LooYee Different speaking people will think similarly of others who can recognise sounds that they do not use in their own language. For example Korean has no true Z, TH, V, F, ZH sounds but English people use all of these to some extent. European consonants are quite complex to Eastern languages, however English and European languages don't need other aspects of language as much for meaning, such as tonality, and they unnecessarily and often unknowingly elongate vowels. So Korean seems very precise and minimal compared to English, but they have enough sounds to have a word for any concept as in English
No kidding, Nawel, I came down here to say exactly that. Guess I don't need to. But this video took something I've struggled with for over a year and made me understand it in 10 minutes. In fact, it's SO easy, I would suspect it's entirely bullshit and wrong, if I dint trust these guys...
for those who read the IPA, a "close enough" approximation 가 - /ka/ (velar plosive) 카 - /kʰa/ (velar plosive + aspiration) 까 - /ga/ (velar plosive + voice) Really wish I had this earlier when learning. Passed by my Korean friend. To be clear Since y'all keep telling me This isn't the actual pronunciation It's very far from it It's just an approximation that you can use if you can't make the stressed sound
So , I have a native speaker teaching me 한 골, is it ok to use 가 ( kaa ), 카 ( ka) ,까 (kah )? In his video he used gaa/ga/kah? To a Korean , are the sounds close enough?
No. Those three are all unvoiced consonants. ka is closer to the sound of 까. 가and 카are both kʰa, but their pitches are different. 가is low, and 카 is high. if you say 카 in low pitch, what Koreans hear would be 가. Moreover, 가 will be voiced and change to [g] if it is between voiced sounds.
까 sounds completely different from 가 and 카. I think it's so much harder to differentiate between 가 and 카, especially 자 and 차. To me 자 and 차 sound like the same thing. Other than that this video was very helpful!!!
SpiritMission the way i've always looked at it, is 자 has a more "ja" sound and 차 has a more "cha" sound. and easier way for me to remember character pronunciations is remembering how idols names are in Hangul and how it's pronounced. so for example, for 차 i remember 찬희, Chani ~ that may not have been helpful... i'm sorry...
I do that too, but when listening to conversations, I literally cannot hear the difference :/ For example, when I hear 진짜 I would have thought it was 친차, but after seeing it in writing I still hear "chincha". Oh well, I will keep trying my ears haha
Dominique Margarita I also do that (I'm currently watching Potato Star) and I listen to a TON of kpop and I watch variety shows and movies too hahaha And I have also tried not using subtitles too...
As a new Korean student, being able to distinguish the differences between these sounds has been one of the most daunting and discouraging aspects of learning the language for me. This video is a HUGE help! It was very clearly explained, and the practice/quizzes were perfect. Thank you!
From what people in the comments are saying, I have quite a good ear. While learning Korean I've been able to discern between many of these easily. For me ㄱ was always halfway between k and g, ㄲ was a hard g and ㅋ was a hard k. Those were probably the easiest to learn for me, other syllables I had a little bit more trouble with. With 나, 다, 타 and 따, 나 was an n, 다 was halfway between t and d 타 and t 따 was kind of like a hard d that had the tongue pressing against the front top teeth. It was a very similar approach the the other consonants which made it a lot easier for me to learn.
A human cannot voice and aspirate a sound so saying that something is "between k and g, etc" is a poor way of describing the sound. They are obvious that they are k, t, p, and ch when in the proper place. The Olympics were held in Pyeong Chang and not Byeong Jang (do NOT listen to a non-Korean say it). The Py and the Ch are somewhat softer than in English but are still obviously a P and a Ch.
6 years ago when I first started learning Korean I couldn't understand or hear the difference. Now I can proudly say they all sound distinctly different. I agree with that last part of the sentence: listening to these sounds in context helps pick up on the differences.
ianpolitano07 Thanks for the encouraging words! As a brand new Korean learner, distinguishing between some of these sounds feels almost impossible, and your comment gives me hope! =)
No problem! Don't give up! Korean is not an easy language in the beginning at all. It's very unlike English, and the sounds are also 'foreign' to our ears. But, the amazing thing is that slowly our brains start to pick up the differences and patterns. One thing that I used to do was exactly what this video does. I had different friends of mine record these exact patterns, and then I would just listen to them over and over, and then imitate what I heard until I picked it up, and it took about 3 years (Not gonna lie).
Ohh i was looking for the comment of an old korean student pls tell me when ㅅ is pronounced like "ch" and when it is pronounced like "s".i mean with wich vowels. And how did you learn korean on utube or an app??
@@YARAZein-id7gb do you mean like sh and s? ㅅ next to 이 makes a sh sound as well as all 야 여 요 유 예 얘 의, but usually its an s with 아에애우으오어. Im not sure if i understood your question but i hope this helps. I learn Korean from a lot of self studying and then I was lucky to live in Korea for 5 years. That helped a lot
Actually my mother tongue is Marathi so it has very similar pronounciations like Korean language . so I will tell you the differencing between 가 and 카. 가 pronounced as gha . Their is a G and H sound . And 카 is pronounced as Tha . A T and H sound . I hope this will help u . Bye 😊
Don't think in English phonology. You will never master the phonology of a foreign language like that...even a closely related one like German or French.
정말 감사합니다! those double consonants (ㅌㄸㅋㄲㅅㅆㅈㅉㅊ) are legit hard to sound and differentiate. but now I think I can differentiate them better ♡ this video gave thorough explaination. thank you TTMIK team
Thank you!!!!! Finally a good explanation on how to read these. ㄱ and ㅋ are still troublesome for me. Because they both sound more like "k" (whereas ㄲ sounds more like "g"). I guess I will remember ㅋ as sounding closer to "kh", while ㄱ is simply "k".
ㅆ is the easiest to pronounce because it is equivalent to English [s]. The problem is ㅅ. ㅅ is softer, closer to English sh sound without rounding your lips.
i thing korean romanisation should be revised. from my perspective, 카,타,차 , and 파 have a more breathy sound and h should be added into the spelling e.g kha, tha, cha, and pha.
I agree. Seeing as the alphabet heavily revolves around breath and strength variation (unlike English), it doesn't make sense for there not to be some way to denote that. Maybe an h in superscript would be helpful.
It also depends on where the syllable is in the word or sentence. For example in 지진 "earthquake" the 지 sounds more like "chee" but the 진 sounds more like "jeen". This is true for a lot of different syllables. In 시간 the 간 sounds more like "gahn" but when you say "가봐야지" then the 가 is closer to the "K" sound, and in "어디 가?" the 가 is again closer to "gah". This is because it's hard not to add a little more aspiration to the first thing you say, meaning the first syllables sound harder, but when surround by other syllables then they're their "normal" selves.
The rule for ㄱㄷㅈ ㅂ is as follows: at the beginning and the middle point of a syllable and between two vowels is k, t, ch, and p but when at the end of a syllable or between a vowel and a consonant, the second sound is used. Take my youtube username: pusabum. The romanizing would be, under the confusing Korean government standard, would be busabum while the correct pronunciation is poosabom, Not the sound shifts following that rule. It happens will all four of the sounds above. It is a simple rule. Busan is not pronounced with a B but with a P.
If anyone in the comments studied Chinese (or any tonal language) or it is your native language, just realize its KIND OF similar. It almost has a tone to it. Think of it almost as 가 as a lower tone, 카 as the medium tone, and 까 as the highest tone. One of my native languages is Chinese, so I thought of them as closer to tones to sounds. My babysitter was Korean, and she said that the way I learned it allowed me to master the sounds. So if that helps, use it! Wish everyone the best of luck, I understand how hard it is to master sounds in another language (I can't even roll my R's and some of my family is Mexican, so my Spanish isn't right).
In fact, those sounds have nothing to do with tone. The speakers in this video are a bit exaggerating the sounds probably that's why you think it's like tone.
Well, I can pronounce 가 까 카 in the same tone. But there’s a thesis about tone playing a role in young generation’s pronunciation. However, I recommend people who learn Korean that they hear the difference of the sound not the tone.
@@KaptainCanuck Sure you can? If you grow up speaking English and Mandarin fluently (Mandarin from family + English from being in US generally), they're both native languages for you.
fantastic! the differentiation in pitch was the last piece of the puzzle to differentiate between the aspirated forms and the even more aspirated ones. thank you very very much!
Edit: I really hate to post this out of fear TTMIK will be upset with me. I hope you guys understand I'm just trying to help. The problem here is you cannot make a consonant higher or lower in pitch. Adding the vowel to each was actually a hindrance to learning purely the sound of the consonant. Like in the "ㄱ" and "ㅋ" they sounded the same other than changing the pitch of the "ㅏ" So far in my best experience helping especially American English speakers like me "ㄱ" can be "G" or "K" both and "ㅋ" is just clearly "K" IN some cases "C" like in "Car". That has been my understanding so far. I get the idea of making the "G" more harsh and explosive or more relaxed. While wearing good earbuds to me I heard "가" "KAH" "카" "KAH "ㄲ" "GAH". I would be willing to bet many if not most others did as well. The only difference in the string of examples before the "what did you hear" part was the pitch and intonation of the "ㅏ" "AH". I really hope this helps both TTMIK and TTMIK fans here. Much love to you all.
I feel like the more I get into a foreign language the better I get at hearing the differences and pronouncing them right. Just give yourselves some time and practise ;)
Its basically 가 = Ka (normal pitch) 카 = Ka (higher pitch , more air) 까 = Ga (same pitch as 카 , more abrupt like the sound G ) 나 = Na (normal pitch , N ) 다 = Ta (normal pitch ) 타 = Ta (higher pitch , more air ) 따 = Da ( higher pitch , more abrupt like the sound D ) 사 = Sa (normal pitch , S) 자 = Cha (normal pitch , dza) 차 = Cha (higher pitch ,dza) 짜 = Ja (higher pitch , more abrupt like J , more air ) 마 = Ma ( normal pitch , m) 바 = Bpa( normal pitch, mouth same as pronouncing B ) 파 = Bpa( higher pitch, “ “ ) 빠 = Ba (higher pitch , more abrupt like B, more air )
I know Talk To Me In Korean is a good guide for Korean learners, but this time I'd like to correct and add some comments as a Korean teacher and a graduate student for teaching Korean. The explanation of 가 and 카 is right, but as for 까, explaining as 'a little bit higher' pitch and 'a little bit more' explosive is still vague and controversial. First, pitch is not actually as important as described to make an understandable sound. Native Koreans make different pitches according to words, sentences or context. However, in comparing the sound '가, 카, 까', the guy in the video makes different level of pitch to emphasize each sound clearer I reckon. Even tho I can make these sounds at the same pitch, but like he said, it is natural to pitch up only to pronounce one syllable each. For example, when I only say '까', I make higher pitched sound than 가. However, in a word '토끼(rabbit)', the stress is '토', not '끼', so 토 has higher pitch here. I mean, in a word or a sentence, this kind of explanations in the video doesn't really help. Second, explosive sound. The thing is, 'ㄲ' is not an explosive sound. Rather, I would call it 'pressure sound'(Not a linguistic term by the way). To articulate this sound right, the physical principle is: Lift the back of the tongue, press it against the back of the hard palate with force for some time, like blocking the throat, and then remove it to make a sound. To make it clearer, let's put 악 before ㄲ sound. ㄲ is, literally, a double sound of ㄱ. So I recommend you guys practicing with putting '악' right before the sound 'ㄲ'. For example, to say '악기'(instrument), you can obviously feel 기 is blocked or pressed right before pronounced. That's the way. You have to hold your tongue a second after 악, and say 기. There is very short pause between two syllables. The same principle is applied to the other twin consonants. Try saying '아빠(dad)'. It is actually pronounced [압바]. So... I can say ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ are pressed, closed, or blocked sounds. Hope this works. 감사합니다!!
Thank you, this helped so much. My Korean professor was unable to show/describe the difference, and although she states that my pronunciation is well, knowing this now I can definitely practice much better. Also, I wanted to ask if you have any book that helps with the markers. I would love if you could possibly have/write a mini book that focuses on learning and understanding how to use markers properly. My professor is always busy and we don't have a tutor, so I need to use other sources that can help me. Thank you, again. I hope to hear from you.
It sounds like the double sounds have voicing, while the characters with a middle line added have aspiration Also, the sonority/pitch changes based on the waveforms that are created as you change the place and manner of articulation (and airflow it seems)
So it _is_ true that 가 and 카 are literally pronounced the same way except 카 is slightly higher pitched.. It's nice to finally know how to pronounce them.. Korean is a very tonal language. I see that many letters sound nearly identical, but the pitch is what indicates which letter it is. I hope I'm understanding it correctly. 😅 I was getting along well until the last two bunches of syllables. 😔 memorizing the alphabet isn't what's hard, it's proper pronunciation that is! I took a lot of notes throughout the video and I plan to keep coming back to help cement the slight differences between them all with more ease. If anyone knows of other good resources to showcase comparisons of these syllables, please let me know. I still have to research compound consonants and linking sounds... 🤕 여러분 화이팅!
Korean is not a very tonal language but Mandarin and Cantonese are. What makes Korean difficult are all the polite endings, the honourfics and much of the grammar. Japanese is easier to speak because each "letter" has one sound; a is always as in awe; U is always an OO sound; i is always ee; E is a bit harder to describe but is kind of between an e (as in wet) and an ay sound and their -ei is their A like in way. So, kawraetay, Heerosheema, Nawgawsakee, Okieenawwa, koomitay, kawtaw
I think I'm answering too late. As a Korean, I think the reason is that Korean uses less voice than English and focuses more on the sound of the mouth. In Korean, we use less voice sound in consonants than in English. The voice is pronounced with more focus on the vowels. It's too much to explain in writing, but for example) G sounds like 'Gu', ㄱ sounds like 'gew' (sounds drier). this difference causes that ㄱ sounds between g and k ( ㄱ use more mouth sound than g and more voice sound than k) ㅋ sounds almost the same as k. It would be confusing to distinguish pronunciation based on the English alphabet, but ㄱ and ㅋ are definitely different based on Korean.
The most helpful video in RUclips I have ever found... Please continue posting videos related to pronounciation and it really helped me a lot.. 감사합니다..
So with 따, 싸, 빠 , and 짜, they sound more like how the american would pronounce the romanized versions. 따 sounds more like the american pronunciation of Da
Cat Greenfield i wouldn't think so^^ like in chinese, they don't consider the tones when writing so actually figuring out chinese song's meaning is kinda a crapshoot lolol 😂 same way in korean, probably anyway lol, native speaker might probably be able to tell a difference tho, or maybe just by virtue of what makes sense and what doesn't :)
i feel so blessed, bcz i know hindi also (indian language) and they all are extremely to almost exactly similar sounding characters😂 for me, i can clearly diff btw (ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ) (ㄷㅌㄸ)
I just began listening to Pimsleur's Hindi cds right now and I have noticed some slight similarities. The Shri- sound is similar to the Shilye (as in shillyehamnida which is very close to a Hindi word)
I personally think for Urdu speakers it's EASY PEAZY LEMON SQUEAZY!!! cuz we already have these sounds in our language, just gotta apply it to new letters!
I have a question. If we pronounce these as ㄱ : gha ㅋ : kha ㄲ : ga It would be easier to understand it. But would it be correct? Same for ㅂ : bha ㅍ : pha ㅃ : ba ㅈ : jha ㅊ : cha ㅉ : ja. Since I'm fluent in Urdu as well, I was thinking the difference between ㅅ and ㅆ might be the same as ث and س in Urdu. If someone is familiar with both languages, kindly tell me whether or not this is correct. Thankyou!
if the urdu ث is the same as in arabic, then not really no. ㅆ is exactly س or s in english, while ㅅ is just س+ه s+h (not ش!!) to say 사 try saying سْها really quickly keeping the س without a vowel
i couldn't disagree more when hyonu씨 said, ttmik is the best among others when it comes to learning korean language. i understand better their explanations. i like the sense of humor too. thank u very much. such a brilliant minded teachers!
Thanks for this. I watched this on Sunday. On Monday, I sat down with my Korean friend for our weekly “Language Exchange” where we help each other learn each other’s language. She was trying to get me to pronounce “따”, but I was doing it too softly. Then I had a vision of Hyunwoo saying “따!” and mimicked his pronunciation. My friend’s eyes lit up affirmatively, which felt nice. - 감사합니다, 선생님 순.
@@willowgreene2180 Hi, I am a native Korean. I will try my best to explain. First, notice the difference between "k" and "g" Put your hand on your throat. You can tell it vibrates when you say "g" = voicing. "k" sound is made somewhere behind the upper teeth near the palate. Notice the delicate tongue muscle change too. With your mouth and tongue muscle making "k" sound-position, try to say "g" with a little less voicing. See if that works! I hope it does! Good luck! ^ ^
To Guillermo, my Korean teacher recommends along with listening to the song, write out the consonants 100 times. I was having the same difficulty as you. Go as slow as you want, and just listen to the song 20 times. I also had trouble with the consonants s, now that I'm doing my above suggestion it's starting to come together and I'm super excited. Don't give up
I don't know what I would do without this video 😭 thank you so so much I finally understand the differences! it will obviously still take more practice to nail it completely but it's no longer confusing
OMG!!! Just in 10 minutes you explained everything absolutely clearly, so that now i really understand the difference and can hear this difference!!! wow, thank you so much! That is the best channel that helps to learn Korean!!!!!
just the 가 and 카 is the problem still...they still sound a lot similar !!!!! Basically we have completey different sounds for 'k' and 'g' in my mother-tongue so it's really difficult to differentiate. And also why is it that both kamsahamnida and gomawo starts with 'ㄱ' but still sound so different?
I am from venezuela. It's a great lesson. I've found the easiest way to understand vowels and double vowels. Thank you man, I spended ten month to try understand it.
I feel like I'm going crazy trying to learn these sounds lol. Why is he lumping the 'n' sound with the 't' sounds? Sorry for using romanised/English-friendly descriptors for them but I just started. 'n' and 't' are entirely different sounds, do people from other native languages have trouble telling the difference between them?
@@juliamars6573, inaccurate: T is unvoiced and D is voiced (the same with the other four) which means the first sound of each used no vocal cords and the second does use them. Every word uses sound.
Such a clear explaination! I am starting my Korean studying journey and already got confused by the romanization system and the actual sound. Especially /g/ and /k/ are identical twins lol. Thank you so much! I really apreciate it!
Excelent explanation, romanization is confusing in general, but yet more when you aren't a native English speaker. Thank you, this video has helped me a lot.
Well, this is helpful, but it still does not change the fact that native Korean speakers pronounce 가 in a variety of ways. And no, I am not just hearing it "wrong".
the same but different in pitch. 가 (kha but low pitch) 카 (kha but higher pitch) 까 (kka but higher than kha) :) when you pronounce 까, no air. but 카 and 가 has air. :)
I've been searching for a video like this. Thanks, it more clearly defines the exact issues I've had when attempting to understand the differences between the sounds.
This video really helped reinforce the concept! I hope this can help someone but the best description I've heard about ㅅ vs. ㅆ that has helped me, is that ㅅ is pronounced like the S in Standing, Sky, Smell and ㅆ is pronounced like the S in Sun. Small difference but that has helped me visualize it best. Good luck everyone!
My neighbors probably think i'm practicing bird calls xD
Hahaha xD
My mum asked me why I am saying kaka the full time 😂
I can’t follow this video seriously bc of your comment lol
I feel like Koreans have one of the best hearing abilities in the world sometimes while learning Korean.
Koreans as well, feel that way toward English natives
LooYee Different speaking people will think similarly of others who can recognise sounds that they do not use in their own language.
For example Korean has no true Z, TH, V, F, ZH sounds but English people use all of these to some extent.
European consonants are quite complex to Eastern languages, however English and European languages don't need other aspects of language as much for meaning, such as tonality, and they unnecessarily and often unknowingly elongate vowels. So Korean seems very precise and minimal compared to English, but they have enough sounds to have a word for any concept as in English
LooYee try and learn hindi
이성민 don't forget that they also can't distinguish between r and l
이성민 do you know of any specific vowel sounds this applies too? if any.
I started the video thinking "I won't get it anyway they all sound the same" but it's actually not that hard omg this video is amazing !
Right? I could never distinguish them before this video :')
I don't get it anyway :( 사 자 차 싸 왜 어려운가?
I thought I would never be able to pronounce it correctly and now all I have to learn is how to spot it
I started the video thinking "I won't get it anyway they all sound the same" but, now, I'm sure I won't. :(
No kidding, Nawel, I came down here to say exactly that. Guess I don't need to. But this video took something I've struggled with for over a year and made me understand it in 10 minutes. In fact, it's SO easy, I would suspect it's entirely bullshit and wrong, if I dint trust these guys...
for those who read the IPA, a "close enough" approximation
가 - /ka/ (velar plosive)
카 - /kʰa/ (velar plosive + aspiration)
까 - /ga/ (velar plosive + voice)
Really wish I had this earlier when learning. Passed by my Korean friend.
To be clear
Since y'all keep telling me
This isn't the actual pronunciation
It's very far from it
It's just an approximation that you can use if you can't make the stressed sound
isn´t 까 exactly this voiced velar plosive + a way higher vowel and adding a high rising tone?
You know how some people are color blind, I'm simple/aspirated/tension challenged.
So , I have a native speaker teaching me 한 골, is it ok to use 가 ( kaa ), 카 ( ka) ,까 (kah )? In his video he used gaa/ga/kah? To a Korean , are the sounds close enough?
No. Those three are all unvoiced consonants.
ka is closer to the sound of 까.
가and 카are both kʰa, but their pitches are different. 가is low, and 카 is high. if you say 카 in low pitch, what Koreans hear would be 가.
Moreover, 가 will be voiced and change to [g] if it is between voiced sounds.
Its tense. Powerful articulation but not enough to become voiced
ㄲ is easy to me. ㄱ and ㅋ are the real problem 😂
Huyen Nguyen i was gonna say that. I confuse ㄱ and ㅋ.
It is very confusing but I suggest you that keep hearing them whenever you can, you will start noticing some difference.
I would say that ㅋ (k one) is more soft k when pronounced, like it's pure k sound. For the other one, it's a bit g sound but pronounced similar as k.
yeah I Have a Same Problem .
same ugh
까 sounds completely different from 가 and 카. I think it's so much harder to differentiate between 가 and 카, especially 자 and 차. To me 자 and 차 sound like the same thing. Other than that this video was very helpful!!!
SpiritMission the way i've always looked at it, is 자 has a more "ja" sound and 차 has a more "cha" sound. and easier way for me to remember character pronunciations is remembering how idols names are in Hangul and how it's pronounced. so for example, for 차 i remember 찬희, Chani ~
that may not have been helpful... i'm sorry...
I do that too, but when listening to conversations, I literally cannot hear the difference :/ For example, when I hear 진짜 I would have thought it was 친차, but after seeing it in writing I still hear "chincha". Oh well, I will keep trying my ears haha
with the listening skills, i recommend breaking out some drama's bexause i've found that's the best way to practice the listening skills lol
Dominique Margarita I also do that (I'm currently watching Potato Star) and I listen to a TON of kpop and I watch variety shows and movies too hahaha And I have also tried not using subtitles too...
SpiritMission all those little steps will take you to better understand korean. i believe in you!!! good luck~
As a new Korean student, being able to distinguish the differences between these sounds has been one of the most daunting and discouraging aspects of learning the language for me.
This video is a HUGE help! It was very clearly explained, and the practice/quizzes were perfect. Thank you!
Be honest in context they will understand what you're saying regardless if you mess that up unless you can pronunciation anything also right
YES! I get so frustrated because it’s like one thing is pronounced one way and the next minute it’s another way😭.
Ya I just started to learn hangul and, I saw the letters and I was like so confused but this video really helps.
From what people in the comments are saying, I have quite a good ear. While learning Korean I've been able to discern between many of these easily. For me ㄱ was always halfway between k and g, ㄲ was a hard g and ㅋ was a hard k. Those were probably the easiest to learn for me, other syllables I had a little bit more trouble with. With 나, 다, 타 and 따, 나 was an n, 다 was halfway between t and d 타 and t 따 was kind of like a hard d that had the tongue pressing against the front top teeth. It was a very similar approach the the other consonants which made it a lot easier for me to learn.
Cinni the mini For me, I’m kind of the opposite. The main issue I had was with ㄱ at ㅋ sounds
A human cannot voice and aspirate a sound so saying that something is "between k and g, etc" is a poor way of describing the sound. They are obvious that they are k, t, p, and ch when in the proper place. The Olympics were held in Pyeong Chang and not Byeong Jang (do NOT listen to a non-Korean say it). The Py and the Ch are somewhat softer than in English but are still obviously a P and a Ch.
This comment is helpful! Thanks.
6 years ago when I first started learning Korean I couldn't understand or hear the difference. Now I can proudly say they all sound distinctly different. I agree with that last part of the sentence: listening to these sounds in context helps pick up on the differences.
ianpolitano07 Thanks for the encouraging words! As a brand new Korean learner, distinguishing between some of these sounds feels almost impossible, and your comment gives me hope! =)
No problem! Don't give up! Korean is not an easy language in the beginning at all. It's very unlike English, and the sounds are also 'foreign' to our ears. But, the amazing thing is that slowly our brains start to pick up the differences and patterns. One thing that I used to do was exactly what this video does. I had different friends of mine record these exact patterns, and then I would just listen to them over and over, and then imitate what I heard until I picked it up, and it took about 3 years (Not gonna lie).
Dang I’ve got 6yrs to go
Ohh i was looking for the comment of an old korean student pls tell me when ㅅ is pronounced like "ch" and when it is pronounced like "s".i mean with wich vowels. And how did you learn korean on utube or an app??
@@YARAZein-id7gb do you mean like sh and s? ㅅ next to 이 makes a sh sound as well as all 야 여 요 유 예 얘 의, but usually its an s with 아에애우으오어. Im not sure if i understood your question but i hope this helps. I learn Korean from a lot of self studying and then I was lucky to live in Korea for 5 years. That helped a lot
ME: roaming around the house practicing ka, ga, kha gaa, na.
My parents: what the heck is going onn with her
Me studying Korean in a nutshell: AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH
I don't have problem differentiating 까 from 가 and 카. 까 sounds totally different from the other 2. But 가 and 카 is so similar
Actually my mother tongue is Marathi so it has very similar pronounciations like Korean language . so I will tell you the differencing between 가 and 카. 가 pronounced as gha . Their is a G and H sound . And 카 is pronounced as Tha . A T and H sound .
I hope this will help u . Bye 😊
Same
I am still stuck at kha and kha God so similar still cant find the difference
Yeah me too
in the beginning i was like "haha i get it" and when he started to explain ㅈㅊㅅㅆ etc. im losssssss😂
Same
Him: Ga Na Da Ra....
Me: Ga Na Da Ra Ba Ma Sa A HAKUNA MATATA OH
lifeu~ same lol
Hard stans think alike 😂😂❤️
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Jamie Oh same 😂
Lol
살 and 쌀 are making me mad....
ㅅ has air. 살 kinda sounds like sHal (an actual H sound)
ㅆ has no air. 쌀 sounds like straight up ssal (s is slightly longer and no H sound)
Korean Vaporeon thank you very much !
ㅆ is essentially the English s, it has a "hiss" sound to it. ㅅ has no hiss and is just breathy, with air
Don't think in English phonology. You will never master the phonology of a foreign language like that...even a closely related one like German or French.
James I'm a pro in French thought
when he said ga na da ra ma ba sa 가 나 다 라 마 바 사... J Hope's line of Boy in Luv came into my mind😂
Army Girl 😂😂😂😂LOL girl
Hakuna matataaaㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Same😂😂
Same here~
Me too lol
omg finally i can have all those tricky characters in just one vidoe how i wanted it. how i needed it
thank you so much guys many thanks
Basically I recognize the principle of Thai consonant classes here. That’s amazing!
정말 감사합니다! those double consonants (ㅌㄸㅋㄲㅅㅆㅈㅉㅊ) are legit hard to sound and differentiate. but now I think I can differentiate them better ♡
this video gave thorough explaination. thank you TTMIK team
I have never heard of these sounds and the differences between them explained with pitch or pitch-tone before. This is brilliant.
Thank you!!!!! Finally a good explanation on how to read these. ㄱ and ㅋ are still troublesome for me. Because they both sound more like "k" (whereas ㄲ sounds more like "g"). I guess I will remember ㅋ as sounding closer to "kh", while ㄱ is simply "k".
Nøra Reed nonetheless this is a great video.. ;)
Yes, as I said -- it helped a lot! :)
That is because they are that way. KK still is not voiced as a G is but it is short enough in air release to sound like it,
ㄱ is g from gun
The hardest thing for me is to distinguish between ㅅ and ㅆ...
It's only important when you are reading tbh the difference in sound is so small that even Korean people can't tell the difference most of the time.
nana L i always thought ㅆ was more of a “ssh” sound, kind of. At least that’s what it sounds like to me, lol, I may be wrong.
ㅆ is the easiest to pronounce because it is equivalent to English [s]. The problem is ㅅ. ㅅ is softer, closer to English sh sound without rounding your lips.
If you make sh + 아, it becomes 솨. However, if you make sh sound without rounding your lips and add 아, it becomes 사
I like to think ㅅ as like a breathy s sound and then when someone makes extra effort to sound like a snake, then its a ㅆ.
i thing korean romanisation should be revised. from my perspective, 카,타,차 , and 파 have a more breathy sound and h should be added into the spelling e.g kha, tha, cha, and pha.
I agree. Seeing as the alphabet heavily revolves around breath and strength variation (unlike English), it doesn't make sense for there not to be some way to denote that. Maybe an h in superscript would be helpful.
I agree
I agree it should change, I don't like the current system
That's how I'm spelling out the sounds in my head right now. It's like the pinyin for R words, who chose those letters.
It also depends on where the syllable is in the word or sentence. For example in 지진 "earthquake" the 지 sounds more like "chee" but the 진 sounds more like "jeen". This is true for a lot of different syllables. In 시간 the 간 sounds more like "gahn" but when you say "가봐야지" then the 가 is closer to the "K" sound, and in "어디 가?" the 가 is again closer to "gah". This is because it's hard not to add a little more aspiration to the first thing you say, meaning the first syllables sound harder, but when surround by other syllables then they're their "normal" selves.
And also people run out of breathy mid sentence and its too much effort to push out more air and so they just say it with not as much airiness
The rule for ㄱㄷㅈ ㅂ is as follows: at the beginning and the middle point of a syllable and between two vowels is k, t, ch, and p but when at the end of a syllable or between a vowel and a consonant, the second sound is used. Take my youtube username: pusabum. The romanizing would be, under the confusing Korean government standard, would be busabum while the correct pronunciation is poosabom, Not the sound shifts following that rule. It happens will all four of the sounds above. It is a simple rule. Busan is not pronounced with a B but with a P.
Is ㅂㅈㄷㄱ supposed to be aspirated when placed at the beginning of words or just beginning of sentences???
If anyone in the comments studied Chinese (or any tonal language) or it is your native language, just realize its KIND OF similar. It almost has a tone to it. Think of it almost as 가 as a lower tone, 카 as the medium tone, and 까 as the highest tone. One of my native languages is Chinese, so I thought of them as closer to tones to sounds. My babysitter was Korean, and she said that the way I learned it allowed me to master the sounds. So if that helps, use it! Wish everyone the best of luck, I understand how hard it is to master sounds in another language (I can't even roll my R's and some of my family is Mexican, so my Spanish isn't right).
In fact, those sounds have nothing to do with tone. The speakers in this video are a bit exaggerating the sounds probably that's why you think it's like tone.
Well, I can pronounce 가 까 카 in the same tone. But there’s a thesis about tone playing a role in young generation’s pronunciation. However, I recommend people who learn Korean that they hear the difference of the sound not the tone.
Gaonnuri hmm
You cannot have two native languages (I am discounting any dialects even if Mandarin and Cantonese cannot speak to one another)
@@KaptainCanuck Sure you can? If you grow up speaking English and Mandarin fluently (Mandarin from family + English from being in US generally), they're both native languages for you.
5 years later after the publishing date of the video. So good to practice sounds! Thank you! Im on level 5, next lesson 12 coming up
fantastic! the differentiation in pitch was the last piece of the puzzle to differentiate between the aspirated forms and the even more aspirated ones. thank you very very much!
This is the best beginner I have seen in Korean, as an experienced language learner the pronunciation system or phonetics is so important.
Edit: I really hate to post this out of fear TTMIK will be upset with me. I hope you guys understand I'm just trying to help.
The problem here is you cannot make a consonant higher or lower in pitch. Adding the vowel to each was actually a hindrance to learning purely the sound of the consonant. Like in the "ㄱ" and "ㅋ" they sounded the same other than changing the pitch of the "ㅏ" So far in my best experience helping especially American English speakers like me "ㄱ" can be "G" or "K" both and "ㅋ" is just clearly "K" IN some cases "C" like in "Car". That has been my understanding so far. I get the idea of making the "G" more harsh and explosive or more relaxed.
While wearing good earbuds to me I heard "가" "KAH" "카" "KAH "ㄲ" "GAH". I would be willing to bet many if not most others did as well. The only difference in the string of examples before the "what did you hear" part was the pitch and intonation of the "ㅏ" "AH".
I really hope this helps both TTMIK and TTMIK fans here.
Much love to you all.
I'm in love with that English speaker...💜he looks very smart and understanding
I feel like the more I get into a foreign language the better I get at hearing the differences and pronouncing them right. Just give yourselves some time and practise ;)
Its basically
가 = Ka (normal pitch)
카 = Ka (higher pitch , more air)
까 = Ga (same pitch as 카 , more abrupt like the sound G )
나 = Na (normal pitch , N )
다 = Ta (normal pitch )
타 = Ta (higher pitch , more air )
따 = Da ( higher pitch , more abrupt like the sound D )
사 = Sa (normal pitch , S)
자 = Cha (normal pitch , dza)
차 = Cha (higher pitch ,dza)
짜 = Ja (higher pitch , more abrupt like J , more air )
마 = Ma ( normal pitch , m)
바 = Bpa( normal pitch, mouth same as pronouncing B )
파 = Bpa( higher pitch, “ “ )
빠 = Ba (higher pitch , more abrupt like B, more air )
Thanks a lot
I know Talk To Me In Korean is a good guide for Korean learners, but this time I'd like to correct and add some comments as a Korean teacher and a graduate student for teaching Korean. The explanation of 가 and 카 is right, but as for 까, explaining as 'a little bit higher' pitch and 'a little bit more' explosive is still vague and controversial.
First, pitch is not actually as important as described to make an understandable sound. Native Koreans make different pitches according to words, sentences or context. However, in comparing the sound '가, 카, 까', the guy in the video makes different level of pitch to emphasize each sound clearer I reckon. Even tho I can make these sounds at the same pitch, but like he said, it is natural to pitch up only to pronounce one syllable each.
For example, when I only say '까', I make higher pitched sound than 가. However, in a word '토끼(rabbit)', the stress is '토', not '끼', so 토 has higher pitch here. I mean, in a word or a sentence, this kind of explanations in the video doesn't really help.
Second, explosive sound. The thing is, 'ㄲ' is not an explosive sound. Rather, I would call it 'pressure sound'(Not a linguistic term by the way). To articulate this sound right, the physical principle is: Lift the back of the tongue, press it against the back of the hard palate with force for some time, like blocking the throat, and then remove it to make a sound.
To make it clearer, let's put 악 before ㄲ sound. ㄲ is, literally, a double sound of ㄱ. So I recommend you guys practicing with putting '악' right before the sound 'ㄲ'.
For example, to say '악기'(instrument), you can obviously feel 기 is blocked or pressed right before pronounced. That's the way. You have to hold your tongue a second after 악, and say 기. There is very short pause between two syllables. The same principle is applied to the other twin consonants. Try saying '아빠(dad)'. It is actually pronounced [압바].
So... I can say ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ are pressed, closed, or blocked sounds. Hope this works. 감사합니다!!
This was so awesome and effective to understanding the difference between the consonants! Thank you.
ㅈ,ㅉ and ㅊ confused me A LOT
daniel holowaty ㅆ ~ ss with a hissing kind of sound
ㅉ ~ jj
ㅊ - ch
Hope that kind of helps
It's actually the first time in years that I can have a good explaination on this. Thanks !
Time Stamps for Exercises:
3:47
6:36
9:35
11:35
Very, very, very useful. The best lesson available on RUclips, for Korean pronunciation. Thanks.
Thank you, this helped so much. My Korean professor was unable to show/describe the difference, and although she states that my pronunciation is well, knowing this now I can definitely practice much better.
Also, I wanted to ask if you have any book that helps with the markers. I would love if you could possibly have/write a mini book that focuses on learning and understanding how to use markers properly. My professor is always busy and we don't have a tutor, so I need to use other sources that can help me.
Thank you, again. I hope to hear from you.
more air??? thats all i needed to know??? its been hours and i just needed more air???? i love you thank you
It sounds like the double sounds have voicing, while the characters with a middle line added have aspiration
Also, the sonority/pitch changes based on the waveforms that are created as you change the place and manner of articulation (and airflow it seems)
Thank you so much as those letters are so hard to distinguish a difference between them😭
So it _is_ true that 가 and 카 are literally pronounced the same way except 카 is slightly higher pitched.. It's nice to finally know how to pronounce them.. Korean is a very tonal language. I see that many letters sound nearly identical, but the pitch is what indicates which letter it is. I hope I'm understanding it correctly. 😅 I was getting along well until the last two bunches of syllables. 😔 memorizing the alphabet isn't what's hard, it's proper pronunciation that is! I took a lot of notes throughout the video and I plan to keep coming back to help cement the slight differences between them all with more ease. If anyone knows of other good resources to showcase comparisons of these syllables, please let me know. I still have to research compound consonants and linking sounds... 🤕 여러분 화이팅!
Korean is not a very tonal language but Mandarin and Cantonese are. What makes Korean difficult are all the polite endings, the honourfics and much of the grammar. Japanese is easier to speak because each "letter" has one sound; a is always as in awe; U is always an OO sound; i is always ee; E is a bit harder to describe but is kind of between an e (as in wet) and an ay sound and their -ei is their A like in way. So, kawraetay, Heerosheema, Nawgawsakee, Okieenawwa, koomitay, kawtaw
I think I'm answering too late. As a Korean, I think the reason is that Korean uses less voice than English and focuses more on the sound of the mouth. In Korean, we use less voice sound in consonants than in English. The voice is pronounced with more focus on the vowels. It's too much to explain in writing, but for example) G sounds like 'Gu', ㄱ sounds like 'gew' (sounds drier). this difference causes that ㄱ sounds between g and k ( ㄱ use more mouth sound than g and more voice sound than k)
ㅋ sounds almost the same as k. It would be confusing to distinguish pronunciation based on the English alphabet, but ㄱ and ㅋ are definitely different based on Korean.
i have been watching videos all day on double constant pronunciation. This has by far been the most helpful. Thank you so much!
Thank you! this came at the right time haha
but even still learning the difference between 사/싸 is bloody hard hahahahaha
but i'll keep practicing ^_^
The most helpful video in RUclips I have ever found... Please continue posting videos related to pronounciation and it really helped me a lot.. 감사합니다..
So with 따, 싸, 빠 , and 짜, they sound more like how the american would pronounce the romanized versions. 따 sounds more like the american pronunciation of Da
Ahhh this is so hard 😭😭 this video is very helpful but when listening to actual conversations I still find it super hard to distinguish them
I wonder if Korean songwriters have to take the importance of pitch in double consonants into consideration when writing… hmm!
Cat Greenfield i wouldn't think so^^ like in chinese, they don't consider the tones when writing so actually figuring out chinese song's meaning is kinda a crapshoot lolol 😂 same way in korean, probably anyway lol, native speaker might probably be able to tell a difference tho, or maybe just by virtue of what makes sense and what doesn't :)
Way helpful The arrow illustrating voice inflection is teaching genius!!
i feel so blessed, bcz i know hindi also (indian language) and they all are extremely to almost exactly similar sounding characters😂 for me, i can clearly diff btw (ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ) (ㄷㅌㄸ)
I just began listening to Pimsleur's Hindi cds right now and I have noticed some slight similarities. The Shri- sound is similar to the Shilye (as in shillyehamnida which is very close to a Hindi word)
This was so helpful, THANK YOU!!
고마워요, this is pretty helpful but im still confused with 사 & 싸
sew and sat (shorten the s in sat just a touch more)
omg this is probably the best pronunciation consonant guide around! thank you, TTMIK!
I just tell them double consonant sound like Spanish accent. For example, "빠삐" sounds like "papi" with a Spanish accent.
I actually hear them as Bs. Babi in your example.
Yeah the single sounds like p and the double sounds like b right? At least that what it sounds like to me.
This is true! I speak spanish and realizing this has helped me with my korean pronunciation 😂
I speak spanish and I've been doing the same, yes
Been trying for like two days to find explanations for these, everywhere else is so vague, becomes so clear when you hear them side by side
I personally think for Urdu speakers it's EASY PEAZY LEMON SQUEAZY!!!
cuz we already have these sounds in our language, just gotta apply it to new letters!
I always struggled with double consonants, but this video has seriously made me understand them in under fifteen minutes. Awesome video!
I have a question. If we pronounce these as
ㄱ : gha
ㅋ : kha
ㄲ : ga
It would be easier to understand it. But would it be correct? Same for
ㅂ : bha
ㅍ : pha
ㅃ : ba
ㅈ : jha
ㅊ : cha
ㅉ : ja.
Since I'm fluent in Urdu as well, I was thinking the difference between ㅅ and ㅆ might be the same as ث and س in Urdu. If someone is familiar with both languages, kindly tell me whether or not this is correct.
Thankyou!
if the urdu ث is the same as in arabic, then not really no. ㅆ is exactly س or s in english, while ㅅ is just س+ه s+h (not ش!!) to say 사 try saying سْها really quickly keeping the س without a vowel
this is the best TTMIK video made, so useful
i couldn't disagree more when hyonu씨 said, ttmik is the best among others when it comes to learning korean language. i understand better their explanations. i like the sense of humor too. thank u very much. such a brilliant minded teachers!
You mean you can't agree more, right? Got me confused at first.
Y’all… this video was a literal life saver
The “S” sounds and “J” sounds are the hardest for me. The other groups I can differentiate pretty well!
they are also frequently used, the letters I mean. We're in for a bumphy ride :) (see what i did there)
Thanks for this. I watched this on Sunday. On Monday, I sat down with my Korean friend for our weekly “Language Exchange” where we help each other learn each other’s language.
She was trying to get me to pronounce “따”, but I was doing it too softly. Then I had a vision of Hyunwoo saying “따!” and mimicked his pronunciation. My friend’s eyes lit up affirmatively, which felt nice. - 감사합니다, 선생님 순.
Oh my goodness I feel dizzy. How can somebody pronounce somewhere between ga and kha..ahhhhh😰🤕
Yeah I'm dying
@@willowgreene2180
Hi, I am a native Korean. I will try my best to explain.
First, notice the difference between "k" and "g"
Put your hand on your throat. You can tell it vibrates when you say "g" = voicing.
"k" sound is made somewhere behind the upper teeth near the palate. Notice the delicate tongue muscle change too.
With your mouth and tongue muscle making "k" sound-position, try to say "g" with a little less voicing.
See if that works!
I hope it does!
Good luck! ^ ^
I've been struggling with this for days, but you made it so easy!!
THANK YOU
9:47 I'm basically deaf with the 자 and 차, see no difference according to the sound I hear on the examples
To Guillermo, my Korean teacher recommends along with listening to the song, write out the consonants 100 times. I was having the same difficulty as you. Go as slow as you want, and just listen to the song 20 times. I also had trouble with the consonants s, now that I'm doing my above suggestion it's starting to come together and I'm super excited. Don't give up
I am dutch and i can tell the diffrence..
I don't know what I would do without this video 😭 thank you so so much I finally understand the differences! it will obviously still take more practice to nail it completely but it's no longer confusing
THANKS SO MUCHHHH I AIN'T CONFUSED ANYMORE!! I LEARNT A LOT!! SO WHEN YOU SAY OPPA IT SHOULD BE ON HIGH PITCH AHAHAHA THANKSSS!!
Omg, that explains why it comes off as such a cute thing!!! That really makes sense to me now... 0.0
lmao!!!
*listens to psy on repeat until i can hear it*
this is the second time I watched this video and it makes sence. I cant hear the difference and pronounce it way better now. Thank you!
"Add a little bit more air" reminds me of jyp's half air half sound singing method lololol anyone feel me
evanescentxsoul i feel you! Long live JYP!
🤣
OMG!!! Just in 10 minutes you explained everything absolutely clearly, so that now i really understand the difference and can hear this difference!!! wow, thank you so much! That is the best channel that helps to learn Korean!!!!!
just the 가 and 카 is the problem still...they still sound a lot similar !!!!!
Basically we have completey different sounds for 'k' and 'g' in my mother-tongue so it's really difficult to differentiate.
And also why is it that both kamsahamnida and gomawo starts with 'ㄱ' but still sound so different?
"Kamsa" is open, while "Gomawo" is closed. Open syllables allow more air to come out.
가 sounds like ga and 카 sounds like kha to me
To distinguish these sounds listening to native speakers talk is barely impossible... Thanks for the clear video and content!
가나다라마바사 아 하쿠나 마타타 오
did you... just make a say hakuna matata outloud
J-HOOPPEE
ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
(That's all I know :D)
I am from venezuela. It's a great lesson. I've found the easiest way to understand vowels and double vowels. Thank you man, I spended ten month to try understand it.
I feel like I'm going crazy trying to learn these sounds lol. Why is he lumping the 'n' sound with the 't' sounds? Sorry for using romanised/English-friendly descriptors for them but I just started. 'n' and 't' are entirely different sounds, do people from other native languages have trouble telling the difference between them?
This is a very good question. T/D is close. T is "no sound" and D is "with the sound" with tongue in the same position. But n/t?
@@juliamars6573, inaccurate: T is unvoiced and D is voiced (the same with the other four) which means the first sound of each used no vocal cords and the second does use them. Every word uses sound.
@@KaptainCanuck Yes. This is why I used quotations.
@@KaptainCanuck btw. Isn't using vocal cords named " voice" ? :-)
Such a clear explaination!
I am starting my Korean studying journey and already got confused by the romanization system and the actual sound. Especially /g/ and /k/ are identical twins lol. Thank you so much! I really apreciate it!
Now I understand why 비밀 (secret) sounded really like pimil and not bimil to me 🤔
Excelent explanation, romanization is confusing in general, but yet more when you aren't a native English speaker. Thank you, this video has helped me a lot.
I just found about the sale T.T
This video is gold, direct to favorites. This is one of the most toughest parts of listening in korean. Thank you
Well, this is helpful, but it still does not change the fact that native Korean speakers pronounce 가 in a variety of ways. And no, I am not just hearing it "wrong".
BEST video I've found so far to explain these rules!! Thank you :*
it's useless, you lost me at ka...they sound almost the same
DOH I felt the same and now I know why
they use pitches and im tone deaf hahaha
Byuriii same ;;;;;
It's hard to differentiate the sounds but you can do it!
the same but different in pitch. 가 (kha but low pitch) 카 (kha but higher pitch) 까 (kka but higher than kha) :) when you pronounce 까, no air. but 카 and 가 has air. :)
As an Indian
Ka kha gga
Are literally the beginning of the Hindi writing system.
😅😂
This was one of the most necessary and helpful videos to stumble across in my dealing with understanding Korean that I ever watched.
Thank you so much this is one of the hardest things of Korean pronunciation to me.
Wow I never realized the difference of the consonants lied in the tone of the vocal following them! Thank you so much!
THANK YOU!! I've been trying to figure out the consonants for a week now and now I finally get it. The way you explained it was just perfect!!
1:40 가 카 까
- 2:20 가
- 2:32 카
- 2:57 까
3:27 가 ➡️ 카 ➡️까
3:47 H&Rp
5:43 나 다 타 따
5:48 나 다
6:07 다 타
6:22 따
6:30 ➡️
6:37 H&Rp
8:36 사 자 차 짜 싸 ➡️
9:33 H&Rp사 자 차 짜 싸
9:20 마 바 파 빠 ➡️
11:32 H&Rp 마 바 파 빠
Omg. I thought I was going insane; I never heard the differences between the sounds before. This video has helped me so much. Thank you.
This is exactly the video that I needed to help my brain and ears process the basics of Hangul. Thank you for making amazing video lessons like this!
Oh my god this was so helpful..I am taking an online korean course and was badly confused in this part...but now things are getting clear.
Thank you😁
한국에 온지 9년 됐는데 이런 설명을 처음 들었네요 감사합니다!
I've been searching for a video like this. Thanks, it more clearly defines the exact issues I've had when attempting to understand the differences between the sounds.
This was very helpful when learning Korean, because it gives a clear explanation
Thanks!
This video really helped reinforce the concept!
I hope this can help someone but the best description I've heard about ㅅ vs. ㅆ that has helped me, is that ㅅ is pronounced like the S in Standing, Sky, Smell and ㅆ is pronounced like the S in Sun. Small difference but that has helped me visualize it best. Good luck everyone!
I can't focus I keep repeating the video to him taking Im in love with his voice 😳❤️
I'm finding these very useful. I'm going to have sit down and watch them all