I’ve often received requests from users to add Romanization to the Podo Korean app. Each time, I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed.
“Why would someone choose to use the complicated Roman alphabet instead of learning the simple Korean alphabet?”
In Korea, subway and road signs are often displayed in both Hangul and Roman letters. This is to help foreign tourists who don’t know Korean at all. Without it, finding their way to the right destination would be a significant challenge.
But you’re not just any tourist—you’re a learner of the Korean language. If you’re serious about learning Korean, it’s important to understand why you shouldn’t use Romanization for Korean. Moving away from it is the first and most important step.
Here are three simple reasons why you shouldn’t use Romanization for Korean and why you must learn Hangul first.
1. Romanization is an Inaccurate “Crutch” (It Can’t Handle Korean-Only Sounds)
Hangul was created by King Sejong the Great, the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty. Before its invention in 1443, Koreans used Chinese characters. However, King Sejong recognized the limitations of using a foreign script and stated:
“Chinese characters are foreign to us, making it difficult to accurately convey the meaning of our language. Other foreign scripts are equally inadequate.”
In other words, Hangul was specifically designed to represent the Korean language in the most accurate way possible. It’s the only script in the world that can precisely capture the nuances of Korean.
Romanization is an approximation—a “crutch”—and a very bad one at that. There are many problems with Romanized Korean, starting with the fact that many Korean sounds simply do not exist in English.
- The
ㅓ(eo) vs.ㅗ(o) Problem: How do you write먹다(meokda – to eat) vs.목(mok – neck)? The Romanizationeoandolook similar, but the Korean soundsㅓ(a deep, throaty “uh”) andㅗ(a clean “oh”) are completely different. - The
ㅡ(eu) vs.ㅜ(u) Problem: This is one of the biggest problems with Romanized Korean. The vowelㅡ(eu), as in음식(eumsik – food), does not exist in English. It’s a sound made by pulling your lips wide, not rounding them like forㅜ(u) in우유(uyu – milk). Romanization fails to capture this, leading to constant mispronunciation. - The
ㄱ/ㅋ/ㄲProblem: How does Romanization distinguish between가(ga),카(ka), and까(kka)? It uses ‘g’ vs. ‘k’ vs. ‘kk’. This is misleading. The real difference isn’t voiced vs. unvoiced (like ‘g’ vs. ‘k’); it’s about aspiration (puff of air).ㄱis a neutral sound,ㅋis a heavily aspirated sound, andㄲis a tense, unaspirated sound. Relying on ‘g’ and ‘k’ will train you to use the wrong parts of your mouth.
2. It Creates Bad Pronunciation Habits (Korean Pronunciation Romanization)
This is the most critical reason why you shouldn’t use Romanization for Korean. Writing a language accurately means the script carries correct pronunciation information. Romanization carries English pronunciation information.
When you learn 감사합니다 (Thank you) by reading gamsahamnida, you are not learning the Korean sounds. You are learning to pronounce the English letters ‘g’, ‘a’, ‘m’, ‘s’, ‘a’, etc. You will pronounce the ‘a’ (ㅏ) like the “a” in “father” or, worse, “apple,” instead of the clean, bright Korean ‘ㅏ’.
You are training your brain to read English, not Korean.
I had a similar experience with Japanese. When I was in college, I wanted to be friendly and add “-ちゃん” (chan) to my friend’s name. I wrote “jjang” using Roman letters, because that’s how it sounded to my Korean ears. My friend didn’t understand. Why? Because in Japanese, “-ちゃん” is Romanized as “-chan.”
We were hearing the same sound but expressing it differently because we were using a foreign script. Similarly, if you want to pronounce Korean accurately, it’s crucial to use Hangul. Relying on Korean pronunciation Romanization builds bad habits that are incredibly hard to fix later.
3. You Must Learn Hangul First (It’s Incredibly Easy!)
This is truly a blessing. King Sejong must have been a genius because he created an alphabet that’s incredibly easy to learn. Is Romanization bad for learning Korean? Yes, especially when the alternative is this simple.
Hangul is so logical that anyone can learn to read it in just a few days. Some people even master it during their flight to Korea!
As a native Korean teacher, I can honestly say that while Korean grammar is challenging, Hangul is by far one of the easiest scripts in the world to learn.
Let’s do a simple cost-benefit analysis.
- Cost of Learning Hangul: A few hours of your time (2-3 hours to learn the basics, a few days to get comfortable).
- Benefit of Learning Hangul: A lifetime of accurate reading, correct pronunciation, and the ability to read everything in Korea.
- Cost of Not Learning Hangul: A lifetime of being confused by Romanization, developing a bad accent, and hitting a hard learning plateau.
You must learn Hangul first.
➤ I’ve met many students who have been studying Korean for a long time but still struggle to make themselves understood by their Korean friends. Often, when I ask them to read aloud using Hangul, we can quickly identify the problems with Romanized Korean pronunciation they’ve built up.
Of course, pronunciations that don’t exist in your native language will require plenty of practice. But that practice is only effective when you’re reading accurately written Hangul. No matter how much you practice with Romanized Korean, it won’t help you improve.
You can learn Hangul for free with the “Podo Korean” app, which is designed for serious Korean learners. The app contains all the content I used to teach in my 1:1 lessons. If you haven’t learned Hangul yet or are struggling with Korean pronunciation, it could be a great help to you.
