Pronouncing Difficult Korean Sounds

You’ve carefully perused the fantasmic page on learning hangeul, right? Excellent… [drums fingertips together]

But what Sejong didn’t tell you with that wise man / stupid man one-liner is that Hangeul isn’t perfectly phonetic. [Collective gasp!] Just like many other scripts, there are irregularities and pronunciation tricks that must be learned. I’ve adapted an excellent Korean grammar book, Elementary Korean by Ross King and Jae-Hoon Yeon, for this section.

Is ㅂ p or b??

By default, ㅂ, ㄱ, ㄷ, and ㅈ are p, k, t and ch, respectively. However when one of these consonants is between a vowel, y, w, n, ng, or l it gains a harder sound: b, g, d, and j, respectively. Also, ㅅ  makes an s sound, except when it comes before ㅣ, in which case it makes an sh sound: for example 사 (sa) and 시 (shi).

Syllables ending in non-release consonants (is 옷 os or ot?)

Many Korean syllables end in ㄱ, ㅋ, ㅂ, ㅍ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅌ, and ㅅ. When this happens, the final sound is clenched and held in the mouth. This means the ㅌ, ㅈ, ㅊ, and ㅅ become similar dental stops, like the t sound in the word bat.

	Example word	Example word	Pronunciation
Final ㄱ	국 (soup)	목 (throat, neck)	Clenched G
Final ㅋ	부엌 (kitchen)		Clenched K
Final ㅂ	입 (mouth)	굽 (hoof)	Clenched B
Final ㅍ	앞 (in front)	옆 (beside)	Clenched P
Final ㅈ	낮 (day)		Clenched T
Final ㅊ	꽃 (flower)	및 (in addition)	Clenched T
Final ㅌ	밭 (field)	같 (like)	Clenched T
Final ㅅ	옷 (clothing)	못 (pond, nail)	Clenched T

Carrying a sound over to the next syllable

The last letter of a syllable is often influenced by the first letter of the next. The consonant ㅅ is a particularly frequent syllable swinger. ㅅ makes a ㄷ (clenched t) sound if it comes at the end of a syllable (as seen above). However, when the following syllable starts with 으 then ㅅ makes an s sound and when the following syllable starts with 이 then ㅅ makes a sh sound. Lastly, before a syllable starting with ㄷ, ㅅ makes the ㄷ sound double, like ㄸ.

Korean word	Pronunciation	English meaning
옷안	[옫안] odan	clothing lining
옷을	[오슬] osul	clothes (+direct object particle)
옷이	[오시] oshee	clothes (+subject particle)
옷도	[오또] oddo	clothes too

Other examples of syllables that swing the sound across to the following syllable block are as follows:

Korean word	Pronunciation	English meaning
닭고기	[다꼬기] takkogi	chicken meat
밭도	[바또] patto	in the field too
밭안에	[바단에] padan-e	inside the field
낮에	[나제] naje	in the daytime
꽃을	[꼬츨] ggochul	flower (+ direct object marker)

When anglophones can’t pronounce R/L (ㄹ)

The Korean letter ㄹ often makes a double “ll” sound if it comes before or after ㄴ; it also makes some sounds that are very different from either r or l; moreover, if the first letter in the next syllable is ㄷ, ㅈ, or ㅅ, a preceding ㄹ will make the letter sound like a double letter.

Korean word	Pronunciation	English meaning
일년	[일련] illyeon	one year
신라	[실라] shilla	Shilla dynasty
강릉	[강능] kangneung	Gangneung city
심리	[심니] shimni	psychology
철도	[철또] cheolddo	railway
결정	[결쩡] gyeoljjeong	decision
설사	[설싸] seolssa	diarrhea

Is it 합니다 or 함니다?

When ㅂ, ㄷ, or ㄱ come directly before ㅁ, ㄴ, or ㄹ they make the sounds m, n and ng, respectively.

Korean word	Pronunciation	English meaning
죄송합니다	[죄송함니다] choesonghamnida	Please excuse me.
닫는다	[단는다] dannunda	closes it
먹는다	[멍는다] meongneunda	eats it
십륙	[십뉵] shiamnyuk	sixteen
독립	[동닙] dongnip	independence
합리	[함니] hamni	reason