Reading Practice: Signs, Menus and Names

How to read a new word

When you meet a word you do not know, follow three steps.

Step 1. Read block by block. Say each syllable as it is written: 화-장-실.

Step 2. Check the batchim. Does a batchim meet a silent ㅇ? Then link it. Does it meet ㄴ, ㅁ or ㄹ? Think about nasalization and ㄹ changes. Does a stop sound come before ㄱ ㄷ ㅂ ㅅ ㅈ? Make the next sound tense.

Step 3. Say it smoothly as one word, without pauses between the blocks.

Do not worry about understanding every word at first. Being able to read a word aloud correctly is a skill on its own, and it makes looking it up much easier. Many signs in big cities also show English, but try to read the Hangul first. It is great practice.

Reading a menu

Korean menus are a great place to practice, because the words are short and you will meet them again and again. Many dish names are made of two parts: the main ingredient and the type of dish. For example, 찌개 means a thick stew, 탕 means a soup, 밥 means rice, and 면 means noodles. 김치찌개 is kimchi stew, and 비빔밥 is mixed rice.

Watch for sound changes. 비빔밥 is pronounced [비빔빱]: the second 밥 becomes tense in this compound word. 떡볶이 has tensing too: [떡뽀끼]. 삼겹살 (grilled pork belly) is [삼겹쌀].

Prices on a menu are usually written in numbers followed by 원, the Korean currency, for example 9,000원. You will learn to say numbers in the Beginner level.

Subway station names

Station names in Seoul are excellent pronunciation practice, because the announcements say them clearly and many of them include sound changes. Listen on the train and compare with the sign.

Some names change in pronunciation: 종로3가 is said [종노삼가], 신림 is [실림], 선릉 is [설릉], 왕십리 is [왕심니], 독립문 is [동님문]. Others follow tensing: 압구정 is [압꾸정], and 합정 is [합쩡].

A very common word on signs is 역, which means station. When 역 follows a word ending in a consonant, an extra [ㄴ] sound is often added before it, and it can then change by the rules you know. 서울역 (Seoul Station) is pronounced [서울력].

Reading Korean names

Korean names usually have three syllables. The first syllable is the family name, and the next two are the given name. So in 김민준, the family name is 김 and the given name is 민준. Some people have a two-syllable name like 이준, and a few family names have two syllables.

The most common family names include 김, 이, 박, 최 and 정. On forms and name tags, the family name always comes first. When you read a name, sound rules still apply: 박지민 is usually said [박찌민], because ㅈ after [ㄱ] becomes tense.

It is polite to call people by their full name plus 씨, or by a title, rather than by the family name alone. You will learn more about this in later lessons.