Word Wednesday: Consonants

Let's start with the Hangul consonants.  There are only 19, and 5 of them are the "doubled" version of regular consonants.

So, in (Korean) alphabetical order they are:

The "double letters" (ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ) are alphabetized immediately after their "single" variant.

According to traditional stories, the consonants were developed based on the shapes of the tongue and/or the mouth as it is pronounced.

Ok, so let's work through these.  And I know there are tons of pronunciation charts out there...and you could just do a google search, but these are pronunciation tips that help me and I am just passing them along.



ㄱ
Romanized as g or k...the pronunciation is somewhere in between.  To my ears, it sounds more like the g in "get."  It's a little deceptive...kimchi and kimbap are spelled with ㄱ and the pronunciation is closer to k for Westerners, but if you use the g from "get"

ㄲ
Romanized as gg...pronounced like the English g sound, like the g in go.

ㅋ
Romanized as k and pronounced like the English k sound (like the k in keep).  Also, you may not see this one too commonly.

ㄴ
Romanized as n and pronounced like the English n sound (like the n in no).

ㄹ
This one is tricky.  It is romanced as either l or r...and pronounced variably.  There's really no easy way to distinguish this one.  Generally, I find if you use the l sound (like low) you are usually understood...when pronounced as r its like the r from car.  But there are A LOT of times when it sounds like you start an l sound and then morph into an r sound...think the "lar" sound in polar...or at least that's how I hear it.

ㄷ
Romanized as d...the pronunciation is between d and t, but closer to d.  Like the d in dog.

ㄸ
Romanized as dd and pronounced like a d sound.

ㅌ
Romanized as t, and pronounced like t...t like two.

ㅁ
Romanized as m, and pronounced like m.  This one's easy.

ㅂ
Romanized as b, but the pronunciation is somewhere between a b and p.  If you use it as a b (like boo), you are usually understood, but if it is at the end of the word, use a p sound like pop and you will have a pretty accurate pronunciation.

ㅃ
Romanized as bb and is pronounced as an aspirated b sound...b like bang.

ㅍ
Romanized as p and pronounced as a p (p like power).

ㅅ
This one is a little tricky too.  Romanized as s, and usually pronounced s (like sour), but if the vowel sound in the syllable is an "E" sound, the pronunciation is actually a sh should like ship.  OR...if it the final consonant in a syllable it has a more t-like sound...like the final t in thought.

ㅆ
Romanized as ss, and pronounced as an s sound.  I don't really see this one commonly though.

ㅈ
Romanized as j, and the pronunciation is between a j and ch sound....close the j in jungle.

ㅉ
Romanized as jj and pronounced like a hard j...like the j in jump.

ㅊ
Romanized and pronounced as ch...ch like change.

ㅎ
Romanized as h...pronounced like h in hop.  Easy-peasy!

ㅇ
Ok...so, this one.  If this is the first consonant in a syllable, it is silent.  That is, the first sound will be the vowel sound.  If this is the last consonant in the syllable, it is pronounced ng...like the ng in ring.