Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JAWINSEOUL]

I having been learning to speak and write Korean for about 6 months. My pronunciation on most of the sounds is improving steadily. My issue is with (�ȼҸ�) which is the double consonants. I can��t distinguish them apart from each other. I have a Korean Teacher and Korean friends but I can��t grasp the sedulity of their speech.

My thinking is that a Native English speaker who has far more experience then I in Korean, can explain the sound difference. I know this may sound like a strange request but any help would be appreciated. Here are some examples of sounds that I am having issues with.

�� �� ��
�� �� ��
�� �� ©
�� �� ��
�� �� ��

Thanks in advance

[the_beaver]

Pronunciation is a toughie. Some people get it easily and some don't. As for me, I'm tone deaf and pronunciation is one of my biggest problems.

My advice is try to flap your vocal cords on the double sounds. Record either your teacher or one of your friends making the same sound. Record yourself and compare. Like most parts of learning a language, there's not a point where it comes with a 'eureka', but it's a gradual process where you begin to differentiate the sound, then make it under some conditions and then eventually make it under most conditions.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Basically the double consonant sounds are louder than the single consonant sounds. There is more force in the pronunciation.

I don't really hear a difference and am not at all sure the Koreans aren't just pretending to hear one. It may well be a national conspiracy to fool the foreigners.

[schwa]

I struggled to discern the difference too & simply could not hear (or make) a consonantal difference. But I think I've found the answer -- its intonational! Try sliding your voice down a tone on the double-consonant syllable & I bet your listener will get it.

[shakuhachi]

there is a difference in aspiration in the first and the second. The first should have a moderate amount of breath leaving your mouth, while the second almost none.

[EFLtrainer]

Or not at all. They're generally plosive (explosive), glottally stopped and stopped i the mouth. For example, �� would be just like Homer Simpson's, "Doh!", but softer than, say the "d" in don't.

At least, that's the story I"m telling till someone corrects me.

[Qinella]

[taobenli]

The way I head it explained that made sense to me was that for the double consonants, you should make your vocal cords tense. Actually put your hand on your neck and you should be able to feel the difference.

[peony]

i can only explain some of the differences based on other languages

for instance - there is no soft �� equivalent in English but, �� is more like the English 'S' especially like in the words Sally, Sunny, etc .

for a sound difference, consider the Korean word for mountain �� to the Japanese word that comes after a name - san (like daniel-san)- totally different

for �� vs �� - think of the pronunciation difference between the first syllables in the words, Gandhi & caramba (like the way they say ay caramba!)

[kermo]

I can't hear the difference very well, but I've had some success pronouncing them, so here's what worked for me:

It's not just the air you use, and I have no idea what "tensing/flapping" my vocal cords would feel like, but the trick may be to give the consonant a little extra squeeze, just pressing a little harder with the tongue. Does that make sense?

[JAWINSEOUL]

Thanks for help everyone, I really appreicate the effort.

[tzechuk]

[SPINOZA]

I asked a friend this same question recently.

The reply:

It determines the length of the vowel sound that follows. Thus, �� ('more') is like 'dar' (at least in my English accent) whereas in �� (ricecake) the vowel sound is much quicker. It's difficult to express properly writing IMO.

Another example: �� vs �� (bread). The difference in sound between ��and �� seems less important than the length of the vowel sound. PC �� is like 'Pc barng' whereas the word for bread has a much shorter vowel sound and actually sounds like the French word for bread (pan?) - very quick.

However, the ��and �� are funny because the former when at the beginning of a word is like a mixture of p and f. The �� sound IMO sounds more like a 'b' - see the Korean for 'quickly, quickly'.

[n3ptne]

As far as I can tell, when pronounced in a sentence, there is really no way of distinguishing between the double and single consonant (from a western perspective and speaking ability) but, luckily, the words in the sentence that are being used with a double consonant cant be anything else... so i havent had any problem hearing/saying them conversationally.

[EFLtrainer]