Korean Pronunciation, Video 4: Korean's Spelling Rules

This is the last of a 4-part series on Korean pronunciation. The goal is to get familiar with the sounds of Korean and the IPA symbols. You'll then be able to learn them faster, either through your own studies or through my pronunciation trainers. More links below:
Flashcard Designs for Teaching Yourself Pronunciation: blog.fluent-forever.com/gallery/
My Pronunciation Trainers: fluent-forever.com/product/fl...
Anki Language Learning: ankilanguagelearning.com
More Anki Decks, including Korean Pronunciation: speakada.com
Reddit's Anki Language Learning Community: / ankilanguagelearning
A super detailed discussion of the IPA: • Pronunciation Tutorial...

[@haphuongnguyen5578]

I just finished the 4 vid in a row and my brain has exploded 😂 yr vids' re always sooo informative.

[@ihaveseverefrootsnackism]

I spread it out over 4 days xD

[@Sshireen]

Same here....😅

[@mikkicky]

I took a month to watch them all... BUT- It's because I've been watching the videos in full, then rewatching the videos so I could make the most aesthetic notes possible cuz I have a problem 😭💀💀

[@multeyemeteor]

Great video series. I think my background in phonetics and linguistics helped me out a lot here. One thing, I believe is missing, is how some Korean consonants are quite different from a lot of other languages. Like the "n" and "m" sounds. "n" often has a bit of a flick to it and no "uhn" in the beginning, so it often ends up sounding like a softer "d/t" sound. Like, when Koreans say "yes" ("ne"), it often comes out as "de". Similarly, "m" has a similar abruptness to it, so it often sounds closer to an unaspirated "b/p" sound. "meolla yo", often sounds like "mbeolla yo" or even "beolla yo". I would've loved to hear more about this stuff. Otherwise, I enjoyed the series a lot.

[@FluentForeverApp]

Thanks for your feedback!

[@MiuXiu]

Definitely, there are a lot of sounds that are confusing until you get an ear for it. At first I was always confused why I heard 데 instead of 네 or 붜 instead of 뭐. I’m sure it would help a lot of newer learners to have it explained

[@contrl31]

Great point. I think these subtle changes (initial denasalization) are very recent in contemporary Korean - perhaps even localized to Seoul dialect - I found a study about it here: www.journal-labphon.org/articles/10.5334/labphon.203/

[@rabberry7643]

why does this feel like maths?

[@makerthin3]

that’s good!…

[@obedotto4465]

Ikr

[@ilinag7109]

thank you so much. I finally kind of get why what I was hearing wasn't what was written some of the time. This series was extremely helpful and I feel so much better about my Korean pronunciations

[@gabrielkim1601]

For foreigners who are frustrated because of those complex rules; DON'T WORRY. I'm a 12th grade Korean, and even now I learn those things in school(since 7th grade). By the way, '꽃아니요' is GRAMMATICALLY WRONG. In Korean, we use '꽃이 아니오'. '이' is an affix meaning that '꽃' is subject, and '요' cannot be used in that situation. But don't worry. Even native Koreans use '요' instead of '오'. '요' is used in connecting, when you list things or facts, and '오' is final ending.

[@esheed5874]

Honesty, this is the most comforting comment ever. I feel a whole lot better, knowing I am doing something right.

[@MiuXiu]

I know this is old. But I read somewhere a while back when I first started learning that 요 started from 이오 being pronounced and it stuck even though it was incorrect. Interesting but my textbooks all have 요 instead of 오 now, so is it that widely used that it’s considered correct now?

[@supechube_k]

so does the ㅊ move to the next syllable because of that spelling rule and become 꼬치

[@immortally87]

śȗg̃ã kȏȏkįẽṡ bts army channel Yes, it does

[@EchoHeo]

technically, its not "wrong", its just dropping the suffix in an inappropriate context. there can be a context in which it could sound natural; "그게 무어요? 꽃이오?" "꽃 아니오."

[@keni.3267]

I am soooooo confused

[@DLeighWrites]

If you've been searching (and searching and searching) for a video that clearly explains why so many final consonants turn into a "T" sound and what the rule is, this video addresses it at 3:24. What a relief. I've looked forever for a video that didn't assume we knew this and that explained this from the ground up. It's amazing how many videos skip over this or "blend it" with other rules. This is the first video I've found that breaks this out into a separate topic and covers it as its own rule. So happy!

[@FluentForeverApp]

Hi there, We are so happy for you and that we were able to help you out! All the best on your language learning journey, and we look forward to helping you as much as we can!

[@jameskeurd6369]

Excellent videos! They're very helpful. Thank you so much. I cannot imagine Korean right now if Hangeul wasn't invented and we rely fully on Hanja instead. Whenever I'll hear people say ''Korean writing is so easy, I can learn it in a day'', I'll show them this video right away. Again, thank you so much.

[@urieommarang]

As a linguistic student, I can say that your videos are so helpful. Everything makes just sense

[@FluentForeverApp]

We are so glad to hear that, thank you! 🙂

[@hiswieder9398]

Missing Things: - Denasalization of initial nasal sounds /n m/ (for young ages). - Diphthongs. There are three types of diphthongs: w-diphthong, j-diphthong, ɰ-diphthong. It pronounced as diphthong with no consonants but when diphthongs follow consonants, it labialize/palatalized consonants. So, 요 itself is /jo/ [jo] but 교 is /gyo/ [kʲo]. 외 and 위 represents /ø/ and /y/ which from /oj/ and /uj/ diphthongs are now pronounced by young ages as /we/ and /ɥi/. - Pitch accent: There are no distinctive pitch accent in Standard Modern Korean but, it is currently undergoing tonogenesis in Seoul dialect. The initial lenis consonants are aspirated or got tensed.

[@FluentForeverApp]

Thank you for sharing!

[@MatureParasite]

Thank you Gabriel, I will head to Seoul in two weeks, so this is very helpful.

[@KingPaulW]

Your videos on Korean pronunciation is very thorough and is making pronunciation alot easier. Thank you!

[@FluentForeverApp]

Hi Paul, we are delighted to hear that our videos have been of help to you!

[@brutaliteful]

This is everything I needed 😭

[@PieCrust200]

Thank you so much for making the video! The hardest one for me is the 4th one it's kinda tricky for me but I'll rematch your video

[@LaryssaAlves]

This is the best video ever, thank you!

[@FluentForeverApp]

We're glad to hear it's been helpful, Laryssa!

[@csml4519]

this the best video i cld find to learn thnk you

[@FluentForeverApp]

Hi there, we are happy to hear that. Glad that we could help you out!

[@ramzy-6566]

Thank you for Korean Pronunciation.

[@TurtleGold22]

If you did this for english, you would probably need a few videos just for exceptions to the rules.

[@marygebbie6611]

The Endless Knot KZbin channel does a great one about spelling rules! I recommend it!

[@josarah5033]

thank you for explainig all this in a matter thats easy to understand, i was really frustrated not knowing why certain words weren't said they are written (: oh and even tho im learning over english i realized that beeing native in (swiss)german makes it easier to understand some characters like ㅔ since we have the really similar ä sound etc

[@KevJYT]

Hi Gabriel, do you plan on doing videos about the Thai language eventually? That would be great.

[@user-ec4cy3bm4w]

😭 i don't understand......

[@Bahraini0]

There are some of Arabic letters that are pronounced in different sounds, and they are correct: but I will mention the most famous of them, the letter Jim (ج), most Arabs pronounce it (dʒ) and the largest minority (g) such as the population of Egypt and Yemen, whose population is 131 million out of a total Arab population of 430 million

[@ryanw8509]

Why are these termed "spelling rules" and not "pronunciation rules" The spelling stays the same, it's the pronunciation that changes. 국 is placed in the word 한국어, The spelling stays the same, and only the pronunciation changes to "한구거". So it's a pronunciation rule not a spelling rule.

[@absinthe_apostle]

Is it always the case that rule three applies after rule one? For the phrase 꽃이 야, does one say "kkodi ya?" Why not "kkodzi ya" with rule 3 first and then rule one?

[@mydoggylives]

I get what you were saying. My only thing is... when you were talking about Meg Ryan and converting it to Korean, you grouped them both together into one word. Rather than two words (Meg Ryan), you demonstrated it as if it were one word (MegRyan). I assume this was just for demonstration purposes of the rules and that that's NOT how they actually say the name, correct? If you just ran words into each other like that then it would get WAYYY too confusing, wouldn't it?

[@eileenrodriguez973]

mydoggylives That's how they actually say that name.

[@pumpulipuikko988]

Even a sentence follows the rules, then why can’t you say a name would be influenced by them?

[@KeksosDerGrosse]

I'm late to this video's party, I know, but this is exactly what I was thinking. Forename and surname are seperate, ordered words and never go together in English (no matter what). Would've made a lot more sense to explain the name prounounciation rule Kathelene Marie Tan expressed before the rest of the video.

[@LeeDanielCrocker]

Great content, and not to take away from the complexity, but if you consider this the most complex set of pronunciation rules you've encountered, then you haven't looked into Gaelic and Welsh :-(

[@FluentForeverApp]

We're glad you enjoyed it! Indeed, these two languages can be very challenging!

[@rebabuhin]

Excellent series! It make sense now, but still need a lot more ptactice though not gonna lie. Also, why not just spell it as 메그 라이언? So you get around the rules and keep most of the sounds as close as possible. Also, rule 2 only works if its a single word? Whereas rules 4 & 5, nasalization(?) and r/l behavior works regardless? The "phrase" 옷 은 are two words. It's o seun instead of o teun. Meg and ryan is not a single word yet you still did the transformation on the K-R? Sorry it was implicitly explained i think. Maybe im just tired lol. Will rewatch later

[@MiuXiu]

This didn’t go as in depth as text books do, there are some rules that apply overall and spill over into next words, and some that apply only to roots and not other words, some compound noun rules, and some rules that don’t apply if it’s next to a particle/suffix. It seems really daunting at first but it clicks if you go over it every once in a while as you’re learning and hearing more natural sentences!

[@melindamercier6811]

I thought the same thing, 메그 could have made things a lot simpler lol. It’s not uncommon for ㅡ to be used when trying to be as true to the English phonetics of a word.

[@obedotto4465]

Ngl the s in Korean kind of looks like rén in Chinese, same with m, it looks like ro in Japanese

[@Stella-ij2yw]

OMG, I feel like my brain is exploding and I will never learn Korean!!

[@justinzvarghese]

I'm a little confused as to why rule 2 (voicing) doesn't kick in for the aspirated S in the word for clothes. It would seem like it's between two vowels. There is a voiced [s] i.e. [z] on the Korean IPA wikipedia article. Is it because the placeholder doesn't count as actually being in between a vowel?

[@Tahkoyakii]

I don't get the It is not a flower part.. When that (aspirated ch) consonant moved to where that "o" was, it took the sound of a "d", but shouldn't it be its voiced "CH" sound? I don't see why we would keep the final sound of the "t" and move it to a "d" when we should of kept it as a "ch" ... Maybe I'm just confused between rule 1 and 2... Since I feel like rule 2 should have priority over 1... because with the same concept with the "it is not a flower", when you pronounce clothes in korean shouldn't it be odun instead of osun? That final "s" sound gets changed to a "t" and since it moved over and surrounded by vowels it is now a "d"? Or am I missing something

[@lhi3050]

As with many languages, Korean does have its exceptions.

[@martina-cz]

Bomjunior, that's exactly what confused me at first glance as well! I was wondering if someone had pointed it out. Great, but... Haenii Emily's response confuses me even more. WHICH of the two cases is an exception? Could anyone explain that to a non-Korean? :) Thanks a lot in advance.

[@martina-cz]

After thinking about it and trying to figure it out myself - the key might be in distinguishing semantic units. The video is talking about words, but what does a "word" mean in the Korean sense? Does the Korean language even deal with words? Can't the reason for applying Rule 3 for 옷은 and Rules 1, 3, and 2, respectively, for the sentence with 꽃 be just the fact that the syllables 옷 and 은 form together a "word" for a single object whereas the other case links syllables in order to get some information about an object called 꽃? It would be logical not to change the sound of 꽃 that much when it's still the same flower. Hope you understand what I mean. Am I right (at least sort of) or is this reasoning totally irrelevant?

[@taan1710]

Korean Alphabet is very complicated, it is basically presenting the sound, but intendedly presenting the most simplified version of root of the each word even if the sound is different due to the phnological environment, therefore making it different from just reading it out.

[@Yarnooee]

dear k-pop fan, this is true form of korean.. be prepare to frustrated! whoo-ooo

[@Craftee6]

Assuming people learning korean are k-pop fans lol. I hate k-pop. Literally only song that came from korea which is like was gangnam style. I only learn this language to be able to watch faker's twitch stream (league of legends) without relying on bad translator app. And because koreans are big in pretty much all e-sports that i care about.

[@IndieBirdieMusic]

@@Craftee6 omg me tooooo!!! I realllly wanna understand Korean twitch streamers! I don't care to understand kpop. I also really want to be able to watch and understand those hilarious comedy shows without English subtitles too!

[@Craftee6]

@@IndieBirdieMusic Yeah i dont want comedies either. Just streamers. And those korean casters are so fucking funny even when i dont get a word (league of legends professional championship is what i mean). I must say, 3 months later i have burned out so much that after intial few days i didnt touch it XD I can read but that's about it.

[@MiuXiu]

Craftee I hope you’re still learning and didn’t give up! It’s very much worth it. I was interested after seeing the korean league casters as well. It’s much more fun to watch the korean broadcasts now for me.

[@Novjuly]

What I'm confused about is why even make those letters the end of the word if they can't actually be the end of the word? What am I missing?

[@karaiwonder]

12:51

[@marygebbie6611]

this reaffirms my decision to take Japanese class instead of Korean. :P

[@iclicklike3397]

meng naien :D

[@user-wr8wf5nf4l]

Complex as they may seem like, these rules are not counterintuitive and easy to remember.

[@user-wk8be9hu9j]

Right. So this is why all of my mates said how Korean is so hard to learn lol

[@user-uj9wl6td7e]

Hi what is voiceless consonant

[@user-uj9wl6td7e]

Thank

[@YouLilalas]

You should start by watching video 1 …

[@ramsesclviii2584]

linguistics primer course will help you in korean.

[@makerthin3]

hhhh imagine if we had to say “bugess” instead of “bugs” hhhh

[@garrykimovich]

Good video condensing hard concepts, but Meg would be written 메그. No Korean would write Meg as 멕 because ㄱ in the batchim position turns to a K sound which is obviously not accurate in pronouncing Meg. Also the ㄹ pronunciation is the opposite of what was stated in the video. ㄹ sound at the beginning of a word is almost always more of an L sound, not an R sound, like 라디오 is pronounced like Ladio, not radio. And when ㄹ occurs at the end of a word, then it usually sounds more like an R sound rather than an L sound. Like 말 sounds more like Mar, rather than Mal. Ryan 라이언 would be pronounced more like Lion, not Nion because the batchim pronunciation rules applies to syllables within the same word, not between two different words. Meg and Ryan are two separate words, not syllables of one word.

[@Emile.gorgonZola]

garry kimovich Use IPA, you savage.

[@ryanw8509]

ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%A9%95_%EB%9D%BC%EC%9D%B4%EC%96%B8 nope

[@MiuXiu]

ㄹ at the beginning of a word is almost exclusively loan words. Also the 받침 rules flow through a whole sentence. Some rules are different between words, but the nasalization happens everywhere. You’re preaching something when you don’t fully understand.

[@lienha3058]

why is there no sound / dz ts ts͈ tsʰ/

[@sugagang]

This video made me wanna throw up...not in a bad way...Just in a stressed way

[@gnez6460]

You need to get rid of the native speaker

[@MccZerk]

Without even defining a voiceless consonant yet build the entire video about it, very poor tutorial.

[@mynameisjeff869]

If you can see, you can read the title, it says video 4! Voicing is explained in video 1.