Kennim's Korean

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...

There are basic 10 vowels (모음) and 14 consonants (자음) in the Korean language (한국어). Let’s look at the shapes that are different from your language, keeping in mind the two types (CV and CVC) of syllables I mentioned in the first day post. Korean Basic Vowels (모음) (10): ㅏ[a], ㅑ[ya], ㅓ[eo], ㅕ[yeo], ㅗ [o], ㅛ [yo], ㅜ [u], ㅠ [yu], ㅡ [eu], ㅣ[i] Korean Basic Consonants (자음) (14): ㄱ [g], ㄴ [n], ㄷ [d], ㄹ [r/l], ㅁ [m], ㅂ [b], ㅅ [s], ㅇ [ng], ㅈ [j], ㅊ [ch], ㅋ [k], ㅌ [t], ㅍ [p], ㅎ [h] Here are some examples of the CV and CVC types, combining consonants and vowels.  CV: ㄱ[g] +ㅏ[a] = 가 [ga], ㄴ[n] +ㅗ= 노 [no] CVC: ㄱ[g] +ㅏ[a]+ㄴ[n] = 간 [gan], ㄴ[n]+ㅗ[o]+ㄹ[r/l]= 놀 [nor] or [nol] Please remember that the position of the vowel in a syllable is either to the right of or below the initial consonant The vowels to the right of the first consonant: ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅣ (e.g. 가, 갸, 거, 겨, 기 ) The vowels below the first consonant: ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ, ㅡ (e.g. 고, 교, 구, 규, 그 ) On the other hand, the final consonant in CVC is loca...

If you're interested in learning Korean, you've come to the right place! The Korean language is called ‘한국어’ (Han-Guk-Eo). Korean has an intrinsic letter system called ‘한글’ (Han-Geul). To understand the structure of Han-Geul, it is essential to first comprehend the composition of syllables, which are the smallest meaningful units of sound. There are two types of Korean syllables: one is a combination of a consonant(C) and a vowel(V), and the other is a combination of a consonant(C), a vowel(V), and another consonant(C). The former is called CV and The latter is called CVC. An example of the CV is ‘가’ (GA), which combines ‘ㄱ’ (a consonant) and ‘ㅏ’ (a vowel). An example of the CVC is ‘한’ (Han), which combines ‘ㅎ’ (a consonant), ‘ㅏ’ (a vowel), and ‘ㄴ’ (a consonant). Therefore, to form a Korean syllable, we first need to know the consonants and the vowels. It can be said that the starting point of learning Korean is to study these elements and match them in the Korean alphabet, ...