Korean vocabulary splits into a native Korean layer and a Sino-Korean layer borrowed from Chinese, and the two often supply competing words for the same concept with different registers. That doubles the vocabulary load and makes register — which word fits which situation — a fact worth putting on a card. Honorific levels do the same thing to verbs, turning one meaning into several forms.
Why spaced repetition suits Korean
The Korean writing system
Hangul is a featural alphabet designed in the fifteenth century and is genuinely learnable in a few hours — letters are grouped into syllable blocks, and spelling is largely regular. The writing system is the easy part of Korean.
What English speakers find hard about Korean
- Speech levels and honorifics, which change verb endings according to who you are addressing.
- Subject–object–verb order with heavy use of particles instead of word position.
- The dual native and Sino-Korean vocabulary layers.
- Consonant distinctions (plain, aspirated, tense) that English does not use contrastively.
Cards you might meet
Generated from whatever theme you name — these are the kind of thing that comes back.
눈치
the social skill of reading a room
수고했어요
well done, you worked hard
답답하다
stifled, frustrated, hemmed in
괜찮아요
it's fine; no thank you
아쉽다
to feel a small regret at something ending
What you get
- SM-2 scheduling with four grades and keyboard shortcuts
- Generated Korean vocabulary on any theme you name
- Pronunciation for every card
- Grammar sets from A1 to C2
- Writing feedback on your own sentences
- Photo vocabulary — name what is in front of you
Popular Korean themes
everyday lifefoodmedia & musicworktravel
Korean questions
- Should I learn Hangul before starting?
- Yes, and it is a short job — most learners read Hangul within a few hours. Everything afterwards is easier when you are not decoding romanisation, which obscures Korean sounds badly.
- Is there Korean conjugation practice?
- The person-based conjugation drill does not apply to Korean, whose verbs inflect for politeness and tense rather than for person, so it is hidden. Vocabulary, grammar sets, diary and photo vocabulary all work.
- How hard is Korean for English speakers?
- The Foreign Service Institute places it in the hardest category, alongside Japanese, Chinese and Arabic — around 2,200 class hours. Word order and honorifics account for more of that than the alphabet does.