Pronunciation Guide for English Words -
한국어로 영어어 수업

Originally Published: / 원래 출판됨:
Updated on: / 출판물 편집됨: 2025.04.12

This guide is used to clarify the pronunciation of sounds in English words.

This guide will be used in conjunction with the ‘English and Korean Dictionary’ that will be made available here.

Here are the sections of this guide. You can click on a link to go directly to each section.

Korean sounds are not the same as English sounds

Here are some of the videos I listened to while I was making this pronunciation guide.

Talk To Me In Korean – Confusing Double Consonant Sounds in Korean

Abby. P – Korean Pronunciation for Beginners!

Some Korean letters sound like combinations of English letters.

There are two letters in English, ‘c’ and ‘k’, that sound similar to each other, but the rest of the letters sound unique to an English speaker. However, there are some letters in Korean that can be pronounced in two different ways, and each of those pronunciations represent a different sound, or a combination of letters, in English.

Some Korean sounds sound similar to sounds in English, but are a little different. Some Korean sounds are ‘in between’ the sounds of English letters. Some English sounds are ‘in between’ the sounds of English letters.

English words can be written in Korean using the Korean alphabet, but that writing does not necessarily convey the accurate pronunciation of English words. Why?

There are two reasons:
The writing system in Korea is different compared to the writing system in English and the words are constructed differently.

Some English sounds cannot be conveyed in writing in Korean because Korean does not have letters to convey some of the sounds that are used in English.

For example:

The Korean ‘어’ is different compared to the English ‘O’.

In English, uppercase letters and lower case letters have the same sound, but English uses uppercase letters when the name of a letter replaces the sound of that letter. Like when the letter ‘i’ is pronounced as the pronoun ‘I.’ The pronunciation is the name of the ‘i’ letter.

There is also a spelling rule in English that is used for many English words: When a vowel is followed by a single consonant and an ‘e,’ the ‘e’ becomes silent and the sound of the vowel changes to the vowel’s name.

That spelling rule is used in many words such as: home, bone, phone; male, pale, sale; line, mine, fine; tune, fume, juke. (The name of the letter ‘e’ is represented by ‘ee’ so there are not many words that use this spelling rule. Most of the words that have an ‘e’ followed by a consonant and another ‘e’ are Greek and use a different pronunciation, like the word ‘television.’)

The Korean ‘어’ is different compared to the English ‘O’. The sound is different. The way the mouth moves to make the sound is different. The English ‘O’ is the name of the letter ‘o/O’. The pronunciation of ‘O’ is longer, and slower, than ‘어’ and it ends with the mouth in the position to make the ‘w’ sound.

As a result, people tried to represent ‘어’ using a combination of English letters. There’s a letter in Greek that sounds like the English ‘f,’ but not exactly like ‘f,’ so they represent that sound with the letter combination ‘ph’ in English (that’s why ‘phone’ is pronounced like ‘fone’).

The combination ‘eo’ is used to represent ‘어’. But ‘eo’ sounds like ‘ㅔㅗ’. The letter combination ‘eo’ is used in some words that are borrowed from Greek, and then the sound is ‘iO’ (like ‘leo’).

So when people see ‘Sooyeong,’ they won’t know how to pronounce it accurately unless they know that ‘eo’ represents ‘어.’

And the challenge of writing ‘어’ using English spelling rules is because the pronunciation of words changed. The number ‘one’ was pronounced as ‘On’ according to the spelling rule, but now it’s pronounced as ‘완’ with a short ‘ㅏ’ sound. And there’s no way to write ‘엉’ in English according to English spelling rules.

When a vowel is followed by a single consonant and an ‘e,’ the ‘e’ becomes silent and the vowel’s sound changes to the vowel’s name. The ‘ㅇ’ sound at the end of a syllable is a sound that’s used in English and is represented by ‘ng.’ That’s two consonants, so the spelling rule doesn’t work. ‘onge’ would not be pronounced as ‘엉’ in English, and ‘one-ng’ would split the syllable (and people might think it’s pronounced ‘완ng’).

So there’s no good way to write ‘엉’ in English. Some people spell ‘수영’ ‘Sooyoung,’ but the pronunciation of ‘young’ is like ‘양’ with ‘ㅏ’ said a bit slower and at a lower pitch.

Pitch accent is not used in the accurate pronunciation of English words, but it changes the sound of some words and makes them sound English because pitch is used in some English accents and it’s also used for emphasis and used for comedy.

However, the sound of syllables and pitch accent, if not done correctly, can make a word sound unrecognizable in some cases.

The Korean letter that represents the ‘L’ sound at the end of a syllable is the letter that represents the ‘R’ sound at the beginning of a syllable.

I have not found a Korean letter to convey the ‘(ey)’ sound.
It’s the sound of ‘ㅖ’ backwards.

Nael of HINT pronounces ‘(ey)’ accurately when she says ‘amazing.’ (The pronunciation is ‘a-m(ey)-zing’.) You can hear it in HINT’s TangTangTang at 2:25 in the song.

힌트(HINT) – 탕탕탕(Tang Tang Tang)

The Korean pronunciation of ‘amazing’ is ‘어메이징.’

That’s wrong. The first syllable of ‘amazing’ is an ‘아’ and the second syllable is ‘m(ey)’. ‘메이’ is used because ‘에’ and ‘이’ can’t be used in the same syllable. However, ‘애’ might be a closer pronunciation.

‘아매징’ may be more accurate than ‘어메이징,’ but it’s still not accurate enough. ‘z’ is not ‘ㅈ.’ I will show how to pronounce ‘z’ in the pronunciation guide.

That problem exists in English also.

There are many sounds in Korean that cannot be represented by English letters. There is also a problem with English writing when some Korean words are written in English.

For example, the Korean name ‘이’. The lowercase ‘i’ has the same sound as ‘이’, but the first letter of a name should be written in an uppercase letter.

However, the uppercase ‘i’ is the English pronoun ‘I’ (내가/나는). It would look like broken English if a person writes their name as ‘I (name)’.

It’s the same as ‘임.’ ‘임(name)’ could look like ‘I’m (given name).’
‘ I’m ’ is a contraction of ‘I am’ (the way that ‘난’ is a contraction of ‘나는’).

People in English-speaking countries usually say their given name first and then their family name when they introduce themselves. It’s a shortened way of saying: ‘(given name) of the house of (family name)’.

But even if Koreans introduce themselves as ‘(given name) I’, there is still the problem of pronouncing ‘이’ accurately when it’s written in English. The closest equivalent to ‘이/i ’ in English is ‘ee’, but ‘ee’ is a sound effect when it’s used on its own (Eek! ‘꺄!’).

Also, ‘Ee’ doesn’t look good in writing as a person’s name.

So Koreans change the spelling of ‘이’ to ‘Lee’ and ‘임’ to ‘Lim.’

The pronunciation of ‘Lee’ is similar to the pronunciation of ‘李’, so the spelling of ‘Lee’ is like a compromise between the English spelling and Chinese pronunciation.
They make the English spelling of the name work within the context of the English language.

Another problem is that some English words are written imprecisely in Korean.

For example:

‘유튜브 채널’ (YouTubu chaeneol). A more accurate pronunciation of the English sounds is ‘유튭 찬넬 (YouTube channel).’ ‘유튜브 채널’ contains more syllables than ‘유튭 찬넬’ and the sounds are wrong.

But why does ‘You’ and ‘Tube’ have the same pronunciation? It’s because of a spelling rule in English that changes the pronunciation. (When a vowel is followed by a consonant and an ‘e,’ the ‘e’ becomes silent and the sound of the vowel changes to the sound of that vowel’s name. This rule is fairly consistent with English words, but some words no longer follow the rule because pronunciation changed.) The spelling of ‘you’ does not accurately represent the pronunciation.

Try it for yourself. Say ‘유튜브 채널’ and ‘유튭 찬넬.’ Notice the difference in pronunciation? ‘유튭 찬넬’ sounds better and the flow is quicker.

‘유튭 찬넬’ is not like an American accent or a British accent. (There are many accents in Australia, the UK, America, and other English-speaking countries.) But the English is understandable.

‘유튜브 채널’ is a foreign pronunciation. It relies on Korean sounds that do not sound like English sounds in those words.

‘채널’ sounds almost like Kevin’s accent in the video below. He speaks with a ‘Southern U.S.’ accent.
However, ‘유튜브’ is foreign and it’s bad English.

We explore the American Southern Accent/Dialect with an Expat in Korea | 데이브 World of Dave

That problem also exists in English. Korean words are written in so many ways in English.

‘unnie’ (‘운니’) instead of ‘eonnie’ (언니). ‘omma’ (‘옴마’) instead of ‘eomma’ (엄마).

In addition, the syllables are not always shown in English. YuNa (유나) and YunA (윤아) can both be written as Yuna.

Nael (나엘) might be mispronounced as ‘낼’ in English because ‘ae’ is a common way of spelling ‘애’. ‘해솔‘ is spelled ‘Haesol.’ Notice that syllables are not shown in English spelling of words. That is true of English words; there’s no easy way to show syllables. The syllables must be memorized.

English and Korean each have their own way of writing syllables. English words do not show where one syllable ends and another syllable begins. The pronunciation of each syllable in a word must be memorized.
That’s why some English speakers pronounce English words wrong (even when they could pronounce them accurately). Either they never knew the proper pronunciation (and made a pronunciation that looked right based on the spelling and pronunciations of other words) or they heard it and didn’t memorize the pronunciation, or they were taught the wrong pronunciation.

For example, I’ve heard native English speakers pronounce ‘debut’ without making the ‘t’ silent. The pronunciation is ‘d(ey) b유’. That word comes from French. The ‘t’ at the end is silent.

Some words borrowed from French have a silent ‘t,’ but we pronounce the ‘t’ in English (like ‘toilet’). The word ‘toilet’ was borrowed from French.

When English speakers try to figure out how to pronounce a foreign word based on its spelling, they compare the spelling to English words that they already know and try to pronounce it according to the sounds of those English words and their spelling. As a result, they sometimes pronounce sounds or syllables wrong.

This also happens when a foreign word is written in English when there are no English letters to convey the foreign sounds in the word. Sometimes English letters are used that don’t convey the foreign sound properly.

There is also the problem of distinguishing between sounds.

A foreign sound may be unfamiliar. People may hear a sound and think that it’s another sound that they’re familiar with, or maybe they’ve never heard that foreign sound before and don’t know how to pronounce it.

That’s what happened when English-speaking people borrowed words from other languages. When English speakers found the words written in English, some of them pronounced those words according to the pronunciations of English syllables and sounds (those people didn’t learn how to properly pronounce the words that they were reading).

Borrowed words were supposed to retain the spelling and pronunciation of the languages that they were borrowed from. As a result, many borrowed words in English are mispronounced compared to the original pronunciation of those words in the languages which they were borrowed from.

Words borrowed by English were supposed to use the spelling and grammar rules of the language that the word was borrowed from. However, English speakers ‘adopted’ some of those words and used them with English grammar and spelling rules. The foreign spellings of borrowed words were used (if they were spelled in a Latin alphabet), but the pronunciation and pluralisation of those words were influenced by English spelling and pronunciation. Those foreign (adopted or borrowed) words are ‘exceptions to the rules’ of English grammar.

English borrowed words from Latin, Greek, French and many other languages.

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Here is the Classical Latin alphabet:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, V, X, Y, Z

Here is the French alphabet:

Uppercase:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

Lowercase:
a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Letters with accent marking:
Ç, é, â, ê, î, ô, û, à, è, ù, ë, ï, ü

(English usually does not use accent markings, but some English words use accented pronunciation.)

Here is the Greek alphabet:

Uppercase:
Α, Β, Γ, Δ, Ε, Ζ, Η, Θ, Ι, Κ, Λ, Μ, Ν, Ξ, Ο, Π, Ρ, Σ, Τ, Υ, Φ, Χ, Ψ, Ω

Lowercase:
α, β, γ, δ, ε, ζ, η, θ, ι, κ, λ, μ, ν, ξ, ο, π, ρ, σ/ς, τ, υ, φ, χ, ψ, ω

The Latin alphabet was adapted from the Cumaean Greek alphabet.

The sounds of each of those languages are different compared to English.

This is what modern French sounds like:

20 Erreurs courantes en français à ne pas commettre

This is what ancient Greek sounded like and what modern Greek sounds like:

Do Modern Greeks Know Ancient Greek? | Easy Greek 12

This is possibly what Latin sounded like:

What Latin Sounded Like – and how we know

Modern Spanish is very similar to Old Spanish. ‘Castilian’ is the name of the Spanish language that is the official language of Spain. There are many regional Spanish languages. Each one has its own name.

Castilian is different compared to ancient Latin the same way that Old English is different compared to Middle English, but the roots of Spanish came from ‘Vulgar Latin’ (Common Latin). (Countries, on the American continents, that use Spanish are commonly called ‘Latin America.’) The Spanish in Latin America is different compared to the Spanish in Spain, kind of the way that American English is different compared to British English, Australian English, Canadian English, New Zealand English, etc. Many Spanish words were borrowed from Arabic.

Portuguese is related to Latin. It came from Vulgar Latin and developed differently. It borrowed words from Spanish which Spanish borrowed from Arabic.

Also, Portuguese and Spanish use words from indigenous languages on the Iberian Peninsula that were spoken before Latin became popularly used on the Iberian Peninsula.

Portuguese and Spanish are closely related to each other. If you know one, it’s easier to learn the other.

Portuguese is spoken in Brazil. Brazil is included in ‘Latin America’ because of how closely related Portuguese is to Spanish. The Portuguese that’s spoken in Brazil is different compared to the Portuguese that is spoken in Portugal, kind of like how Spanish that is used on the American continents is different compared to Castilian Spanish.

Latin borrowed words from Greek and Greek borrowed words from Latin. French came from Latin and Gaulish. (Gaulish was the language spoken by the French before the Romans conquered that area.)

Latin was spoken by the Romans. The Romans came from a tribe on the West coast of the Italian peninsula. There were many tribes on the Italian peninsula. Most of them did not like the Romans.

The Romans built Rome which became the capital of the Roman Empire. The Italian language is the closest Romance language to the ‘Vulgar Latin’ that French, Spanish, etc. came from. ‘Romance’ languages are languages based on Vulgar Latin.

English is not a ‘Romance Language.’ English is a Germanic language that borrowed so many words from Romance Languages (Latin and French, and others), and Greek.

English borrowed so many words from Latin, Greek, French and other languages that approximately 8% – 12% of today’s English words are historical English words. (It’s 8% if you include medical words. Medical words in English are mostly borrowed from Greek words.)

Pronouns have changed in English. Middle English pronouns were mostly replaced by the modern pronouns that we use today.

The following video gives an overview of the history of the changes in the English language. (The video is in English.)

How Far Back in Time Could an English Speaker Go and Still Communicate Effectively?

The following video is also in English: Two versions of English.

One version is the type of English that was spoken in the year 1600. The sounds of some English words at that time allowed William Shakespeare to make puns in his theatrical plays. He used words that rhymed at that time. The pronunciations of sounds in English also changed during that time. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a famous play by William Shakespeare, although it was not very popular during his time.

Shakespeare: Original pronunciation (The Open University)

Here is a more detailed description of why and how the sounds of the English language changed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift

American, Australian, British, New Zealand, etc. accents are from different time periods of British history. They all originated from British English at some points in time.

In England today, there are some people who cannot understand each other because pronunciations are so different from one area to another in England. Some local British accents haven’t changed much over the centuries. There are accents all over England that were historically used in America, and other British colonies, and are still used in those foreign countries.

So, which English pronunciation should you learn?

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American English pronunciation sounds noticeably different compared to British pronunciation.

Australian English and New Zealand English sounds close to British English pronunciation. However, each nation uses its own vocabulary regularly and has its ‘understood meanings.’

It would be good for you to learn what British and American pronunciations sound like. Knowing both pronunciations will be good for when you travel abroad.

You will have to understand the meanings of phrases and local words. But it will be easier to communicate with local people when you understand the basic English that they use and you are already familiar with local accents.

Actors are trained to pronounce and speak clearly. Actors are trained to use ‘Received Pronunciation.’ ‘Received Pronunciation’ is English pronunciation that everyone in a country should be able to understand. America and England each have their own ‘Received Pronunciation.’

However, being able to speak ‘Received Pronunciation’ doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be able to understand everyone who speaks to you. ‘Received Pronunciation’ is not spoken by everyone, but people who speak English natively should be able to adjust their pronunciation so that the person whom they are speaking to can understand the pronunciation more easily.

Here is some more information on accents that are currently used in London.

London Accents: RP | Cockney | Multicultural London English

Every country has its own local pronunciations and regional pronunciations, dialects and vocabulary.

That is also where ‘understood meaning’ comes from.

The ‘-ish’ in ‘English’ is a suffix that means ‘it is like.’ It can also mean ‘belonging.’ ‘-ish’ can also form an adjective from a noun or another adjective.

The word ‘English’ describes the people. It comes from a Latin word used by Tacitus, a Roman historian, who described a people living in a land that is now part of Northern Germany. (That’s why English is a Germanic language; the English language came from Germany.) The word ‘Angli’ became ‘Engle’. ‘Engle’ + ‘-ish’ = English.

The name ‘English’ means ‘of the Angli,’ but Anglos, Saxons and Jutes all settled on the isle of Britain.

Their kingdoms can be seen in the names of modern British counties. Their descendants lived in those counties after England became one country.

(A ‘county,’ similar to ‘구/군’, is not limited by the size of the population. A ‘county’ is an administrative area and the largest administrative district in a province or country. ‘Counties were governed by ‘Counts’. A ‘Count’ is title of royalty, equivalent to the English ‘Earl.’ The administrative districts were called ‘shire’ before the French conquered England. After the French conquered England, the ‘shires’ became ‘counties’ and the noble titles of ‘Earl’ and ‘Count’ became synonymous. A ‘Count’ is roughly equal to ‘백작’. Have you heard of the book The Count of Monte Cristo? It’s a book by Alexandre Dumas who also wrote The Three Musketeers.)

So the English language was made of a mixture of those ancient languages, and the old Norse language, before English borrowed words from Latin, Greek and French, and other languages in recent history.

You can find out more about the history of the British here:

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Invaders/

Every country has its own local pronunciations.

English is taught as a second language in some countries along with their native language(s). Therefore, sometimes people use the sounds of their native language when they speak English. Sometimes they mix English with words from their native language when they speak.

That’s good if it simplifies English pronunciation for them. But if their English pronunciation is still close to the ‘Received Pronunciation’ of some other English-speaking country, they can still be understood by other people.

Also, about English words that were borrowed from other languages… When the borrowed words were written in English, some sounds that are foreign to English were represented by a combination of English letters and some of those sounds were different, but close to, English sounds.

As a result, words that were borrowed were often not pronounced according to the pronunciation rules of the languages that they were borrowed from, unless the speaker was taught the accurate pronunciation of the borrowed words.

Borrowed words are written using the English alphabet. As a result, many people pronounce borrowed words using sounds of the English language and English pronunciation rules (even though those rules might not apply to foreign words). English speakers also pluralized and changed the forms of borrowed words according to English spelling rules, not the rules of the languages the those words were borrowed from. This created mix of English and foreign pronunciation and spelling in some borrowed words used in English.

The English alphabet doesn’t accurately represent all the sounds in foreign languages.

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Greek, Latin, French and German have some sounds that are foreign to English.

You heard the sounds that are spoken in the video about French, right?

20 Erreurs courantes en français à ne pas commettre

French pronunciation is different compared to English pronunciation.

British people pronounced foreign words using English accents and pronunciations have changed over time. As a result, the pronunciation of almost every English word has changed.

Almost every borrowed word is mispronounced.

The English language also developed differently in each of the countries where it was used.

Australia uses words and expressions that have meanings that are unique to Australia.

America has words and expressions that are unique, so does England, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, etc. And Singapore, The Philippines, Japan and many other countries speak English with local acents. English can still be understood when spoken with a local accent. The key is to pronounce English words in such a way that will allow other people to understand you.

Pronunciation doesn’t have to be perfect. But it must be understandable in the context of what is being said.

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Some of the sounds in the Korean language are used in English. Most of the sounds in Korean are different, but some of them are almost the same as sounds that are used in English.

I can’t explain properly how to pronounce sounds of British English. I don’t know British English well enough to explain. But I am Canadian and I can tell you how to pronounce words that Canadians and Americans will be able to understand.

Lucy can explain the sounds in British pronunciation.

English with Lucy

https://www.youtube.com/c/EnglishwithLucy/featured

ONE language, THREE accents – UK vs. USA vs. AUS English!

Many people around the world should be able to understand your pronunciation if your pronunciation is similar to the pronunciation that is used in American movies. They are popular around the world these days.

For this guide, I will use some Korean pronunciations, as they were found in Naver Dictionary in August, 2019.

However, many pronunciation examples will be from music videos. Specifically, Taeyeon from Girls’ Generation and Amber from f(x) because they pronounce almost every English sound in their music videos.

Hangul:

ㄱ, ㄲ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄸ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅃ, ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅇ, ㅈ, ㅉ, ㅊ, ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, ㅎ
ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅘ, ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅝ, ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ, ㅔ, ㅖ, ㅞ, ㅐ, ㅒ, ㅙ, ㅡ, ㅚ, ㅟ, ㅣ, ㅢ
ㄳ, ㄵ, ㅄ, ㅆ, ㄶ, ㄺ, ㄻ, ㄼ, ㄽ, ㄾ, ㄿ, ㅀ

And these https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul_Jamo_(Unicode_block)

I use Dictionary.com for English words because it has the pronunciations, history and definitions of each word. The definitions of some slang words (‘slang’ = 은어, 속어, ‘sub-language’) are not included on https://www.Dictionary.com.

Let’s begin!

First, let’s compare Korean sounds to English sounds.

The English alphabet is:

Uppercase:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

Lowercase:
a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

English has 26 letters. The uppercase letters have the same pronunciation as the lower case letters.

Each letter has a name. The uppercase letters are often used to present the name of each letter.

There is one pronunciation rule for English words you should know: If a vowel is followed by one consonant and an ‘e’, the ‘e’ becomes silent and the vowel sound changes to the sound of the vowel’s name.

For example: the word ‘hope’ has a vowel (‘o’) and then a consonant (‘p’) and then an ‘e.’ Because of that, the ‘e’ becomes silent and the sound of ‘o’ changes to the sound of that letter’s name.

That rule is very consistent. Some words have changed, like ‘one.’ ‘One’ doesn’t use that spelling rule anymore because the pronunciation has changed.

There are 21 consonant letters and 5 vowel letters.

Consonant letters:
b c d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x y z

Vowel letters:
a e i o u

Sometimes ‘y’ is used to represent a vowel sound.

Actually, there are more consonant sounds, vowel sounds and combinations of sounds because words were borrowed from other languages, and because the pronunciation of some English words has changed.

I will list the English sounds that are used in standard English. Sounds of a word may change if a person uses a dialect or an accent, but a word can be understood in context if the word is pronounced well.

You can listen to the pronunciation of words on Dictionary.com if you want (and I encourage you to listen to the pronunciations of sounds in a language; some sounds are not represented by English letters properly). Some words are pronounced differently, depending on how they are used.

This pronunciation guide is meant to help you speak understandable English, not perfect English.

This guide is not meant to help you speak English fluently. If you want to speak English perfectly, you should speak to people who know how to speak English fluently, and copy their pronunciations.

That being said, ‘perfect’ is a relative term. Everyone speaks English in an accent. There is no standard English that is standard internationally. Each country has its own style of English. Some countries have more than one style of speaking (remember Kevin from that video earlier in this guide? He’s American, along with Dave who was in that video. They’re both American and they came from U.S. states that were not far apart).

We explore the American Southern Accent/Dialect with an Expat in Korea

Speaking with foreigners is always the best way to learn how to speak like a foreigner.

You can learn how to speak a language if you know the mouth and tongue positions to pronounce words, hear the sounds of each word, and practice saying those sounds every day.

This guide will help you learn how to recognize English sounds used in words.

I use Taeyeon as an example because her pronunciation is beautiful and she clearly pronounces the sounds. I use Amber as an example because her pronunciation is clear and she raps, so you can hear the sounds when they are spoken quickly.

When letters should be pronounced together as one sound in English, I put those letters in parentheses ‘( )’.

I will use * to separate syllables in the pronunciation guide.

When a sound needs to be lengthened or shortened, I put those letters in parenthesis and use a directional arrow. For example: ‘(ㅏ->)’ means the sound has to be made longer. ‘(ㅏ<-)’ means the sound has to be made shorter.

Some letters can have more than one sound. For letters that have more than a single pronunciation, I will use a number to show the position of the Korean letter in a Korean syllable. For convenience, I’ll assume that a 3 letter syllable is being used and so I’ll use three numbered positions.

For example: ㄹ1, ㄹ3

I will only use numbers when the sound of the letter changes depending on where the letter is in a syllable.

When there’s sound that’s not represented in Hangul, I’ll represent that sound using an English letter or a combination of letters in parentheses.

Vowels:

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A , a

‘a’ has many sounds, depending on how it’s used in a sentence. The pronunciation of some words change depending on the context in which they’re used. The pronunciation of some letters change depending on how they’re used.

In general, ‘a’ is not a sound that I’ve heard in the Korean language. It sounds like ‘a’ in ‘cat,’ ‘man,’ ‘bang’ and ‘brass’.

You can hear the pronunciation of ‘a‘ in ‘that’ and ‘brass’ in Amber’s ‘Shake That Brass.’ Specifically, Taeyeon sings ‘Shake that brass’ starting at 3:01 in that MV.

Notice the pronunciation of ‘shake’.

The ‘a’ sound changes to the sound of that letter’s name. The pronunciation of the name of ‘a’ is the pronunciation of ‘ㅖ’ backwards. I will represent the sound as (ey).

Amber – Shake That Brass

‘a’ can also sound like ‘ㅏ’ when it’s used as an interjection.

It’s usually spelled ‘ahh’ or ‘ah’ when it’s used as an interjection, depending on how long the sound is.

‘ahh’ is usually used when a person has learned something new and interesting.

And ‘ah’ simply acknowledges that the person heard and understands.

‘ahh!’ and ‘AHH!’ can be a cry for help.

You can hear the ‘ㅏ’ sound in ‘Shake That Brass’ when they sing ‘나나 나, 나나 나’

E , e

‘e’ sounds similar to ‘ㅔ’ in ‘네’.

The letter’s name sounds like a long ‘ㅣ’ sound. The length of ‘(ㅣ->)’ should be about twice as long as the ‘ㅣ’ sound.

In English, the long ‘ㅣ’ sound is represented by ‘ee’. It’s used in many words, such as ‘beet (사탕무).’

I , i

‘ i ’ sounds like ‘ㅣ’ in ‘인’, but it can also sound like ‘(ㅏㅣ<-)’ (as one sound). (The English ‘ i ’ is usually pronounced in a lower pitch than the Korean ‘ㅣ’.)

‘(ㅏㅣ<-)’ is the name of the letter ‘i’ and it’s used in some words, like ‘fly’ and ‘sky.’

You can hear the pronunciation of ‘fly’ and ‘sky’ in Taeyeon’s ‘ I ‘

Taeyeon – I (feat. Verbal Jint)

O , o

‘o’ sounds similar to ‘ㅗ’ in ‘오모’, but it can also sound similar to ‘ㅓ’ in ‘어머’.

The ‘o’ sound actually sounds like a combination between ‘ㅗ’ and ‘ㅏ’ in most words.

You can hear Oh My Girl pronounce ‘o’ twice in the word ‘nonstop’ at 0:07, 1:19, 3:04 and 3:11 in their Nonstop MV.

Oh My Girl – Nonstop

‘ㅓ’ sounds like the name of the letter ‘o’ but the sound is longer than ‘ㅓ’ and it ends in a mouth position that is ready to say the ‘w’. You can hear Oh My Girl sing ‘Oh no’ well at the start of their Nonstop MV.

Apink sings ‘O’ well when they sing ‘No No No.’ You can hear them sing ‘No No No’ at 0:10, 0:12, 1:13, 1:15, 2:16, 2:19, 3:00, and 3:02 in their MV.

Apink – No No No

U , u

‘u’ is a short ‘ㅏ’ sound. ‘(ㅏ<-)’ It is approximately half the length of the ‘ㅏ’ sound. But ‘u’ can also sound like ‘ㅜ’ (in ‘구’). ‘유’ sounds like the name of ‘u’ and sounds like the word ‘you’.

Consonant Sounds:

(Back to Top.)

B , b

‘ㅂ’ is usually written as ‘b’ in English, but the pronunciations of ‘ㅂ’in Naver dictionary sounds like the English ‘p’ sound. So, for clarification, ‘b’ sounds like ‘b’ in ‘brass’ in the ‘Shake That Brass’ MV. The sound of the letter’s name is ‘b(ㅣ->).’

Amber – Shake That Brass

‘b’ can be heard in Girls’ Generation’s “The Boys” MV when they sing ‘boy.’

Girls’ Generation – The Boys

C , c

‘c’ sounds like a soft ‘k’. The sound of that letter’s name sounds like ‘ㅅ(ㅣ->).’ (It does not sound like ‘시’ in Naver dictionary. ‘시’ in Naver dictionary has a ‘(sh)’ sound between ‘ㅅ’ and ‘ㅣ’.)

I will explain the ‘(sh)’ sound later in this guide, but you can hear the ‘(sh)’ sound in ‘Shake That Brass’ and in ‘hashtag’ in this interview:

hashtag (해시태그): SEVENTEEN (세븐틴) _ Q&A

D , d

The ‘ㄷ’ sound on Naver dictionary is somewhat between ‘t’ and ‘d’ (for example: ‘대구’). The sound of that letter’s name sounds like ‘d(ㅣ->).’

You can heat Taeyeon pronounce the ‘d’ sound when she sings ‘da dum di dum dum dum dum’ at 1:44 in the ‘Shake That Brass’ MV.

Amber – Shake That Brass

In Taeyeon’s ‘I’ music video, she says ‘yesterday’ at 1:48 in the music video and pronounces the ‘d’ as a clear ‘t’ sound followed by a clear ‘d’ sound.

It’s useful for comparison with ‘da dum di dum dum dum dum’ in Amber’s ‘Shake That Brass’ MV.

Taeyeon – I (feat. Verbal Jint)

For an example, we can also go to the Wonder Girls.

Their official music video is a bit old, so I will also use a video of their comeback stage for ‘Nobody.’ You can hear the ‘d’ pronounced clearly in ‘body’ throughout their performance, especially near the end of the song.

Wonder Girls – Nobody

Wonder Girls – Nobody (Comeback Stage, Show! Music Core)

F , f

I have not been able to find an example of the ‘f’ sound in Korean.

To make the ‘f’ sound:

Open your lips wide enough to say ‘ㅎ’. Close your jaw enough for your bottom lip to almost touch the bottom edge of your top teeth.

Then pull the corners of your mouth against your bottom teeth. Touch the base of your bottom teeth with your tongue.

Now blow.

That is the ‘f’ sound. The sound of that letter’s name sounds like ‘ㅔf’.

You can hear an example of the pronunciation of ‘f’ in the music video below when Taeyeon says ‘Fine.’ Pay attention to the last word in the song where she pronounces the word clearly.

You can also hear her pronounce of ‘fly’ at 0:32 in her ‘I’ music video. Listen to the difference between ‘fine’ and ‘fly’ and you will hear how the ‘f’ sound begins and when the sound ends.

Taeyeon – Fine

Taeyeon – I (feat. Verbal Jint)

G , g

‘g’ sounds similar to ‘ㄲ’ in ‘까’. The sound of that letter’s name sounds like ‘ㅉ(ㅣ->)’. The ‘ㅣ’ is longer than the ‘ㅣ’ in ‘찌’, but ‘ㅉ(ㅣ->)’ sounds quite similar to ‘찌’.

H , h

‘h’ is the same as ‘ㅎ’ in ‘하’. The sound of that letter’s name sounds like ‘(ey)(ch)’.

The ‘(ch)’ represents a sound that sounds similar to ‘ㅊ’ as in ‘추’, but ‘ㅊ’ sounds more like ‘ㅌ(ch)’.

So, for reference, listen to Amber’s pronunciation of ‘(ch)’ in ‘chit-chat’ at 2:56 in the music video below. She pronounces ‘chit’ as ‘ㅌ(ch)it’, but then she pronounces ‘chat’ without the ‘t’ at the beginning of the syllable. ( ‘chit’ is one syllable and ‘chat’ is one syllable.)

f(x) – Chu

‘(ch)’ is actually the same as ‘ㅊ’ in ‘츄’ when Apink sings ‘미스터 츄’.

Apink – Mr. Chu

J , j

‘j’ sounds like ‘ㅉ’ in ‘찌’. The sound of that letter’s name sounds like ‘ㅉ(ey)’.

K , k

The sound of ‘ㄱ’ is between ‘g’ and ‘k’, but ‘k’ is similar to the pronunciation of ‘ㄱ’ in ‘고’ in Naver’s online dictionary. The sound of that letter’s name sounds like ‘ㄱ(ey).’ (The pronunciation of ‘(ey)’ is like the pronunciation of ‘ㅖ’ backwards.)

You can hear the pronunciation of ‘k’ in the introduction of ‘1theK’ hashtag video interviews.

‘c’ is a softer ‘k’.

hashtag (해시태그): SEVENTEEN (세븐틴) _ Q&A

L , l

The pronunciation of ‘l’ is the same as ‘ㄹ’ at the end of a syllable like in ‘서울’. I will represent that as ‘ㄹ3’ for the third position in a syllable that consists of three letters. The sound of that letter’s name sounds like ‘(ㅔㄹ3<-)’.

M , m

‘m’ is the same as ‘ㅁ’ in ‘마’. The sound of that letter’s name sounds like ‘엠’.

N , n

‘n’ is the same as ‘ㄴ’ in ‘나’. The sound of that letter’s name sounds like ‘엔’.

P , p

‘ㅂ’ is usually written as ‘b’ in English, but the pronunciations of ‘ㅂ’in Naver dictionary sounds like the English ‘p’. So, for clarification, ‘p’ sounds like ‘p’ in ‘picture’ at 0:19 in Taeyeon’s ‘I’ MV.

The sound of the letter’s name is ‘p(ㅣ->).’

Taeyeon – I (feat. Verbal Jint)

Q , q

The pronunciation of ‘q’ is a ‘(kw)’ sound. The sound of the letter’s name sounds like ‘큐’.

You can hear the pronunciation of ‘q’ in Girls’ Generation’s ‘Dancing Queen’ MV, specifically at 2:04 when Sunny pronounces it really well. The pronunciation of ‘queen’ is ‘q(ee)n’.

Why is ‘q’ followed by ‘u’ in some words? The answer is in Greek grammar that was borrowed by Latin and made its way to English.

The ‘u’ in ‘qu’ is often not pronounced.

Girls’ Generation (소녀시대) – Dancing Queen

R , r

‘r’ is like ‘ㄹ’ at the beginning of a syllable. (I will represent it as ‘ㄹ1’.) The sound of the letter’s name begins with a sound that is between ‘ㅏ’ and ‘ㅓ’. It is the ‘(ar)’ sound that’s used in ‘car’, ‘far’, ‘bar’ and ‘tar’.

You can hear the pronunciation of ‘(ar)’ at 0:51 in the ‘Shake That Brass’ music video when Taeyeon sings ‘star’.

Amber – Shake That Brass

You can also hear it clearly in Girls’ Generation’s ‘Lionheart’ MV starting at 2:42 when Taeyeon sings ‘Lionhar-ar-ar-art’. The English pronunciation of ‘heart’ is ‘h(ar)t’.

Girls’ Generation (소녀시대) – Lionheart

S , s

‘s’ is the same as ‘ㅅ’ in ‘소’. The sound of that letter’s name sounds like ‘(ㅔㅅ)’. (It does not sound like ‘엣’ in Naver dictionary.) I will represent the ‘s’ sound as ‘ㅅ’.

T , t

‘t’ is like ‘ㅌ’ in ‘태연’. The sound of that letter’s name is ‘ㅌ(ㅣ->).’

V , v

The sound of ‘v’ is an ‘f’ with vibration. It is the sound of a vibrating phone. The sound of that letter’s name sounds like ‘v(ㅣ->)’. You can hear the pronunciation of ‘v’ at 1:50 and 1:54 in this music video when Jessica sings ‘over.’

Note: When they say ‘Give me a time machine’ near the end of the video, the pronunciation is ‘Gimme a time machine.’ ‘Gimme’ is a shortened pronunciation of ‘give me’. It is informal and it’s sometimes used to emphasize emotion in what is being said.

Girls Generation – Time Machine

W , w

The ‘w’ sound is not presented by a single letter in Korean. Letters that have the ‘w’ sound combine ‘w’ with a vowel sound. For example: 왜

I have also heard from people that the ‘w’ sound in Korean words can disappear, depending on a person’s accent.

So for clear examples of the sound of ‘w’, we go to T-ara and Girls’ Generation.

In Girls’ Generation’s ‘Lionheart’ MV, they sing ‘tell me why’ often. The pronunciation of ‘why’ is ‘wㅎ(ㅏㅣ<-)’. You can hear the pronunciation of ‘why’ clearly in the ‘Lionheart’ MV at 1:13, 2:16, 3:02 and 4:26.

The ‘w’ is often followed by ‘h (ㅎ)’ in common English words. The ‘h’ softens the sound of ‘w’.

Girls’ Generation (소녀시대) – Lionheart

‘w’ is also used without the ‘h’ sound and followed by vowel sounds.

You can hear the pronunciation of ‘w’ in ‘왜’ in T-ara’s ‘What’s Wrong?’ (왜 이러니?).

T-ara – What’s Wrong? (왜 이러니?)

The pronunciation of that letter’s name is ‘Double U’ (‘double유’). The pronunciation of ‘double’ is ‘d(ㅏ<-)*bㄹ3 ‘. So the pronunciation of ‘double U’ is ‘d(ㅏ<-)*bㄹ3 유’.

I separate syllables by using * in the pronunciation guide. A left-pointing arrow means the sound has to be shortened. A right-pointing arrow means that the sound has to be lengthened.

X , x

The ‘x’ sound is ‘(kㅅ)’. The sound of the letter’s name is ‘(ㅔkㅅ)’.

You can hear the pronunciation of ‘x’ when Girls’ Generation sings ‘taxi’ in ‘Mr. Taxi’.

Girls’ Generation 소녀시대 ‘MR. TAXI’

Y , y

The ‘y’ sound is ‘요’ without the ‘오’ sound.

The ‘y’ sound is not presented on its own in Korean, it is always combined with a vowel sound.

The name of the letter ‘y’ is ‘w(ㅏㅣ<-)’.

Z , z

The sound of ‘z’ is like a low-pitch ‘ㅅ’ with vibration. Sometimes the letter ‘s’ is pronounced as ‘z’ to add emphasis to the pronunciation.

You can hear Amber pronounce ‘brass’ as ‘brazz’ at 1:28 and 2:23 in the ‘Shake That Brass’ MV.

Amber – Shake That Brass

You can also hear the pronunciation of ‘z’ in ‘please’.

The English pronunciation of ‘please’ is ‘pㄹ3 (ㅣ->)z’.

You can hear the pronunciation of ‘please’ at 0:43 in HINT’s ‘Walkie-Talkie’ MV.

HINT – Walkie-Talkie

The American pronunciation of the letter’s name is ‘z(ㅣ->)’.

The Canadian pronunciation of the letter’s name is ‘zㅔd’.

Combination Sounds:

(Back to Top.)

‘(ew)’ as in ‘new’ = (ㅣㅜ<-)

The pronunciation of ‘new’ can be heard at 0:15, 1:14 and 2:14 in the Girls’ Generation’s ‘Oh!’ MV.

Girls’ Generation – Oh!

The ‘(ew)’ is also used in the word ‘beauty’. The pronunciation is ‘by(ew)*ㅌ(ㅣ->)’.

Taeyeon uses an accented pronunciation of ‘beauty’ in the ‘I’ MV, but she pronounces the ‘(ew)’ sound accurately.

You can hear her pronunciation starting at 0:37, 1:19, 2:23 and 4:21. Taeyeon says ‘(ew)’ more than once in ‘beauty’ at 4:21.

Taeyeon – I (feat. Verbal Jint) MV

‘(oy)’ as in ‘boy’ = (ㅓyㅣ<-)

The ‘(oy)’ sound can be heard in Girls’ Generation’s “The Boys” MV when they sing ‘boy.’

Girls’ Generation – The Boys

‘(ow)’ as in ‘now’ = (ㅏw <-)

There is actually a sound between ‘ㅏ’ and ‘ㅓ’ at the beginning of the ‘(ow)’ sound.

The ‘(ow)’ sound is also used in ‘round’ and ‘sound.’

The ‘(ow)’ sound can be heard when Girls’ Generation sings ‘sound’, ‘round’, ‘town’ and ‘down’ at 0:14, 0:18, 0:21 and 0:24 in the ‘Oh!’ MV.

They sing it in the chorus starting at 1:12, and 2:12.

Girls ‘Generation – Oh

‘(aw)’ as in ‘saw’ = (ㅓ->)

The pronunciation of ‘(aw)’ is actually similar to an ‘ㅓ’ that is stretched out and spoken slowly.

You can hear a good pronunciation of ‘(aw)’ when HINT sings ‘Walkie-Talkie’ and ‘방에서’ in the ‘Walkie-Talkie’ MV and when Sogeum sings ‘All right’.

The pronunciation of ‘walk’ is ‘w(aw)ㄹ3k’ and ‘talk’ is ‘ㅌ(aw)ㄹ3k’.

Sometimes the pronunciation of ‘ㄹ3’ is omitted if it is between ‘(aw)’ and ‘k’ because it is easier to pronounce that way.

The pronunciation of ‘all’ is ‘(aw)(ㄹ3->)’.

Cherry pronounces ‘(aw)’ well at 1:34 in the ‘Walkie-Talkie’ MV.

HINT – Walkie-Talkie

‘(er)’ as in ‘mister’

The ‘e’ sound at the beginning of ‘(er)’ is more like a combination between ‘ㅔ’ and ‘ㅜ’.

You can hear the pronunciation of ‘(er)’ at 1:40 and 2:00 in Girls’ Generation’s ‘Mr. Mr.’ MV.

(They pronounce ‘mister’ as ‘mista’ throughout most of the song.)

Sometimes ‘(er)’ is pronounced as ‘ㅏ’ for emphasis. It’s an accent that is sometimes used to add emotional emphasis to the words. It is not formal pronunciation.

Girls’ Generation – Mr. Mr.

f(x) pronounces ‘summer’ properly in ‘Hot Summer.’

Also, ‘turn’ and ‘burn’ use the ‘(er)’ sound.

You can listen to Amber’s pronunciation of ‘ turnin’ ‘ and ‘ burnin’ ‘ at 2:56 and 2:59 in this ‘Hot Summer’ video.

(The “ in’ (인)“ at the end of ‘turning’ and ‘burning’ is a pronunciation that changes “ ing (잉)“ to “ in “ It’s used for special effect, much like “mista”.
An apostrophe replaces the ‘g’ in writing when that pronunciation is used.)

f(x) – Hot Summer

‘(or)’ as in ‘story’ = (ㅓㄹ1<-)

You can hear the pronunciation of ‘(or)’ in ‘floor’ when Amber sings ‘Get on the floor’ at 0:42 in ‘Shake That Brass’.

(The British pronunciation of ‘floor’ is ‘ fㄹ3*(ㅜ->)ㄹ1 ’. That is because ‘oo’ represents an ‘(ㅜ->)’ sound. The American pronunciation is different because the American pronunciations of some words changed.)

Amber – Shake That Brass

‘(ch)’ as in ‘church’ (교회)

The ‘(ch)’ represents a sound that sounds similar to ‘ㅊ’ as in ‘추’, but ‘ㅊ’ sounds more like ‘ㅌ(ch)’.

So, for reference, listen to Amber’s pronunciation of ‘(ch)’ in ‘chit-chat’ at 2:56 in the video below. She pronounces ‘chit’ as ‘ㅌ(ch)it’, but then she pronounces ‘chat’ without the ‘t’ at the beginning of the syllable. (‘chit’ is one syllable and ‘chat’ is one syllable.)

f(x) – Chu

‘(ch)’ is almost the same as ‘ㅊ’ in ‘츄’ when Apink sings ‘미스터 츄’.

Apink – Mr. Chu

‘(sh)’

You can hear the ‘(sh)’ sound in ‘shake’ in the Shake That Brass MV...

Amber – Shake That Brass

...and in ‘hashtag’ at 0:24 in this interview:

hashtag (해시태그): SEVENTEEN (세븐틴) _ Q&A

‘(th) 1’

There are two ‘(th)’ sounds. It is difficult to describe the ‘(th)’ sound because it’s not a sound I’ve heard used in Korean.

To make the ‘(th)’ sound:
Put your mouth in position to say ‘m’. Open your lips. Put the tip of your tongue between your teeth. Do not touch your tongue with your teeth. Leave enough room for air to move around your tongue.

Now blow.

You will hear a slight whistling sound. That is ‘(th)’.

I will represent the ‘(th)’ sound as: (th)1

The (th)1 sound is used in words like ‘thing,’ ‘thimble,’ and ‘thunder.’

You have to use the right ‘(th)’ sound when speaking, otherwise the pronunciation will sound weird.

Jessica uses (th)1 well when the sings ‘this’ at 1:08 and 1:13 in her MV ‘Wonderland.’ (‘this’ is pronounced with (th)Z later in her MV, as it should be. (th)1 is not usually used when pronouncing ‘this,’ but it’s used that way in the song.)

This video contains about half of the pronunciations that I used other videos for. The pronunciation is perfect, clear and beautiful, but Jessica is a native speaker, born and probably raised in San Francisco, California (in the United States of America). I wanted to show that native Koreans could learn these sounds. That’s why I used so many example videos of Koreans speaking.

And Amber is American. I used her MV because ‘Shake That Brass’ uses, repeatedly, many sounds that are used in English commonly.

You can listen closely to the lyrics in the ‘Wonderland’ MV to hear how English speakers speak sounds that are also used in Korean. Their pronunciation might be a bit different than what you’re used to using.

Jessica – Wonderland

‘(th) Z’

The second ‘(th)’ sound is like the first sound, but the second sound has a lower pitch with some vibration.

I will represent the second ‘(th)’ sound as ‘(th)Z,’ because the vibration icon on a cellphone looks somewhat like ‘Z’.

You can hear ‘(th)Z’ in the word ‘that’ in ‘Shake That Brass’.

‘(ng)’ = ‘ ㅇ3 ’ as in ‘잉’.

The ‘(ng)’ sound is ‘ㅇ’ at the end of a syllable. I will represent the ‘(ng)’ sound as ‘ ㅇ3 ’.

‘(gh)’

The ‘(gh)’ sound is not an English sound, but a borrowed sound used in other languages.

I will represent this sound as ‘(gh)’ in the pronunciation guide.

‘(gh)’ sounds like the sound an Ajusshi makes after drinking alcohol. Like 4:53 in the following video:

(But the sound is short, and without ‘ㅏ’ at the end.)

[Ask Hyojin] Korean Sound Effects [TalkToMeInKorean]

‘(zh)‘

The sound represented by ‘(zh)’ does not sound like ‘(zh)’. It sounds like the beginning of ‘ㅉ’, but with vibration.

Put your mouth in position to say ‘ㅉ’, but instead of saying ‘ㅉ’, make a vibrating sound.

I will represent the ‘(zh)’ sound as ‘ㅉZ ’, because the vibration icon on a cellphone looks a bit like ‘Z’.

The ‘ㅉZ’ sound can be heard in words like ‘vision’.

‘ vㅣㅉZ *(ㅏ<-)ㄴ’ or ‘vㅣㅉZ *ㅗㄴ‘

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/vision

https://dict.naver.com/dict.search?query=vision

And in ‘visual’

‘ vㅣㅉZ *ㅜ*(ㅏ<-)ㄹ3 ’

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/visual

https://dict.naver.com/dict.search?query=visual

Quick Reference:

(Back to Top.)

This is how the sounds in the pronunciation guide will be portrayed.

English ‘a’ sound = a , ah = ㅏ , A = (ey)

b = b , B = b(ㅣ->)

c (a soft ‘k’ ) = c , C = ㅅ(ㅣ->)

d = d , D = d(ㅣ->)

e = ㅔ , (ee) / E = (ㅣ->)

f = f , F = ㅔf

g = g , G = ㅉ(ㅣ->)

h = ㅎ , H = ‘(ey)(ch)’

i = ㅣ , I = (ㅏㅣ<-)

j = ㅉ , J = ㅉ(ey)

k = k , K = k(ey)

l = ㄹ3 , L = (ㅔㄹ3<-)

m = ㅁ , M = ㅔㅁ

n = ㄴ , N = ㅔㄴ

o = o , O = O , (oo) = (ㅜ->)

p = p , P = p(ㅣ->)

q = q , Q = kㅠ

r = ㄹ1 , R = (ar)

s = ㅅ (in ‘소’), S = ㅔㅅ

t = ㅌ (in ‘태’) , T = ㅌ(ㅣ->)

u = (ㅏ<-) , other ‘u’ sound = ㅜ (in ‘구’) , U = ㅠ

v = v (‘f’ with vibration), V = v(ㅣ->)

w = w , W = d(ㅏ<-)*bㄹ3 유

x = (kㅅ) , X = (ㅔkㅅ)

y = y , Y = w(ㅏㅣ<-)

z = z (low pitch ‘ㅅ’ with vibration) , Z = z(ㅣ->) (American) / zㅔd (Canadian)

Combination Sounds:

(ew) (as in ‘new’) = (ew)

(ow) (as in ‘now’) = (ow)

(aw) (as in ‘saw’) = (aw)

(oy) (as in ‘boy’) = (oy)

(or) (as in ‘story’) = (or)

(er) (as in ‘mister’) = (er)

(ch) = (ch)

(sh) (‘ㅅ’ as in ‘시’) = (sh)

(th)1 = (th)1

(th)2 ( ‘(th)1 ’ with vibration) = (th)2

(ng) = ㅇ3 (as in ‘잉’) or (ng)

(gh) = (gh)

(zh) (the beginning of ‘ㅉ’ but with vibration) = ㅉZ

Words Borrowed from Latin and Greek:

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Words that are borrowed from Latin and Greek have prefixes that extend the meaning of root words.

Prefixes and suffixes in English have predictable meanings and, generally, each prefix is pronounced as its own syllable. There are 40 common Latin prefixes and there are 28 common Greek prefixes.

Common Greek Prefixes:
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Common Latin Prefixes:
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Combined List of 102 Prefixes:

A – L
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M – W
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56 common suffixes include English suffixes and suffixes that were borrowed from French and Latin, etc.

Suffix Spelling Rules:
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32 Common Suffixes and what they do:
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A More Complete List of Suffixes:
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There are many Greek and Latin root words used in English. You can find the list here:

List of Greek and Latin Root Words
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Greek_and_Latin_roots_in_English

The good news is that you don’t have to learn all of these words at the same time.

If you learn the 3,500 most common words in English, you should be able to understand most books and newspapers and have a good conversation.

You can learn more words as you need them or when you come across new words that you’re interested in.

And many words are based on variations of other words.

If you know the meanings of suffixes and how they change the word, you can guess the meanings of most English words.

If you want a more complete list of words, you can learn medical prefixes (they’re used with many of the root words).

Medical Prefixes: A – C
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Medical Prefixes: D – G
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Medical Prefixes: H – L
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Medical Prefixes: M – R
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Medical Prefixes: S – Z
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