The 8th Day: The Difference Between The 우 and 오 Sound

 That is not your fault if you get ‘우’ as ‘오’ or vice versa from Koreans.

오' [o] and '우' [u] both have the tip of the tongue positioned at back- upper part of the mouth, but '우' is positioned slightly higher than '오'. It can be difficult for foreigners to distinguish between the pronunciations of ‘오’ and ‘우’ when they are used with the beginning sound that is plosive, bilabial, or nasal consonants. Let's listen carefully and distinguish between the 오 and 우 sounds.

Play

부모 – 보모 / 무기 – 모기 / 부고 – 보고 / 부산 – 보성 - 보쌈 / 푸줏간, 풀이, 푸념, 풍경, 풍선 /포기, 포대 / 줄줄 – 졸졸 / 풍덩풍덩 - 퐁당퐁당 / 그런가 봐요. – 그런가 봐유*. 아니에요. -  아니에유*.

 You may often hear Koreans pronouncing '오' as '우' or '우' as '오'. It is not your fault.

In Korean words, there are cases where '오' changes and is interchangeably used with '우'. For example, '호두' (walnut) and '자두' (plum) were originally '호도' (胡桃: barbaric peach) and '자도' (紫桃: purple peach), and words like '쌍둥이' (twins), '막둥이' (the youngest), and '오뚝이' (balancing doll) become standard language from '쌍동이', '막동이', and '오똑이'. Conversely, words like '삼촌' (uncle), '사돈' (son or daughter-in-law), and '부조' (donation of funeral) are in standard language, but many people also pronounce them as '삼춘', '사둔', and '부주'. In addition, regional dialects often have various pronunciations different from standard language. However, we only need to focus on standard language here.


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