Double Consonants in Korean? So I'm incredibly new to Korean, and have literally just started learning hangul yesterday with a friend. We've effectively learnt all characters pretty well, but double c

David Abbott

Double Consonants in Korean? So I'm incredibly new to Korean, and have literally just started learning hangul yesterday with a friend. We've effectively learnt all characters pretty well, but double consonants confuse me. We were writing phrases to test each other's reading ability, and so I tried writing the song-title "Blood Sweat and Tears", which is "내피땀눈물" if I'm not mistaken. (And yes, I am aware lyrics are a terrible way to learn ACTUAL Korean) I'm also aware not to use romanization, but why is the "땀" in romanization spelt "ttam"? If "ㄷ" is "d", and "ㅌ" is "t", why is "ㄸ" not "dd" but instead is "tt" in this instance? I'd be very grateful for any response and apologise if I come across as a newbie [emoji][emoji][emoji][emoji]

Jan 23, 2018 7:01 AM

Answers · 3

As you know, Korean phonology is different from English phonology. The sound of "ㄷ" is neither "d" nor "t". between of them. "ㄷ" is not always written as "d". "ㄷ" is written as "t" when followed by another consonant or when appearing at the end of a word. ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, and ㄹ are usually transcribed as g, d, b, and r when appearing before a vowel, and as k, t, p, and l when followed by another consonant or when appearing at the end of a word. In case of ㄲ,ㄸ,ㅃ, they are more similar to k,t,p sound of French or Spanish. In order to denote strong tension, ㄲ,ㄸ,ㅃ are written as kk,tt,pp Refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revised_Romanization_of_Korean https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_phonology

January 23, 2018