| Hi, everyone! Welcome to Ask K-jin. My name is K-jin. |
| 안녕하세요, K-Jin입니다. (Annyeonghaseyo, keijinimnida.) |
| In this series, I'll answer your Korean questions. So, if you have any questions, please let me know by clicking the link in the description, or you can go to KoreanClass101.com/ask-Kjin. So, ask me any questions! |
| Today, I picked questions related to similar Korean vowels. |
| What's the difference between these two vowels? |
| ㅐ(ae) vs ㅔ(e) |
| The first vowel ㅐ (ae) is consists of a + e, as in ae, /ae/. |
| The second vowel is this, o + e, as in e, /e/. ㅔ(e) |
| So, the first vowel is supposed to have bigger mouth open, and the second vowel supposed to have smaller mouth opened. In modern Korean, we don't pronounce these two vowels differently anymore. So I was born and grew up in Korea and if you asked me to pronounce these vowels I would say /e/, /e/, /e/. And my parents, my friends too, they just say these are the same. But of course, if you are preparing to become an announcer in Korea, or narrator, voice actors, you need to pronounce this slightly differently but as a normal person, as a normal person if you grew up in Korea, we don't pronounce it differently, so don't worry about this. I would say there's almost no difference. So let me show you some examples. |
| I'll read these words with exaggeration. |
| First, 새 집(sae jip), "new house." |
| And, 세 집(se jip), "three houses." |
| 새 집(sae jip), 세 집(se jip) |
| But actually, when we speak with other people, we don't really care about these small differences and we just say like this. First one is 새 집(sae jip). |
| "Where is your new house?" 새 집 어디야?(Sae jip eo-di-ya?) |
| 새 집 어디야?(Sae jip eo-di-ya?), 새 집(sae jip), 새 집(sae jip) |
| The second one, 세 집(se jip), 세 집(se jip), 세 집(se jip). "Oh, three houses!" |
| 세 집(se jip), 세 집(se jip). |
| Do you see the differences? So theoretically, there is some differences, there is some difference in the pronunciation but in modern Korean, and normal people don't see the difference, we don't really recognize the difference anymore. |
| Here's our second question. What's the difference between these two vowels? |
| ㅖ(yae) vs ㅒ(ye) |
| The first vowel is consist of ya + e. ya + e, /yae/. |
| The second one is consist of yeo + e. yeo + e. |
| So can you guess the difference now? |
| Yes, it is the /ya/ sound. Because when you pronounce this first /yae/ sound, you are supposed to make your mouth bigger; /yae/, /yae/. Theoretically, you're supposed to use your mouth a little bit smaller than the first one. so /yae/ and /ye/. |
| /yae/ and /ye/. |
| But again, in modern Korean, we don't really recognize the difference anymore. |
| Let me show you some examples. |
| The first word is 얘기 (yae-gi), means "story" or "talk." |
| 얘기 (yae-gi). |
| The second word is 예술 (ye-sul),예술 (ye-sul), "art." |
| 예술 (ye-sul). |
| Well, I pronounce these words with exaggeration but really in daily life we just say 얘기 (yae-gi), 얘기 (yae-gi), or 예술 (ye-sul), 예술 (ye-sul). |
| 얘기 (yae-gi) 예술 (ye-sul). |
| 얘기 (yae-gi) 예술 (ye-sul). |
| We don't really pronounce these words differently. |
| Here's the last question. |
| What are the differences? These sounds are so similar! ㅚ(oe) vs ㅙ(wae) vs ㅞ(we) |
| Right? |
| The first vowel consists of o and e, as in ㅚ(oe). |
| And the second vowel is consists of o + ae, ㅙ(wae). |
| The third vowel is consists of u and e. |
| So these two vowels, ㅚ(oe) and ㅙ(wae), when you pronounce these two vowels your mouth is supposed to start from this shape, as in ㅚ(oe), ㅙ(wae). |
| And inf this one, ㅙ(wae), you have this ae sound so you are supposed to open your mouth a little bit bigger than the first one, as in ㅙ(wae). |
| The third one, you have /u/ here, so you start your mouth shape like this; ㅞ(we). |
| ㅞ(we) |
| So ㅚ(oe), ㅙ(wae), ㅞ(we). |
| So you don't need to spend so much time practicing these vowels, so they are just like ㅚ(oe), ㅙ(wae), ㅞ(we). Let me show you some examples. |
| I'll read these three words with exaggeration. |
| 괴물(goe-mul), 괴물(goe-mul) "monster" |
| 괘씸(gwae-ssim), 괘씸(gwae-ssim) "disgrace or shame" |
| 궤도(gwe-do), 궤도(gwe-do) "orbit or track" |
| But again in real life we pronounce these vowels in a similar way as in 괴물(goe-mul), 괘씸(gwae-ssim), 궤도(gwe-do). |
| Do you hear the difference? 괴물(goe-mul), 괘씸(gwae-ssim), 궤도(gwe-do). |
| Well, as a native Korean, I don't see the difference, I don't hear the difference that much, we don't really pronounce these vowels differently, so don't worry about this, just remember these three have different spelling but well, it just sounds like ㅞ(we). |
| That's it for this lesson! Today I answered three questions about similar Korean vowels. |
| Thanks for watching, I'm K-Jin and I'll see you on KoreanClass101.com |
| 다음 시간에 봐요! (Da-eum si-gan-e bwa-yo!) |
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