Annyeong ha se yo.

I’ve been listening to KoreanClass101.com from the beginning, and I find this is the strangest episode up to this point. Yea, the story is intriguing but what a strange way to introduce ireum and mwoyeyo.

One thing that messes me up is the ‘mw’ sound. It sounds like “bo e yo.” And I’m guessing that sorry isn’t “bi a ye,” but “mi a ye.”

But I love these podcasts. With the boyfriend girlfriend podcasts I was able to ask one my Korean friends if she had a boyfriend.
I’m male, by the way.
Of course it was all in fun, but she asked if I learned anything new, and that was the only thing I could remember at the time. It was an excellent opportunity to use those questions. However, she didn’t answer. And that’s ok.

I don’t want to keep going, but…

Thanks, tedani kamsahamnida. (I hope I said that right)

PS - I know very little hangul, and I can’t find the Korean input software, can someone help me find it, thanks.

PSS - And Keith was right about people being surrounded by Koreans. I live in Brooklyn, and go to school Manhattan. And I’ve been learning a bit of Japanese over the last two years. For every Japanese person I’ve met, I’ve probably met 3 or 4 more Koreans. Looks like I’ll be learning more Korean now.

Sorry for going on so long, I just got so much to say. Again thanks. And continue to keep up the good work.

I notice that too about the ㅁ sounding like a ‘b’ when it’s the first consonant in a statement. I think this is because the lips are more relaxed with a leading ㅁ than the ‘m’ we’re used to hearing. When I asked my friend about this last month he said was not aware of this difference in ㅁ sounds. He told me I probably heard ‘b’ because the speaker had bad pronunciation.

Carl, here’s an online virtual keyboard for 한글:
http://www.wandel.person.dk/korean.html

Carl..

The lessons are pretty good huh? I like the creative ways to introduce new conversation. As far as typing in Korean it really depends on what OS you use. If you have a Mac, it is easy. Let me know if that’s the case. If you use Windows, things are a bit more tricky, but they are loads of tutorials online:

Check here:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA010347361033.aspx
and here:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=15798

Carl and James have both confused ㅁ sounding like a ‘b.’

I’m wondering if anyone else has this problem as well.

Wow. I’m overwhelmed by the responses. Thank you all very much. I’m gonna try installing the Korean input, thanks Austin. Oh, I use XP, but thanks. later.

깃! Yes, I have the same problem sometimes. ㅁ sounding like “b”. Also ㄴ sounding like d. The first time I said 네 (yes) to a Korean classmate, she corrected me. I’ve been saying it sounding like “de” since then and everyone seems to understand.

Korean seems to have a problem with nasal sounds… sometimes I just talk as if I have a bad cold (ㅁ is ‘b’ and ㄴ is ‘d’) and everyone seems to understand more.

비누 누나 //

‘류지’라는 이름의 그 치과 의사 선생님은 일본 사람이죠?

Max,

I’m sure you know now, but
that’s because the location of the tip of your tongue is different when you pronounce the Korean “ㄴ(n)” and the English “N”

While the English “N” is pronounced with your tongue positioned around where the back of your teeth meet with the roof of your mouth,

Korean “ㄴ” as in “네” is pronounced with your tongue BETWEEN your teeth, just like the English “TH” sound.

It’s the same with “ㄷ” and “ㅌ”.

So a lot of people try to pronounce the words like

나는 .. (I am..)
다시 (again)

and they say “naneun” and “dashi”

but actually the N and D sounds should be made with your tongue place between your teeth.

저는 ‘류지상’ 이라는 친구가 있었어요 ^_^

저도 처음 “류지さん”라고 생각했어요
“류지상”씨네요. 일본어 소리로 들으면 류지さん…말들은 진짜 재미있네

But 3 is 셋(set)

I agree that sometimes the ㄴ does sound like a /d/. But mostly I hear it as /n/. 현우’s comment about the tongue position is helpful.

As for the ㅁ being a /b/… I don’t hear that in this lesson, and generally not anywhere else either. I think the lips move in similar way for ㅁ and ㅂ at the initial position but if you hold your fingers in front of your mouth, and try to say words like “뭐예요” and “봐요” you’ll feel a little burst of air on the ㅂ. All this to say that it’s possible some extra air could escape when trying to pronounce ㅁ , and therefore make it sound like ㅂ.

It would be useful to compare this lesson to the intermediate pilot…

“이거 봐” (look at this)
and
“이거 뭐예요?” (what is this?)

Do they sound the same to you?

Carl,

뭐예요’s romanization would be “mwo ye yo” and
이거 봐 would be “i geo bwa”

Just a “remark/suggestion” :
with informal conversation ->
저는 류지야
should be :
나는 류지야

Otherwise it’s a good stuff.
Any pronunciation problems with Korean,
but I’m French (not the same with my English) ^^

추신: the PDF are generated from a Mac, I guess ?
because, I can’t copy/paste or convert to word :/

Hi everyone,
I actually never had problems with the ㅂ or the ㅁ sound, its just a matter of how you pronounce it, and also it helps if you say the words like in a normal conversation, meaning with a normal somewhat fast paced talk.
One thing Im lacking is being able to be surrounded by koreans that could help me practice it. I live in the east coast in Miami FL and theres barely any asians at all, and if theres any they are most likely chinese or japanese or filipinos.
I wish I could have native korean friends. I love the language so much. Im doing the best i can to get the closest korean experience i could get around here. So far is only the internet. I actually practice everyday. Seriously.
I even watch Korean movies and dramas and TVshows from the internet, like in Youtube, Mysoju, crunchyroll, Guba, and a lot other places. I Listen to Korean Pop, R&B, and HipHop. I even got the CDs from all the bands and listen to them in my car on the way to school and work, and sing along out loud. I not only come here to listen to the lessons but also any other source of korean material I can gather.
In other words what i’m trying to say is, Im so excited and happy about this language, I love it so much!.. I even thought of going to study Korean in Korea. I even registered at Yonsei Univ. for summer semester 08′, since registration is free, but so far, I dont know if I can make it. cuz of work and school here. But I wish I had people around me to talk in korean. Can you imagine trying to learn a language that you love so much and you cannot speak it with anyone around you? Its frustrating. I talked to other koreans on AIM/AOL, and MSN messenger but its not the same because it is still the internet. I wish I had kroean friends in my own town. If you have any comments and suggestions about what all this, please tell me. You can reply here or to my email: questdtz@gmail.com or my AIM/AOL: jeongkyu or MSNmessenger: questdtz@hotmail.com
Hope to hear from you guys soon. and again thank you for your help. I love this website.
Laterz!!