NAJEON: Learn to Read Korean
Shinya Nagahama Education iPhoneiPadiPod touch
NAJEON: Learn to Read Korean is a free Education app for iPhone and iPad by Shinya Nagahama. Requires iOS 18.0. Updated October 19, 2026.
- Price
- Free
- on the App Store
- Size
- 59 MB
- Age 4+
- Updated
- Oct 19
- 2026 · v1.0.3
Screenshots
About NAJEON: Learn to Read Korean
A puzzle for learning to read Korean. **It is about the letters, not conversation** People say you can learn Hangul in a day. You can learn to decode it in a day. Reading it without thinking, writing it, hearing the difference between 받침 — that takes longer. This app spends its time there. **Match → hear → build → trace** Line up three of the same tile and they clear. The first time you meet a letter, it is read aloud, you assemble it from its parts, and you trace the stroke order with your finger. After that it flows — no buttons to press, no cards to grade. **It starts where Korean children start** 자모 (the letters) → 반절 (the syllable table) → 받침 (final consonants) → 어휘 A, B, C (vocabulary). 433 stages in all, from your first look at Hangul through to intermediate TOPIK words. **Letters alone don't stick, so they come as words** 가 and 나 on their own mean nothing. Here they arrive inside 가방 (bag) and 나무 (tree) — the words that letter actually lives in. Every word carries its romanisation, its meaning, and, where it has one, the Chinese character behind it. **받침 collapse into seven sounds** ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅇ. Twenty-seven written finals, seven sounds. When 한국말 comes out as [한궁말], you hear it happen rather than reading a rule about it. **Korea opens as you go** Each stage you finish opens one photograph: a scenic site, a craft, a dish. Bulguksa in Gyeongju. Mother-of-pearl lacquer from Tongyeong. Bibimbap in Jeonju. 118 places, 56 crafts, 92 dishes, across all seventeen provinces. **Why "najeon"** 나전칠기 is the craft of cutting shell into threads and setting them into black lacquer. Small fragments, laid one at a time, become a single picture. That is what learning letters is, so that is the name. **What's free** 자모 and 반절 — 36 stages — are free. The remaining 397 unlock once, for a single payment. Not monthly. No advertising. Nothing is collected about you. Inside: the full syllable table / 27 finals / 3,033 words / 1,799 Sino-Korean characters / 433 stages Interface: English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Russian, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian
What’s new
Version 1.0.3 · Updated October 19, 2026
Now supports iPad. The painting opens out to fill the screen and the board sits in a single column down the middle. • In the tour, tapping a place, craft or dish opens a window. Crafts and dishes were showing no photo at all (148 of 266 items). • The build and trace panels now show the word's picture. • Tracing is more forgiving. Short strokes (the tick on ㅊ) were far too strict. • Tilt the device and each piece of the opening mark shifts colour. • A brass streak on each swap, shell rings on each chain, shell shards when tiles clear. • Tiles have the sheen of inlay. The colours that tell them apart are unchanged.
App privacy
The developer, Shinya Nagahama, reported these privacy practices to Apple.
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Alternatives to NAJEON: Learn to Read Korean
Looking for apps like NAJEON: Learn to Read Korean? Here are 6 similar apps on the App Store. The highest rated is VocaBoard: Writing Practice (5.0/5), and 5 of the 6 are free to download.
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Lyst. - スワイプでわかる英語・韓国語・受験勉強 -
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HANJI: Learn Korean Hangul
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TOPIK Level 5 Vocabulary 3000
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じゆうもじれんしゅう帳
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VocaBoard: Writing Practice
5.0
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MyPhrase
| App | Rating | Price | Last updated | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAJEON: Learn to Read Korean | – | Free | October 19, 2026 | |
| Lyst. - スワイプでわかる英語・韓国語・受験勉強 - | – | Free | Jul 28, 2026 | Compare |
| HANJI: Learn Korean Hangul | – | Free | Sep 16, 2026 | Compare |
| TOPIK Level 5 Vocabulary 3000 | – | Free | Sep 1, 2026 | Compare |
| じゆうもじれんしゅう帳 | – | Free | Oct 27, 2025 | Compare |
| VocaBoard: Writing Practice | 5.0 / 5 (1) | 4.99 USD | Sep 18, 2026 | Compare |
| MyPhrase | – | Free | Aug 15, 2026 | Compare |