Learn Korean Listening Exercise - Numbers and Counting I

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The sentences below are also found in Nouns - Numbers and Counting.

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Sino-Korean Numerals [Dates, Minutes and Prices]

The key to memorizing the pronunciations of the Sino-Korean numerals is to learn from 1(일) to 10(십), and use these ten numbers as building blocks to learn the rest of the numbers. Here is a list of the first ten numbers:

• 1 = 일
• 2 = 이
• 3 = 삼
• 4 = 사
• 5 = 오
• 6 = 육
• 7 = 칠
• 8 = 팔
• 9 = 구
• 10 = 십

Learn Korean Listening Exercise - Nouns - Nominalising Verbs

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For more explanations on the following sentences below, please refer to the lesson, Nouns - Nominalising Verbs.

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• 읽다 → 읽기 = reading
• 쓰다 → 쓰기 = writing
• 듣다 → 듣기 = listening
• 말하다 → 말하기 = speaking
• 하다 → 하기 = doing
• 가다 → 가기 = going
• 오다 → 오기 = coming 
• 보다 → 보기 = watching
• 먹다 → 먹기 = eating

Learn Korean Listening Exercise - Pronouns (They) - 그들, 걔들, 그분들

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The sentences below are also found in Pronouns (They) - 그들, 걔들, 그분들.

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Informal form (그들 / 그녀들, They)

• 그들 / 그녀들 = They
• 걔들 / 걔네들 (usually in spoken Korean)
• 그들 (when referring to a group of guys or a mixed-sex group) 
• 그녀들 (when referring to a group of gals only)

Learn Korean Listening Exercise - Pronouns (He, She) - 얘, 쟤, 걔

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For more explanations on the following sentences below, please refer to the lesson, Pronouns (He, She) - 얘, 쟤, 걔.

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• 얘 = He or She (This person)
• 쟤 = He or She (That person)
• 걔 = He or She (The person we're talking about who is not present here)

얘, 쟤 and 걔 are the personal equivalents of 이것, 저것, 그것 which are used to refer to "things or inanimate objects."

How To Speak Korean: Preparatory Steps

This article is for those who are learning Korean and would like to speak Korean. If you've been a student of the Korean language, you'd notice that speaking is a very important part of learning the language.

Even if you know how to read and write Korean and can understand some of the things you hear on Korean dramas, movies or other videos, you would not be able to communicate with other Korean speakers if you cannot speak Korean properly.

Therefore it is important at this stage of learning where you learn how to pronounce words, sentences and phrases correctly so that you can communicate with others.

Some of the important tips initially before you learn to speak Korean include:

Listen to tapes, audios or videos of Korean repetitively

It is very important to get used to listening to a lot of same words, phrases and sentences in Korean. The more you're exposed to listening to these conversations in Korean, the better. This process enables you to understand what you're hearing. Make sure to recognise and understand any word or phrase you hear.

Write down words or phrases you heard

This step allows you to consolidate what you learned by listening. Write down the same words and sentences you listened to and see if what you heard is correct. Therefore, it's important that you have the original manuscripts or subtitles in Korean so that you can compare what you wrote down to what you heard.

If there's a discrepancy, that's ok as long as you got some of them right. Try listening to the same thing again and see if you can correctly hear the right word or sentence. Repeating this process will help you become familiar with the sounds you hear. Ultimately, you'll be able to recognise the same word or sentence when talking to others and they used the same word or sentence.

What happens next is that you now have a context in which a certain word, phrase or sentence is used. This means you can use the same word or sentence in other situations, and it'll be more natural because you now have the right context in which to use those words or sentences.

Lastly, repeat the process

The advantage of this process is that you remember those words or sentences you learned once you hear them used by native speakers of Korean. You'll remember the setting, environment and the place in which those conversations were held. The more you have these kinds of experience, the more you'll be confident about using some phrases you learned because you know the right context now to use those same words in other similar settings.

Learn How To Read Korean

If you're interested in learning Korean, and you don't know where to start, then it is a good idea to begin with the Korean alphabet. By learning about the Korean alphabet, you can start reading the Korean in literally 30 minutes.

Yes, it doesn't take a lot of time to learn how to read Korean, because Korean is a phonetic language. English is a phonetic language, but Korean is more so as most of the consonants and vowel have only one particular sound.

There are 14 consonants and 10 vowels in the Korean language, and there are additional 5 double consonants and 11 double vowels. On top of this,  there are 11 final double consonants. It all seems complicated when you start to think about all those doubles. However, once you learn the basic consonants and vowels, you'll be able to read most of the words in Korean as you become familiar with the sounds each consonant and vowel has.

I recommend following methods to learn how to read Korean. Once you memorised the sounds of consonants and vowels, try to read simple words, for example a lion or a tree which only require 2 consonants and 2 vowels each.

As you learn to read these simple words, you'll gain confidence to learn more about other simple and easy words. Gradually, you'll build a list of vocabulary you can use in your writing and speech.

Lastly, I recommend you use the online tools to read these Korean words. Online Korean dictionary and Google translate can help you how to pronounce these words, and if you can get hold of audio recordings or videos, watch them to recognise the correct pronunciations used by native speakers of Korean.

There are many audio recordings available on this website, please check out the far right-hand column to listen to many different words and sentences in Korean. All the best!

You may also want to read:

• The Korean Alphabet
• The Korean Alphabet: Audio Recording