How Memrise teaches
Memrise's Korean course advertises 500+ lessons built around topics such as Travel, Work, Food and Social Life. It uses 400+ videos of native speakers in real-world contexts, with 5,000+ words pronounced by native speakers rather than by a synthetic voice.
Speaking practice comes from 75+ AI conversations, described as a way to build confidence privately with an AI language tutor before talking to real people. The Pro tier expands the video library further, advertising 45,000 native speaker videos across all its courses.
This is a topic-first method. You move through categories of everyday life, picking up words and phrases as you go, and the videos give you a real sense of how Korean actually sounds.
What that means for Hangeul
Hangeul is a featural alphabet built from syllable blocks, not a list of shapes to memorise one at a time. Reading Korean means parsing those blocks, and that's a specific skill that a topic-based vocabulary course doesn't automatically teach.
Memrise lists "Hangul" as one of 15+ categories in its curriculum. That placement is the whole story: the alphabet is treated as a topic you'll eventually cover, the same way "Food" or "Work" is a topic, rather than a gate you pass through before the rest of the course.
Batchim, the final consonants that change how a syllable sounds depending on what follows, aren't something a topic-based vocabulary list is built to explain. You can hear a native speaker say a word correctly in a video without ever being told why the final letter changed its sound.
The plain, aspirated and tense consonant contrast (가, 카, 까) is another case where hearing native audio helps, but doesn't replace direct instruction. English speakers need to be told that these are three separate sounds and given a way to check whether they're producing them correctly, not just exposed to examples.
To Memrise's credit, native-speaker audio at this volume is a real asset once you can already sound out the letters in front of you. Listening to real speech patterns, rather than a robotic voice, is exactly what a learner needs after the alphabet, not instead of it. Our full Memrise Korean review covers the rest of the course beyond the alphabet question.
What it won't do for you
It won't explain syllable blocks directly
Nothing in Memrise's own description of the Korean course walks through how consonants and vowels combine into blocks. You're expected to absorb the pattern through exposure to words and videos rather than through explicit instruction.
It won't test your pronunciation of individual letters
The course description doesn't mention letter-level or syllable-level pronunciation scoring. You can listen to native audio as much as you like, but nothing tells you whether your own attempt at 카 sounds different from your attempt at 가.
It won't check handwriting from memory
There's no mention of a handwriting or letter-recall exercise in Memrise's Korean course. Recognising a letter in a video is a much lighter task than being able to write it from memory, and the app doesn't appear to test the harder version.
It won't sequence batchim and consonant contrasts for you
Because Hangeul sits inside a topic-based structure rather than a dedicated module, there's no described order in which sound changes and consonant contrasts get introduced and drilled. You'll meet them as they come up in vocabulary, not as a planned progression.
A better order for learning to read Korean
- Learn the shapes and sounds of all 40 letters somewhere designed to teach exactly that. Lingrow's free interactive Hangeul chart plays audio for every letter and is a good starting point with no account needed.
- Read a plain explanation of how syllable blocks work before you touch vocabulary. Lingrow's free written Hangeul guide covers blocks and batchim in plain language.
- If you want your pronunciation checked rather than just guessed at, use a course built to rate it. Lingrow's Hangeul course covers all 40 letters, syllable blocks and batchim, rates your pronunciation on vowels and the plain, aspirated and tense consonant contrast, and tests handwriting from memory with spaced repetition.
- Once you can read comfortably, bring in native-speaker listening practice. This is where Memrise's video library genuinely earns its place, giving you exposure to natural speech rhythm on top of letters you can already sound out.
- Move into speaking. Lingrow's roleplay conversations cover 350+ real-life scenarios with real-time feedback, which is a natural next step once reading isn't the bottleneck.
If you're comparing your options more broadly, see our roundups of the best apps to learn Hangeul and the best apps to learn Korean, plus a look at the hardest Hangeul letters for English speakers.
Verdict
Memrise doesn't front-load Hangeul, it files it as one topic inside a much larger vocabulary and video course. That makes it a weak first stop for actually learning to read, but a genuinely useful one afterwards, when its native-speaker audio can sharpen listening skills you've already built elsewhere. Learn the alphabet properly first, with something built for that one job, then let Memrise's videos do what they do well.
Frequently asked questions
Does Memrise have a Hangeul lesson?
Yes. Memrise lists Hangul as one of over 15 topic categories in its Korean course, alongside topics like Travel, Work and Food. It sits inside the same 500-plus lesson structure as everything else, rather than being a separate module you complete before moving on.
Can I learn to read Korean with Memrise alone?
You can pick up some letters through repeated exposure in videos and vocabulary drills, but Memrise doesn't explain the writing system directly. It works better as listening and vocabulary practice once you can already read Hangeul than as your first introduction to it.
Is Memrise good for Korean pronunciation?
Memrise's native-speaker videos are genuinely useful for hearing natural Korean rhythm and intonation. What they don't do is tell you whether your own pronunciation is correct, so you can hear the language well without necessarily producing it accurately.
What's a better way to learn Hangeul before using Memrise?
Learn the alphabet first with a focused resource, such as Lingrow's free Hangeul chart or its 9-lesson Hangeul course, which rates your pronunciation and checks handwriting from memory. Then Memrise's videos and vocabulary drills become far more useful, because you're reading along instead of guessing.
Does Memrise use romanisation?
Memrise's own Korean course page doesn't mention romanisation, so it isn't a stated feature of the course. If you're relying on the app to avoid transliteration, you should check the current lesson screens yourself before deciding.
