KOKorean · 한국어

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Learn Korean free in your browser — 80 lessons from A1 to B2, with flashcards and pronunciation practice. No subscription, no download.

Start learning Korean free →26 languages · A1–B2 · no sign-up
Lesson 1
안녕하세요
an-nyeong-ha-se-yo
hello

Why learn Korean with Langula?

Read Hangul in a weekend

Hangul's 24 letters follow a featural logic that can be learned in a day or two. Langula's spaced-repetition flashcards drill each syllable block until reading Korean script feels automatic.

Nail the consonant contrasts

Korean's plain, aspirated, and tense consonants (ㄱ/ㅋ/ㄲ) are the biggest pronunciation hurdle for English speakers. Langula's in-browser scorer gives you instant feedback on every speaking attempt.

K-dramas and K-pop in the original

Korean dialogue carries honorific layers, wordplay, and cultural nuance that subtitles flatten. Real proficiency lets you follow K-dramas, lyrics, and webtoons as they were meant to be experienced.

Build two vocabulary stocks at once

Korean vocabulary splits between native Korean words and a large Sino-Korean layer borrowed from Chinese. Langula's Leitner flashcards let you build both stocks efficiently with spaced repetition.

Open doors in tech and trade

South Korea — home to Samsung, Hyundai, and LG — creates real demand for Korean speakers in business, engineering, and international trade. B1-level Korean already gives you a meaningful edge.

Free, private, and works everywhere

No account needed to start, audio is never stored, and lessons run on mobile and desktop. Practice Korean pronunciation aloud privately anywhere, and earn per-level certificates as you progress.

How it works

1

Pick your language

Korean is preselected — add your source language and go.

2

Short daily lessons

5–20 minutes a day: new words plus due reviews.

3

Pronunciation & progress

Repeat aloud, watch your streak and unlock badges.

Your first Korean words

After the very first lesson you can greet people and say thank you.

안녕하세요
an-nyeong-ha-se-yo
hello
안녕히 가세요
an-nyeong-hi ga-se-yo
goodbye
안녕히 계세요
an-nyeong-hi gye-se-yo
good morning
감사합니다
gam-sa-ham-ni-da
good evening

From A1 to B2 — your structured learning path

Here is how your journey is built: four CEFR levels, 80 lessons. Each lesson teaches 20 new words and 6 example sentences — flashcards and pronunciation practice lock them in before the next level unlocks.

4CEFR levels · A1–B2
80lessons · 20 per level
26words & sentences per lesson
A1
Hangul and First Steps · Beginner
Lessons 1-20
Learn to read and write Hangul syllable blocks, get your ear around the basic plain/aspirated/tense consonant contrasts, and form simple SOV sentences using core particles (은/는, 이/가, 을/를) in polite -요 speech. Greet people, count, and introduce yourself.
After this you can
greet people and introduce yourself
ask about numbers, time and prices
order something in a café
ask and answer simple questions
A2
Everyday Situations · Elementary
Lessons 21-40
Handle shopping, ordering food, giving directions, and talking about time and dates. Use past and future tenses, key connective endings (-고, -지만, -아서/어서), and start distinguishing formal (-습니다) from polite (-요) speech levels.
After this you can
talk about family, work and hobbies
go shopping and ask for directions
tell stories in the past
make appointments and arrange to meet
B1
Real Conversations · Intermediate
Lessons 41-60
Hold conversations on familiar topics, narrate experiences, and express opinions. Apply honorifics appropriately — the subject suffix -시- and humble forms — navigate banmal versus jondaetmal by social context, and grow your Sino-Korean vocabulary.
After this you can
express and justify your opinion
travel alone and solve problems
report on experiences and plans
roughly follow films and podcasts
B2
Fluency and Nuance · Advanced
Lessons 61-80
Discuss abstract and professional topics with confidence, follow Korean dramas and news with minimal support, and use advanced grammar — causatives, passives, nominalizations, nuanced connectives. Command all speech levels and honorifics naturally in context.
After this you can
follow long discussions effortlessly
express yourself spontaneously and fluently
use Korean at work
understand complex texts and news
Your goal: fluent in everyday life
Level B2 complete — including a PDF certificate for every level you reach.
Start at A1 →

Learn more languages

Learn Korean — free and at your own pace

Korean is spoken by around 80 million people across South Korea, North Korea, and diaspora communities in China, the United States, Japan, and Central Asia. But the language's global footprint keeps growing far beyond those numbers. K-pop, K-dramas, and films like Parasite and Squid Game have turned Korean into a cultural magnet, while South Korea's role as a technology and manufacturing powerhouse — home to Samsung, Hyundai, and LG — makes it genuinely valuable for business and engineering careers.

What sets Korean apart is a cluster of features unlike anything in European languages. Hangul, invented in 1443 under King Sejong, groups 24 logical letters into syllable blocks — 한 stacks h, a, and n into one unit. Verbs always end the sentence (SOV), meaning stacks onto stems through particles and suffixes, an elaborate honorific system shifts verb endings and vocabulary based on social relationship, and the plain, aspirated, and tense consonant contrasts — ㄱ, ㅋ, ㄲ — are phonemic distinctions that take real practice to hear.

Korean sits in the US Foreign Service Institute's hardest tier (Category IV) — roughly 2,200 class hours for English speakers to reach professional proficiency. The alphabet is genuinely the easy part; Hangul takes a day or two. The steep climb is SOV word order, agglutinative particles (은/는, 을/를), the layered honorific system, and training your ear to separate plain, aspirated, and tense consonants. Japanese speakers have a dramatic structural advantage; Chinese speakers get a vocabulary head start. European-language learners should budget a year or more for solid conversational level.

Langula's design fits Korean's learning priorities directly. The A1 path front-loads Hangul and core particles before any grammar layers on top — the right order. The Leitner 5-box flashcards drill syllable blocks and both vocabulary stocks (native Korean and Sino-Korean) until recognition is automatic. The in-browser pronunciation scorer gives instant feedback on the plain/aspirated/tense consonant trio and helps you internalize sound-change rules — you learn that 좋아요 is spoken 조아요, not letter by letter. No sign-up, no stored audio, and it works on any device.

Korean for Beginners: Learn Hangul First

Korean looks intimidating until you discover Hangul. King Sejong designed this alphabet in 1443 specifically to be easy to learn — and most beginners can read it within a few days. Langula's Korean course starts with Hangul: you learn the 14 consonants and 10 basic vowels before you see your first word, so every syllable block makes sense from day one. Structured lessons then take you from A1 greetings and numbers through practical B2 vocabulary, with Leitner flashcards keeping new words in long-term memory. Browser-based pronunciation scoring gives you immediate feedback — no app download, no sign-up required.

Frequently asked questions

Is Korean a tonal language like Chinese?
No — Korean is not tonal. Pitch does not change word meaning the way it does in Mandarin or Vietnamese. Instead, Korean distinguishes consonants by articulation: plain (ㄱ), aspirated (ㅋ), and tense (ㄲ). Some Seoul speakers use a slight pitch difference between plain and aspirated consonants, but there are no tones to memorize.
Do I need to learn Chinese characters to read Korean?
No. Modern Korean — in South Korea and especially in North Korea, which has dropped hanja entirely — is written almost exclusively in Hangul. Chinese characters appear occasionally in newspapers or legal texts to disambiguate words, but you can become fully literate with Hangul alone.
How long does it take to learn Hangul?
The 24-letter alphabet and its featural logic can be picked up in a day or two. The trickier part is syllable-block grouping and the sound-change rules at letter boundaries — knowing, for instance, that 좋아요 is pronounced 조아요. Langula's flashcards and pronunciation practice help automate those patterns over the first few weeks.
How hard is Korean for an English speaker?
Very hard by any measure: the US Foreign Service Institute rates Korean Category IV, estimating around 2,200 class hours to professional proficiency. The challenges are SOV word order, agglutinative particles, the honorific system, and the plain/aspirated/tense consonant contrasts — not the script, which is quick to learn. Expect a year or more of consistent study to reach solid B1 conversational level.
What is the honorific system and when do beginners need it?
Korean encodes social relationships directly in grammar: verb endings, vocabulary, and even pronouns shift with politeness level. Beginners start with the polite -요 style, which is safe in virtually any situation. Formal (-습니다) and casual (banmal) registers, along with honorific markers like -시-, are introduced at B1 once the core grammar is solid.
Is Korean related to Japanese or Chinese?
Korean and Japanese share striking structural parallels — both SOV, both use particles, both have honorific systems — making the jump much easier for Japanese speakers, though linguists generally treat Korean as a language isolate rather than a proven relative. With Chinese, Korean shares no grammar but borrows a large layer of Sino-Korean vocabulary, giving Chinese speakers a useful head start on words.

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