Pronunciation is important My first few months learning Korean, I only read from a book. I had no audio nor Koreans to speak with. I guessed at words based on Romanization the way an American with Boston accent might say the word. I read about pronunciation rules like resyllabification, syllable-final closure, nasal assimilation, ㄴ ㄹassimilation, tensification, aspiration and the ㅎ weakening, double consonant reduction, palatization, and place assimilation. Now, as I start having a Korean tutor, I finally see how those rules come into play. I am glad to put dry academic rules into real life practice. There is nothing better than hearing a native speaker and getting feedback.