Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Snowmeow]

I've tried to learn Korean from time to time, pretty unsuccessfully

I haven't had any classroom experience in Korean though I considered studying with KLIFF in Busan

The most difficult sound I have encountered in Korean so far involve a vocalization similar to the "l" sound eg. the Korean word for water
물

Also its very difficult to distinguish between these sounds ㅐ, ㅔ, ㅖ, ㅒ

Anybody else have particular difficulties at this most basic level?

[Kim Jong Jordan]

I have the most difficulty with the ㅡ sound.

[Theda]

The "의" sound has always been problematic for me. If I ever desperately need a chair or a doctor I'm stuffed

[Atavistic]

I have a hard time telling apart ㅔ, ㅐ and ㅒ, ㅖ. I also have a hard time with ㅏ, ㅓ. And 려 is a seriously frickin' hard sound to make.

[Troll_Bait]

I still find it very difficult to be able to hear the differences between the single and double consonants (ㅃ vs. ㅂ, ㅉ vs. ㅈ, ㅆ vs. ㅅ, etc.).

By the way, even many Koreans have trouble distinguishing an ㅐ from an ㅔ.

[PeteJB]

I just woke up, so..

ㅐ and ㅔ usually sound the same. ㅔ can be said with a slightly wider mouth if you want.

ㅖ is pronounced the same as ㅔ unless its written as 예 - For example, if someone had a name like 김아해, 김아혜 usually sounds the same.

ㅒ is always pronounced the same.

의 is not as challenging as you think. If 의 comes at the beginning of a word, then it's pronounced the traditional way. If it comes in the middle (or sometimes end) of a word it's often pronounced as just 이. If using the possessive particle 의 (for example Peter's = 피터의) then it's pronounced like 에.

The sounds I have trouble with are when using ㅓ ㅗ and ㅜ all in the same sentence. ㅓ and ㅜ are easy to seperate but I often end up making ㅗ and ㅜ sound the same when spoken carelessly. Or, when saying something like 올 I tend to slant towards a sound which sounds either like 얼 or 울

[Atavistic]

Oh yeah, totally forgot those double letters. 방/빵. Um hum. Sound the same to me.

[spliff]

That grown-up trying to sound like a two year old pouty/whiney bit would be difficult for me to do.

[Qinella]

I still have a problem just saying 동. It comes out sounding like, well, you know.

[trubadour]

what does 의 sound like again? is it 'yee' or something?

[wo buxihuan hanguoren]

[out of context]

I've gotten the hang of most of the sounds, but I still have a problem from time to time with the unreleased consonants at the end of a word. If I say 박, the person can't tell if I'm saying 박, 밥, 밭 or just 바. Then again, for someone learning English, it may be hard to distinguish "rap", "rack" and "rat" without context--especially the last two.

[wo buxihuan hanguoren]

I don't know if this is funny or sad but my Korean keeps improving, and I actually make no effort to learn it. Today in my 'advanced' class we had to translate stuff from Korean to English, was pretty much a breeze except for a few words I didn't know.

Anyway, I don't really have problems with pronunciation - I used to listen on the subway when they announced the subway stop - good way to pick the pronunciation of words up.

[wo buxihuan hanguoren]

Also, try not to rely on dictionaries too much for verbs and adjectives, get a Korean to help you.

For example, most dictionaries will list 'exciting' as 'heungbunshikida' but Koreans don't really say that - they just say 'jemmi itda'.

Or like the time I looked up the word 'snob', and the dic said 'sai bi shinsa' (fake gentleman) - say that to a Korean and they will have no clue what you mean.

[PeteJB]

Yeah, dictionaries contains big words that even many Koreans won't be familiar with. I guess it'd be what you call "Snobbish Korean"?