# Korean/RWP/Lesson 2

* Learn Korean (Introduction)
* Read, write, pronounce Korean:
* Course —
* Lesson 1 •
* Lesson 2 •
* Lesson 3 •
* Lesson 4 •
* Lesson 5 •
* Lesson 6 •
* Summary
* Orthography •
* Essential Pronunciation Rules •
* Advanced Pronunciation Rules
* Grammar •
* Conversation
Consonants learned in Lesson 1: :
| Basic 예사소리 | Letter (jamo) | ㄴ | ㅂ | ㅇ |
| Basic 예사소리 | Romanization Pronunciation | n | b or p or | - (initial) silent |
Vowels learned in Lesson 1: :
| Letter (jamo) | ㅏ |
| Romanization Pronunciation | a |
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 ㅇ (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.

## The consonant ㅁ (mieum)

* ㅁ (mieum) stroke order
* Sound sample of ㅁ (mieum) (help·info)
The first new consonant to learn is ㅁ (mieum):
| Letter (jamo): | ㅁ |
| Pronunciation: | |
ㅁ (mieum) is pronounced just like a regular English m. Be careful not to confuse it with 'ㅇ', which doesn't have corners.
| Letter (jamo): | ㅁ | ㅏ | => | 마 |
| Pronunciation: | | | | [ma] |

### Exercise

Try to read the following Korean words that contain the letter ㅁ (mieum). Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual.
English: ma-na-ma (transliteration), "Manama"
English: an-nam (transliteration), "Annam"
English: am-man (transliteration), "Amman"

## The vowel ㅣ (i)

* ㅣ (i) stroke order
* Sound sample of ㅣ (i) (help·info)
The first new vowel to learn is ㅣ (i):
| Letter (jamo): | ㅣ |
| Pronunciation: | |
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 | => | 미 |
| Pronunciation: | | | | [mi] |

### Exercise

Try to read the following Korean words that contain the letter ㅣ (i). Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual.
English: na-mi-bi-a (transliteration), "Namibia"
English: bin-na (transliteration), "Vienna"

## The consonant ㄹ (rieul)

* ㄹ (rieul) stroke order
* Sound sample of ㄹ (rieul) (help·info)
The next consonant, ㄹ (rieul), has two different sounds:
| Letter (jamo): | ㄹ |
| Romanization: | l or r |
| Pronunciation: | or |
ㄹ (rieul) is pronounced like the l in let or like the r in the Spanish word árbol, and is transliterated as r or l.
| Letter (jamo): | ㄹ | ㅏ | => | 라 |
| Romanization: | r | a | | ra |
| Pronunciation: | | | | [ɾa] |

### Exercise

Each of these words has ㄹ (rieul). Translate each word into English. Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual.
English: (ba-ba-la) Barbara
English: (i-lan) Iran
English: (li-ma) Lima
English: (ma-nil-la) Manila
English: (mal-li) Mali
English: (lil) Lille
English: (ma-il) mile
English: (li-bi-a) Libya
English: (al-ba-ni-a) Albania

## The consonant ㄱ (giyeok)

* ㄱ (giyeok) stroke order
* Sound sample of ㄱ (giyeok) (help·info)
Finally, the consonant ㄱ (giyeok) will unlock lots of words to you:
| Letter (jamo): | ㄱ |
| Pronunciation: | or |
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: | | | | [ki] |

### Exercise

Translate these words with ㄱ (giyeok) into English. Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual.
English: (ga-na) Ghana
English: (li-ga) Riga
English: (gi-ni) Guinea
English: (ga-i-a-na) Guyana
English: (gam-bi-a) Gambia

## End of lesson 2

Very good! You have now learned 8 Korean letters already and the rest won't be difficult either. Feel free to continue with the next lesson.
Consonants learned so far: :
| Basic 예사소리 | Letter (jamo) | ㄱ | ㄴ | ㄹ | ㅁ | ㅂ | ㅇ |
| Basic 예사소리 | Romanization Pronunciation | g or k or | n | r or l or | m | b or p or | - (initial) silent |
Vowels learned so far: :
| Letter (jamo) | ㅏ | ㅣ |
| Romanization Pronunciation | a | i |
* Learn Korean (Introduction)
* Read, write, pronounce Korean:
* Course —
* Lesson 1 •
* Lesson 2 •
* Lesson 3 •
* Lesson 4 •
* Lesson 5 •
* Lesson 6 •
* Summary
* Orthography •
* Essential Pronunciation Rules •
* Advanced Pronunciation Rules
* Grammar •
* Conversation