Hangul Guide
For those of you that have yet to learn Hangul but would like to, here you go. I by no means guarantee it's perfect but I wrote it to the absolute best of my knowledge. I hope I can at least help someone.
Also note it may be best to take this in small doses. Practice learning some of the vowels one day, the rest the next. Split up the consonants over a few days. Make flashcards, whatever you have to do. If you're into Kpop, which I'm assuming a lot of you reading this are, there's definitely no shortage of ways to practice once you learn the basics.
Also I'd like to note that these aren't in any specific order.
And on we go!
VOWELS
The vowels, save for two, are a single line which may or may not have a little... nub on one side. |D
ㅗ = o, a long 'oh' sound as in open ㅜ = u/oo, an 'ooh' sound as in food ㅓ = eo/aw/uh, halfway between the sounds in jaw and numb ㅡ = eu... hard to explain. Like the 'uh'-ish sound in foot but softer. ㅏ = a, a short 'ah' sound as in want ㅐ = ae, sort of a mix between 'ay' in May and 'eh' in met ㅣ = i, a long 'ee' sound. It looks like a capital I so that's easy to remember, at least. ㅔ = e, NOT in any way eo-i(ㅓㅣ). a distinct 'eh' sound, farther from 'ay' than the ㅐ. Sounds like the 'eh' in met
Then there's the Ys. To add a y before a vowel (like in Yang Yoseob) you add an extra 'nub' to it. There's no 'yi' or 'yeu' sound, there's no place to put the little extra line anyway. So therefore; if ㅗ is o, ㅛ is yo. (I remember this one like someone doing rock hands, those two fingers sticking up, saying 'yo' haha LAME but if it helps use that) If ㅓ is eo, ㅕ is yeo. You can do this for all but i and eu, making the Ys ㅖ(ye), ㅒ(yae, I've never actually seen this used, I believe it's rare?), ㅑ(ya), ㅕ(yeo), ㅛ(yo), and ㅠ(yu).
If you want to make w sounds like in Siwon or Yonghwa, that's done with vowels, too. There is no 'w' letter in Korean. Siwon is literally Siueon and Yonghwa is literally Yonghoa. I'd explain that here but it's a little into the... inner workings of things. I don't want to make this too long for anyone to ever read, even though I probably will. Once you get this guide down feel free to ask me. It's easily explained but I don't want this to be so long it's unreadable.
On to the consonants!
CONSONANTS
ㅂ= b/p, closer to a b. Sometimes used when writing a 'v' in a foreign word or name. It's a harder sound than: ㅍ = p, very airy sounding. It's almost like you glide over the letter, make it not as noticeable as if it was a ㅂ. Can be used as an 'f' sound when writing foreign words and names, such as SNSD's Tiffany being written as 'tippani' ㅁ = m, I don't think there's anything special I should point out here. Easy one! ㄱ = g/k, usually leaning more towards a g. This is why the one member of B2ST's name is written as Gikwang by some, Kikwang by others. This is a harder sound than: ㅋ = k, airy sounding. Doesn't sound like a G at all. Used in writing most foreign names with a k (or c that sounds like a k) to show it's not pronounced as a G. ㅈ = j, may sometimes sound a bit like a 'ch' sound. The harder sound of the pair. ㅊ = ch, may sometimes sound a bit like a J. The airier sound of the two. ㄹ = r/l. If you can say an eastern r, skip the rest of this description. The western r is almost a growling sound when you think about it. This is nothing like that. Make an L sound. Your tongue hits your teeth. Now move it back. Sounds weird, huh? It's something like that. Your tongue almost moves back as you say the letter. It kind of sounds like a really soft D sound if you do it right. You'll just have to listen to songs, interviews, dramas, etc until you get the hang of the sound. It's actually not difficult once you know the sound you're going for. ㄷ = d/t, closer to d. It's the harder sound of the pair. ㅌ = t, with a little hint of a d sound. It looks just like a capital E and makes a T sound, so remember the movie ET and you'll have no problem remembering this one. ㄴ = n. Plain and simple. ㅅ = s, can make other sounds on occasion. At the bottom of a syllable(you'll see) it will make a t sound. Before an I it makes an 'sh' sound like in Siwon(yes, it's 'Shee-won', not 'See-won'). ㅎ = h.
And this one gets its own special note.
ㅇ has two very different uses. If it's at the end of a syllable it makes an 'ng' sound, like in ring. But if it's before the vowel(this will make sense very soon, I promise) then it makes no sound at all! I'll get to this in the next section.
HOW TO FORM SYLLABLES
In Korean, words are written in blocks, which are each one syllable. If you wanted to write Hongki it would not be 'ㅎㅗㅇㄱㅣ.' Instead it's broken into syllables, 'hong' and 'ki'(or gi depending on how you want to romanize it). So for the first one, we use the letters for H(ㅎ), O(ㅗ), and NG(ㅇ).If you type these out on a computer, phone, etc., it will automatically make it into 홍.
See how they go from the top to bottom? Syllables using horizontal vowels (ㅜ,ㅠ,ㅡ,ㅗ,ㅛ) will go top to bottom like this.
However, ones with vertical vowels (ㅔ,ㅖ,ㅐ,ㅒ,ㅓ,ㅕ,ㅏ,ㅑ,ㅣ) will go left-to-right and then, if necessary, below. An example would be the second syllable in Hongki, the 'ki' or 'gi.' This uses a vertical vowel, so it goes left to right. It's written using ㄱ and ㅣ, making it 기.
Therefore, Hongki is written as 홍기.
What about that weird ㅇ letter I mentioned? Well, every syllable needs to have BOTH a consonant AND a vowel. But what about like in Hyuna, where the syllables are 'Hyun' and 'A'? What do you do with the A all by itself? Well, you add in that lone character! It goes before the vowel, or it will end up as a miswritten 'ang' syllable. So the 'a' is written as 아.
You can also have ones that go across AND down! An example is the popular last name, 'Kim.' Using ㄱ, ㅣ, and ㅁ, we go across and then down, making it 김. The placement of letters in a syllable block is all based on if you use a horizontal or vertical vowel.
There are a LOT of specific things I should mention here but for the sake of keeping this from turning into a full book I'll leave it like this. If you have ANY questions, feel free to ask me. You won't bug me, I promise.
Here's a few random examples of idol names just so you can see how things are written in the syllables. Remember that the letters go by sound, not English spelling!
규현 = Kyuhyun 효성 = Hyosung 지용 = Jiyong 요섭 = Yoseob 태연 = Taeyeon 지아 = Jia
Try figuring these out on your own! 택연 유빈 동해 서현 대성