I've often received requests from users to add Romanization to the Podo Korean. Each time, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed.
"Why would someone choose to use the complicated Roman alphabet instead of learning the simple Korean alphabet?"
In Korea, subway and road signs are often displayed in both Hangul and Roman letters to help foreign tourists who don't know Korean at all. While not perfect, the Romanization helps them read Korean. Without it, finding their way to the right destination would be a significant challenge.
But you're not just any tourist—you're a learner of the Korean language. If you're serious about learning Korean, it's important to move away from relying on Romanization. Here are three simple reasons why you should learn Korean using Hangul, not Roman letters:
Korean-only characters
Hangul was created by King Sejong the Great, the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty. Before its invention in 1443, Koreans used Chinese characters to write Korean. However, King Sejong recognized the limitations of using a foreign script and stated:
"Chinese characters are foreign to us, making it difficult to accurately convey the meaning of our language. Other foreign scripts are equally inadequate."
In other words, Hangul was specifically designed to represent the Korean language in the most accurate way possible. It's the only script in the world that can precisely capture the nuances of Korean.
Accurate Pronunciation
Writing a language accurately means that the script carries correct pronunciation information.
For instance, in Japanese, it's common to add "-ちゃん" to the end of a girl's name. When I was in college, I exchanged emails in English with some Japanese friends. Although I didn't know Japanese at the time, I wanted to be friendly, so I wrote "jjang" after my friend's name, using Roman letters. But my friend didn't understand why I wrote "jjang" because, in Japanese, "-ちゃん" is Romanized as "-chan." We were hearing the same sound but expressing it differently because we were using a foreign script to represent Japanese.
Similarly, if you want to pronounce Korean accurately, it's crucial to use Hangul rather than another language's script.
Hangul Is Incredibly Easy
This is truly a blessing. King Sejong must have been a genius because he created an alphabet that's incredibly easy to learn. Hangul is so simple that anyone can learn to read it in just a few days. Some people even master it during their flight to Korea! As a native Korean teacher, I can honestly say that while Korean isn't the easiest language, Hangul is by far one of the easiest scripts to learn.
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➤ I've met many students who have been studying Korean for a long time but still struggle to make themselves understood by their Korean friends. Often, when I ask them to read aloud using Hangul, we can quickly identify the problem. Of course, pronunciations that don't exist in your native language will require plenty of practice. But that practice is only effective when you're reading accurately written Hangul. No matter how much you practice with Romanized Korean, it won't help you improve.
You can learn Hangul for free with the "Podo Korean" app, which is designed for serious Korean learners. The app contains all the content I used to teach in my 1:1 lessons. If you haven't learned Hangul yet or are struggling with Korean pronunciation, it could be a great help to you.
