Lesson 4 MODULE (FL 11)

Course Module: FL 11: Asian/European Language
BU CAL, BA Communication, 1st Year

1st Semester SY 2021-2022
Lesson 4: Vowels – 모음 (Mo-eum)

(Week 5)
What is this lesson about?
Do you still remember your English Vowels A, E, I, O, U? For you to read, speak and write in Korean,
you have to memorize all Korean vowels. Not just five, but twenty-one of them! It’s not too difficult as
you think. In this lesson, you will learn the basic and combined vowels and their distinct pronunciations.
The succeeding pages in this module contain audio materials that are accessible in the Google
Classroom Drive through this link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KsOsazTldP87wAJ476VlijxFTXq9DuWN?usp=sharing
What will you learn?
At the end of this lesson, you are expected to:
1. Recognize the key points/ techniques in proper pronunciation of Hangul Mo-eum (Korean
vowels).
2. Identify and execute the proper order of strokes in writing Hangul Mo-eum.
Let’s read!
Hangul is the main writing system of Korea. Prior to its invention in the 15th century, Koreans
used the same Chinese characters as China (Hanja) and Japan (Kanji). Japanese and Chinese children spend
a significant part of the school years devoted to learning the often complicated Chinese characters, but
Hangul can be learned in a few days for an average adult. According to Scholar Jeong In-Ji: “A wise man
can learn it in one morning… and a fool can learn it in the space of ten days”1
Hanja
Has over 5,000 characters for Chinese and 2,000
characters commonly used for Japanese
Hangul
Has only 24 unique symbols and can make over
12,000 syllable combinations
Filipinos are known for their adaptability to learn and acquire new language. This is supported
through several studies on Filipino multilingualism. One published study I’d like to share is from Gertudes
Ang saying: “Most linguists, anthropologists, and other observers have noted that the Filipinos are not
only bilingual, but multilingual… As polyglots, most Filipinos can shift from one language to another
depending on the place, occasion, and person addressed.”2 I believe you’ll be able learn the alphabet in
just a span of hours with the right amount of effort, concentration and dedication.
Hwaiting! (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ
Hangul Vowels
Just like any language, Korean words are also made up of syllables composed of vowels or a
combination of both consonants and vowels. There are a different ways to pronounce Hangul in the Latin
Altavano, M.H. (2021, August 6). FL 11: Asian/European Language. Bicol University College of Arts and Letters: Legazpi City, Philippines.
alphabet. One among them is by using the official South Korean Transliteration System, which was
introduced in July 2000. Next is using the McCune-Reischauer System, which was devised in 1937 by two
American graduate students, George McCune and Edwin Reischauer. This is widely used in Western
publications. These two systems will help you in mastering the pronunciation of Hangul for the succeeding
lessons.
Below is a table of all Hangul Vowels arranged in alphabetical order:
Table 1: Basic and Combined Hangul Vowels
The characters in the first row are all Hangul vowels. The second row is the South Korean
Transliteration System. The third row is the McCune-Reischauer System. The last row is the International
Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). You may use any of these systems as guide for Hangul vowels pronunciation.
Type the link provided in your browser to listen to the pronunciation:
https://www.omniglot.com/soundfiles/alphabets/hangul_vwl.mp3
Basic Vowels (Monophthongs 단모음)
The first classification of Korean Vowels is the Basic Vowel. Why is it called basic? It is
called so because of its simplicity in terms of pronunciation. Try to pronounce the following vowels based
on the pronunciation guide provided.
ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ
a ya eo yeo o yo u yu eu i
[a] [ja] [ʌ] [jʌ] [o] [jo] [u] [ju] [ɨ] [i]
Some pronunciations can be very tricky. To avoid these common pronunciation errors,
watch this link on how to properly pronounce these vowels correctly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au_dHkWwrwA. Keep on practicing your pronunciation until you
finally memorized the key points in pronouncing these vowels.
Combined/Complex Vowels (Dipthongs)
These vowels are also called as Dipthongs because its composition. These vowels are
made up of two vowels combined as one. Listen carefully and try reading the following vowels:
ㅐ ㅒ ㅔ ㅖ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅢ
ae yae e ye wa wae oe wo we wi ui
[æ] [jæ] [e] [je] [wa] [wæ] [we] [wʌ] [ɨ] [we] [ɨj]
To sum it up, there are 10 basic vowels and 11 complex vowels making it a total of 21 vowels.
Eight of these vowels are single pure vowels also known as monophthongs (danmo-eum - 단모음), and
13 are diphthongs (ijungmo-eum - 이중모음). When saying a monophthong, you are producing one pure
vowel with no tongue movement. When saying a diphthong, you are producing one sound by saying two
vowels. Therefore, your tongue and mouth move quickly from one letter to another (glide or slide
movement) to create a single sound. Below is a table of classification of the two types of Hangul vowels:
Stroke Orders
Now that you have learned the pronunciation of each vowels, we’ll learn the proper stroke orders
this time. Why can’t we just write it however we want to? Thing is, Hangul has to be written following
specific stroke orders in each character. Writing with the correct stroke order will make your writing
neater, too. By making sure you follow the stroke order rules, you will find that writing Korean is quite
easy and other people will be able to read your handwriting.
Generally, Hangul is written from top to bottom and left to right. If the character is a digraph with
both horizontal and vertical components, the horizontal vowel is written first, followed by the appending
vertical vowel to the right:
Syllable Blocks
Each Korean syllable is written in a way that forms a block-like shape, with each characters inside
the block forming a sound or syllable. In each syllable block, there is a:
1. Beginning consonant (choseong 초성)

2. Middle vowel (jungseong 중성)
3. *Optional final consonant (jongseong 종성)
**However, a block MUST contain a minimum of two letters: 1 consonant and 1 vowel.
Since this rule exists, and one letter has to be a consonant and the other has to be a vowel, what
if a vowel needs to be written in its own block? That’s simple. All you have to do is to add the consonant
ㅇ [ieung] in front of or on top of the vowel. When reading a vowel such as 아, the ㅇ makes no sound
and you just pronounce the ㅏ [a].
**Vowels absolutely, cannot, under any circumstances be written by themselves.
Two of the most common ways to write a vowel combination in Korean are horizontally and
vertically. For example:
C
V
Consonant
Vowel
C V Oㅏ
[ieung] + [a] = [a]
C O [ieung]
V ㅗ +
[o]
= [o]
C V
V
ㅏ
와 [ieung] + [wa] = [wa]
The succeeding pages in this module contain audio materials that are accessible in the Google
Classroom Drive through this link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TK2p44ahyuPwsLud-e_PKWb_FyH9BjA2?usp=sharing
Let’s Discuss!
Now that you have learned the proper pronunciation and stroke orders of Hangul vowels, let’s do
something fun:
Hangul Calligraphy!
Attached in this module is a worksheet that you will have to fill in following the proper stroke
order of Hangul vowels.
Instructions:
1. Download and print the PDF file. If you don’t have a printer, you may make your
personalized calligraphy sheet.
2. Use a paintbrush, colored pen or a calligraphy pen to trace and write the vowels. It doesn’t
have to be perfect. What matters is you enjoy the process of learning.
3. When you’re done, take a photo of your work. You may also do a short vlog to cover your
creative process! Feel free to post your work even on your social media accounts. I love
seeing your outputs!
Try to memorize the vowels as you practice your pronunciation and while doing your calligraphy.
I have also included a printable poster for you to hang in your walls which will serve as visual cues to help
you memorize Hangul vowels.
How much have you learned?
For this lesson’s exam, answer the short quiz under Week 5: Vowels – 모음 (Mo-eum). The quiz
also contains audio materials that are accessible in the Google Classroom Drive through this link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WK3UEr9gSfGKjBWQrZ6QvPI1nXzRxTD5?usp=sharing
Citations and Suggested Readings:
1. Dunbar, Jon. “Learning Korean on a Budget.” Learning Korean on a Budget. KOCIS, 5 July
2012. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.
2. Ang, G. (1978). The Filipino as a Bilingual or Multilingual: Some Implications. Philippine
Quarterly of Culture and Society, 6(3), 187-189. Retrieved September 13, 2020, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/29791592
3. http://mccune-reischauer.org.
4. www.mct.go.kr.
5. https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/content/full-ipa-chart

Lesson 4 MODULE (FL 11)

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Lesson 4 MODULE (FL 11)

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Course Module: FL 11: Asian/European Language

BU CAL, BA Communication, 1st Year

Lesson 4: Vowels – 모음 (Mo-eum)

What is this lesson about?

What will you learn?

At the end of this lesson, you are expected to:

Below is a table of all Hangul Vowels arranged in alphabetical order:

Table 1: Basic and Combined Hangul Vowels

Basic Vowels (Monophthongs 단모음)

Combined/Complex Vowels (Dipthongs)

1. Beginning consonant (choseong 초성)

**Vowels absolutely, cannot, under any circumstances be written by themselves.

How much have you learned?

Citations and Suggested Readings:

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