Learning the Korean writing system, e.g. 한글, 한국어, 쿠키런, is a little thing that will go a long way. In fact, I survived in Korea for a year only knowing: how to read Korean (there are plenty of English loan words written in 한글), Korean numbers, "Please give me [...]", and a handful of other basic words (Yes, no, etc.). Koreans spend 10 years in school learning English, but those able and willing to converse in English can be rare.
The writing system is called Hangul (한글). You may be mispronouncing "Hangul" in your head. The Romanization of Hangul is rather inadequate. Case in point: practically no one knows how to pronounce Seoul correctly--there is no E sound in Seoul, and it's two syllables! It's more like saw...ool. 서울 = Seoul.
Romanization is kind of doomed because Korean and English don't share all the same sounds. The symbol ㅓ is a vowel used to approximate the vowel in "run" for 런, as in 쿠키런 (Cookie Run!). ㅓ is also in 서울 (Seoul), but the 서/Seo of Seoul and "Ru" of Run don't rhyme.
Nevertheless, ㅓ was probably the best choice for "run". ㅜ is U or an "ooh" sound. It's not Cookie Rune. ㅗ is O or an "oh" sound. It's not Cookie Rone. ㅡ is a weird vowel I don't quite understand. It's kind of like our schwa (the unstressed central vowel, as in "a moment ago", represented by the symbol /ə/ in the International Phonetic Alphabet) or maybe it's like an "eu" said with your jaw closed. It's like half a vowel, or a vowel for when you don't really want a vowel there. In any case, it's not a good choice for "Run". ㅏ is A like "ah". Cookie Rahn. Now we're getting closer--that one is an exaggeration of the inaccuracy of ㅓ. ㅓ gives us Cookie Ron. And that's the closest we'll get. Sorry. Have fun playing Kookie Ron.
What is ㅓ? Well, I don't fully understand that one either. Maybe something between ㅏ and ㅗ, but closer to ㅏ and maybe with a little ㅡ. A more normal person would say, "a short o."
One letter in our alphabet can have 3 separate, corresponding symbols in Hangul. ㄱ, ㄲ, and ㅋ are all Romanized as K (though not always K; ㄱ is K and G).
I will finish explaining Hangul here eventually... maybe. For now I'll wrap things up by explaining other Hangul I used.
Hangul reads from left to right (like English) and top to bottom. This applies to consecutive symbols/syllables like 쿠-키-런, and within the symbols/syllables themselves: ㄹ -> ㅓ -> ㄴ = 런. You should be able to figure those symbols out by now.
ㄹ = R, or maybe L
ㄴ = N
ㅅ = S (sometimes sh)
ㅎ = H
ㅇ is special; at the bottom of a syllable it's "ng". At the top or left it's nothing, not pronounced--just a filler... so the vowel doesn't feel lonely. In fact, I feel guilty about typing ㅓ ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ ㅏ. It should be 어 오 우 으 아 . An example of "ng" is in the name of our Great Leader, Kim Il-sung. 김일성 And ㅇ can be nothing and "ng" in the same syllable, like in 응. Sometimes you try to talk to a Korean and all they will respond with is 응. It's frustrating.
ㅁ = M
이 = I, pronounced "ee". The surname Lee is actually 이, but everyone agreed that would be a weird last name to foreigners so they added an L at the beginning to make it Lee.
And to rid you of any doubts: one of these blocks of symbols, like 김, 런, 아, or 꾏 is always just one syllable.
Usually this makes Korean more condensed and efficient. Their Harry Potter books are half the size of ours. Sometimes it's less efficient, similar to Japanese. 스프라이트. That's 5 syllables for "Sprite". (There are 3 P symbols and 3 T symbols, like K, so that's just one of each.)
And finally, from the first line:
한국어 = Korean
한국 = Korea
어 = language
There are resources already out there. In the meantime I'll recommend my friend Marshall's website https://youcandoitkorean.teachable.com/courses
The writing system is called Hangul (한글). You may be mispronouncing "Hangul" in your head. The Romanization of Hangul is rather inadequate. Case in point: practically no one knows how to pronounce Seoul correctly--there is no E sound in Seoul, and it's two syllables! It's more like saw...ool. 서울 = Seoul.
Romanization is kind of doomed because Korean and English don't share all the same sounds. The symbol ㅓ is a vowel used to approximate the vowel in "run" for 런, as in 쿠키런 (Cookie Run!). ㅓ is also in 서울 (Seoul), but the 서/Seo of Seoul and "Ru" of Run don't rhyme.
Nevertheless, ㅓ was probably the best choice for "run". ㅜ is U or an "ooh" sound. It's not Cookie Rune. ㅗ is O or an "oh" sound. It's not Cookie Rone. ㅡ is a weird vowel I don't quite understand. It's kind of like our schwa (the unstressed central vowel, as in "a moment ago", represented by the symbol /ə/ in the International Phonetic Alphabet) or maybe it's like an "eu" said with your jaw closed. It's like half a vowel, or a vowel for when you don't really want a vowel there. In any case, it's not a good choice for "Run". ㅏ is A like "ah". Cookie Rahn. Now we're getting closer--that one is an exaggeration of the inaccuracy of ㅓ. ㅓ gives us Cookie Ron. And that's the closest we'll get. Sorry. Have fun playing Kookie Ron.
What is ㅓ? Well, I don't fully understand that one either. Maybe something between ㅏ and ㅗ, but closer to ㅏ and maybe with a little ㅡ. A more normal person would say, "a short o."
One letter in our alphabet can have 3 separate, corresponding symbols in Hangul. ㄱ, ㄲ, and ㅋ are all Romanized as K (though not always K; ㄱ is K and G).
I will finish explaining Hangul here eventually... maybe. For now I'll wrap things up by explaining other Hangul I used.
Hangul reads from left to right (like English) and top to bottom. This applies to consecutive symbols/syllables like 쿠-키-런, and within the symbols/syllables themselves: ㄹ -> ㅓ -> ㄴ = 런. You should be able to figure those symbols out by now.
ㄹ = R, or maybe L
ㄴ = N
ㅅ = S (sometimes sh)
ㅎ = H
ㅇ is special; at the bottom of a syllable it's "ng". At the top or left it's nothing, not pronounced--just a filler... so the vowel doesn't feel lonely. In fact, I feel guilty about typing ㅓ ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ ㅏ. It should be 어 오 우 으 아 . An example of "ng" is in the name of our Great Leader, Kim Il-sung. 김일성 And ㅇ can be nothing and "ng" in the same syllable, like in 응. Sometimes you try to talk to a Korean and all they will respond with is 응. It's frustrating.
ㅁ = M
이 = I, pronounced "ee". The surname Lee is actually 이, but everyone agreed that would be a weird last name to foreigners so they added an L at the beginning to make it Lee.
And to rid you of any doubts: one of these blocks of symbols, like 김, 런, 아, or 꾏 is always just one syllable.
Usually this makes Korean more condensed and efficient. Their Harry Potter books are half the size of ours. Sometimes it's less efficient, similar to Japanese. 스프라이트. That's 5 syllables for "Sprite". (There are 3 P symbols and 3 T symbols, like K, so that's just one of each.)
And finally, from the first line:
한국어 = Korean
한국 = Korea
어 = language
There are resources already out there. In the meantime I'll recommend my friend Marshall's website https://youcandoitkorean.teachable.com/courses