– April 22, 2016

Geulja Geek: ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, and ㅎ

Posted by: Amanda Lui

Welcome to part 3 of our series, Geulja Geek (geulja = letter). If you haven’t read Part 1 and Part 2 I highly recommend reading those two first. They give some context on things to look at when learning to read/write Korean as well as details that need special attention for those interested in type design. I will also be referencing letters from parts 1 and 2 as the letters from this section are all very similar to ones that were previously covered.

Part 1: ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, and ㅁ
Part 2: ㅂ, ㅅ, ㅇ, ㅈ, and ㅊ
Part 3: ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, and ㅎ
Part 4: 아, 야, 어, 여, 오, and 요

Let’s get started with this months letters: ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, and ㅎ

Hangul Character: ㅋ
Character Name: Kiuek
Pronunciation: K sound

This letter is pronounced like a sharp k or ck sound. Not to be confused with giyeok which makes the g / k sound.

Hangul Character: ㅌ
Character Name: Tieut
Pronunciation: T sound

Not to be confused with digeut, tieut makes a sharp t sound. It also took a while for me to get used to this stroke order as it isn’t the same way I write the letter E.

Hangul Character: ㅍ
Character Name: Pieup
Pronunciation: P sound

Pieup makes a clear p sound, which is similar in pronunciation to bieup which makes the b / p sound. For legibility in handwriting it’s not only easier but also more legible if the second and third strokes are written at an angle rather than straight down.

Hangul Character: ㅎ
Character Name: Hieut
Pronunciation: H sound

This letter makes a clear h sound. When spelling I often make the mistake of leaving out hieut as it can be more subtly pronounced. We have this in English too when compared to words like why, John, and abhor where the h sound is deemphasized compared to the words hint and behold. An example in Korean would be for the word like which is 좋아. It’s spelled choh-ah but the last h in choh is subtle and can sound more like cho-ah.