Quickstart

Enter a word or phrase phonetically (as it would be written if romanized) using the English keyboard, and it will appear immediately as Korean jamo. After each syllable, press Space to combine the separate jamo into a single hangeul character. For example, type hanSpacegukSpace to get 한국.

If any punctuation character is pressed before the entered jamo character components are combined, the jamo components will be combined into the appropriate hangeul character before the new character is output. Capitalizing the first letter of each hangeul syllable may also be used to compose the preceding syllable instead of separating syllables by pressing Space.

Keyboard Use Details

Step by step

The following step-by-step example for entering hangeul shows what happens as each letter is typed:

h	The jamo for 'h' will appear in the output window:	ㅎ
a	The two jamo for 'ha' will now be displayed. Some browsers will combine them so that they appear as a single character, but the separate jamo will not yet be combined in the document.	ㅎㅏ
n	The jamo for 'han' will now be displayed, either separately or visually combined, but not yet combined in the document:	ㅎㅏㄴ
Space	Press the space bar to combine the jamo as a single hangeul character.	한
g	The jamo for 'g' will be added to the output:	한ㄱ
u	The jamo for 'gu' will be seen (separately or combined):	한ㄱㅜ
k	The three jamo for 'guk' will be shown, still not yet combined in the document:	한ㄱㅜㄱ
Space	Press the space bar to combine the jamo as a single hangeul character.	한국

Pressing any punctuation key, or Enter, will compose any pending jamo before the punctuation or new line is inserted. Pressing a digit will select from the hanja displayed in the IME list (see below). Letter keys will be accepted if they can be combined with the uncomposed jamo, or blocked if not. So, for example, after an 's' has been entered showing the jamo ㅅ, entering a second 's' will convert the jamo to ㅆ (for 'ss'), but other consonants would be blocked since the two letters would not represent a valid jamo. In the same way, you may only enter those combinations of Latin script vowels (with 'y' and 'w') that are recognized by the Revised Romanization of Korean standard. To ensure that the jamo are composed into the correct hangeul character, it is important to press the space bar or a punctuation key before entering more Korean text.

Entering Hanja characters

To include Hanja ideographs in the text, make sure that the on-screen keyboard is visible, and when the entered jamo result in a list of possible matching hanja characters, scroll through the list PageDown and PageUp keys and select the appropriate character using the indicated numeral key instead of pressing the space bar to combine the jamo. The mouse may also be used to scroll through the list and select a hanja character. Hanja characters are often used in Korean to distinguish between homophones, so for example, suSpacedoSpacedisplays the hangeul 수도. However, typing suPgDn 9do8 replaces the hangeul by 水搯 (rice), while typing suPgDn PgDn PgDn 8doPgDn PgDn PgDn PgDn 9, inserts 囚徒 (prisoner).

s	The jamo for 's' will appear in the output window:	ㅅ
u	The jamo for 'u' will be added, and the IME list window will now appear, showing the first nine Hanja for the hangeul syllable 수.	ㅅㅜ
PgDn	Press PageDown to scroll through the list. Moving the mouse over each cell highlights the ideograph in that cell. The hangeul matching the highlighted hanja is also shown in a 'tool-tip' beneath that cell.	수
9	Click the selected cell, or press '9' to select the required Hanja and close the IME list window:	水
d	The jamo for 'd' will appear:	水ㄷ
o	The jamo for 'o' will be added, and the IME window will show hanja characters for 'do':	水ㄷㅗ
8	Press '8' to select the hanja to complete the word for 'rice', and close the IME list:	水稻

Sometimes a hangeul syllable may match many hanja characters, so it will be necessary to press the PgDn key several times to scroll through the list and select the wanted hanja.

Hanja matching more than one Hangeul syllable

Some hanja characters will replace two or more hangeul syllables, not just a single syllable. When selected, the matching hangeul syllables will all be replaced. So, for example:

Type gangSpacehang to get:	강ㅎㅏㅇ
And press '1' (or click the first cell with the mouse) to replace 강항 with the selected hanja:	降

Hanja matching more than one hangeul will always be shown before other matching hangeul in the IME list.

Revised Romanization conventions

Input conventions are summarized in the following tables:

Consonant letters

ㄱ	ㄲ	ㅋ	ㄷ	ㄸ	ㅌ	ㅂ	ㅃ	ㅍ
g, k	kk	k	d, t	tt	t	b, p	pp	p
ㅈ	ㅉ	ㅊ	ㅅ	ㅆ	ㅎ	ㄴ	ㅁ	ㅇ	ㄹ
j	jj	ch	s	ss	h	n	m	ng	r,l

Vowel letters

ㅏ	ㅓ	ㅗ	ㅜ	ㅡ	ㅣ	ㅐ
a	eo	o	u	eu	i	ae
ㅔ	ㅚ	ㅟ	ㅑ	ㅕ	ㅛ	ㅠ
e	oe	wi	ya	yeo	yo	yu
ㅒ	ㅖ	ㅘ	ㅙ	ㅝ	ㅞ	ㅢ
yae	ye	wa	wae	wo	we	ui

For the jamo ㄱ ㄷ ㅂ ㄹ, the Revised Romanization conventions specify a different letter to be used when the jamo occurs initially (as choseong) from that used when it occurs at the end of a syllable (as jongseong). In that case, the two letters used are shown separated by a comma, so g,k for ㄱ.

While the revised romanization standard for Korean always represents ㄹ as 'r' syllable-initially and usually as 'l' syllable-finally, either may be used in either position for the purpose of entering Korean text.

Final consonant combinations (double jongseong consonants)

The following final consonant (jongseong) combinations can also be entered:

ㄵ

ㄶ

ㄺ

ㄻ

ㄼ

ㄽ

ㄾ

ㄿ

ㅀ

ㅄ

ㅋ

ㅌ

ㅍ

nj,nch

nh

rk

rm

rb

rs

rt

rp

rh

ps

kh

th

ph

Alternate input conventions

Some alternate vowel input conventions commonly used in older romanization conventions are also supported, and are shown here above the corresponding standard input convention:

ㅐ	ㅒ	ㅙ	ㅜ	ㅜ	ㅜ	ㅢ
ai	yai	wai	oo	wu	woo	eui
ae	yae	wae	u	u	u	ui

Other Internet Resources

• Information about Korean language at Omniglot.com
• Korean language at Wikipedia.org
• Revised Romanization of Korean at Wikipedia.org
• Korean language and computers
• Korean writing system: Hangul at Wikipedia.org
• Korean writing system: Hanja at Wikipedia.org
• Korean writing system: Jamo at Wikipedia.org

Keyboard Authorship and Acknowledgements

This keyboard was created by Tavultesoft.