Mastering the sounds of Korean can have a significant impact on your speaking and listening abilities. This guide will introduce you to the key elements of Korean pronunciation.
Korean has 10 basic vowel phonemes, which are:ㅏ: Like ‘a’ in “father”.ㅑ: Like ‘ya’ in "yard".ㅓ: Somewhat like ‘uh’ in “hut”.ㅕ: Somewhat like ‘yo’ in “yonder”.ㅗ: Like ‘o’ in “no”.ㅛ: Like ‘yo’ in “yoga”.ㅜ: Like ‘u’ in “moon”.ㅠ: Like ‘you’.ㅡ: No exact equivalent in English, somewhat like ‘eu’ in “Euler”.ㅣ: Like ‘ee’ in “see”.
Korean has 14 basic consonant phonemes. Many have similar sounds to English, but some are different:ㄱ: Between ‘g’ in “go” and ‘k’ in “kick”, depending on its position.ㄴ: Like ‘n’ in “no”.ㄷ: Between ‘d’ in “do” and ‘t’ in “take”, depending on its position.ㄹ: Somewhere between ‘r’ and ‘l’ in English, depending on its position.ㅁ: Like ‘m’ in “me”.ㅂ: Between ‘b’ in “be” and ‘p’ in “pie”, depending on its position.ㅅ: Between ‘s’ in “see” and ‘t’ in “tea”, depending on its position.ㅇ: Silent at the start of a word, like ‘ng’ in “song” at the end of a word.ㅈ: Between ‘j’ in “jeep” and ‘ch’ in “cheap”, depending on its position.ㅊ: Like ‘ch’ in "chop".ㅋ: Like ‘k’ in “kick”.ㅌ: Like ‘t’ in “take”.ㅍ: Like ‘p’ in “pie”.ㅎ: Like ‘h’ in “hat”.
In Korean, stress generally doesn't change the meaning of words as it can in English, but stress usually falls on the first syllable of a word.
Pronunciation takes practice. Listening to native Korean speakers and repeating the sounds, words, and sentences they use can significantly improve your pronunciation. Remember to be patient with yourself and keep practicing!