Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Hi everyone, I am Jaehwi and in this video, we will see Top 10 Hardest Words to Pronounce.
1. 경찰청 (gyeongchalcheong) Police department 
경찰청 (gyeongchalcheong) police department. So I think it’s because ch sound like when its placed next to each other, I think it’s going to make that word not easy to pronounce 경찰청 (gyeongchalcheong)경찰청 (gyeongchalcheong) and it also has eong sound at the end of each character. So 경찰청 (gyeongchalcheong) 경찰청 철창살은 쇠청창살이냐.(Korean Tongue-twister) something like 경찰청 철창살은 쇠철창살이냐 철철창살이냐 but you know like Korean people also have the hard time to read this word correctly when it’s in the middle of the sentence 교통사고가 나서 경찰청에 갔습니다. which means I had a car accident. So I went to the police department. 

2. 계획 (gyehwak, gyehoek) plan 
계획 (gyehwak, gyehoek) plan. I think when it has double vowel like oeof hoe it’s not hek it has to be hoek that is the one making this word not easy to pronounce. So make sure that you say 계획 (gyehwak, gyehoek) 계획 (gyehwak, gyehoek)not gyehek. So with that word you can say 이번 여름에는 제주도에 갈 계획입니다. which means this summer, I have a plan to go to Jeju Island.

3. 과일 (gwail) fruit.
 과일 (gwail) fruit. This one also has a double vowel gwa. So it’s not ka it should be gwa. So with that word you can say 과일을 사러 경찰청 앞에 있는 슈퍼마켓에 갔습니다. which means I went to a supermarket in front of the police department to buy fruits. 

4. 귀여운 (gwiyeoun) Cute.
 귀여운 (gwiyeoun)cute. It should be gwi not ki so 귀여운 (gwiyeoun)귀여운 (gwiyeoun). So as a slang, we sometimes say 기여운 instead of saying gwi we say gi to make it sound a little bit more cute. You know, when you talk in a formal situation, you have to make sure that you say gwi not gi 귀여운 (gwiyeoun)and if you know the word 귀염둥이 which means darling or cutie, you can say 우리 귀염둥이는 정말 귀엽습니다. which means my darling is very cute. 

5. 똑똑한 (ttokttokan) smart.
똑똑한 (ttokttokan) smart. So let me give you three examples 독독한,똑똑한,톡톡한 . Can you see the differences? For Korean, it sounds totally different between each other. So 똑똑한 (ttokttokan) has double tt sound. So make sure that you read it correctly. You might need to practice a little bit more and say 똑똑한 (ttokttokan)똑똑한 (ttokttokan). You cannot say 독독한, you cannot say 톡톡한 you have to say 똑똑한 (ttokttokan). Don’t worry if you cannot see the differences yet. You will master that if you watch Korean pronunciation series. So you can say 내 동생은 매우 똑똑합니다. which means my younger brother is very smart. 

6. 맛있다 (masitda) Delicious.
맛있다 (masitda) delicious. So it’s okay because even some Korean people sometimes just by mistake say maditda but actually the correct pronunciation is masitda. So you can say 네가 만든 음식은 정말 맛있다. the food that you made are so delicious. You can say 남대문 시장에 가면 맛있는 음식을 쉽게 먹을 수 있습니다. which means when you go to Namdaemun market, you can try delicious food easily. 

7. 사람 (saram)a person
But it should be a little bit softer S sound and say saram, saram. So it shouldn’t be saram. So with that word, you can say 사람이 많은 곳에는 가고싶지 않습니다. which means I don’t want to go to a crowded place. So crowded place in Korean can be said 사람이 많은 곳 which literally means the place which has a lot of people. And this word can be plural. So you can simply say 저는 똑똑한 사람을 좋아합니다. which means I like smart people. 

8. 사랑 (sarang) Love.
사랑 (sarang) Love. The same thing like you have to say sarang with a softer S not sarang and make sure that you pronounce ng sound correctly sarang not saran, saram or something else sarang, sarang. So you can say 저는 사랑하는 사람이 생겼습니다. which means I recently got (is what the narrator is saying) someone whom I love and also you can say 사랑하는 사람을 저는 귀염둥이라고 부릅니다. which means I call someone whom I love as.

9. 일요일 (iryoil) Sunday 
일요일 (iryoil) Sunday. When the word has the same syllable at the beginning and at the end at the same time, it’s not easy to pronounce. For example 일요일 (iryoil) 일요일 (iryoil)if you read it syllable by syllable, you can say il-yo-il but when you say it as one word, you have to connect it together and say 일요일 (iryoil). So you can say 일요일에 경찰청에 갔습니다. on Sunday, I went to a police department or 일요일에 과일을 사러 슈퍼마켓에 갔습니다. which means on Sunday, I went to a supermarket to buy fruits. 

10. 철창살 (cheolchangsal) Grill bar 
철창살 (cheolchangsal) grill bar. Okay that will be the hardest word that I also feel like it’s not easy for me to pronounce. So 철창살 (cheolchangsal) it has two CH sounds. So it should be not easy to pronounce and especially this word, we use the same long phrase to practice it with 경찰청 (gyeongchalcheong) . So let me try that again 경찰청 철창살은 쇠철창살이냐 철철창살이냐 . Also we have another way with these words. For example 중앙청 창살은 쌍창살이고 시청의 창살은 외창살이다 but you know, I cannot also read it correctly. This is that much hard. So if you want to find a good tongue twister in Korean, this is the word that you can pick.
Okay that’s all top 10 hardest words to pronounce. Thanks for watching everyone. Make sure to subscribe. I will see you next time. 다음 시간에 뵙겠습니다. 안녕히 계세요.

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