Hangul Day is held on October 9, when South Koreans celebrate the invention of the Korean Alphabet System Hangul, which King Sejong created during the Joseon dynasty. The writing system is still being used today. In honor of the holiday, I customized a mechanical keyboard with the Korean alphabet, and you can too! We will talk about how, as a foreigner, you can practice typing in Korean with a Korean language keyboard!
Have you ever wanted to learn how to write or type in Hangul? I did enough that I would buy Hangul stickers to put on my keyboards for typing and practicing how to write Korean. However, the disadvantage of stickers is that they only last a short time. They tend to either slip off the keys, peel off, crinkle upward, or leave a sticky residue. Ultimately the aesthetic of the keyboard is ruined.
I recently became obsessed with mechanical keyboards and liked how customizable they are, so I decided to buy them myself. Eventually, the natural course of thinking for me is to customize a mechanical keyboard with Korean letters already on it and stop using stickers.
Now mechanical keyboards are often way more expensive than regular keyboards. So you'd be lucky to find a nice one for less than $40. Needless to say, a Korean mechanical keyboard would be difficult to find and rather expensive for people not living in Korea. Non-mechanical Korean keyboards are a little easier to track down, especially if you are a BTS Army. I suggest the budget-friendly route of choosing a mechanical keyboard at a price zone you're comfortable with and then customizing it with Korean keycap options.
Korean letter keycaps are a great option if you want to use the same mechanical keyboard and just switch out the keycaps. First, you need to secure yourself a mechanical keyboard. You can choose any mechanical keyboard you want! Mechanical keyboards have "switches" on them that come in various colors. The color of the switch indicates the clicky sound they create. Red, blue, and brown are the most common switches. Many keyboards offer all three of these options, and you can choose your preference. Additionally, switches can be removed and replaced with other colors and even be mixed and matched to give a variety of typing sounds.
I prefer full-size 100% keyboards with the number keypad already on the keyboard, but there are many great mechanical keyboards in all sizes.
The keyboard I chose to customize my first Korean keyboard is the Redragon K208 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard in white with brown switches, which was unbelievably under $20. There is a pink option here.
Korean Letter Keycaps
Matcha Korean Base Kit
These keycaps are lovely matcha-green colors. There are extra keys with cute pictures of cakes, ice cream, cookies, and boba tea. I used the pastry keycaps for the arrow keys. In fact, I'm typing this article with this keyboard and keycap combination.
korean alphabet mechanical keyboard for hangul day pic.twitter.com/Ta1csRiwUI
— Ciera 씨에라 Rei Solo🥹 (@cierabyul) October 10, 2022
Cherry Blossom Keycaps
You can enjoy pretty cherry blossom patterns while typing in Korean with these keycaps. I might get these later and use them when spring rolls around. These do not come with number pad keys and are made for compact 60% mechanical keyboards. If you want to use these on a full keyboard you can always use different keycaps for the number pad.
Squid Game Theme Korean Keycaps
For fans of the series "Squid Game," there is a Korean language keycap set matching the theme colors and symbols used. I think they would make fun keyboards. The set comes with 135 keycaps, so you can use it for any size mechanical keyboard.
PBT Korean Keycaps
A nice Korean letter Keycap set with cute and colorful designs. The keycaps are white and will look good with any board color, such as black, white, pink, blue, yellow, purple, or whatever.
Black Double Shot PBT Shine Through Korean Keycaps
For those who want a sleek black keys look, these keycaps will fit the bill. The lettering is see-through, meaning they will pair well with RGB light-up keyboards. I may get these later because, at my big age, I still love RBG rainbow keyboard aesthetics and see nothing wrong with that, right Jeno? I find this set a bit little unique because the Hangul letters are beside the English letters instead of under them.
Read Also: Learning Korean: 5 of the Best Instagram Accounts
If you decide to customize your own mechanical Korean keyboard, let me know @KpopWise or my personal account @Cierabyul, and I would be glad to share some personalized tips!