Pick up where you left off

Hangul stacks letters into a block. Three letters, one syllable, one word.

The final ㄷ is unreleased. Don't pop it like an English 't'.

ㅇ has two faces. Silent at the start, [ŋ] at the bottom.

Reading the first ㅇ as [o] is the most common mistake.

ㄹ is neither English r nor l. Tap the tongue tip once, lightly.

English speakers over-roll ㄹ. It's closer to the soft Spanish r.

Add 해 to a noun and it becomes a sentence. 사랑 plus 해.

ㅐ and ㅔ have all but merged. Both are close to [e].

ㅊ is ㅈ with a puff of air. Hold your palm up and you'll feel it.

Mixing up ㅈ and ㅊ often produces a different word.

Add a puff of air to ㄷ and you get ㅌ. The same rule as ㅊ in 김치.

The final ㄱ is unreleased too, just like ㄷ. The sound stops in the throat.

You just read a word you already knew. ㅋ is ㄱ plus air; ㅍ is ㅂ plus air.

Don't round your lips on ㅓ. The spelling 'eo' misleads — it's closer to the u in 'cup'.

ㅡ is made with flat lips and the tongue pulled back. Loanwords are full of it.

Reading ㅡ as ㅜ gives a different word. Never round your lips.

One extra short stroke adds a 'y' sound. ㅗ→ㅛ, ㅏ→ㅑ. The system starts to show.

Both blocks open with ㅇ, and both are silent — exactly as in 안녕.

Add a stroke to ㅜ and you get ㅠ. That is all ten basic vowels. Season 1 done.

우유 has no consonant sound at all — four letters, all vowels and silent ㅇ.

Doubling a letter makes it tense. Two ㅂ give you ㅃ.

Telling ㅂ, ㅍ and ㅃ apart is the hardest thing here. ㅃ has no puff — the throat is tight.

At the bottom, even ㅊ becomes a ㄷ sound. 꽃 is read [kkot].

As a final, ㅅ ㅆ ㅈ ㅊ ㅌ all sound like ㄷ. This is where spelling and sound first part ways.

Two ㄷ make ㄸ. Tongue in place, throat tight, then release.

After a final ㄹ, the following ㄱ stays clear. 딸-기, two distinct beats.

Two ㅅ make ㅆ. Sharper hiss, shorter burst.

사요 and 싸요 mean different things. Slur the tense sound and you say something else.

That is all five tense letters: ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ. One rule — double the letter.

찌개 is not 치개. ㅉ has no puff of air; ㅊ does.

Add a vertical line to ㅓ and you get ㅔ; to ㅕ, ㅖ. The short stroke still means 'y'.

ㅐ and ㅔ sound nearly identical today. Don't try to hear the difference — learn the spelling per word.

Write ㅗ and ㅏ side by side and you get ㅘ. Compound vowels are exactly what they look like.

Don't break ㅘ into two beats. It glides in one.

ㅗ plus ㅐ gives ㅙ. Both blocks here open with the silent ㅇ.

ㅙ, ㅚ and ㅞ sound nearly the same today. Memorising the spelling per word is faster.

ㅗ+ㅣ is ㅚ, ㅡ+ㅣ is ㅢ. The last two vowels of the set.

의 shifts between [ui], [i] and [e] depending on position. In 회의 the second block is close to [i].

ㅜ+ㅣ is ㅟ, ㅜ+ㅓ is ㅝ. End of Season 2 — there is almost nothing left you cannot read.

Don't stretch 쉬워요 into [su-i-wo-yo]. Three beats: 쉬 · 워 · 요.