Amazing Korean: January 2017

4 free apps to learn/practice hangul (korean alphabet)

There are many resources out there on the internet that will teach you how to read hangul. When I was first starting out, I knew I needed to find an app on my phone that would teach me. My goal was to use it wherever and whenever I wanted, so a website or a book weren't my first choices.

Back then I was a proud owner of a humble iPhone 4 I suffered tremendously to save money for (yes, this is key info you must know before you start learning hangul, trust me). I did find a great App that taught me fast and effectively. But I paid for it, and I'm pretty sure it's only available on iOS.

Recently, I received a question on tumblr; an anonymous person who wanted to find some free and trustworthy apps to learn hangul. Since the one I used wasn't free, all I could recommend was Eggbun.

But this question got me thinking. What other free apps are out there to learn and practice hangul? To find out, I went on a little trip to the Google Play Store (because I am now a proud owner of an Android Smartphone), and I put together a list of my four favorite ones!

I've listed down what I liked about them and what I thought wasn't so great, all in bullet points so you can easily pick the one that you think is right for you.

(They're in order of preference)

So, here they are!

1. Eggbun

Favorite app to learn and practice hangul

I already knew of this one, and used it along with two of my friends who started learning korean recently. I downloaded it again and investigated a little further on my own this time around.

It’s actually my favorite out of all the others I tried.

What I liked

It's divided into lessons so it's great for complete novices who know absolute zero of hangul
It works like a text messaging app. It's like you're talking to a cute egg that's teaching you how to pronounce a whole new alphabet, and the egg is pretty nice to you. It trusts you. It thinks you’re smart, you're kind, you're important
Each lesson is divided into Learn, Review Listening, and then Review Writing
It has more lessons outside of hangul so you can use the same app even after you learn how to read
Teaches you the name of the letters
The whole app is like a breath of fresh air. Very cute and simple to use
You have a tab that features all the characters & you can click on them to hear them being pronounced, great for when you suddenly have a doubt about how to pronounce a character or you want a quick comparison between two or more characters!

What I didn't like

You can't pause a lesson halfway and get back to it later. Once you leave you have to start it all over again

In summary

Does something no other app I’ve tried does: it makes you practice writing hangul on a keyboard, and do it fast like a native
You’ll learn vocab at the same time!
Earns points for cuteness and how nice the teacher egg is to you

It’s ideal for those who are just starting out and have no previous knowledge whatsoever of hangul. Plus, if you want to use just one app to learn hangul and then the basics of Korean (like expressions, vocab & grammar).

Note: it’s also available for chinese and japanese

Available on: Google Play Store & App Store

Rating: ❤❤❤❤❤

2. Pop Popping Korean

A great and fun app to learn and practice hangul

I found this one because the user tomasrosicky on tumblr recommended it. And, oh, am I glad I found it! It’s the most entertaining app out of all four!

What I liked

there’s a cute version of Arirang playing sometimes
It’s got super cute cartoons
My absolute favorite feature: shows the mouth/throat movements you have to do to properly pronounce the letters
It’s fun! There’s music, and cute cartoons and features that feel like you’re playing a game. It made me laugh even!
Also awesome: there’s a feature for you to learn the sounds applied to words and it pronounces the sound separately when you - literally - pick up a letter (and if you keep it in your finger for a while it’ll say it over and over in a really funny way)
Also great: it contains info about the history of hangul, Kim Sejeong the Great & more!
This is amazing: it shows you how the consonants sound when they're at the bottom of the letter (for ex: how to pronounce 것). I haven't found this in any other app!

What I didn't like

Doesn't have the material divided by lessons so it’s better to use for reviewing and consolidating previous knowledge (otherwise you might find yourself lost)
It only works in landscape mode and therefore isn’t as convenient in terms of usability
Music might become annoying after a while

In summary

The most fun app you will probably ever get to learn hangul
It doesn’t forget to tell you about the history of hangul & other fun facts (King Sejeong was indeed Great)
Actually shows you the mouth/throat movements you have to do to properly pronounce the letters, which no other app I found does quite as well
Doesn’t have lessons so you’re kind of on your own when you use it. Therefore, it’s better for practicing and reviewing, not for those learning for the first time.

Available on: Google Play Store & App Store

Rating: ❤❤❤❤♡

3. Hangul (Korean alphabet)

A great app to learn and practice hangul

What I liked

This app seemed to be sincerely concerned with teaching me how to read Hangul properly; the way it’s set up made me feel like its priority really was to teach me properly and guide me through the journey
It’s divided into lessons so I’d say it’s pretty good for someone with no previous knowledge of hangul whatsoever
It has quizzes for each lesson
Features lessons on both Reading and Writing hangul (with sound & animations)
It has a lesson on the history of Hangul (which I love and recommend everyone to learn, please!!)
It has a separate tab with a chart containing all the characters of the Korean alphabet, great for revising and for when you have doubts about how to pronounce certain characters!

What I didn't like

The app’s logo is kinda creepy and the use interface could be a lot better (as in, prettier, more modern). But these in no way affect your learning experience.
Not as fun to use as the others - feels more like learning from a book than the others

In summary

With this app you can learn:

How to pronounce characters and letters
How to write characters and letters
The History of Hangul

Note: It's also available for Japanese and Arabic!

Available on: Google Play Store & App Store

Rating: ❤❤❤❤♡

4. 한글공부(따라쓰기, 단어, 문법)

Using this app, you will probably feel like a child again. But it made me smile, and dance. Maybe I’m the one who is easily amused, or maybe it really is a cute and fun experience!

What I liked

It’s primarily in Korean so it gives you a more immersive experience
You get to write the letters on the screen at the same time as you're hearing them being pronounced. Pretty great to train how to write! You can even pick the color of your virtual marker. (Yes I get very excited over this stuff)
Trust me, you will learn how to say “GOOD WORK!” and “TRY AGAIN!” in Korean after using this app for more than 5 minutes
You can also use it to learn some vocab (even take quizzes) although I'm not a fan of how the app chooses to do it
Teaches you the name of the letters

What I didn't like

The audios congratulating you might (probably will) become annoying after the first few times you hear them
Works only in landscape mode
The music in the menus might annoy you after a while
It doesn’t teach you how to pronounce double consonants

In summary

With this app you can learn:

How to pronounce characters and letters (except double consonants (ㄸㄲㅆㅃ)
How to write characters and letters
New beginner vocabulary

I think the best feature in this one is the letter handwriting practice!

Available on: Google Play Store

Rating: ❤❤♡♡♡

After trying out quite a few apps on my phone, these were the ones I found the most useful. In truth, I would personally recommend learning with Eggbun and then using Pop Popping Korean to practice and perfect your pronunciation. But the point of this whole list is that you pick the one that you feel will work best for you, so feel free to try them all.

Did I miss any great apps to learn Hangul? Have you used these before? Let me know in the comments!

In culture, korean study

Why I never gave up learning korean

...Seriously, it's been over two years!

Although I am an avid believer that we should focus on the future rather than dwell on the past, I think this time I would like to allow myself a look back on the events that have led me here, before I focus on what’s to come. And, if you don’t mind, I would very much like to take you on this journey with me.

How I started, my insecurities along the way & overcoming prejudice

HOW IT ALL STARTED

Once upon a time there was a girl who felt lost
& had a lot of free time on her hands

There I was, fresh out of college - so goddamn lost as to what I was going to do from then onwards that I didn’t even want to think about it.

As the Serious and Responsible Adult that I was - and still am, obviously -, I decided to find myself something other than my future to occupy my mind with. Because that’s what you do when you have worries, right? You run away from them and hope they lose track of your ass.

The sooner the better.

A brief list of musts for my new language:

Be as different from both Portuguese (my native language) and English as possible
Sound absolutely beautiful to my ears
Have enough materials online for me to study without taking lessons, at home
The language and I must fall in love with each other either instantly or within a brief period of time

JAPANESE VS KOREAN

I already had my eyes set on Japanese when I made the decision to learn a new language. But things didn’t work out exactly like that in the end. My story with Japanese was a short-lived one. All because of my accidental stumble upon a Korean Drama.

The korean drama that made me discover korean

I guess you can say I owe all of this to Park Shin Hye and her flower boys on Flower Boy Next Door

At the time, I thought it was Japanese, like the airheaded person that I am. It took me a whole episode to start wondering about how the sounds I was hearing, although just as beautiful to my ears, did not sound much like Japanese. That, and how different the writing I was seeing was from what it should be.

I knew one thing, though: I liked what I was hearing and seeing. Actually, I LOVED all of it. You could say I got that last item on my list right then.

Korean and I fell in love.

I said goodbye to Japanese, and a big hello to korean.

AND SO THE ADVENTURE BEGAN!

It’s been two years since then. And you know what? I don’t regret a thing about the decision I made. What’s more, I continue to be just as excited every time I learn something new. It’s still just as challenging.

INSECURITY & PREJUDICE

Like Rap Monster says in one of BTS’ songs, life isn’t just flower trails and good things.

To be entirely honest, as I was starting to get involved in both the language and the culture of this new country I was discovering, my ignorance led me to having some not-so-great-very-bad opinions on certain things.

My first experience with Kpop was as follows:

watch a music video
laugh
promise to never do it again

Mind you, way before all of this I was one of those people who listened to Gangnam Style multiple times “ironically”. That didn’t stop me from sitting on my throne of douchebagness and shut down Kpop entirely because it was so different from what I was used to (and what I listened to).

At this point, it should come as no surprise that for a while I took pride in telling people about how the origin of my interest in the korean language had nothing to do any love for Kpop music, or korean pop culture in general (which was kind of a lie because a Kdrama started it all).

Sitting on my dumb throne, it somehow made me feel superior to those who did start learning korean because of it. I look back and I want to shake myself senselessly until I realize how prejudiced and nonsensical that concept is.

In truth, that attitude was only a reflection of my insecurity. My decision to learn korean was always (and still is) looked down upon by family and even friends who don’t know a lot about South Korea, their culture, and the language itself.

(Not meaning to say that I am an expert on all things South Korea - I am not, I’m just a girl with a lot of interest in it)

I constantly felt like my decision to learn a new language, which should’ve been something to admire, was looked down upon just because it wasn’t the typical language a girl from Portugal would learn.

This lack of support made me question whether it was worth it to keep learning or not. And, apparently, it also made me emulate this behavior and look down upon others.

Somewhere along the way I became interested in this Pop Culture that I previously looked down upon. I started listening to korean pop songs (my first true Kpop song that I played on repeat was Big Bang’s ‘Bad Boy’), watched more and more kdramas, as well as variety shows. Along the way I met many people who also shared an interest in these things.

As it happens with everything, prejudice goes hand in hand with ignorance. As I learned more about the culture, and the more people I met, the less prejudice I held in me.

It also helped that I grew up and looked at life in general in a different, more open-minded way. Basically, I got off of that throne I was in.

It was about time.

IF YOU LOVE IT, DO IT

The things I do when I'm not actually taking notes include writing ILY (yoongi) like I'm still in middle school. I'm that cool.

You might be wondering why I never made the decision to give up, despite the obstacles I found in my way. The answer is pretty simple: despite everything, learning korean makes me feel good.

I don’t perceive this learning experience the way I used to perceive my French classes in high school. To me, learning Korean is something I do for personal pleasure. It’s my favorite hobby! It’s fun, it's stimulating, and kind of really cool, if you ask me.

What it comes down to is the reason why you choose to do things and how they make you feel. If something makes you happy, who cares what other people’s opinions on it are?

As you can see from my example, much of other people’s judgement comes from their own insecurities anyway. So, I repeat, why should that impact your enjoyment?

Whether you’re learning korean because you want to speak to your favorite idol, or because you want to see kdramas without having to wait for subtitles, or because you want to be the next CEO of Samsung, any reason is an equally good reason to do it.

And that’s pretty much it.

My current korean pop culture related loves:

BTS (I think this one is pretty obvious from my last post about korean words I learned with them)
Running Man
Dean
Zico
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo
Jung Hoseok a.k.a J-Hope (yes, I know he's from BTS, but he deserves a solo mention anyway - he's the idol I want to speak with *wink wonk*)

MY NOT-SO-CONVENTIONAL WAY OF STUDYING

An accurately exaggerated representation of me whenever I try to study with books for more than 10 minutes

Even though I use the word study a lot of the time, I don’t know if that’s the correct way to describe my korean learning experience. Because I treat it as a hobby, where my goal is just to have fun doing it, my study methods are not so much cramming with books (there’s also the fact that I pretty much suck at studying). In fact, I don’t much care about getting books or taking tests.

Not to say that books aren’t important. I do use books sometimes, but I much prefer to approach learning as a game. So I use game-like apps to memrise vocabulary (get it?), listen to podcast lessons hosted by nice, funny teachers (TTMIK, anyone?), watch a lot of shows I grow to love, just to hear the language being spoken, and listen to so many korean songs all the time.

Granted, it’s a slower process. But, for me, it’s what works the best - especially since I mostly study during my commute to work. It’s also a much more natural learning experience, in my humble opinion.

Different people have different approaches, however. What works for me might be the total opposite of what works for you.

But, in the end, what matters is you answer this question with a ‘yes’: does learning korean make you feel good?

I hope it does.

Why did you start leaning korean (or any other language)? And have you ever considered giving up on it? I'd love to know about your story in the comments bellow!

Photography credit to Mariana Pereira, my personal favorite photographer Follow her on her instagram I guarantee it's worthy of your follow! ♥

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