Skip to content

A1 · Start here

How to start learning Koreanthe A1 path, in order.

8 units that carry you from saying hello to getting by when you do not understand. One neighbourhood, one continuous story, and an explicit outcome at the end of every unit.

Units
8
units
Lessons
32
lessons
Free to read
All
free to read

Free to start · No card required · First steps toward A1

Route / ko-A1

Korean Foundations

Finding your feet in a new neighbourhood

Free
to read
  1. 01Greet and introduceFree
  2. 02OrderFree
  3. 03Identify and findFree
  4. 04Buy a few thingsFree
  5. 05Talk about your dayFree
  6. 06Talk about tastes and familyFree
  7. 07Plan to meetFree
  8. 08Ask for helpFree
ko-A1 · 24 episodes1 → 8
8 unitsone continuous story
32 lessonsabout 20 minutes each
Free to readevery lesson, no card
A1first steps toward the level

The whole path

Eight units, in the order they arrive.

Finding your feet in a new neighbourhood. Each unit has one outcome, three scenes that build it, and a checkpoint where you meet a scene you have not rehearsed. Nothing asks you to use grammar you have not already heard.

  1. Unit 01

    Greet and introduce

    Full support start

    Greet someone, say your name, and introduce a friend

    1. E1첫인사A first meetingFull support
    2. E2이름이 뭐예요?What's your name?Full support
    3. From here: first line translated free · every line with Premium
    4. E3이 사람은 미나 씨예요This is MinaFree to read
    5. CP새 이웃Checkpoint — Follow a first meeting between two strangers and answer for what was saidFree to read
  2. Unit 02

    Order

    Free to read

    Order something at a counter and ask for it politely

    • 1물 주세요
    • 2커피 한 잔
    • 3두 잔 주세요
    • CP준호 씨하고 수진 씨
  3. Unit 03

    Identify and find

    Free to read

    Say what something is and ask where something is

    • 1이거 뭐예요?
    • 2화장실이 어디예요?
    • 3미나 씨는 집에 있어요
    • CP팥빵 두 개
  4. Unit 04

    Buy a few things

    Free to read

    Buy a few things and ask what they cost

    • 1동네 슈퍼
    • 2물 한 병
    • 3얼마예요?
    • CP준호 씨의 장보기
  5. Unit 05

    Talk about your day

    Free to read

    Say what you do during the day and where

    • 1회사에 가요
    • 2점심에 먹어요
    • 3집에서 쉬어요
    • CP미나 씨의 하루
  6. Unit 06

    Talk about tastes and family

    Free to read

    Say what you like and talk about your family

    • 1가족 사진
    • 2커피를 좋아해요
    • 3친구도 음악을 좋아해요
    • CP수진 씨의 가족 사진
  7. Unit 07

    Plan to meet

    Free to read

    Arrange to meet someone at a time that works for you both

    • 1내일 시간 있어요?
    • 2몇 시에 만나요?
    • 3카페에서 만나요
    • CP금요일 저녁 전화
  8. Unit 08

    Ask for help

    Free to read

    Ask someone to repeat something or slow down

    • 1다시 한 번
    • 2조금 천천히
    • 3혼자서도 잘해요
    • CP혼자 카페에서

Every lesson is free to read. The first 2 episodes also translate every line, and they cover the whole outcome of Unit 1.

Start with Unit 1

Inside a lesson

Four activities.
About 20 minutes.

Every episode runs the same four moves in the same order, so the only thing you have to decide is whether to start. One unit is three episodes plus a checkpoint.

  1. 01

    Listen & Read

    Hear the scene while you follow the words. Meaning and sound arrive together, which is why nothing here needs translating first.

    5 min
  2. 02

    Shadow & Speak

    Repeat the useful lines out loud while the audio keeps going. You copy the rhythm of a whole phrase instead of assembling it word by word.

    7 min
  3. 03

    Build the Sentence

    Rebuild the lines you just heard from their pieces. This is where a phrase stops being something you recognise and becomes something you can produce.

    5 min
  4. 04

    Quiz

    Retrieve what the scene contained, without looking back. Forgetting once and recalling is what makes the next unit easier.

    3 min

The checkpoint that closes each unit is different on purpose: an unseen scene, no scaffold, and no build the sentence step — you cannot rehearse it, you sit it. That is how you find out whether the unit's outcome actually survived.

The honest answer

What is free, and what Premium adds.

Free · every lesson to read · full support in Episodes 1–2

Greet and introduce — the whole outcome

  • 첫인사 — Greet someone and say your name
  • 이름이 뭐예요? — Ask someone's name and say you are pleased to meet them
  • Which is the entire Unit 1 outcome: greet someone, say your name, and introduce a friend

First lines you will say

  • 안녕하세요 · Hello
  • 저는 리사예요 · I'm Lisa
  • 반가워요 · Nice to meet you
  • 안녕히 가세요 · Goodbye (to the person leaving)

Premium · added support, not extra lessons

Stories about your life, fully supported

  • Stories from your own life — generate a story from your own topic or experience
  • Every line translated in every lesson, plus unlimited word help
  • Full audio and line replay on every generated story
  • New stories and episodes without daily waits
  • Unlimited Shadow & Speak

No timer on the free part. Read all 32 lessons at your own pace; Premium adds support around them, never the lessons themselves.

When you finish

Where A1 hands off to A2

The path ends on "Ask for help": ask someone to repeat something or slow down. From there the same listen-read-speak loop continues on longer Korean stories, with wider vocabulary and less scaffolding.

Unit 01 · first episode

첫인사A first meeting

Lisa meets the neighbour from 502 in the lift, and has to say something.

Language note

Saying who you are

저는 + 이름 + 이에요 / 예요

Read it in the app — free

Answers

Starting Korean: questions

Direct answers about the Korean Foundations sequence, the free boundary, and what happens after Unit 8.

Q01

How long does the Korean A1 path take?

8 units of four lessons each — 32 lessons of about 20 minutes. That is roughly 11 hours of lessons, before whatever you replay. Most learners take one lesson a day rather than racing the whole path.

Q02

Is Foundations free?

Yes — every lesson in the path is free to read, with no countdown and no card needed to start. The first 2 episodes also come with full reading support, every line translated, and they cover the whole outcome of Unit 1. From Unit 1 Episode 3 onward the first line of each lesson is translated for free; Premium adds every line translation, unlimited word help and stories written from your own life.

Q03

Do I need to know any Korean before I start?

No. Unit 1 opens with 첫인사, where a woman meets a new neighbour on the stairs and has to say something. The first line you read is a greeting.

Q04

Is this a course or a story?

Both. It is a course built from one continuous story: you follow the same neighbourhood across all 8 units, so the language arrives inside situations instead of in lists. Unit 1 is "Greet and introduce" — greet someone, say your name, and introduce a friend. Unit 8 is "Ask for help" — ask someone to repeat something or slow down.

Q05

What do the fully supported first episodes cover?

"첫인사" asks you to greet someone and say your name; "이름이 뭐예요?" asks you to ask someone's name and say you are pleased to meet them. Together those 2 episodes cover the full Unit 1 outcome, so the fully supported start finishes something real rather than stopping mid-sentence.

Q06

What comes after the A1 path?

Unit 8 ends with "ask someone to repeat something or slow down". From there you move into level-matched Korean stories at A2 and up, with the same listen-read-speak loop on longer texts.

Start at the beginning

Unit 1, Episode 1 is where Korean starts

Open the app and the path picks up mid-scene — 첫인사, lisa meets the neighbour from 502 in the lift, and has to say something. Every lesson is free to read.

Join iOS waitlist