Learn how to pronounce the Korean consonants
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| Hi everyone. |
| Welcome to The Ultimate Korean Pronunciation Guide. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn the pronunciation of tensed consonants. |
| These are also called 'double-consonants' because they look like two consonants next to each other. |
| These tensed-consonants sound like the unaspirated versions, but have a heavier and more stressed sound. |
| Take a look at the two examples from English words. |
| Pa. Spa. |
| Although both words have a P, it sounds different when it's placed after S letter. It's more stressed. Let's take another example. |
| Top, Stop |
| You can notice that when the consonant is placed after 's' sound, it has a heavier and stressed sound. That's how you'll read the tensed consonants in Korean. |
| Okay. Let's practice the pronunciation one by one. |
| The first consonant is.. |
| ㄲ / (slow) ㄲ |
| It sounds like the "ch" sound in the word 'school.' Hold your breath for a second, and read it as you read the unaspirated consonant. Make sure air comes out of your mouth strongly. Listen to an example word. |
| 토끼 / (slow) 토끼 |
| Did you notice that there was a small pause between the first and second syllable? It's because you need to hold your breath to make the stressed sound. Listen to the word again. |
| 토끼 / (slow) 토끼 |
| The next consonant is.. |
| ㄸ / (slow) ㄸ |
| It sounds like the 't' sound in the word 'stop.' As you read the letters for the D and T sounds, put your tongue between your upper and lower teeth like you read a 'th' sound in English. |
| Listen to an example. |
| 뚜껑 / (slow) 뚜껑 |
| Did you read it right? Listen one more time. |
| 뚜껑 / (slow) 뚜껑 |
| The next consonant is... |
| ㅉ / (slow) ㅉ |
| You can say it like the letter J, but with a heavier sound. |
| Listen to an example word. |
| 김치찜 / (slow) 김치찜 |
| Did you hear the short pause before the tensed consonant? Listen to another example using this letter. |
| 찍다 / (slow) 찍다 |
| The next consonant is.. |
| ㅃ / (slow) ㅃ |
| It sounds like the P sound in the word SPY. Listen to an example. |
| 오빠 / (slow) 오빠 |
| If you accidentally say this letter as the unaspirated version, the meaning will change. |
| 오바 / (slow) 오바 |
| The first word means 'older brother' and the one without the tense means 'over.' |
| The last consonant is.. |
| ㅆ / (slow) ㅆ |
| This letter sounds like 's' in English but with a heavier sound. Listen to an example. |
| 글씨 / (slow) 글씨 |
| When you read this letter without stress, it will sound like this. |
| 글시 / (slow) 글시 |
| Now, let's review the aspirated consonants with their names. Do you remember the names of the unaspirated versions? When you read tensed consonants, you just need to add this word, meaning 'twin', at the beginning. |
| 쌍기역 |
| 쌍디귿 |
| 쌍지읒 |
| 쌍비읍 |
| 쌍시옷 |
| Have you noticed that sometimes the consonants are not pronounced as you'd expect? In the next lesson, you’ll learn about the exceptions that you need to read consonants correctly. Have you been able to keep all these different variations straighten your head? Let us know in the comments. See you in the next Ultimate Korean Pronunciation Guide lesson! |
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