Pronouncing Korean

Introduction to the Korean Alphabet

Let’s kick today’s lesson off with an introduction to the Korean alphabet. Korean has a unique writing system called 한글 (hangeul) “Hangul.” In English, we use Roman alphabet letters to represent sounds; however, in Korean, we represent sounds using Korean letters called 자모 (jamo) “jamo.” Interestingly, the Korean alphabet was created to mimic the shape of the mouth as the letters are pronounced—a very helpful feature for learning Korean!

Just like English, the Korean alphabet is made up of vowels and consonants. There are 24 basic letters in the Korean alphabet: ten vowels and 14 consonants. These are written using Hangul letters, which represent individual letters. For example, the vowel “a” is written using the letter ㅏ (a) and the consonant “m” is written using the letter ᆷ (m):

Syllable Blocks

In Korean, letters don’t appear on their own. Instead, consonants and vowels are combined together to form blocks. Each block represents a syllable (i.e. a unit of sound). For example, when we add the consonant letter ᆷ (m) to the vowel letter ㅏ (a), we get the syllable block 마 (ma)—as you can see in the table below.

Creating a Syllable Block

In this lesson, we’ll be teaching you each letter individually; however, in the examples, you’ll see the Korean consonants and vowels written together in syllable blocks. These syllable blocks are combined to create words and sentences in Korean.

Don’t worry if this is a little confusing at first. You’ll learn more about syllable blocks (as well as how to read and write Hangul) in your Writing lessons. Luckily, there is a tool that will help you to pronounce Korean in the meantime: romanization!

Korean Romanization

Korean romanization or “romaja” is the romanization of Korean words using Latin script—that is, the same letters that we use in English.

We will be providing you with the romaja whenever we introduce you to a Korean word to help you with pronunciation, so let’s get familiar with how it works!

Romaja is read the same way as you would read a text in English; however, since we are reading Korean, the pronunciation is a little different. Don’t worry: we’ll explain more about Korean pronunciation as we make our way through the lesson.

There are several Korean romanization systems out there; we’ll be using the Revised Romanization of Korean: the romanization system you’ll see used in place names and signs in Korea.

Note that romaja should only be used as a reading aid until you’re familiar with the Korean writing system.

As you might have noticed, there are a few vowel sounds in particular that sound very similar. Let’s take a closer look at them and find out how to tell them apart.

ㅜ vs. ㅡ

The vowels ㅜ (u) and ㅡ (eu) can sound similar, but they’re pronounced in slightly different ways:

• ㅡ (Eu) is pronounced with a more closed mouth; your lips should be relaxed and not rounded.
• ㅜ (U) is pronounced with a more open mouth; your lips should be more rounded.

Let’s get some practice with these tricky sounds. Listen to the words below and see if you can hear the difference between these two vowels.

Vowel Sounds

In English, we have five vowels; however, in Korean, we have 21! These can be split into two categories:

• the ten basic vowels
• the 11 double vowels

The good news is that unlike in English, vowels in Korean are pronounced the exact same way no matter where they appear in a word.

In this lesson, we’ll just be covering the ten basic vowels, but don’t worry: we’ll take a look at the double vowels in another lesson. The double vowels are just modifications or combinations of the basic vowels, so if you can learn to pronounce the ten basic vowels, the rest of the vowel sounds in Korean will be easy!

The Basic Vowels

The basic vowels in Korean are quite different from what you might be used to in English, so let’s hear how each of them is pronounced.

ㅓ vs. ㅗ

The vowels ㅓ (eo) and ㅗ (o) can sound quite similar too. Let’s take a look at what sets them apart:

• ㅓ (Eo) is pronounced with a more neutral, open mouth shape; your lips should be relaxed and not rounded.
• ㅗ (O) is pronounced with a more rounded, closed mouth shape; your lips should be rounded.

Let’s take a look at a few words using these sounds now.

Consonant Sounds

Now that we’ve mastered the vowel sounds, it’s time to move onto the consonants! There are 19 consonants in Korean in total. These sounds can be split into two groups:

• the 14 basic consonants
• the five double consonants

In this lesson, we’ll take a look at the 14 basic consonants; we’ll cover the five double consonants in a later lesson.

The key thing to remember about Korean consonants is that their pronunciation can change depending on where they are placed in the word. Don’t worry: we’ll walk you through it!

Let’s start by taking a look at each of the ten basic consonants, starting with ㄱ (g / k).

The Basic Consonant ㄱ

The Korean consonant ㄱ (g / k) can be pronounced as either a “g” or a “k” sound, depending on where it appears in a word. As a general rule:

• At the start of a word or end of syllable, it’s pronounced like an unaspirated version of the English “k” sound—in other words, you shouldn’t release a big puff of air when you say it.
• In the middle of a word, or when followed by a vowel with a “y” or “i” sound, it’s pronounced like a softer version of the English “g” sound.
• At the end of a word, it’s pronounced like an unaspirated “k” sound.

Listen to the examples below and then practice pronouncing them for yourself to really get the hang of this pronunciation.

The Basic Consonant ㄴ

The Korean consonant ㄴ (n) is similar to the English “n” sound, only it’s more nasal. It can sound a little different depending on where it appears in a word or syllable, though. As a general rule:

• At the start of a word, it’s somewhere between an “n” and “d” sound.
• In the middle of a word or at the end of a word or syllable, it’s pronounced like the English “n” sound.

Practice pronouncing it using the words below.

The Basic Consonant ㄷ

The Korean consonant ㄷ (d / t) can be pronounced as either a “d” or a “t” sound depending on where it appears. As a general rule:

• At the start of a word or end of a syllable, it’s pronounced like an unaspirated version of the English “t” sound.
• In the middle of a word, or when followed by a vowel with a “y” or “i” sound, it’s pronounced like a softer version of the English “d” sound.
• At the end of a word, it’s pronounced like an unreleased “t” sound.

Listen and repeat the words below for some practice.

The Basic Consonant ㄹ

The Korean consonant ㄹ (r / l) is somewhere between the English “l” and “r” sounds; it often sounds closer to one or the other depending on where it appears. As a general rule:

• At the start of a word or syllable, it’s pronounced closer to the English “r” sound.
• At the end of a word or syllable, or when followed/preceded by another ㄹ (r / l), it’s pronounced closer to the English “l” sound.

Listen to the examples below and see if you can hear the difference.

The Basic Consonant ᆷ

The Korean consonant ㅁ (m) is similar to the English “m” sound but can be pronounced a little differently depending on where it appears. As a general rule:

• At the start of a word, it’s pronounced somewhere between the English “b” and “m” sounds.

• In the middle of a word or at the end of a word or syllable, it sounds similar to the English “m” as in “mother.” Try saying it for yourself:

The Basic Consonant ㅂ

The Korean consonant ㅂ (b / p) can be pronounced as either a “b” or a “p” sound, depending on where it appears. As a general rule:

• At the start of a word or end of a syllable, it’s pronounced like an unaspirated version of the English “p” sound.
• In the middle of a word, or when followed by a vowel with a “y” or “i” sound, it’s pronounced like a softer version of the English “b” sound.
• At the end of a word, it’s pronounced like an unreleased “p” sound.

Give it a try for yourself!

The Basic Consonant ㅅ

The Korean consonant ㅅ (s / t) can be pronounced as either a “s,” “sh,” or a “t” sound, depending on where it appears. As a general rule:

• At the start of words or syllables, it’s pronounced like the English “s” sound.
• Before a vowel with a “y,” “i,” or “wi” sound, it’s pronounced like the English “sh” sound.
• At the end of words or syllables, it’s pronounced as an unreleased “t” sound.

Give it a try with the words below.

The Basic Consonant ᆼ

The Korean consonant ㅇ (ng) is either silent or pronounced as an “ng” sound, depending on where it appears. As a general rule:

• At the start of a word or syllable, it’s silent. In this case, it is always followed by a vowel.

• At the end of a word or syllable, it’s pronounced like the English “ng” as in “song.”

Check it out:

The Basic Consonant ㅈ

The Korean consonant ㅈ (j / t) can be pronounced as either a “ch,” “j,” or “t” sound, depending on where it appears. As a general rule:

• At the start of a word it’s pronounced like an unaspirated version of the English “ch” sound.
• In the middle of a word, or when followed by a vowel with a “y” or “i” sound, it’s pronounced like a softer version of the English “j” sound.
• At the end of a word or syllable it’s pronounced with an unreleased “t” sound.

Listen to the examples below and see if you can hear the difference.

The Basic Consonant ㅊ

The consonant ㅊ (ch / t) is pronounced as either a “ch” or a “t” sound, depending on where it appears in a word or syllable. As a general rule:

• At the start of a word or syllable, or when followed by a vowel with a “y” or “i” sound, it’s pronounced as an aspirated “ch” sound, like the “ch” in “cheese”—that means you should push lots of air out of your mouth when you say it.
• At the end of a word or syllable, it’s pronounced with an unreleased “t” sound.

Check it out:

The Basic Consonant ㅋ

The consonant ㅋ (k) is pronounced as either an aspirated “k” sound or an unreleased “k” sound depending on where it appears in a word or syllable. As a general rule:

• At the start of words and syllables, it’s pronounced as an aspirated “k” sound, like the “k” in “sick”—so make sure lots of air is coming out of your mouth as you say it.
• At the ends of words or syllables, it’s pronounced as an unreleased “k” sound.

Listen to the examples below to hear how this consonant sounds.

The Basic Consonant ㅌ

The consonant ㅌ (t) is pronounced with an aspirated “t” sound no matter where it appears, like the “t” in “take.”

The Basic Consonant ㅍ

The consonant ㅍ (p) is pronounced with an aspirated “p” sound no matter where it appears, like the “p” in “pay.”

The Basic Consonant ㅎ

The consonant ㅎ (h / t) is pronounced as either an “h” or a “t” sound, depending on where it appears in a word or syllable. As a general rule:

• At the start of a word or syllable, it’s pronounced as an “h” sound just like the English “h” sound.
• At the end of a word or syllable, it’s usually pronounced with an unreleased “t” sound.

Give it a try: