(Korean) Vowels and Pronunciations

Korean Vowels and Pronunciations
한글 모음과 발음

It would be very unfortunate to be born as a native English speaker, because Korean language is known as one of the hardest languages to learn. I'm from Korea, and I speak Korean dialect, so even I have trouble with speaking standard Korean; well, I know the words those 'ordinary' Koreans say, but I cannot follow their tone and accent when I say a long sentence! However, if you get used to Korean Alphabet, 한글(Hahngle), you will be able to write any words you want (except that 한글 does not have 'f', 'v', 'r' and 'z' sounds), whereas other East Asian languages (e.g. Mandarin) will take so much time to learn how to write!

So, I will go with Korean vowels today!

As you can see on the left, Korean has an awful lot of vowels; 10 simple vowels and 14 double (or complex) vowels; complex vowels are made of two other vowels. I will go through those which native English speakers find difficult in pronouncing.

ㅓ& ㅗ : Many friends of mine whose first language is English cannot distinguish the pronunciation of ㅓ and ㅗ.  We Koreans were like "Do they sound the same?" and found out that it really is hard for them to distinguish between those two. So, I thought it would be good to have some examples that will help you understand the difference of ㅓ and ㅗ in the pronunciation.
 ㅓ : cunning, fun, idea, cup, bunny, Sun
ㅗ : oil, Ohms, stoichiometry
Read along the words above. Did you notice that ㅓ has the mouth opened wider where ㅗ has the lips rounded and small? If you speak Spanish, Italian, Latin or Portuguese (and so on), you will know that o  sounds different from English O a little bit. So ㅗ is more like Spanish O, whereas ㅓ is like the "Uh" sound in English.

ㅡ : This is one of the hardest vowel to pronounce for you, because there is no Latin alphabet (a,b,c,d...) that sounds like this. I will give you some examples of the words that have the very similar pronunciation with ㅡ.  
 ㅡ : kitten, mitten, button, dozen 
Read the words above. Then, read the syllables that are underlined in a row. Do you notice you have the same shape of the mouth when you say those? Now, read the underlined syllables again, but this time, don't pronounce "n" at the end of each one, but in the same length. Do you get it? Refer to the video so you get some more idea about the pronunciation of it.

ㅐ&ㅔ, ㅒ&ㅖ : Okay, many people ask if there is a difference in pronunciation of ㅐ and ㅔ. To be honest, yes, there is. However, even Koreans themselves ask the difference between ㅐ and ㅔ. If we become a bit linguistic, we need to open our mouth wider when we want to pronounce ㅐ and less wide when we want to pronounce ㅔ and ㅔ is closer to ㅣ than ㅐ is. HOWEVER, native Koreans don't really care about the difference in the pronunciation of those two, so you can just pronounce both of them like "a" as in "Jack".The same rule applies with ㅒ and ㅖ. ㅒ has the wider mouth but not really much difference with ㅖ.

ㅝ : Some examples to help you understand the pronunciation of ㅝ.
one, war, won, want (the underlined is the pronunciation of ㅝ)

ㅚ, ㅙ, ㅞ : There is a slight difference between ㅚ, ㅙ and ㅞ but native Koreans do not care about them. So you don't need to distinguish them except when you are writing them. The pronunciation is like "wa" as in "wagon"

ㅢ : This is the hardest vowel to learn to pronounce. Even linguists have an argument about the pronunciation of ㅢ. (Some linguists say that the authentic pronunciation of ㅢ will disappear within 20 years)
There are 3 ways to pronounce ㅢ. It depends on where it is and how it is used.
I will only use 의 for the example
    1. Pronounce ㅣ right after you pronounce ㅡ. So simply, pronounce it as it is made; ㅢ is the combination of vowel ㅡ and ㅣ. So you say ㅡ rapidly followed by ㅣ. 의 is pronounced in this way if it is the first letter of the word.
    2. Pronounce ㅔ. Sometimes you pronounce ㅢ like 'e' as in "set".     의 is pronounced in this way if it is used as the postposition and is at the end of the word. (If 의 is used as a postposition, it means 'of' or 's.)
    3. Pronounce ㅣ. Don't pronounce ㅡ. Just ㅣ like 'i' as in "piano".   의 is pronounced in this way if it is at the end of the noun.
These are the 3 ways of pronouncing ㅢ, but not always is the rule followed. Furthermore, in one of Korean dialect, ㅢ is also pronounced as ㅡ, so don't get confused when you hear them.
A basic phrase that contains all 3 ways of pronouncing 의 is "민주주의의 의의" which means 'the significance of democracy". The pronunciation will be similar to "Min-joo-joo-i-e ui-i". This is really confusing, so you need to practice over and over!

Next time I will teach you the Korean consonants; which might be harder or easier than Korean vowels :)

(Spanish) Alphabet and Pronunciation

Spanish Alphabet and Pronunciation

Alfabeto y Pronunciación en español

The first step to learning a foreign language is always to know its alphabets and their pronunciation.

Fortunately, Spanish alphabets are written like English (except for some!) and are pronounced a bit like English, too.

Well, here is a good news for you.

There is no exception in the pronunciation of Spanish language unlike English.

(Spanish alphabets)

So here we go, starting with vowels.

Vowels and English words that sound similar to them.

So as you can see on the left, these are the only vowels you need to know that you already know! There is no exception i.e. their pronunciations never change.

Compare them with English. In English, the pronunciations of "a" in "Jack" "Jason" and "Jar" are all different.

In Spanish? Surprise, surprise! The pronunciations of the letter "a" in "Aún" "Padre" and "Paulo"  are all the same! Then you will say, Phew, what a relief!

Then since you know the letters and the pronunciations of Spanish vowels, let us move on to the consonants.

First thing first: ch, ll and rr are not the separate consonants anymore (since December 2010).

There are some strange pronunciations you might not have come across before. So I put some English words that sounds very similar to Spanish.

*C : If C is in front of E and I (e.g. Centro or ciclo), then it's pronounced as a "th" as in "thin". However, in Latin America, you can just simply pronounce it like a "s". Except for that, C is very similar to English, but a bit stronger - Say "Skill" and "Kill" rapidly. Do you hear the difference between those K's in those words? "K" in "Skill" is more like Spanish C.

*G : This is a weird letter. When G is in front of E and I, it is pronounced exactly the same as Spanish J (Explained below). Otherwise, it sounds like a "g" as in "great." HOWEVER! "gue" is like "gh" as in "ghetto" and "gui" is like "gy" as in "piggy". But what if you actually want to say "goo-eh" orr "gooey"? Well, then you put 2 wee dots u, so you write it as 'güe' and 'güi'. Easy?

*H : Just like French and Portuguese, Spanish H is always silent without any exception.

*J : This is really hard pronunciation to explain. Even though many people say that it sounds like English H, it's not really. It's very similar to French R sound and it's kind of Strong English H from deep throat. May be to get this a bit simpler, try to breathe out while you snore??

I'm really bad at explaining things, so here I attatch a youtube link about the pronunciation of Spanish J, so you can refer to it. Click here for pronunciation of Spanish J

*Ll : It's pretty vague to explain the explain the pronunciation of Spanish ll, because it varies with region; Spain, Latin American countries and amongst themselves, and the Philippines. In Spain, if ll comes at the start of the word, you can just say it as English Y and if it's in the middle, for example "Calle", you say it as "cahl-yeh" rapidly. In some Latin American countries, ll is pronounced like Z and Y at the same time. If you are really struggling with it, just Y or J will be fine.

*Ñ : You can just say that ñ and ny are the same. For example, Kenya can be written as Keña or Queña (The actual Spanish word is Kenia). This is the only alphabet you don't get to see in English language.

*P : Similar to English P but stronger. Say "Spain" fast, and that "P" sound is the sound we want. (Compare that sound with 'P' in "Pain". Can you hear the difference?)

*Q : Similar to C, its sound is like a strong C. Q cannot just exist alone like English. que, qui, qué, quí. These are the only forms that Spanish Q can exist in. If you want to say "koo-eh" or "koo-y", you just write cue or cui.

*R : Many English speakers just pronounce Spanish R as their R, but technically, it's a wrong way to pronounce it. Try to say "Stupidity" faster. When you say d, it is not actually a "d" sound but rather another sound. The tongue moves backwards fast, grazing the roof of your mouth. That's pretty much it. When R is written at the beginning of the word, it sounds like rr, explained below.

*Rr : Hmm... You are a lucky guy if you can already trill/roll your tongue, because the pronunciation of rr is the sound when you trill your tongue. But those of you who cannot roll your tongue, Here is a youtube Video for you : Click here for pronunciation of Spanish RR

*T : Strong T. Compare "Steam" and "Team" as you say them rapidly. Do you hear the difference between those T's in those words? "T" in "Steam" is more like Spanish T.

*V : Basically, Spanish V is exactly same as B.

*X :  Just like English, it is pronounced as "ks". However when it's used in the word for region, for example, México, it is pronounced as Spanish J.

*Y : This is the same as Spanish LL. I've explained it above.

When Y comes after vowels or just by itself, it's pronounced as Spanish I.

*Z : It is pronounced as "Th" as in "Thin" at all times unlike C. However, in Latin America, you are very likely to hear S sound instead of Th sound.

So now, you can basically read out any Spanish texts even though you don't know the meaning. However we also need to learn very important thing for Spanish -- The accent!