I sent a message to a Korean friend, and the reply was "ㅇㅋ". Is the text corrupted? No, it isn't. It's something Korean people write on purpose. ## Even a single consonant has a sound Hangul builds letters by assembling consonants and vowels. But each consonant already carries a sound, so the meaning comes across even without writing out full letters. ㅋㅋ is short for the laughing sound "keu-keu," and ㅎㅎ is short for "ha-ha, hi-hi." ㅠㅠ is actually a vowel. It looks like a face with tears streaming down, so it means a teary, sad look. ## A trick only those in the know use: reading just the first sound Koreans shorten words by writing only the first consonant of a word, called the choseong. - ㅇㅋ = 오케이 (OK) - ㄱㅅ = 감사 (thanks) - ㅇㅇ = 응응 (yeah, got it) - ㄴㄴ = 노노 (no) If you see a consonant you don't know, try reading it aloud. If you keep attaching "ㅏ" or "ㅗ" to the consonant and saying it, the meaning will come to you. Why doesn't anyone tell you about this? It's because people don't learn it at school; it just spread naturally as friends used it with each other. Even Koreans can't remember when they learned it. ## Just watch out for this Short replies like ㅇㅇ feel like casual speech used between friends. Don't use it with your teacher or your boss at work. When you're talking to an older person, adding ㅎㅎ, as in "네ㅎㅎ", sounds soft and safe. A lone "ㅋ" with just one ㅋ can come across as cold, like a sneer, so it's safer to use ㅋㅋ or ㅎㅎ at first.