Korean is a really easy language to learn to read.
Let's start by talking about the basic layout of a word.
Every Korean word is made up of some number of syllables.
And each syllable is made up of 2 or 3 letters.
For example:
안녕
means hello!
It's made up of two syllables:
안 and 녕
Each syllable is three letters:
안 = ㅇ + ㅏ + ㄴ
녕 = ㄴ + ㅕ + ㅇ
Let's take a look at the second syllable:
The ㄴ makes a nn sound: like in none
The ㅕ makes a yu sound: like in young
The ㅇ is special - it can make two different sounds. When it's in the bottom position, like here, it makes the ng sound: like in tongue
So, all together, 녕 is pronounced nyung (rhymes with tongue).
We can also look at the first syllable:
Before, we said that the ㅇ is special. Here's why: before, it made a ng sound, but when it's here, in the top-left position, it makes no sound! It becomes, effectively, a placeholder.
The ㅏ makes an aa sound: like in bop
The ㄴ makes, like before, an nn sound.
All together, 안 is pronounced aan (rhymes with lawn).