| Hi, everyone! Welcome to the Ask Teacher series. My name is K-Jin, |
| 안녕하세요, K-Jin입니다. (An-nyeong-ha-se-yo, ke-i-jin-im-ni-da.) |
| In this series, I’ll answer your Korean questions, so if you have any questions, please let me know by clicking the link in the description, or go to KoreanClass101.com/Ask-KJin, K-J-I-N. |
| Ask me anything! |
| Today, I chose some questions related to the pronunciation of Korean consonants. |
| Here’s the first question… |
| Why does 네 (ne) sound like 데 (de)? |
| This is a very good question. By the way, do you what is 네 (ne)? What does it mean, 네 (ne)? |
| It means “yes” in Korean, “yes.” 네 (ne), 네 (ne). |
| Are you K-Jin? |
| 네, 저는 K-Jin이에요. (Ne, jeo-neun ke-i-ji-ni-e-yo.) |
| 네 (ne) |
| A lot of people say… |
| Hmm, the 네(ne) yes, 네 (ne) sound like 데 (de), why? |
| It’s simple. It’s simply because Korean ㄴ(n) sound and English n sounds are different, different. Korean pronunciation and English pronunciations are different. |
| What is the biggest difference? |
| It’s the nasal sound. For example, when you pronounce the English n sound such as nurse, nurse, nose, afternoon, noon, you need lots of nasal sounds. Without the nasal sound, it’s hard to pronounce it. Let me show you. |
| nurse (with nasal sound) |
| nurse (without nasal sound) |
| And… |
| noon, noon (with nasal sound) |
| noon, noon (without nasal sound) |
| nose, nose (with nasal sound) |
| nose (without nasal sound) |
| See? You need this nasal sound. |
| But how about the Korean ㄴ(n)? |
| Here are some examples that I want to show you. |
| 나 means “me.” |
| 너 means “you.” |
| So, 네, 나, 너, “yes, me, you.” |
| Just an example. |
| So… |
| 네, 네 , 네 (with nasal sound) |
| 네, 네 (without nasal sound) |
| 나, 나, 나 (with nasal sound) |
| 나, 나 (without nasal sound) |
| 너, 너, 너 (with nasal sound) |
| 너, 너 (without nasal sound) |
| See?! I don’t really need a lot of nasal sounds. I don’t really use it. Without this, I can totally pronounce the Korean ㄴ(n) sound. This is why Korean ㄴ(n) sound doesn’t sound like English “n” sound. Instead, to you, it sounds like English d because English d doesn’t use so much nasal sounds like n. Well, to you, it sounds like d but to us, it’s Korean ㄴ(n). So please make sure to practice this Korean ㄴ(n) sound if you want to sound like a native speaker. Make sure that you don’t use so much nasal sound. |
| Okay, so what is the next question? |
| Next question we have is this… |
| How do you pronounce ㄱ, ㄱ? By the way, the alphabet, this is 기역(gi-yeok) in Korean. How do you pronounce this ㄱ sound? Is it “g” or “k”? |
| That’s a very good question. |
| Officially, the romanization is g, and sometimes, it’s “g,” sometimes it’s “k” so it’s hard to say. I would say none of them because, again, it’s Korean pronunciation. Korean pronunciation is different from the English pronunciation, so it’s not exactly the same, but it’s sometimes g, sometimes k, but the official romanization for ㄱ is g. |
| And if this ㄱ sound is used as a batchim (final consonant), official romanization is “k,” so it’s both of them, both of them. |
| But here are some tips. |
| I have some words for you, for example… |
| 가방(ga-bang), 가방(ga-bang). |
| It means a “bag,” bag. |
| And I have this word… |
| 딸기(ttal-gi), 딸기(ttal-gi). |
| It means “strawberry,” strawberry. |
| And I have this word… |
| 책(chaek) means “book.” |
| While pronouncing these, have you noticed something? |
| If this ㄱ sounds, ㄱ sounds comes at the beginning of the syllable, beginning of the word, it sounds more like k, but please note that when you pronounce a k sound, you breathe out a lot of air - k, car, cream, use a lot of air, a lot of air coming out. |
| But when you pronounce the Korean ㄱ, we don’t use that much air. Use less air with lower pitch, 가방(ga-bang), 가방(ga-bang), 가방(ga-bang). But it sounds closer to k than English g. |
| 딸기(ttal-gi), 딸기(ttal-gi), 딸기(ttal-gi) |
| It means “strawberry” and when this ㄱ sound is middle of the syllable or not at the beginning of the word, then it sounds more like g. |
| 딸기(ttal-gi), 딸기(ttal-gi), 딸기(ttal-gi) “strawberry” |
| Now, we have… |
| 책(chaek), 책(chaek) |
| It means “book” |
| 책(chaek), 책(chaek), 책(chaek). |
| The ㄱ comes at the batchim position. It comes at the end of the syllable and it’s here, final consonant. It’s used as a final consonant. |
| It’s 책(chaek), 책(chaek), 책(chaek). |
| It’s not /chek/. |
| It’s 책(chaek), so we don’t have the /k/, /k/, /k/ sound. It’s just 책(chaek), 책(chaek), 책(chaek). |
| It’s like a k sound without /k/ sound at the end. |
| 책(chaek), 책(chaek), 책(chaek). |
| So please, remember these tips. |
| Here’s our next question… |
| How do you pronounce ㄷ, ㄷ? Is it d or t? |
| By the way, the name of this alphabet is 디귿(di-geut). |
| So, is it like d or t? |
| Now, you probably can guess, it’s the same as the previous one. |
| It’s none of them or all of them. Since Korean pronunciation is different from English pronunciation, it’s not exactly the same as English d or English t. However, the official romanization is this - d, t. |
| When it’s used at the first syllable, it’s the first part of the syllable, the official romanization is d. But if it’s used as batchim, it’s t. I’ll show you as an example, so please don’t worry. |
| So, here are some examples. |
| I have this word 달(dal), 달(dal). |
| It means “moon.” |
| Please listen carefully to my pronunciation. |
| Next word that I have is this… |
| 배달(bae-dal), 배달(bae-dal). |
| It means “delivery.” |
| Next, we have… |
| 숟가락(sut-ga-rak), 숟가락(sut-ga-rak). |
| It means “spoon,” spoon. |
| Okay, so we have these. |
| So, 달(dal), 달(dal), 달(dal), when these ㄷ sound comes at the beginning of the word, it sounds like /t/, it’s similar to t. But again, it doesn’t use- we don’t really use lots of air. We have less air when you pronounce this 달(dal), 달(dal), 달(dal) sound. |
| The 달(dal), 달(dal), “moon” by the way. |
| 달(dal), 달(dal), 달(dal) |
| But the lower pitch, we use a lower pitch than the English t sound. |
| 달(dal), 달(dal), 달(dal). |
| It’s not 탈(tal). |
| 탈(tal) means different. It’s “mask.” |
| 배달(bae-dal), 배달(bae-dal), 배달(bae-dal). |
| If this ㄷ sound comes in the middle of the syllable or is middle of the word, it’s not at the beginning of the word, then it sounds more like d. It’s not exactly the same as the English d sound, but it sounds a little closer to the English d sound. |
| 배달(bae-dal), 배달(bae-dal), 배달(bae-dal). |
| It’s not 배탈(bae-tal), 배탈(bae-tal). It means different, it’s a “stomachache,” 배탈(bae-tal). |
| 배달(bae-dal), 배달(bae-dal). It means “delivery,” delivery. |
| 배달(bae-dal). |
| Now, we have this… |
| 숟가락(sut-ga-rak), 숟가락(sut-ga-rak). |
| It means “spoon,” 숟가락(sut-ga-rak). |
| ㄷ is used as batchim. |
| It’s 숟(sut), 숟(sut), 숟(sut). |
| The official pronunciation is this (sut, sut, sut). But it’s not exactly the same as English t. |
| It’s not /sut/, /sut/, /sut/. |
| It’s 숟(sut), 숟(sut), 숟(sut), 숟(sut). There’s no /t/ sound at the end. |
| 숟(sut), 숟(sut) |
| So please remember when this ㄷ comes at the beginning of the word, it sounds closer to t, closer to t, but you breathe out less air with a lower pitch. |
| 배달(bae-dal), 배달(bae-dal), 배달(bae-dal). |
| It sounds similar, a little bit similar to d, d. |
| And 숟가락(sut-ga-rak), 숟가락(sut-ga-rak), if ㄷ sound is used as batchim, it sounds like t without /t/ sound. |
| It’s just 숟(sut), 숟(sut), 숟(sut). |
| Okay, next question we have is also very similar. |
| So how do you pronounce ㅂ, ㅂ? Is it b or p? |
| By the way, the name of this alphabet is 비읍(bi-eup), 비읍(bi-eup). |
| And as you can guess, it’s none of them or all of them. |
| Why is it none of them? |
| It’s because English pronunciation is different. Korean and English pronunciations are different, but we still need to romanize it. We still need to write it in the English alphabet, and in that case, we use both. |
| We use this b, b, alphabet b when it comes at the beginning of the syllable, but when this ㅂ is used as a final consonant as batchim, it’s p. |
| Here are some examples for you. |
| So first, we have, 바람(ba-ram), 바람(ba-ram), 바람(ba-ram). |
| It means “wind.” |
| Next word that we have is 아버지(a-beo-ji), 아버지(a-beo-ji). |
| It means “father,” father. |
| Next, we have 집(jip) , 집(jip) , 집(jip) . |
| It means “house” or “home.” |
| 바람(ba-ram), 바람(ba-ram) means “wind.” But when this ㅂ sound comes at the beginning of the syllable, it sounds similar to English p, but please make sure that you breathe out less air. You use less air to pronounce it, Korean ㅂ sound, 바람(ba-ram), 바람(ba-ram), with lower pitch than English p. |
| Now, we have 아버지(a-beo-ji), 아버지(a-beo-ji). |
| It means “father,” and when this ㅂ sound is used in the middle of the syllable, middle of the word, then it sounds closer to English b sound, but not exactly the same because the pronunciation is, I would say, it’s closer to p sound with less air. |
| So, 아버지(a-beo-ji), 아버지(a-beo-ji). |
| It’s stronger than English b sound, 아버지(a-beo-ji). |
| It’s not /a-beo-ji/. |
| It’s 아버지(a-beo-ji), 아버지(a-beo-ji). |
| Next, we have 집(jip) , 집(jip) . |
| Here, this ㅂ sound is used as a batchim, yes, final consonant, so it’s 집(jip) , 집(jip) . |
| It’s kind of used as a p sound, but without the /p/ sound. |
| It’s not *, *. It’s not like that. |
| It’s 집(jip) , 집(jip) , 집(jip) , which means a “house” or “home.” |
| Okay, the next question is… noun. |
| You can answer this without me, right? |
| How do you pronounce ㅈ, ㅈ? |
| This one in Korean is 지읒(ji-eut), the name of this alphabet is 지읒(ji-eut). |
| Is it j or a ch? |
| It’s none of them or all of them. |
| I would say none of them. |
| It’s because of this… |
| First, when it’s used at the beginning of the word, beginning of the syllable, it’s j, it’s just j, that’s it. It’s not ch. But if this ㅈ sound comes at the batchim position, it’s used as a final consonant, then it’s t sound. What?! I know. |
| So, I prepared some examples for you. |
| The first word that I prepared is this, 지각(ji-gak), 지각(ji-gak). |
| It’s “lateness” or “being late.” |
| It’s a noun. |
| 지각(ji-gak), 지각(ji-gak), 지각(ji-gak) |
| Next word that I prepared is this, 바지(ba-ji), 바지(ba-ji), 바지(ba-ji). |
| It means “pants.” It’s pants. |
| Next word that I prepared is 낮(nat) , 낮(nat) , 낮(nat) . |
| It’s “day” or “daytime,” daytime. |
| 지각(ji-gak) |
| 바지(ba-ji) |
| 낮(nat) |
| So when you pronounce 지각(ji-gak), when ㅈ sound comes at the beginning of the word, then it sounds like ch. It sounds closer to ch. |
| 지각(ji-gak), 지각(ji-gak). |
| But it’s not /chi-gak/. We use less air and we use lower pitch, so it’s not /chi-gak/. It’s not /ch/, /ch/, /chi-gak/. |
| It’s 지각(ji-gak), 지각(ji-gak). |
| Use lower pitch with less air. |
| How about this? |
| 바지(ba-ji), 바지(ba-ji), 바지(ba-ji) |
| It means “pants,” pants. |
| 바지(ba-ji) |
| So, it’s not English J. It’s not /ba-ji/, /ba-ji/, /ba-ji/. It’s not like this, 바지(ba-ji), 바지(ba-ji). |
| When you pronounce this ㅈ sound here, it’s similar to ch with less air, lower pitch. |
| 바지(ba-ji), 바지(ba-ji) |
| Next, we have 낮(nat) , 낮(nat) , 낮(nat) “daytime.” |
| And now, ㅈ is used as a batchim, right, as a final consonant. |
| Here, it sounds like ㅈ without /t/ sound. |
| It’s not /nat/, /nat/. |
| It’s 낮(nat) , 낮(nat) “day time.” |
| Okay, please remember this. |
| And… the final question for today is this… |
| Why does ㅇ, ㅇ and ㅎ sound similar sometimes? |
| So, name of this is 이응(i-eung) and name of this is 히읗(hi-eut), 히읗(hi-eut). |
| So why do they sound similar? |
| Okay, so let’s look at these examples. |
| 유지(yu-ji) versus 휴지(hyu-ji), 휴지(hyu-ji). |
| By the way, do you know 유지(yu-ji)? |
| 유지(yu-ji), it means “maintenance,” maintenance, maintenance. |
| And 휴지(hyu-ji), it means… “tissue.” It has many meanings - “toilet paper or trash.” |
| 휴지(hyu-ji), 휴지(hyu-ji) |
| So, when this ㅇ and ㅎ sound comes at the beginning of the word, it sounds clearly different. Can you hear the difference between 유지(yu-ji) and 휴지(hyu-ji)? |
| 유지(yu-ji), 유지(yu-ji), 유지(yu-ji) |
| 휴지(hyu-ji), 휴지(hyu-ji), 휴지(hyu-ji) |
| So, we definitely use more air with higher pitch. |
| 휴지(hyu-ji), 휴지(hyu-ji), 휴지(hyu-ji) |
| 유지(yu-ji), 유지(yu-ji), 유지(yu-ji), so “maintenance.” |
| “Toilet paper, tissue” 휴지(hyu-ji), 휴지(hyu-ji), yes. |
| When it comes at the beginning of the word, it’s different, however, however. |
| Here are another example, like 가운(ga-un). It’s a “gown,” gown. English word, right? |
| 가훈(ga-hun). I will say it’s a “family motto,” family motto, family motto. |
| So, a lot of family has this 가훈(ga-hun), so our family should keep this. |
| Our family, or example - “Our family should be very honest all the time.” This is our family motto, so some family has family mottos. It’s 가훈(ga-hun), 가훈(ga-hun), 가훈(ga-hun). |
| Can you hear the difference? |
| 가운(ga-un) is a “gown,” gown that you wear. If you’re a doctor, you wear a white gown, right? |
| 가운(ga-un), 가운(ga-un), 가운(ga-un), 가운(ga-un). |
| Yes, I pronounce the h sound, but it’s weaker, weaker than 유지(yu-ji), 휴지(hyu-ji), very clear. |
| But when it doesn’t come at the beginning of these words and when the h sound is in the middle of the word, it sounds weaker, weaker. |
| So, 가운(ga-un), 가훈(ga-hun), 가훈(ga-hun), 가운(ga-un). |
| Now, I’m trying to pronounce the h sound strongly, but in daily life, in real life, very often, we speak very fast and we don’t really pronounce every single syllable of the word, every single vowel, every single consonant clearly, so we sometimes pronounce it very quickly that it sounds very similar. |
| 가운(ga-un), 가훈(ga-hun), 가운(ga-un). |
| It sounds similar, so you have to understand the meaning by looking at the context. |
| So, please remember that Korean h sound is a little bit weak when it’s in the middle of the word, when it’s in the middle of the word. |
| Okay, so, today I answered lots of questions related to the pronunciation of Korean consonants. I hope these are really useful. |
| Thank you very much and I’ll see you in my next video. |
| 다음 시간에 봐요! (Da-eum si-ga-ne bwa-yo!) |
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