulary traditionally used to elders and seniors.
There are other “rules” applying to the use of the Korean language that are tied up in the traditional culture and often make it more of an “expression of culture” than a means of factual communication. It is therefore necessary to have an in-depth knowledge of the culture, and be adept at expressing it in the correct terms, to speak the language fluently.
This said, it is possible to communicate a wide range of needs and thoughts in Korean without getting hung up, or tripped up, by the cultural element, especially where foreigners are concerned. Koreans are acutely sensitive to the cultural imperatives of the language and social etiquette, and are very tolerant of foreigners who make an effort to learn and use the language.
I have endeavored in this book to select vocabulary and example sentences that can be used to communicate a broad range of ideas with a minimum number of words, and to further simplify the process by providing English phonetics for every word and expression in the book. To “speak Korean,” all one has to do is to pronounce the phonetics as English. And don’t worry if the accent is a little bit off. We’re not dealing with a tonal language here!
Additionally, since the mid-1950s thousands of English words have been absorbed into the Korean vocabulary. Generally—as with the importation of Chinese vocabulary in ancient times—these are terms for which there were no native Korean words and/or did not lend themselves to the creation of simple, clear, Korean equivalents.
While these imported English words are written in the Korean writing system as if they were Korean, the pronunciations remain as close as possible to the original English. Tennis, for example, is spelled with Hangul characters that read as te-ni-su, and is pronounced as tay-nee-suu, which is still recognizable as English.
Boyé Lafayette De Mente
INTRODUCTION
The Korean Alphabet
The Korean alphabet consists of 10 vowels and 14 consonants, which are combined to create some 140 syllables, or “building blocks” that make up the language. The building blocks include 11 diphthongs (combinations of vowels and consonants) that are used to represent more complex sounds.
These vowels, consonants, diphthongs and syllables have been rendered into romanized English phonetics by a number of individual scholars as well as by the Cultural Ministry, and there are some differences in them. In 2003 the Korean government issued a new set of rules for transcribing the sounds of the language into Roman letters in an effort to further rationalize the system.
I have made choices from these phonetic versions and added some of my own in an attempt to simplify the pronunciations and still get close enough to the original Korean sounds that they will be understood.
There are six basic vowels in the Korean alphabet, plus four “y” vowels for a total of ten. Their approximate English sounds are:
| A | Ya | O | Yo | O | Yo | U | Yu | U | I |
| ah | yah | aw | yaw | oh | yoh | uu | yuu | oo | ee |
One or more of these 10 basic sounds are used in all of the syllables making up the language.
The diphthongs and their approximate English sounds:
| AE | YAE | E | YE | OE | WI | UI | WA | WO | WAE | WE |
| aa | yay | eh | yeh | oh-eh | wee | we | wah | woh | way | weh |
The consonants and their closest English sounds:
| k(g) | as the k in “king” or the g in “guy”* |
| n | as the n in “name” |
| t(d) | as the t in “toy” or the d in “day”* |
| r(l) | as the r in “rain” or the l in “lily”* |
| m | as the m in “mother” |
| p(b) | as the p in “pin” or the b in “book”* |
| s | as the s in “speech” |
| ng | as the ng in “king” |
| ch(j) | as the j in “John”* |
| ch’ | as the ch in “church” |
| k’ | as the k in “kite” |
| t’ | as the t in “tank” |
| p’ | as the p in “pump” |
| h | as the h in “high” |
*The “correct” pronunciation of five of these consonants (k, t, r, p and ch) is very subtle. To the ears of native English speakers, the k sound is closer to g, the t sound is closer to d, the r is closer to l, the p is closer to b and the ch is best represented by the j sound.
Koreans who have become fluent in English say there are some sounds in the Korean language that simply cannot be rendered into English phonetics. Fortunately, as with English and other languages, Korean spoken with an “accent” is still understandable.
There are also five “double consonants” (kk, tt, pp, ss and tch):
| kk | as the k in sky or in jack |
| tt | as the t in stay |
| pp | as the p in spy |
| ss | as the ss in essential |
| tch | as the t in tzar |
It is important to stress the pronunciation of consonants at the beginning of words. It is especially important to “hit” the double consonants hard. I have made attempts to account for the double consonants and other features of the language in the phonetics provided for each word and sentence in the book.
Pronunciation Guide for Korean Syllables
To clearly see and hear the repetitions of the 10 vowel sounds in all of the syllables, read the following lines vertically. [About a dozen of these syllables are seldom if ever used.]
| A | YA | O | YO | O | YO | U | YU | U | I |
| ah | yah | aw | yaw | oh | yoh | uu | yuu | oo | ee |
| GA | GYA | GO | GYO | GO | GYO | GU | GYU | GU | GI |
| gah | gyah | gaw | gyaw | goh | gyoh | guu | gyuu | goo | ghee |
| NA | NYA | NO | NYO | NO | NYO | NU | NYU | NU | NI |
| nah | nyah | naw | nyaw | noh | nyoh | nuu | nyuu | noo | nee |
| DA | DYA | DO | DYO | DO | DYO | DU | DYU | DU | DI |
| dah | dyah | daw | dyaw | doh | dyoh | duu | dyuu | doo | dee |
| LA | LYA | LO | LYO | LO | LYO | LU | LYU | LU | LI |
| lah | lyah | law | lyaw | loh | lyoh | luu | lyuu | loo | lee |
| MA | MYA | MO | MYO | MO | MYO | MU | MYU | MU | MI |
| mah | myah | maw | myaw | moh | myoh | muu | myuu | moo | mee |
| BA | BYA | BO | BYO | BO | BYO | BU | BYU | BU | BI |
| bah | byah | baw | byaw | boh | byoh | buu | byuu | byoo | bee |
| SA | SYA | SO | SYO | SO | SYO | SU | SYU | SU | SI |
| sah | syah | saw | syaw | soh | syoh | suu | syuu | syoo | she |
| JA | JYA | JO | JYO | JO | JYO | JU | JYU | JU | JI |
| jah | jyah | jaw | jyaw | joh | jyoh | juu | jyuu | joo | jee |
| CHA | CHYA | CHO | CHYO | CHO | CHYO | CHU | CHYU | CHU | CHI |
| chah | chyah | chuh | chyaw | choh | chyoh | chuu | chyuu | choo | chee |
| KA | KYA | KO | KYO | KO | KYO | KU | KYU | KU | KI |
| kah | kyah | kaw | kyaw | koh | kyoh | kuu | kyuu | koo | kee |
| TA | TYA | TO | TYO | TO | TYO | TU | TYU | TU | TI |
| tah | tyah | taw | tyaw | toh | tyoh | tuu | tyuu | too | tee |
| PA | PYA | PO | PYO | PO | PYO | PU | PYU | PU | PI |
| pah | pyah | paw | pyaw | poh | pyoh | puu | pyuu | poo | pee |
| HA | HYA | HO | HYO | HO | HYO | HU | HYU | HU | HI |
| hah | hyah | haw | hyaw | hoh | hyoh | huu | hyuu | hoo | hee |
