5 Pronunciation mistakes Korean speakers make | 한국인한테는 영어 발음 배우기 어려운 5가지가 있는 문제 점

Hey, it's Hadar.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Today we're going to talk about the 5 most common pronunciation

challenges Korean speakers face.

This videos for you, of course, if you're a Korean speaker and you want

to understand why it is so hard to pronounce certain words and how to

overcome these pronunciation challenges.

But this video is also for you if you're not a Korean speaker and you

want to learn more about how to compare different languages to understand what

you need to do in order to improve your clarity and confidence in English.

Also, many of the challenges that we're going to talk about

exist in many other languages.

So it's important for you to learn how to do that and get the tools to improve.

If you're new to my channel, then welcome.

This is the place for you if you want to speak English with clarity,

and confidence, and freedom.

So be sure to subscribe and click the bell to get notifications so you don't

miss out on any video lesson that I share.

Let's get started with Korean.

Now, before we go into some of these challenges, it is important to clarify

that some of the things that I'm going to talk about are not going

to be relevant for all speakers.

So if this is relevant to you, awesome, use it and use the

tools that I share with you.

But if it's not, then skip over to the next challenge.

Now, I also created for you a free American accent guide for Korean speakers

that outlines 10 of the most common pronunciation challenges, including

exercises for you to start practicing today to be able to see the improvement.

Because you got to take action it's not enough to know what the challenge

is, you got to do something about it.

And the workbook is going to help you maintain it and do it

on a regular basis until you see results, and it's completely free.

So click on the link to download it now.

The first challenge is confusing R's and L's.

Here's the thing.

Korean speakers don't really confuse R's and L's in American English, but

it actually goes a little deeper.

And I'm going to explain why that happens so you have a better

understanding and you're more in control when trying to change it.

Unlike English, Korean doesn't have two sounds that are 'r' and 'l', like English does.

So in English, we have 'r' as in "right" and 'l' as in "light".

These are two different sounds that exist in the language.

But in Korean, there is only one sound and that is 'l'.

But sometimes, and this is where it gets confusing, so stick with me,

the 'l' sound is pronounced as an L -'l', as in "light", but sometimes

it is pronounced as a light tap, /ɾ/.

And that sound sounds to people like an R sound.

Where in fact, for Korean speakers, it is just another manifestation of the L sound.

So the L for them sounds either like 'l' or /ɾ/.

Now, for other speakers who are not Korean speakers, the 'l' sound is

clear, it sounds like an L, but the /ɾ/ sound takes them into analyzing

it as an R because the /ɾ/ exists in many other languages as an R.

For example, in Spanish, as in the word "pero".

/ɾ/, /ɾ/.

So people associate it as an R, where in fact, Korean speakers think of it as an L.

And hence, the confusion.

Because it seems like Korean speakers confuse R's and L's.

Now, the /ɾ/ sound does resemble the 'r' sound in English.

So when Korean speakers hear 'r', they associate it as 'l'.

Because they don't have 'r' in their language.

So when Korean speakers hear English, whenever they hear an R

or an L, it is categorized as an L.

And that is why they tend to confuse it because their brain doesn't

distinguish between the two clearly, unless they listen to it closely,

which is what we need to do.

So, and this is why words like "rivalry" or "literally" or a "reality"

might be extremely confusing, and the R's and L's might be replaced.

To overcome this challenge, first of all, we need to understand that

this is something that is happening.

Second, we need to learn how to pronounce the two sounds in English clearly.

For the L sound you want to keep on doing what you're doing: keeping contact

between the tip of the tongue and the upper palate, and make sure there

is always clear, continuous contact.

"light", "allow", "belly", and "well".

When the L is at the end, there's that extra dark sound for the dark

L, but for now only concentrate on keeping contact between the tip of

the tongue and the upper palate.

When there is an R you actually want to go against your habit, and instead of

reaching for contact between the upper palate and the tongue - ɾ, ɾ, "right",

you want to pull the tongue in and create that dark deep sound of the R - r-r-right.

You want to be able to hold it out and don't forget to round your lips.

So pull the tongue in, round your lips: right, red, around.

Again, if you want to practice more, download the workbook that I've

prepared for you because you have minimal pairs with recordings, so

you can listen to it and practice.

Because the secret is to familiarize yourself with those two sounds

and start training your tongue to do what you want it to do and not

what your brain wants it to do.

Which is kind of confusing, but still, it works.

Another challenge is that Korean doesn't have V and F.

These are called fricatives, where the air passes in a continuous manner and that is

the sound that is created: 'v' and 'f'.

When certain consonants don't exist in a certain language, the speakers might

use the closest possible consonants that do exist in that language.

In Korean, a /v/ sound would end up sounding like /b/, which is a stop

sound that is created in the lips - /b/.

So "very" might sound like "berry", and the /f/ sound

might sound like a /p/ sound.

That's the substitution.

So instead of saying "fine", speakers might say "pine".

"pine" and "berry" instead of "fine" and "very".

The secret here is to understand what happens in the mouth for the F and V, and

it's pretty consistent with a spelling.

The bottom lip touches the top teeth, and air passes.

So you want to feel the air coming out as you pronounce it.

Make sure that the bottom lip is really soft.

"fairy", "fine", 'after".

And the same thing goes for the /v/ sound.

The bottom lip touches the top teeth.

It's the same sound, only for the /v/ sound you activate your vocal chords.

"very", "vine", "every".

/v/ - /f/.

And sometimes you just want to go back and forth between /f/-/v/ /f/-/v/ to

get used to pronouncing the sound.

Again, I have created a list of words for you and minimal pairs, so

you can practice it with the audio.

So, don't forget to download the workbook, it's absolutely free.

'fffree'.

Challenge number 3 is all about the syllable structure

in Korean versus English.

The syllable structure in Korean and American English are very, very different.

While in American English, a syllable, which is the smallest unit in the

word: like 'par-di', two syllables, or 'kree-EY-sh'n', three syllables.

If we break down a word into the smallest unit in English, you can have up to

three consonants at the beginning, like in the word "scream" - 'skreem'.

And at the end you can have up to four consonants, like in "texts".

In Korean, this is absolutely impossible.

In Korean, you can only have up to two consonants at the beginning, and only if

the second continent is either a /j/ sound or a /w/ sound, like in "cute" or "queer".

Now, at the end of the syllable, you can only have up to one consonant, and

even that, it cannot be every possible consonant that exists upon the planet.

But no, it can only be one of the following: a nasal consonant - /m/, /n/, /ŋ/,

the /l/ - and we already talked about that - or voiceless

stop sounds: /p/, /k/, /t/.

That's it.

Anything that deviates from that, any syllable that ends with another sound,

or with more than one consonant, is bound to change when Korean speakers

say that word, because they will try to fit it into the syllable

structure that is permitted in Korean.

For example, if we take the word "bag", the word ends with a /g/ consonant.

As we said, words don't usually add with a voiced sound in Korean - 'bag'.

So Korean speakers are likely to add a vowel at the end - 'ba-gu', 'ba-gu',

usually an /u/ sound, but it could be any other neutral vowel sound.

'ba-gu', 'gu', 'gu'.

So they're actually adding another syllable, turning a word with one

syllable into a word with two syllables.

Instead of "bag" - 'ba-gu'.

This might create confusion because then listeners won't understand

what word you're trying to say.

And it's important to understand that such things happen subconsciously

without you even noticing because the brain plays tricks on you.

So, this also happens when we have clusters at the beginning.

So if we look at the word "christmas", it might be pronounced

as 'ku-ri-su-ma-su' 'ku-ri-su-ma-su'.

Instead of saying 'kris', a vowel might be inserted - 'ku-ri'.

Instead of saying 'sməs', we hear 'su-ma' and then 'su', we add a

vowel at the end because words don't end with a /s/ sound in Korean.

So, an /u/ is added to help it fit the structure of Korean.

Confusing?

I think so.

You don't have to remember all of these rules.

I'm just trying to show you the process that occurs in the

brains of Korean speakers and why this might be challenging.

Now, if you want to overcome adding sounds, the best way would be to

say the word really slowly and to transition from one sound to another.

For example, /k/-/r/: instead of saying 'ku-ris', try to connect

the two sounds together - 'kris'.

And say it again and again and again.

'FRend'.

Or when you want to end a word with a consonant that doesn't exist, again, you

want to say it slowly - "bag", and hold it before you add the vowel at the end.

And do it again and again and again, until you train your tongue to avoid

adding those extra vowel sounds.

Again, awareness is key here.

So becoming aware is a huge part of the solution, but train your tongue to

do what you want it to do we'll help you really resolve that challenge.

Now, one more thing that might happen if one of those consonants

that is not permitted in Korean happens to be at the end of a word.

Sometimes, Korean speakers might just devoice it.

So for example, in the word "lab", that ends with a voiced /b/ sound - "lab",

that ends with a voiced /b/ sound, "lab",

instead of adding a vowel, they might just devoice it and turn it into "lap"

because P is okay at the end of words.

Okay?

So that small change makes it possible for them to pronounce it.

So sometimes they can solve it by devoicing it - "lap" instead of "lab".

And sometimes they might add a vowel - 'bagu' instead of "bag".

Again, the behavior might be different.

So I want you to understand that it's not that Korean speakers add

vowels or they devoice sounds.

You have to understand that the root of the problem is the

different syllable structure.

And once you understand that that is the challenge, you'll learn how

to use it and how to pronounce it.

Again, we have outlined everything in the workbook and included exercises for you.

So work with it as you're trying to change these patterns.

Another challenge that we might see is misplacing the primary stress.

In American English, the primary stress of a word plays a significant role.

And there is a very distinct way to identify the stressed syllable

from all the other syllables.

That means that if we want to stress a syllable, we want to stretch that

syllable, and say it a little higher in pitch, and sometimes a little louder.

"CONflict", "contraDICtion", "PREsent" versus "preSENT".

In Korean, there isn't a clear distinction between the syllables in a word.

So, Korean speakers might not distinguish the primary stress, and

all syllables might sound the same: "present", "conflict", "contradiction".

That makes it a little harder for native speakers and other speakers to

understand what the word is because the primary stress is essential

for speakers to retrieve the word, right, from their vocabulary closet.

And this is especially important that when we have two different words that the

only difference is the primary stress, like "PREsent" and "preSENT" or "REcord"

and "reCORD", if speakers pronounce those two words the same, it is not going to be

clear what word they're actually using.

"present, present, present", or "record, record, record".

So on and so forth.

So if Korean speakers don't distinguish between those two syllables and

don't distinguish one of them, it's going to be really hard to understand

what word they're actually saying.

So distinguishing the primary stress in certain words, and in multisyllabic

words, is extremely important for clarity.

So when you're trying to overcome this challenge, make sure that you

know how to distinguish the primary stress, again, by stretching it and

raising the pitch a little more: 'PREsent', and practice it again and

again, and see how your voice changes.

And then use dictionaries, use resources to understand what is

the primary stress in a word.

And I also have additional videos that can help you do that, I'm going

to link to them in the description.

So you can use that to learn what words you actually need to stress.

The last challenge we're going to talk about is when S and SH are confused.

Now, first of all, I'm going to talk about the solution and how to

overcome it, and then I'm going to talk about the reason, cause it's really

interesting, but it's a little complex.

So if you don't want to go into it, don't go into it, but it might be

interesting to understand why Korean speakers tend to substitute S and SH.

Now, the /s/ sound is created where the tip of the tongue goes

up and almost touches the upper palate, and you release air - /s/.

The /sh/ sound is created as the tongue goes back a bit and

the lips push forward - /sh/.

/s/, as a snake /sss/, and /sh/ as when someone is really loud and

you want them to be quiet , /sh/.

So first of all, just try to compare the two sounds: /s/ - /sh/, and

let's try a few words, like "shy" or "she", or "share" for the /sh/ sound.

And /s/ -"see", "sun", and "sounds".

Now let me explain why the SH and S are confused.

In Korean, there aren't two separate sounds - /s/ and

/sh/, like we have in English.

In English, we have "she" and "see", and these two words are completely different.

And the only difference is that one sound that has changed.

In Korean, there is only one sound - /s/.

And that one sound is manifested as /s/ in most cases, but sometimes as /sh/.

So it is pronounced as /sh/ in certain positions, even though Korean

speakers perceive it as a /s/ sound.

So only when the /s/ appears before a high vowel, like "see", Korean speakers tend

to manipulate it and turn it into /sh/.

It happens because the tongue pulls back towards the 'ee' sound and as a result,

that /s/ changes a little bit to /sh/.

The problem is that in English, that's a different sound.

So if Korean speakers may want to say "see", and change that /s/ into

/sh/, for them, it doesn't matter, it's kinda like the same sound.

In English, it changes the meaning of the word - "see" changes to "she".

And that causes a problem with understanding what they're trying to say.

So, while every time Korean speakers may say a word with /s/, there'll be fine,

but when it appears before a high E, they might turn it into a /sh/ sound.

Another problem happens when we have /sh/ in English.

Because Korean doesn't have /sh/, technically, I mean, they

do pronounce it, but they don't perceive it as a sound, as a phoneme.

And as a result, every time there is a /sh/ sound, like in the word

"shine", Korean speakers might just turn it into a sound that is easier

for them to pronounce and that exists in Korean, and that is the /s/ sound.

So "shine" we'll end up sounding like "sign", and "shoes"

will sound like "Sue's".

However, when we need an S, like "see", it will be pronounced as "she".

If it's confusing, then simply go and drill the words with S and SH,

and make sure that your tongue is in the right position for each sound.

Okay, that's it.

I know this might've been confusing cause we really dug deep into understanding

the phonological and phonetic differences between Korean and English.

I personally love doing that when trying to understand pronunciation challenges.

And for you, I think it is also important to understand as speakers

or as English teachers, if you're trying to help your students, who are

Korean speakers, master the sounds and clear pronunciation of English.

Okay, that's it.

Let me know in the comments below, which of the five challenges was

the most confusing one for you.

And be sure to like and share it with your friends.

If you want to learn with me more, come on over to my website and subscribe to my

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Thank you so much for watching and don't forget, speak up because

mistakes is the only way to learn.

Have a beautiful, beautiful week.

And I will see you next week in the next video.