Language/Korean/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

Korean Alphabet, IPA Pronuncation, Video, Virtual Keyboard...

Hello Polyglots,😀

In today's lesson, you will learn how to write the different letters of the Korean alphabet, how to pronounce these letters whether it is through the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), or through a video with the pronunciation of the letters by a native speaker.

You will also find at the end of this lesson a virtual keyboard to be able to type each special character of this language.

Korean Alphabet

The Korean language has 40 different letters, which are separated into 4 main categories: basic vowels, basic consonants, compound vowels, and compound consonants. While learning Korean, it is incredibly important to learn the alphabet, especially if you ever want to become fluent in a language. This is because some of the pronunciations are very similar to one another, and this can become confusing. Another reason is because the letters don't sound exactly like the romanticized versions of the letters. Examples:

Basic Vowels

• ㅏ [a]
• ㅓ [eo]
• ㅗ [o]
• ㅜ [u]
• ㅡ [eu]

• ㅑ [ya]

• ㅕ [yeo]
• ㅛ [yo]
• ㅠ [yu]

• ㅣ [i]

Basic Consonants

• ㄱ [k, g] - Combination of the two sounds.

• ㄴ [n]
• ㅁ [m]
• ㅅ [s] - At the end of a syllable, it sounds closer to a "t".
• ㅇ [ng] - At the beginning of a syllable, it is silent. At the end of a syllable, it sounds like "ng".
• ㅋ [k] - Hard "k" sound.

• ㄷ [d, t] - Normally sounds like a soft "d", but is sometimes romanticized as a "t".
• ㅂ [b, p, f, v] - This sounds closest to a "b", but it is romanticized into any of these 4.
• ㅈ [j]
• ㅌ [t] - Hard "t" sound.
• ㅍ [p]

• ㅊ [ch]

• ㅎ [h]
• ㄹ [r, l] - Native Korean speakers are frequently unable to tell the difference between an "r" and an "l" sound, therefore, this letters sounds like a combination of the two.

Compound Vowels

Complex Vowels

• ㅐ [ae]
• ㅔ [e]

• ㅒ [yae]

• ㅖ [ye]

Diphtongs

• ㅙ [wae]
• ㅘ [wa]
• ㅝ [wo]
• ㅢ [ui]

• ㅚ [oe]
• ㅞ [we]

• ㅟ [wi]

Double Consonants

• ㄲ [kk]
• ㄸ [tt]
• ㅃ [pp]

• ㅆ [ss] - Like the single version of this letter, when it is at the end of a syllable, it sounds closer to a "tt" sound.

• ㅉ [jj]

Complex combinations

Summary

Letter		ㄱ	ㄲ	ㄴ	ㄷ	ㄸ	ㄹ	ㅁ	ㅂ	ㅃ	ㅅ	ㅆ	ㅇ	ㅈ	ㅉ	ㅊ	ㅋ	ㅌ	ㅍ	ㅎ
IPA		[k]	[k*]	[n]	[t]	[t*]	[ɾ,l]	[m]	[p]	[p*]	[s]	[s*]	∅,[ŋ]	[ʧ]	[ʧ*]	[ʧʰ]	[kʰ]	[tʰ]	[pʰ]	[h]
Name	South	기역	쌍기역	니은	리을	쌍디귿	리을	미음	비읍	쌍비읍	시옷	쌍시옷	이응	지읒	쌍지읒	치읓	키읔	티읕	피읖	히읗
	North	기윽	된기윽		디읃	된디읃				된비읍	시읏	된시읏			된지읒

Letter	ㅏ	ㅐ	ㅑ	ㅒ	ㅓ	ㅔ	ㅕ	ㅖ	ㅗ	ㅘ	ㅙ	ㅚ	ㅛ	ㅜ	ㅝ	ㅞ	ㅟ	ㅠ	ㅡ	ㅢ	ㅣ
IPA	[a]	[æ]	[ja]	[jæ]	[ʌ]	[e]	[jʌ]	[je]	[o]	[wa]	[wæ]	[we]	[jo]	[u]	[wʌ]	[we]	[wi]	[ju]	[ɨ]	[ɨj]	[i]
Name	아	애	야	얘	어	에	여	예	오	와	왜	외	요	우	워	웨	위	유	으	의	이

Complexfinal	ㄳ	ㄵ	ㄶ	ㄺ	ㄻ	ㄼ	ㄽ	ㄾ	ㄿ	ㅀ	ㅄ

Korean Online Virtual Keyboard

Sources

• Lesson about complex finals
• https://www.spdbooks.org/Content/Site106/FilesSamples/9781624120688.pdf
• Pronunciation tips: https://www.howtostudykorean.com/unit0/197-2/