Every Korean form on Learn Korean Hangul follows standard Korean as defined by the National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원, NIKL), with Revised Romanization used as a reading aid. Spelling follows the Hangul orthography, pronunciation follows the Standard Pronunciation rules, and loanwords follow the loanword orthography. Exceptions are labelled on the page.
Which Korean Do We Teach?
The site teaches standard Korean (표준어), which the standard language regulations define as the modern Seoul speech used by educated speakers. This choice gives every lesson one reference point. It does not mean other forms of Korean are wrong; it means that a learner who knows the standard can follow most speakers and can read and write correctly.
For example, the standard form of the word for "flower" is written 꽃 and is pronounced [꼳] when it stands alone. A lesson teaches both the spelling and the pronunciation from the standard, and a regional or casual variant appears only in a labelled note.
Next, the standards table names each rule set and what it governs.
The Standards behind Each Lesson
Five standards sit behind the lessons. The table shows what each covers and who maintains it. The years are those of the original notices; later amendments are covered in the FAQ below.
| Area | Standard | Korean name | Issuing body | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard language | Standard Language Regulations | 표준어 규정 | Korean education ministry, maintained by NIKL | 1988 |
| Spelling | Hangul Orthography | 한글 맞춤법 | Korean education ministry, maintained by NIKL | 1988 |
| Pronunciation | Standard Pronunciation Rules, part 2 of the regulations | 표준 발음법 | Korean education ministry, maintained by NIKL | 1988 |
| Romanization | Revised Romanization of Korean | 국어의 로마자 표기법 | Ministry of Culture and Tourism (notice 2000-8) | 2000 |
| Loanwords | Loanword Orthography | 외래어 표기법 | Korean education ministry, later amended by the culture ministry | 1986 |
The words in the table are the names a reader can search for on the NIKL site, and the editorial policy requires every Korean form to be checked against them. The four sub-sections below show how each standard is used in a lesson.
How Is Spelling Checked?
Spelling is checked against the Hangul orthography (한글 맞춤법), whose main principle is to write by sound while keeping the grammar visible. The word 꽃이 is written with its stem 꽃 even though it sounds like [꼬치], so a learner sees the same stem every time. The Korean spelling lessons teach these rules in order.
How Is Pronunciation Decided?
Pronunciation is decided by the Standard Pronunciation rules (표준 발음법). When a spelling and its sound differ, the lesson shows the sound in brackets, such as 같이 [가치]. The rules are taught step by step in the Korean pronunciation hub, and the audio is generated to follow them, as the audio methodology explains.
Revised Romanization and Names
Revised Romanization (RR) writes Korean with plain English letters and mostly follows how a word is spoken rather than how it is spelled. For example, 신라 is written Silla because it is pronounced [실라]. RR appears in parentheses beside the Hangul as a reading aid, never as the only form, and learners can hide it.
Personal names are a common exception in practice. Many people keep a long-established spelling, such as Lee or Park rather than the RR forms I and Bak, and the rules state that the romanization of family names is set separately. The Korean romanization lessons show how to read and write RR.
Loanword Spelling
Loanwords (외래어) follow their own orthography, which writes foreign words with Korean letters. A rule of thumb is that it avoids tense consonants for foreign stops, so "cafe" is 카페, not 까페, and "bus" is 버스, not 뻐스. Everyday signs often break this rule, and when a lesson shows a signboard form it labels it.
How Can You Check a Lesson against These Standards?
You can verify any Korean form on the site in four steps, without trusting this site's word for it:
- Find the form's area. Is it a spelling question, a pronunciation question, a romanization question or a loanword? The table above names the standard for each.
- Look the word up. The Standard Korean Language Dictionary (표준국어대사전), published by NIKL at stdict.korean.go.kr, gives the standard spelling, the standard pronunciation in brackets and the meaning.
- Compare. If the dictionary and the lesson differ, the lesson is wrong or the lesson has labelled a deliberate exception. Look for the label on the page.
- Report the difference. Send the page address, the form shown and the dictionary entry through the corrections process.
This is also how Min-ji Park, the site's Korean reviewer, works before a page is published: the Korean is checked against the same sources, and nothing goes live until she signs it off.
Next, the speech-level default is explained.
Default Speech Level in Examples
Example sentences use the polite 해요체 level by default, because it is the safest register for a learner. The more formal 합쇼체 and the casual 반말 appear when a lesson teaches them, and each is labelled. A sentence such as 먹어요 (meogeoyo, "I eat") is polite, while 먹어 is casual, so the label stops a learner from using the wrong one.
When Everyday Korean Differs from the Standard
When common speech differs from the standard, the lesson describes the difference, labels it and does not teach it as spelling. A well-known example is the vowels ㅐ and ㅔ. The standard keeps them distinct, but many speakers pronounce them the same. The lesson teaches the written distinction and notes the merger in a pronunciation note.
This is a descriptive note, not a correction of the speaker. If you believe a page treats a common form wrongly, the corrections page explains how to report it, and where the standard and common use differ the page will show both forms with labels instead of silently changing one.
Dialects and North Korean Korean
Regional speech and North Korea's standard (문화어) appear only in clearly labelled comparison notes. They are not mixed into examples. The Korean accents and dialects page covers regional speech separately.
If a page ever breaks one of these standards, report a deviation, and see About Learn Korean Hangul for how the rest of the site is run.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why not McCune-Reischauer romanization? Revised Romanization is the system South Korea adopted in 2000, and it replaced the earlier official system based on McCune-Reischauer. It uses plain letters without the special marks that McCune-Reischauer needs, so it is easier to type and search. The site follows the current official standard.
Will the Spanish site use the same standards? Yes for the Korean itself. The Spanish version is live and follows the same spelling, pronunciation and romanization standards, because those describe Korean, not the explanation language. Spanish pages are written and checked separately, and carry their own review labels.
Do you follow the 2017 or later spelling updates? Yes. Lessons are checked against the current text of each rule as published on the National Institute of Korean Language site, which includes the versions reissued in 2017. This page does not list every amendment rule by rule, so if a lesson seems to follow an older rule, report it with the rule number.
Is Seoul speech the same as standard Korean? Not exactly. The standard language rules define standard Korean as the modern Seoul speech of educated speakers, but everyday Seoul speech differs in places, such as the merging of the vowels ㅐ and ㅔ. The lessons teach the standard form and describe common differences in labelled notes.