It is usually pronounced as "s" but It is pronounced as "sh" when it comes before the vowel ㅣ. For example, 시상 this is pronounced "shisang" (meaning ceremony) because the ㅅ comes before the vowel ㅣ and the is pronounced normally as "s" at the end.
As I’m an English student who studies Japanese, I find this kind of easy to pronounce too as learning Japanese means I’ve already mastered that half l-half r sound, I definitely want to study Korean next
Chinese, Japanese and Korean sometimes have the same pronunciation in their words. Not to mention that the Japanese borrowed some characters and words from Chinese.
i am Thai speaker, ㄹ is alveolar flap [ɾ], it's equivalent in "L" (ล) in Thai, "R" sound in Thai is alveolar approximant [ɹ], it's equivalent in "R" in English.
could you please do an episode on pronouncing ㅈ? because soemtimes its pronounced as a 'ch' sound and sometimes a 'j' sound....and when would we use ㅊ instead of ㅈ for a 'ch' sound? also sometimes i hear ㅅ prounounces as 'sh' instead of 's'. could you please explain that too? 😁
ㅅ becomes a sh sounds when it is placed with certain vowels. These vowels are the ones with y_ such as ㅕㅑ or ㅠ. It also becomes sh if you use ㅣ sound. For example 사 is pronounced as 'Sa' however the y voweled 샤 is pronounced as 'Sha'. Not sure how accurate this is as this is just what I've heard, hope it helps
I'm also quite unsure on ㅈ so don't take this too literally but I believe it's quite a ch sound at the start of the sentence and works in a similar way to the ㄷ,ㄸ and ㅌ sounds and the ㄱ,ㄲ and ㅋ sounds which they've done a video on already so just watch it and apply this rules to it.
+Gouri Pillai ㅈ is a J sound. ㅊ is a CH sound. ㅉ is a hard J sound. Once you get the hang of any language, it's more about knowing what someone is saying than pronouncing it correctly (most of the time).
Wouldn't it instead be 'shya' with theㅕpronounced like [yo] in [yo]ung? I noticed how ㅅ changed sound from -s to -sh in a video about the korean alphabet but it wasn't adressed there so I ended up believing this was a pronunciation error or that I was simply imaging this difference... Now I know I wasn't the only one "hearing" this :D
Aggg YESSSSSSSSS FINALLY!!!!!! Thank you soooooo much!!! I told my sister who's learning Korean with me that the 'ㄹ' sometimes has an 'r' sound and sometimes it has a more 'l' sound and she didn't understand what I mean so this video is excellent!!!!!! You helped me prove I'm not crazy, thank you so much super helpful video and also thanks for clearing up when it's an 'r' and when it's an 'r' I just couldn't grasp that on my own this is such a helpful video I can't thank you enough!!!!!
Lol. It sound's more like a "d~l" in my opinion. And who cares what people say, that's not going to help u. Practice more, and you'll get used to pronouncing theㄹ(r/l) [ɾ~l] :p
That little note about "tension" was really helpful, I've heard many different tips, but I don't remember anyone mentioning that before, it instantly felt better trying to make the sound when I stopped trying to put so much strain behind it ^^ The consonant ㄹ is really tricky, and I never know if I should compare it to english sounds when trying to find a starting point or to european portuguese (my first language), since sometimes the "r"-ish pronunciation of it reminds me of our alveolar "r" sounds, but most videos I learn from are in english 😅 Edit: apparently ㄹ can sometimes correspond to [ɾ] or [ʎ], which are two sounds we do have in european portuguese (according to the internet, so I could be completely wrong), so it makes sense that it will occasionally sound familiar!
In English, we have 2 "L" sounds, the dark "L" (used after a vowel) and the light "L" (used before a vowel). I am currently tutoring someone who is Chinese and I find that he had absolutely no understanding of the dark "L" sound when we first started. He always used the light "L", and I taught him that the dark "L" means that there is no airflow coming through your nose and mouth, whereas the light "L" still uses airflow. The dark "L" sound comes from a tightening of your throat (I believe the glottis even closes, but I'm not an expert on phonology or speech therapy, so I don't know exactly), whereas the light "L" is simply the sound made when your tongue touches the back of your top front teeth. It's so nuanced that there are even pronunciation symbols for each "L", the light "L" being simply / l / and the dark "L" being / ɫ / . But the Korean "L" I have such a hard time with, because I know for sure it's not a dark "L", since that sound doesn't really exist in Korean, but is it even a light "L", since it switches places with the "r" sound?? I'm at such a loss here.
Great lesson! I've noticed the difference in how this letter is pronounced (and usually manage to get the sound ok I think) but as far as I can remember this is the first time I've ever come across a proper explanation of when you use the different sounds . Thank you so much for making it so clear!
Thank you for this video. I have watched many on this topic. Some have been helpful, as is yours, but one thing I would really like, is for someone to do a close up on a face as the person says the letter, and uses it in several words. Seeing the shape and movement of the mouth might be a huge help.Maybe next time?
As an English speaker it's hard for me to make the rieul sound, but for Korean speakers its the opposite for saying L and R words xD I guess neither of us are at a disadvantage then when it comes to learning each others languages
Wait..people keep saying it’s hard for them to pronounce the «r» sound, but it’s not for me??😂 I am Norwegian and fluent in english, but I’m actually not sure now..aren’t there any words in english where «r» is pronounced like that? Cuz it’s the only way we use in Norwegian
Hi. Pls could you do a lesson on why sound of B is pronounced as M as in the words 'Gham sum ham ni da' and 'Go map sem nida? Cos although in hungul is written as B, it sounds like M.
Omg yes! Thank u so much :) so in the word 알았어 ㄹ is going to sound more like a R right? Can u guys do a video about the sound of ㅈ, ㅊ and ㅉ? Is really hard to tell them apart haha
I'm having problems pronouncing some of the combinations there are with ㄹ and was hoping you could give me a tip on how to pronounce them. When ㄹ is followed by ㅕ or ㅝ (any y+vowel or w sound) I can't pronounce the word. I've been trying to find guides that describes how to make the sound but without luck in finding any. An example is the word 어려운 , but when I try to pronounce it ends up sounding more like 어뎌운 or with too much rolling on the ㄹ sound.
Hi armyanime137, Thanks for posting. To answer your question, the vowel ㅓ sounds like 'uh', whereas ㅗ is closer to the 'oh' sound. Cheers, Team KoreanClass101.com
I’m still confused 🤷🏽♀️. I noticed that in kpop rappers make the ㄹ sound like a d. and the d sound is supposed to be ㄷ. Like in Blackpinks song 마지막차람 “as if it’s your last” Lisa makes is sound like “ma ji mak cha dom” but it’s “ma ji mak cha rom” in romanization. So my question to you is , since ㄷ and ㄹ make almost the same exact sound how do we know when to pronounce it in the correct way it’s supposed to be used? Or when we try to spell a word for example the word 휘파람 the ㄹ sounds like ㄷ so how do we distinguish the difference between those two when reading writing or spelling?
I have a question. Since I am having difficulty pronouncing the in-between sound, would it make sense to just pronounce it as an R in some cases and an L in others? Or would that just sound silly
Why does ㄹ also sound like R at the end of a word, especially when it has a ㅡ vowel before it? I find this Korean character very confusing. (Ex: The word 늘 sometimes sounds more like R instead of an L at the end)
