Welcome back! This is the second lesson of "Learn to read, write and pronounce Korean".

In the last lesson, you already learned four letters: ㅂ (bieup), ㅏ (a), ㄴ (nieun) and O (ieung). In this lesson, you will learn four new letters. Combined with the four you already know, they will open up quite a few Korean words to you.

Edit

The consonant ㅁ (mieum)

Korean stroke order and sound | jamo=ㅁ (mieum) | image=ㅁ (mieum) stroke order.png | sound=bilabial nasal.ogg The first new consonant to learn is ㅁ (mieum):

Letter (jamo):	ㅁ
Pronunciation:	m

ㅁ (mieum) is pronounced just like a regular English m. Be careful not to confuse it with 'O', which has rounded corners rather than straight.

Letter (jamo):	ㅁ	ㅏ	=>	style="font-size:200%; border:3px solid;padding:10px 10px 10px 10px" width=30| 마
Pronunciation:	m	a	ma

Edit

The vowel ㅣ (i)

Korean stroke order and sound | jamo=ㅣ (i) | image=ㅣ (i) stroke order.png | sound=Close front unrounded vowel.ogg The first new vowel to learn is ㅣ (i):

Letter (jamo):	ㅣ
Pronunciation:	i

The vowel ㅣ (i) looks much like the English letter I and is pronounced like the i in "machine", so it's easy to remember. It also looks similar to the Korean letter ㅏ (a), except that the dash to the right is missing. (Note: all Korean vowels are based on long horizontal or vertical lines, most with short dashes attached to them.)

Letter (jamo):	ㅁ	ㅣ	=>	style="font-size:200%; border:3px solid;padding:10px 10px 10px 10px" width=30| 미
Pronunciation:	m	i	mi

Edit

The consonant ㄹ (rieul)

Korean stroke order and sound | jamo=ㄹ (rieul) | image=ㄹ (rieul) stroke order.png | sound=Alveolar tap.ogg The next consonant, ㄹ (rieul), has two different sounds:

Letter (jamo):	ㄹ
Romanization:	l or r
Pronunciation:	ɾ or l

ㄹ (rieul) is pronounced like the l in let or like the the r in the Spanish word árbol, and is transliterated as r or l.

Letter (jamo):	ㄹ	ㅏ	=>	라
Romanization:	r	a	ra
Pronunciation:	ɾ	a	ɾa

Edit

The consonant ㄱ (giyeok)

Korean stroke order and sound | jamo=ㄱ (giyeok) | image=ㄱ (giyeok) stroke order.png | sound=Voiced velar plosive.ogg Finally, the consonant ㄱ (giyeok) will unlock lots of words to you:

ㄱ (giyeok) stroke order

Letter (jamo):	ㄱ
Pronunciation:	g or k

ㄱ (giyeok) is pronounced like the k in sky or the c in scrape. It is not aspirated, so it does not sound like the c in cry or vacation. Many English speakers liken it more to the g sound. It is transliterated as g or k. Be careful not to confuse it with ㄴ (nieun). When ㄱ (giyeok) is combined with a vowel such as ㅏ (a) or ㅣ (i), it changes shape slightly:

Letter (jamo):	ㄱ	ㅣ	=>	기
Romanization:	g	i	gi
Pronunciation:	k	i	ki