Confused on how this should be pronounced: 각

[freyjarocks]

Hi,

I am new to learning the Korean language. I have a language learning textbook and it gives the example 각(gak) to pronounce. I thought that giyeok would sound more like a k sound with the last sounding more like a g sound. Kinda of sounding like kag. I am confused when giyeok in a word should be pronounced as a g or k sound. Any help would be great.

[kraemder_226527]

I was reading your post because I have my own pronunciation question and I'm a noob. I think I can answer this though or help a little..

정각 jeonggak o'clock

From the core 100. You can go listen to the audio. The audio sounds just like gak to me so I think your textbook is spot on. I get why you're confused though - the letter has three sound components.. the 1st is ㄱ and my app I studied last week says it has a "G" sound.. the next is ㅏ and from what I've seen it's consistently got an "AH" sound. and then it's ㄱ again in the final position but now it has a different sound.. it's more of a k than a "G". My app taught me that a K is ㅋ but clearly there's some flexibility. G and K are definitely related sounds.. one is voiced and the other isn't but the mouth has the same position. So it makes sense kinda.

[community.korean]

Hi all,

ㄱ is normally pronounced as a soft "k" when placed at the beginning of a word and more of a "g" in the middle of a word. But, remember it is a soft "k" and not identical to the English "k."

So it would be more helpful to listen to native Korean speakers rather than relying on romanization.

Thanks,
Claire
Team KoreanClass101.com