While Sarah Shaw was living in Korea, she tapped into her creative side to learn Hangeul, the Korean alphabet.
TO MEMORIZE NEW vocabulary, I made a series of sketches on word cards, featuring words
, that I found interesting, or couldn’t remember how to spell.
Hangeul
is simple to learn, and consists of 24 vowel and consonant sounds that
are grouped into blocks. Each block of letters is pronounced as one
syllable.
I had used texbooks, attended clases run by volunteers, and used the
website talktomeinkorean.com, which features video lessons, pop culture,
and everyday conversations. But I needed a creative project to make my
language learning more personal and meaningful, and since I’d seen so
many Korean students flipping through books of flashcards, hole-punched
on the left-hand side and connected by a key ring, I decided to make my
own.
Here are twelve sketches from my collection.
1. To the right, (o reun jjok eu lo) 오른쪽으로
2. To the left, (oen jjok eu lo) 왼쪽으로
3. To do laundry, (ppal lae leul ha da) 빨래를 하다
4. Envelope, (pyeon ji bong tu) 편지봉투
5. Sculpture, (jo gak sang) 조각상
6. To learn, (ba eu da) 배우다
7. To go down, (nae ryo ka da) 내려가다
8. To go up, (ol la ka da) 올라가다
11. Then, (gu da eum ae) 그 다음에
12. To have a rubbery/chewy texture (jjolgit jjolgit hada) 쫄깃 쫄깃 하다
Drawings and photos by the author