Ok, this isn't going to be the meatiest of tutorials, but I need it to lead up to the next tutorial, so bear with me. I translate Korean ingredients. I don't know a word of Korean (LIE actually, I totally know 추출물 [extract] and 발효여과물 [ferment filtrate] by heart). I know there's a way to do it on your computer, but for me, it's much easier to use my phone. So here's a quick tutorial on how to type in Hangul (한국어).
First off, there's this very informative little webcomic (not mine!) that I think everyone should at least glance through. Click to enlarge.
I haven't quite learned how to read Korean, but that was definitely helpful in showing you how the characters are assembled.
You have to get a Korean keyboard. I'm an Android user, and I'm currently using Google Korean Keyboard and GO Keyboard 2015 for my translating purposes. Your keyboard might have Korean available, in which case it might be listed as this:
Otherwise, I recommend Google Korean, because it's free and it'll get the job done. For Android, you want to download it off of Google Play, open the app, and enable it.
It's a very self-explanatory install. Select the keyboard:
And voila! Next time you pull up your keyboard, it should look something like this:
If you need to quickly pop over to English, there's the "En" tab at the top. Now, let's start! We'll begin with something easy.
Starting off:
Let's type out 추출물 (extract).
The first syllable (추) is made up of two letters. The typical rule is to go from top to bottom, and clockwise. So you would first type ㅊ, followed by ㅜ and it will automatically squish them together to make 추. Super easy!
The next syllable is 출, which is pretty similar. Going from top to bottom, you would first type ㅊ, followed by ㅜ. This will squish them together and look like 추, but we're not done yet! It needs the ㄹ to be complete. Type that, and it'll stack all three in a nice row (출).
Last syllable! This one (물) looks very similar to the last one, and is done exactly the same way. Start with ㅁ and then ㅜ, which will make it look like 무. Add in the ㄹ and you'll end up with 물. All done!
What if it's not all in a nice row? Let's try 발. You want to start at the top and, typically, work clockwise. So start with ㅂ and ㅏ, which makes 바. Then ㄹ, which gives you 발.
Complications:
What about this? 깨 What the heck is that? The ㄲ is actually a double consonant (gg vs g). On most keyboards, you can just type ㄱ twice, and it'll lump it together, or you can also hit shift, and you'll get this:
So this syllable would just be ㄲ and ㅐ to make 깨. I know the final look is a little curvier and bigger than the initial letters, and that throws me every now and then. It's even worse when it's calligraphy or handwritten.
You know the clockwise rule I said earlier? Sometimes, it's not always the case, like this character: 과. If you tried to type it clockwise, you would end up with this: 가ㅗ. Why won't it sit underneath?! If you look closely at the character, you'll see that the ㄱ and the ㅗ are grouped together before the ㅏ, to form 고. So to type this, you would go ㄱ, ㅗ, ㅏ to make 과. Pay attention to groupings.
Typically, there are 2-3 letters in a syllable. Every now and then, you'll run into some more complicated looking ones. Like 황 for example. If you look closely, you'll see it actually has 4 letters. You can also see the groupings. First is ㅎ and ㅗ to form 호. Then ㅏ to complete the top (화). Last is ㅇ to make 황.
For me though, the things that trip me up the most are the simplest. These guys: ㅓㅏㅣㅜㅗㅡ. I call them the Konami letters, as that's how I read them aloud to myself as I'm typing them in. "Upside-down L, back, up." In size 4 font, and in certain printed fonts, they're practically indistinguishable. I know 커looks pretty obvious that it's a ㅓ, but in a scrunched up, little bitty ingredients list, the little line in the middle looks like a tiny speck. Most of the time, I get them right, but other times I don't, and wind up with interesting translations like "fermented seals" instead of rice (씰 vs. 쌀).
Anyway, I hope somebody out there finds this helpful. I'll have the next part up asap. Let me know what you think in the comments!
