Korean for kids: five ways to start before age seven

Plenty of children hear Korean every day in songs and shows, and plenty of parents wonder whether that curiosity can turn into a language.

It can, and the early years are a good time to begin. Here are five things that make the start easier.

Sound first, Hangul later

Between three and seven, children learn words by ear, not from letters. A Hangul chart on the wall does far less than hearing a lot of Korean.

The alphabet can wait until the child understands spoken words. Hangul is unusually regular, so a school-age child picks up reading in a short time.

Stories instead of word cards

A word on a flashcard is remembered until the end of the deck. A word met in a story comes with a picture, a scene and a reason to exist, and it stays for days.

Wanting the same book again and again is how small children learn. By the tenth reading the plot needs no attention, so more of it goes to the language.

Ten minutes a day beats an hour at the weekend

A language is kept alive by frequency, not duration. One bedtime story in Korean on a few evenings a week is enough.

Missing a day changes nothing. Missing a month means starting almost from the beginning, so it helps to tie Korean to a fixed moment of the day.

You do not need to speak Korean yourself

A parent who listens along and points at the pictures is doing the important part. Seeing an adult enjoy working out a word is the best motivation a child gets.

A romanised reading under each Korean word lets a parent who cannot read Hangul follow the text and say the word together with the child.

Do not turn it into a test

Asking "what is this in Korean?" over and over turns a ritual into an exam, and the child starts avoiding it.

Be glad when a word comes out, and leave it alone when it does not. Most children understand for weeks before they say anything, and that silent period is normal.