KONGLE

Before TOPIK, learn to read

Whatever level you are aiming for, the paper in front of you is written in Hangul — the questions, the answer choices, the instructions. There is no romanization anywhere on it. So the first thing to own is not vocabulary. It is reading without sounding out.

KONGLE is not a TOPIK course. There are no practice tests here, no mock exams, no scoring, and no writing feedback. What is here is the groundwork the test assumes you already have — and that part is free, forever.

Three things to have before you open a TOPIK book

  1. Read Hangul without decoding it. Not "I can work out the letters" — actually reading, at the speed you read this sentence. Under time pressure, sounding out syllables is where the minutes go.

    KONGLE has this: Level 0, 12 lessons, every letter with audio, about two weeks at one lesson a day.

  2. Everyday words you have actually heard. Beginner-level Korean leans on ordinary situations — ordering, prices, directions, times. Words you have only ever seen on a list behave differently from words you have heard in a sentence.

    KONGLE has this: Level 1, 24 lessons, built around real situations, with audio on every line.

  3. Enough grammar to build a sentence you were never taught. This is the step where memorized phrases stop being enough — you need to know why 얼마예요 ends the way it does before you can turn it into 얼마였어요.

    KONGLE does not have this yet. It is designed and it is coming; today we cover the two steps above. We would rather say that than let you find out later.

The sounds that trip people up

These four come up again and again from learners who can already "read" Hangul. Each one is a lesson here, free and without an account.

Start with lesson 1 — it takes 5 minutes

All 36 lessons went through an AI-assisted review — the pronunciation, the order things are taught in, and the explanations themselves — and were corrected where it found problems. They have not yet been reviewed by a certified teacher.