Telling Apart ᄃ/ᄐ/ㄸ | Korean Pronunciation Explained

[@zoelynch9689]

Love your explanations! please consider making a video on ㅈ, ㅉ and ㅊ

[@YourKoreanSaem]

I will do one for all the consonants eventually!

[@yihyosang]

The description of the pronunciation of /ㄷ, ㅌ, and ㄸ/ given here is mostly correct, but it is a little misleading in two aspects. First, the narrator says /ㄷ, ㅌ, and ㄸ/ in Korean are alveolar stops like /t/ and /d/ in English, but in fact they are dental rather than alveolar. To pronounce /t/ and /d/ in English, the tip of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge, the little bump behind the upper teeth, to make the articulatory closure, as the narrator explains. On the other hand, to pronounce /ㄷ, ㅌ, and ㄸ/ in Korean, the tip of the tongue touches the upper teeth, not the alveolar ridge, or even between the upper teeth and lower teeth (not sticking out through them, though, like the th-sound in English). /ㅌ/ in Korean and English /t / are the most similar to each other because both are heavily aspirated as the narrator explains. But if an English speaker pronounces /ㅌ/ in Korean like English /t/, Korean speakers would hear a foreign accent. Likewise, if a Korean speaker pronounces /t/ in English as if they pronounce /ㅌ/ in Korean, English speakers would hear a foreign accent, because the point of articulation is slightly different. Second, the narrator explains that /ㄷ/ in Korean is similar to /d/ in Korean because there is little or no aspiration in producing them. This is not precise. While English /d/ produces no aspiration at all, there is slight if little aspiration in pronouncing /ㄷ/ in Korean.The difference can be measurable by what is called 'Voice Onset Time (VOT)', a duration of time between the point of releasing the articulatory closure and the beginning point of the vibration of the vocal cords. In pronouncing /da/, the vocal cords vibrate immediately when the articulatory is released, since the vocal cords are already closed when /d/ is articulated, hence no aspiration at all; the VOT is zero. In pronouncing Korean /t/, on the other hand, the vocal cords are not entirely closed, hence a little air can escape from the lungs, and there is a little time lapse between the point of releasing the articulatory closure and before the vocal cords vibrate, that is, the VOT is not zero, even though the time lapse is not as long as that in pronouncing Korean /ㅌ/ and English/t/. So saying that both /d/ in English and /ㄷ/ in Korean are unaspirated is misleading.

[@rosie6821]

Actually, I was doing exactly this because I found it hard the other way. Thanks!

[@safiyahxx6352]

thank you for the explanation it really helped me understand it much more xx

[@Secretsongs20]

Thank you for your explanations. They’re very helpful. I was explained that the difference between ㄷ and ㄸ is the length of the subsequent vowel. It’s the same sound, same placement on the lower teeth, but the subsequent vowel is very short with ㄸ, which explains that there’s no time for aspiration, compared to ㄷ. Is that correct?

[@kemii_io706]

Wow Thanks I wonder why she didn't reply here

[@personperson6753]

@@rosie6821 how are you supposed to pronounce ‘ㅌ’ differently to ‘t’

[@KRYoung_dev]

I had such big smiles on my face when I was able to pronounce these consonants (as close to correctly as I could)!!! I wish you could have seen my smiles. I'm the kind of person who isn't satisfied with having an obvious American accent, I want to diminish it as much as I can. However, Korean pronunciation has been surprisingly hard for me to get! I couldn't tell the difference between many consonants and vowels until I found your channel! Now I feel so much better, with your help I can not only hear the difference but also replicate it! I'm so happy!

[@YourKoreanSaem]

Yay! I’m happy for you 🤩

[@krisu3423]

I stumbled upon your video and I feel so lucky! As a modern languages student, I can say that your way of explaining is very clear and helpful, I really feel like I'm at phonology class and I absolutely love it!

[@Langaholic]

Thank you for using examples in other languages. The Chinese and Italian explanations helped me way more than the English ones. Subbed!

[@ness5478]

Thank you so so much. So grateful for your videos, as I'm trying to learn Korean by myself.

[@taoon2591]

Excellent : your way to explain how to pronounce FROM our foreign way of pronouncing is simply awesome and efficient. Thank you 🙏!

[@MichStitch]

just wanted to drop a line and thank you for these videos. I've just started learning Korean and these type of sounds have been bending my brain, love how you break them down :)

[@mayi4403]

YAAAASSSS!!!!! You’re so SMART! 진짜 똑똑해요!!! 이 선생님이 정말 멋져요. 와! I’m so impressed! 🤩🤩🤩🤩

[@milo-3176]

Your videos are super helpful and as a translator student I fell super happy with the vocabulary you use, that way I understand it fullly! thank you so much. I'm sending your videos to my friends, too :D I hope your channel grows a lot!

[@manfredmclaren3408]

Thank you very much. Your explanation is more useful than many a book on K. phonetics published by Oxford and others.

[@Surgehero5136]

your explanation of the aveolar ridge blew my mind, I never really thought of D and T being the same aveolar stop, thank you so much.

[@Kpopnoona90]

Ok I thought I knew the alphabet well when I was learning by myself but when I started taking lessons, I realized I didn’t know much. Haha but your videos are amazing because I’m learning more in detail how to tell the difference between similar sounds and everything and how to make the sound! You’re amazing!! Subscribing!

[@krapiak]

these videos have been extremely helpful!! thank you so much!!

[@misspetite9285]

Your videos are soooo helpful. Thank you 🙏

[@jonnamusic5420]

You are really amazing! Thank you so much

[@aileen3627]

god I love you, you are charming,you are wonderful at teaching Korean,your videos are so underrated

[@JustAnotherNameYo]

Native Spanish speakers can find ㄷ very similar to the Spanish T, like in the word También. Of course some pronounce it stronger that others but I think it pretty close for the most part. Spanish has helped me a lot with my Korean pronunciation.

[@vaidehikulkarni7558]

This was really helpful

[@Mia82978]

Finally! This is such a good video and it explains all the questions I had! Thank you very much for this excellent explanation, it helped me so much where I just didn’t get it with all the other explanation videos ❤️❤️

[@RobertLattery]

So helpful!

[@semkoops]

These explanations help me out very well. It's difficult but I'm learning every day.

[@toanrtgamin9698]

Thank you so much for this

[@NBTKDA]

This was very helpful!

[@clairechambers4595]

Thank you so much! I always have trouble saying these differently. It would be great if you could make videos on other consonants that have similar articulation. Your channel is super helpful!

[@YourKoreanSaem]

Yes I have quite a few videos on similar sounding consonants, please check them out :)

[@sunbaejin1540]

Claire Chambers omg I love your forever rain pfp

[@kylbarry4466]

very informative and easy to understand, oh and pretty, nice one from uk!

[@yuradu2919]

Amazing!

[@june-uni]

Billy sent me! Subscribed :)

[@redorangeneko]

thank you so much!!! 🥰

[@daveh4208]

손생님 샘물씨, didn't you do a video on consonant assimilation? I remember watching it and liking it so much, but now I can't find it on your site. Did you take it down? I want to watch it again.

[@brandonvasquez1862]

This woman is a godsend. God bless you

[@00bridges2]

Thank you so much! Super helpful.

[@jollyjellybelly]

You have me saying the word ‘STOP’ non-Stop like a fool. Hahah

[@winstonleonchoe7524]

The GOAT!

[@safiyahxx6352]

thank you so much for this video it helped me a lot as i was struggling with this xx

[@Mort7an]

Great level of detail. thanks. :)

[@migs_1123]

Jajaja, was gettin’ confused then Tagalog was mentioned, okay got that one. Thank you, ma’am. 💜

[@cherrychoi2197]

Thank you sooooo much this video helped me a lot

[@auricia201]

These series of videos are super interesting, but they are giving me a existential crisis, because I noticed that I can't tell why p/b, t/d, k/d are different in my ow language! I'm Portuguese. I can pronounce each one differently, but I can't figure out what I'm making different with my throat/lips/tongue! It's so mind-boggling!! But also super interesting 😅

[@derominna]

This is awesome!

[@eatwitheden]

Thank you SOOO much 🖤 this is helping me so much

[@vegetator]

너무 예뻐요 ㅜㅜㅜ

[@jeff__w]

ㄸ is also pretty close to the sound that Homer Simpson makes when he says “D’oh!” He doesn’t say “Dough!” and it would sound wrong if he did. It's more of a tensed alveolar similar to ㄸ.

[@miguelrico9924]

Hmm I'm starting to sense a pattern here Great video once again

[@YourKoreanSaem]

Thanks! And yes! It's the same concept for ㄱ/ㅋ/ㄲ, ㅂ/ㅍ/ㅃ, ㅈ/ㅊ/ㅉ :)

[@Secretsongs20]

I was explained that the difference between ㄷ and ㄸ is the length of the subsequent vowel. It’s the same sound, same tongue placement on the upper teeth, but the subsequent vowel is a lot shorter with ㄸ than with ㄷ. Is that correct?

[@YourKoreanSaem]

I’m not a linguist so I can’t say with authority but I don’t think the length of the subsequent vowel depends on the consonant at all. Maybe you’re confusing it with voice onset time? The time it takes from the release to reach the vowel (voicing)

[@daveh4208]

선생님 샘물씨, How come you don't introduce yourself when you start your videos? It is nice to know who I am listening to during the lesson.

[@HirayahManawari]

01:28

[@gloriamartinez5540]

Thanks this is extremely useful!

[@bollorice7177]

1:28

[@diegocastillo5400]

How do you pronounce ㄷ if it's a batchim in a syllable?

[@YourKoreanSaem]

Diego Castillo Like a t without aspiration! “받”침=batchim. When it’s followed by a vowel then the batchim carries over to the first consonant of the next syllable.

[@AnaLu07]

This simmilar consonats are so complicated. This is what i do for BTS.

[@puregsr]

Basically a very stoned T, then a regular T, then a strong D.

[@yeonjunsspaghetti8378]

우와 감사합니당~ 너무 예뻐 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[@bakchikgoo]

Confusing more....

[@benjamin_lee]

Please please do ㅈㅊㅉ

[@YourKoreanSaem]

Working on it now, it'll be my next upload so please stick around!!!

[@terryadams2652]

I wish i could reach into the video and hug and kiss you. 💋