Kennim's Korean

The vowel '으' is written as [eu[ in the Latin alphabet, but it is a simple vowel (monophthong) pronounced like the IPA sound [ʉ] . To pronounce ‘으,’ place the tip of the tongue in the middle-high position of the mouth, and the lips are naturally open without touching each other. It is different from the sounds ‘어’ [ ɞ ] and ‘우’[ u ]. Let's practice the 'ㅡ'sound in the words: Play 으뜸, 으르렁, 으스스, 으슥하다, 그것은, 그와 같이, 그곳에, 금은, 지금, 은빛, 스물, 스멀스멀, 슬금슬금, 아슬아슬, 슬하, 근질근질, 트다, 트지다, 터뜨리다, 트림, 트럼펫, 늦었어요. 들뜨지 마세요. 먹으러 가요. 읽으면 돼요, 잡으면 안돼요, 흐느끼다.  은어 – 언어 – 운어 / 은어 – 언어 – 운어 / 은어 – 언어 – 운어

 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: pu...

Do you still have trouble pronouncing ‘ㅓ’?  The Korean vowel ‘ㅓ’ is expressed as '어' to indicate its sound. ‘어’ is a unique vowel that is not commonly found in other languages. Learners often confuse it with '오' [o]. Both '오' and '어' are pronounced with the tongue at the back of the mouth, but '어' is pronounced with the tongue lower, like the sound, [ɞ] in IPA. To pronounce '어’ accurately, let me say simply, keep your lips in the '아' position, and then say '오'. Play 아, 오, 어 , 어 , 어 어 머니, 어 린이, 어 항, 어 깨, 어 묵, 어 른, 어 둠, 어 서, 어쩌 면, 있 어 요.  

  To match the sounds and the letters of 10 basic vowels we need to add ‘ ㅇ ’ as the first consonant of a syllable. Thus, each of ㅏ , ㅑ , ㅓ , ㅕ , ㅗ , ㅛ , ㅜ , ㅠ , ㅡ , ㅣ is changed to 아 , 야 , 어 , 여 , 오 , 요 , 우 , 유 , 으 , 이 respectively. Please image each letter and  try to repeat it when you are hear the sound. Play 아 , 야 , 어 , 여 , 오 , 요 , 우 , 유 , 으 , 이 The meanings of Korean words change due to both consonants and vowels, so we need to determine the accurate sound of each consonant and vowel. For instance: Play 가르다 : to divide; 거르다 : to filter; 고르다 : to select; 구르다 : to roll. The above four words have the same spellings except for the vowel in the first syllable. However, each meaning is completely different. Therefore, we must practice speaking, listening, and writing the precise sounds.

We have learned 8 of the 10 basic vowels: ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ. Now, we are going to study the last two, ㅡ and ㅣ. The ‘ㅡ’ sound is a little bit difficult for learners. It is close to the sound  [ʉ]  in the IPA, but it is not exactly the same as the ‘ㅡ’ sound. On the other hand, the ‘ㅣ’ sound corresponds to [i]. Let’s listen to the standard pronunciation of ‘ㅡ’ and ‘ㅣ’ adding ‘ㅇ’ as the first consonant. Let's listen to the Korean standard pronunciation of 'ㅡ' and 'ㅣ', by adding 'ㅇ' as the first consonant. Play 으, 으, 으 이, 이, 이 으, 이, 으, 이

Semi-vowels are sounds that have characteristics of both vowels and consonants, and they are usually represented by [y] or [w] in English. Here, we are going to learn four semi-vowels that correspond to four basic vowels:ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅗ, ㅜ. If we add the consonant 'ㅇ' to make sounds, they would be as follows: 아[a] → 야[ya] 어[eo] → 여[yeo] 오[o] → 요[yo] 우[u] → 유[yu] Please notice that each of the four semi-vowels has two dots, so you can remember them as a set of basic vowels. Additionally, the consonant 'ㅇ' is silent when it comes at the beginning of a syllable. Play 아 야, 아 야, 아 야 어 여, 어 여, 어 여 오 요, 오 요. 오 요 우 유, 우 유, 우 유

Just as we know what sound a specific note represents by looking at the musical scale marked on sheet music, we need to memorize first Korean four basic vowels by the characteristics of their shapes. The four sounds ㅏ , ㅓ , ㅗ , and ㅜ are primary in the basic vowels. Each sound is determined by the location of the dot. ① When the dot is to the right of the vertical line, the vowel is ‘ㅏ’ and is pronounced as [ 아 (a)]. ‘ㅇ’ in ‘아’ is borrowed to form a CV syllable to create a sound. ② When the dot is to the left of the line, the vowel is ‘ㅓ’ and is pronounced as [ 어 (eo)]. ③ When the dot is above the horizontal line, the vowel is ‘ㅗ’ and is pronounced as [ 오 (o)]. ④ When the dot is below the line, the vowel is ‘ㅜ’ and is pronounced as [ 우 (u)]. Most languages have the 아 [a], 오 [o], and 우 [u] sounds, but 어 [ɞ] may be unfamiliar. According to the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), the closest sound to 어 is [ɞ]. To produce this sound, your mouth should be open-mid a...