Easy Ways to Memorize Korean Hangul Beginning Consonants

It may be a daunting task to memorize a random combination of lines and circles when you first try to learn Korean hangul, but once you understand the design of the pictorial characters, you may pick up the pronunciations of the characters way more easily. First and foremost, for the sound g. Its shape is a side view of the tongue with the back of the tongue raised, you can imagine thats how your tongue is shaped when you pronounce g. Next, for the sound n. Again, its shape is a side view of the tongue when the tip of the tongue is raised to pronounce n. When you pronounce d, you not only need to have the tip of your tongue raised, but have it released after that. The mnemonic is to put a stroke on top of to make it for the dsound. For the sound r or l, extend the lines on top of to make it . For the sound m, you close your mouth when you pronounce it. So you close the gap in to make it . For the sound b, you close and then open your mouth when you pronounce it. So you extend from both sides to make it . Next, for the sound s, it is something you need to use your teeth to pronounce. It is written as . For the sound j, it is also a sound with teeth, so put a stroke on top of to make it . For , just think of it as a zero, so it represents no beginning consonant. But make sure you know it represents the nasal sound ng when it is an ending consonant. In this case, think of it as a circle, so it is related to the nasal sound m represented by the rectangular . So we covered the basic jamo. For the aspirated sounds (which you need to make sure air is ejected from your mouth when you pronounce them), they are just modified from the non-aspirated counter-parts:

g k:

d t: j ch: b p: empty h:
It is trivial to memorize the doubles, namely , , , and . Just make sure you raise your pitch to pronounce them if you cannot distinguish the difference between them and their basic counter-parts.

Easy Ways to Memorize Korean Hangul Vowels

In general, it is not a good idea to use Latin alphabets to represent the sounds of Korean vowels, because except for a few of them, such as or , you will most probably not be able to pronounce the vowels correctly simply by looking at the Romanization. Try to pronounce eu and listen to and you will know what I am talking about. So how can you learn? An alternative way is to map the vowels to some simple words in English which (closely) share the sounds. Again it will not work for all vowels, but at least we can have most of the vowels covered this way.

spa bee moon , main more low When you pronounce and , make sure your mouth is wide open. Consider the vertical stroke as the length of the gap between your lips. When you pronounce , make your lips rounded and stick out your lips as much as you can. Think of the T shape as how you look at your lips from the top. For , it is Spanish o or French eau, if you know Spanish or French (which I have never learned). The difference between and is that you keep your lips rounded when pronouncing , but you lower your jaw and open your mouth when you pronounce .

The last simple Korean vowel has no equivalence in English. When you pronounce , keep your lips unrounded (like the shape of the horizontal stroke). If you start with , which you shouldnt have a problem to pronounce, move your tongue back slightly and keep your lips straight, you should be pronouncing . ComplexVowels Technically, complex vowels are called diphthongs which consist of semivowels (y or w) before the main vowels. It is straight forward to identify the y-type complex vowels, as they usually have 2 short strokes attached to the single long stroke. =y+ =y+ =y+ =y+ =y+ =y+ = + y* The last complex vowel, , is quite tricky, not only that it doesnt have 2 short strokes on a long stroke, but also that it can be pronounced in 3 different ways. When it is at the beginning of a word, such as (doctor), it is pronounced as + . However, when it is used to represent the possessive suffix, it is pronounced as . When it is neither a word-initial nor a possessive suffix, such as (almost), it is pronounced as . For w-type complex vowels, it is simply a combination of or (for the w sound) and the main vowel. There is one exception though: is not a combination of w and , but instead, a combination of w and . As a result, even with different spellings, , and essentially denote the same pronunciation. =w+ =w+

= w + * =w+ =w+ =w+ The choice of or may look random, but the rule is that you cant combine

bright vowels with dark vowels. The vowel classification (as bright and dark) is important for verb and adjective conjunction in Korean, but for now you can simply take it as a fact that and are bright vowels, and are dark vowels,

and is considered neutral. As a result, you can see from the above table, is the only case which may combine with both (a bright vowel) or (a dark vowel) to form a complex vowel.

Pronunciations of Korean Consonants at the Beginning of a Word

It is often confusing to beginning (or even more advanced) Korean learners, that a consonant sounds different when it appears at different positions of a word. The good news is, there is a clear set of rules to dictate how a consonant should be pronounced in Korean. But we will need to go over a few basic technical concepts before we can understand the rules. First of all, the concept of voicing. If you put your fingers on your throat (to where your vocal cords locate) and try to say something, sound that you can feel the vocal cord vibration is called voiced, otherwise it is voiceless. In English, for example, b is voiced and p is voiceless, z is voiced and s is voiceless. In Korean, all vowels are always voiced, so are nasal consonants and consonant . On the other hand, all other consonants are voiceless when they are at the beginning of a word. Next, the concept of aspiration. If you put your fingers in front of your mouth and try to say something, sound that you can feel a puff of air out of your mouth is called aspirated, otherwise it is unaspirated. In English, for example, p is aspirated and b is unaspirated. In Korean, at the beginning of a word, are not aspirated, are lightly aspirated, and are strongly aspirated. It explains, for instance, why is denoted as g (g is unaspirated in

English) but you may hear it as [ka] for the word , as is slightly aspirated (and voiceless) in this case. Last, the concept of tenseness. It is used to distinguish the contrast of similar consonants, such as and . is tense, in the sense that it is pronounced with an extra effort, such as quicker opening and firmer closing of the lips. The following vowel is usually of higher pitch too. On the other hand, is lax, without all these features. As you can predict, all the doubles are tense. voiceless, lightly aspirated, lax voiceless, strongly aspirated voiceless, unaspirated, tense voiced no sound

Pronunciations of Korean consonants at the beginning of a word

Resyllabification and Pronunciations of Korean Consonants

Recall that in spoken Korean, a sequence of sound is easier to pronounce when it is in a consonant-vowel sequence. It leads to an important pronunciation rule that, if a final consonant in a hangul is followed by a hangul without a beginning consonant, that final consonant spills over to the next hangul. A simple example is that you pronounce (music) as [], with the final consonant spills over to to make it . Technically it is called resyllabification, or in a more layman term, consonant relinking. Consider when you say Thank you in English, you dont utter thank and you separately, but you link the ending k to you in your pronunciation. In Korean, as you will see, this pronunciation rule is very common. In the previous example, is a single word. How about cases like those in between word boundary in a phrase? In fact, as long as no pause is required between the words, this resyllabification rule applies. For example, (outside) is pronounced as [], and (please come by for sure) is pronounced as [ ]. When the final consonant is a complex one, i.e. or , you only spill over the final consonant that is on the right for the double final consonants. For example, you spill over to make (sit down) pronounce as []. Here is a summary of the resyllabification rule:

Case Description 1 2 3 4 spill over within a word spill over before a particle spill over between words in a phrase spill over for a complex final consonant

Example

Pronunciation Meaning [] [] [] [] music outside please come by for sure sit down

This resyllabification rule will get more complicated when it combines with other pronunciation rules, such as tensification or nasal assimilation, which I will talk about next.

Nasal Assimilation and Pronunciations of Korean Consonants

When you say thank you () in Korean, you say gam-sa-ham-ni-da. You do not say gam-sa-hab-ni-da, due to nasal assimilation. Nasal assimilation, or nasalization, is a process to convert a consonant into one of the nasal sound (m) (n) (ng). When an ending consonant of a hangul is followed by a hangul with a beginning consonant (m) or (n), then nasal assimilation takes place. See the table below for the assimilation process. Ending Consonant Pronunciation After Assimilation Example [] [] []

Here are more examples: Example ?

Pronunciation After Assimilation [] [] [] [] [] [ ] [ ]

Meaning thank you front door how many years Is he gone? I am eating rice There are many clothes

As you can see in the last 2 examples, the nasal assimilation process can apply across word boundary, especially when you say it fast enough and do not pause between the words.

Tensing and Pronunciations of Korean Consonants

Recall that tensing is one of the 3 important concepts for Korean pronunciations, and it is the easiest one to memorize all the doubles are tense. The opposite of tenseness is lax, and as you expect, are lax consonants. So when would you pronounce a lax consonant as a tense one? The whole idea of this kind of phonetic change is to make the pronunciation more natural, and if you ask a native speaker, most probably they would simply tell you When it sounds more natural that way. Fortunately, a lot of tensing occur with a regular rule, as follows: When a consonant or follows another consonant other than the nasal ( ) or , you need to pronounce it as or (i.e. tensing). Examples Word Pronunciation [] [] [] [ ] [] [] Meaning hot semester student same nap It is good

[ ] Please read the book As you can see from the last example, this tensing process can apply across word boundary, depending on the focus of the phrase or sentence. Tensingwithouta Rule While we have a regular rule for tensing, unfortunately there are many other Korean words which tensing applies without a rule. You will need to learn them on a case-by-case basis down the road of your Korean learning career. Examples Word Meaning [Pronunciation] Chinese characters [ ]; one character [ ]

Word

Meaning [Pronunciation] market price []; city streets [] special talent []; chess [] popularity [] business trip [] things to eat [ ]

things that I ate [ ] In the first 3 examples, you can see that different meanings in the same word are distinguished by with or without tensing in the second hangul. The last 2 examples is to demonstrate that the pattern with future tense modifier is always tense but not the pattern with present/past tense modifier / .

A lot of borrowed words have an optional tensing in the initial consonant, such as [ or ] for bus, [ or ] for banana, or [ or ] for game. For native Korean words, very often tensing for the initial consonant is to emphasize intensity, such as [] to emphasize it is small.

Voicing and Pronunciations of Korean Consonants

You may wonder why when you hear Korean words with consonants or , sometimes they are b-, d-, g- and j-like, but some other times they are p-, t-, k-, and ch-like respectively. One of the factors effecting their pronunciations is voicing.

Voicing is one of the 3 important concepts for Korean pronunciations. If you are
not sure what voicing is, please review this post. In a nutshell, all Korean vowels are always voiced, so are nasal consonants and consonant . On the other hand, all other consonants are voiceless when they are at the beginning of a word. As a result, or are more p-like, t-like, k-like, and ch-like than blike, d-like, g-like and j-like respectively at the beginning of a word. But how about when these consonants are pronounced in between a word? They become fully voiced, i.e., or becomes b-, d-, g- and j-like respectively when they are pronounced in between voiced sounds. It explains why, for the same consonant symbol, you may hear different sounds at different situations. Examples Word Meaning rain butterfly Notes is voiceless is b-like

Word Phrase

Meaning all sea dog rainbow location woman Pronunciation [] []

Notes is voiceless is d-like is voiceless is g-like is voiceless is j-like Meaning it is not a leaf it is tasteless Notes is b-like is d-like

[] is g-like outside is dark As you can see from the second set of examples, voicing can apply across word boundary, if the ending consonant needs to be pronounced as or , and the following word begins with a vowel. Summaryof Voicingand Pronunciationsof KoreanConsonants At the beginning of a word Between two voiced sounds within a word fully voiced, b-like fully voiced, d-like fully voiced, g-like fully voiced, j-like voiceless, more p-like than b-like voiceless, more t-like than d-like voiceless, more k-like than g-like voiceless, more ch-like than j-like

At the end of a word followed by a word beginning with a vowel fully voiced, b-like fully voiced, d-like fully voiced, g-like

At the end of a word followed by a word beginning with a vowel does not apply

1)
[Ahn-nyung-ha-se-yo]

[Mahn-na-seo ban-ga-weo-yo]

[Ahn-nyung-hyi-ga-se-yo]

2)
[Dang-shin-euyi yi-reum-eun moo-eot-yip-nyi-kka]

[Nae yi-reum-eun so-yong-do-ri-yip-nyi-da]

3)
[Dang-shin-euyi jyik-ap-eun moo-eot-yip-nyi-kka]

[Nae jyik-ap-eun hahk-saeng-yip-nyi-da]

4)
[Eol-ma-yip-nyi-kka]

[Mahn-o-cheon-won-yip-nyi-da]

[Byi-ssah-yo]

[Ye]

[Yi-geot-do byi-ssah-yo]

[Ah-nyi-yo, ssah-yo]

5)
[Dae-sah-gwan-yi eo-dyi-yip-nyi-kka]

[Jeo-jjok-yip-nyi-da]

[Eol-mah-nah geol-lyip-nyi-kka]

[O bwoon geol-lyip-nyi-da]

[Go-mahp-seup-nyi-da]

6)
[Nwoo-gwoo-shyip-nyi-kka]

[Nah-ye-yo]

[Eo-seo-o-se-yo]

[Bahn-gahp-seup-nyi-da]

[Ahn-jeu-se-yo]

[Ceo-pyi deu-shyi-get-sseo-yo]

[Ye, go-mahp-seup-nyi-da]

7)
[Eo-dyi gah-syip-nyi-kka]

[Hahk-kyo-e gahp-nyi-da]

[Eo-dyi-e-seo sah-syip-nyi-kka]

[Seo-wool-e-seo sahp-nyi-da]

8)
[Ye-yak-hah-syeot-sseup-nyi-kka]

[Ah-nyi-yo]

[Myeo-chyil-dong-ahn gye-shyi-get-sseup-nyi-kka]

[Hah-rwoo-yo]

[Jahm-kkahn-mahn kyi-dah-ryi-se-yo]

9)
[Nae-yil syi-gahn yi-sseo-yo]

[Eop-sseo-yo]

[Wae-yo]

[Bah-bbah-yo]

10)
[Chi-geum myeot-shyi-ye-yo]

[Yil-gop-ssyi sahm-syip-bwoon-yip-nyi-da]

11)
[Yeo-bo-se-yo]

[So-yong-do-ri yit-sseup-nyi-kka]

[Jeon-de-yo]