Mariah Colby
Do I need to perfect Korean pronunciation before moving on? I am an English speaker. I am learning Korean. I am a brand new Korean learner. I am in the process of learning the pronunciations of hangul. I am having trouble with the consonants since there is not an English equivalent for some of them. I have watched a couple videos but I am still struggling. Should I keep moving with my learning and learn grammar/vocab, along with listening to the vocab and phrases? Or keep working on the pronunciation until I have complete understanding? I am getting frustrated because I cannot figure out how to pronounce the consonants that are in between two English sounds. Some of these include: ㅂ, ㅈ, ㄷ, ㄱ, ㅅ
Oct 28, 2018 8:59 PM
Answers · 10
They're not really 'in between' English sounds, I would say. They sound that way to us, yes, but if you always pronounce ㅂ as b, ㅈas j, ㄷ as d, ㄱ as g, and ㅅ as s (except with i, it's shi) Koreans will think you're speaking naturally. The other ones are like bb and p, jj and ch, gg and k, and ss. They make it seem confusing because they spell things lots of different ways, like 'Kim' when it's pronounced 'Gim' or 'Park' when it's pronounced 'Bak'!.. but if you take my advice, I think you'll do well. :)
October 28, 2018
I would recommend memorizing the vowels (모음) by heart. 아, 어, 오, 우, 으, 이, 야, 여, 요, 유... etc As for the consonants (자음), you need to memorize at least the 그, 느, 드, 르, 므, 브, 스, 으... set, because 으 is the neutral tone. Everything else can be derived, so to speak. You may wish to perfect them as you go along later. Back when I first started, I would write them all down on a piece of paper and practice reading the entire set. Those are the bare minimums that I depended on initially. You'll learn that when you speak, with the stresses and the flow and what not, Korean words are not always read the same way as they were written. Keep this in mind, and I could never say this enough, Korean is Korean, not English.
October 29, 2018
I think Keith i
October 28, 2018
I think Keith i
October 28, 2018
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