Korean Job Discussion Forums

nevermindb · Joined: 13 Oct 2007

Some of my students want me to specifically teach them how to pronounce the short "i" sound and the short "a" sound like an American. There's also the "z", "r" sound. Any suggestions besides recording the sounds and just practicing short "i" and "a" words? Thanks!

Rumple · Joined: 19 Sep 2007

Chris Kwon · Joined: 23 Jan 2008 Location: North Korea

Unlike the Korean R sound, the tongue doesn't make contact with anything in your mouth.

and as nevermindb said, z is the voiced version of s, as g is the voiced version of k, b is the voiced version of p and so on.

Cerriowen · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Location: Pocheon

Koreans make the short "i" sound all the time. Except it's always followed by an "L"

Counting... "il, ee, sam"...

Jamshil

Have them practice saying "il" a few times, then gradually have them drop off the "L" sound after. That's how I did it with my students anyway.

Another one is "won't" and "want". I have them practice slowly saying "oooh (shoe)" "oh" (go) "ooh (shoe)". which is the "Wo" part. Then gradually speed it up.

I made up something for them to practice saying...

"I won't want to walk to work"

Biblethumper · Joined: 15 Dec 2007 Location: Busan, Korea

Koreans do not really make the short i sound. It is still a truncated long e.
For example, the Korean word, "il" (one) does not sound like our word "ill." It sounds more like "eel." "Eel" when pronounced quickly, without a long drawn out ee sound.

So I just rely on reminding the students of the basic words in English that they have heard a zillion times. It, hit, kiss, pig, is, in. And drill them. But basically most of the students will never be able to master it. Even my kindergarteners have a harder time than a native English speaker has, and young children pick up pronunciation much more easily than adults.

Cerriowen · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Location: Pocheon

I disagree. I had a class full of adults able to say the short "i" sound within 3 months. My kindergarteners have no trouble with the "i" sound now, after about 1 month.

kermo · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 4:36 pm Post subject:

For the short "i" sound:

I start with the long "eeee", asking students to notice the high, tense position of their tongue. For emphasis, the mouth is also stretched into a smile.

Then I tell the students to relax their tongues, and for emphasis the face also slackens. This definitely takes some practise, but once the students acquire some awareness about their tongue position, it should come.

As for short "a", it's a little easier. It's in between two Korean sounds, "a" and "ae." Ask your students to slide between then and stop halfway. Again, they'll be tempted to substitute Korean sounds, but they'll start hearing it eventually.