Julia
ㄹ sound in Korean Is there anyone who has suggestions on how I can learn to make this ㄹ sound? The ㄹ sound evades me. I worked with my tutor for an hour today on it. It became clear that I don't really understand what the difference is between the description of "roll the tongue" and "flick the tongue". It is all deeply puzzling to me, because I make an r sound with the back of my mouth and no use of the tongue at all. So learning this new sound that uses the tongue touching the roof of the mouth on the ridge and air and some mysterious movement leaves my jaw aching and me frustrated. I take a little comfort in the fact that other Americans apparently also have trouble making this r/l ㄹ sound. However, I can't seem to nail down in my mind what series of strange movements will let me reproduce the sound reliably. I heard there was a study done in Japan to teach them the difference between r and l that gave feedback every time on whether they picked the sound right. I need the Korean equivalent of that to teach me when I am making the ㄹ sound correctly. My tutor told me that if I can hear two sounds are different, then eventually I will be able to make that different sound. I hope so.
Dec 4, 2014 4:28 PM
Corrections · 2

Actualy, there is no a big secret about that letter. English native speakers pronounce the same sound everytime in english. The "r" sound is the same "r" sound you can hear in words like "rock", "river","rabit", etc. And the "l" also sounds the same in English and Korean. When the letter ㄹ is located as a first letter of a silable, it sounds as "r", and when it is located at the end of a silable it sounds as "l". For example: 라면 : ramyeon , 살다 : Salda Also, when asilable ends with ㄹ and there is a following silable which starts with a vowel such as 아, 애, 에, 어, 오,우,으,요,유,etc, the sound of ㄹ changes from "l' to "r". P.S: If I may, I would like to give you an advice. Don't focus all your attention to that letter or unconciously it is going to become mroe and more difficult to you.

As I previously explained it to you, there is no a big deal about that letter and I am sure that you will be able to understand it well and leave behind your confusion about it.

I hope I had helped you !

Cristian

December 4, 2014
Actualy, there is no a big secret about that letter. English native speakers pronounce the same sound everytime in english. The "r" sound is the same "r" sound you can hear in words like "rock", "river","rabit", etc. And the "l" also sounds the same in English and Korean. When the letter ㄹ is located as a first letter of a silable, it sounds as "r", and when it is located at the end of a silable it sounds as "l". For example: 라면 : ramyeon , 살다 : Salda Also, when asilable ends with ㄹ and there is a following silable which starts with a vowel such as 아, 애, 에, 어, 오,우,으,요,유,etc, the sound of ㄹ changes from "l' to "r". P.S: If I may, I would like to give you an advice. Don't focus all your attention to that letter or unconciously it is going to become mroe and more difficult to you. As I previously explained it to you, there is no a big deal about that letter and I am sure that you will be able to understand it well and leave behind your confusion about it. I hope I had helped you ! Cristian
December 4, 2014
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