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 five most common pronunciation challenges Korean speakers face. This video is 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 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've 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 a result. And it's completely free, so click on the link to download it. Now, the first challenge is confusing Rs and Ls. Here's the thing. Confusing Korean speakers don't really confuse Rs and Ls 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 as in light. These are two different sounds that exist in the language. But in Korean, there is only one sound, and that is but sometimes, and this is where it gets confusing. So stick with me. The sound is pronounced as an L, as in light, but sometimes it is pronounced as a light tap. 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 la or like ra. Now, for other speakers who are not Korean speakers, the L sound is clear. It sounds like an L, but the R sound takes them into analyzing it as an R, because the R exists in many other languages as an R, for example, in Spanish, as in the word pero, 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 Rs and Ls. Now, the R sound does resemble the R sound in English. So when Korean speakers hear R, they associate it as 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 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, you want to pull the tongue in and create that dark, deep sound of the 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 to do what you want it to do and what your brain wants it to do, which is kind of confusing, but still it works. Another challenge is that Korean doesn't have and these are called fricatives, where the air passes in a continuous manner. And that is the sound that is created. F and V. When certain consonants don't exist in a certain language, the speakers might use the closest possible possible consonants that do exist in that language. In Korean, a V sound would end up sounding like buh, 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 bury 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 the 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. F very 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 cords very vine every. 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. Free. Challenge number three 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 the two syllables or creation 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, scream. 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 consonant is either a Y sound or or a W sound, like in cute or queer. Now, at the end of a syllable, you can only have up to one consonant. And even then it cannot be every possible consonant that exists upon the planet. But no, it can only be one of the a nasal consonant, M, M, N, N, G, 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, so Korean speakers are likely to add a vowel at the end. Bagu. Bagu. Usually an U sound, but it could be any other neutral vowel sound. Bagu. Gu. So they're actually adding another syllable, turning a word with one syllable into a word with two syllables instead of bag. Bagu. 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 kurisumasu. Kurisumasu. Instead of saying Chris, a vowel might be inserted. Kuri. Instead of saying we hear suma and then soo, 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 stop, say the word really slowly, and to transition from one sound to another. For example, k, R. Instead of saying chris, try to connect the two sounds together and say it again and again and again. Friend. 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 training your tongue to do what you want it to do will 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, instead of adding a vowel, they might just devoice it and turn it into lap. Lap. Because P is okay at the end of words. Okay. So that small change makes it possible for them to pronounce it. So. 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 learn how to 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 in all syllables that 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 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&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, because 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. The sound is created as the tongue goes back a bit and the lips push forward as a snake, and as when someone is really loud and you want them to be quiet. So first of all, just try to compare the two sounds. S, sh, Sh, sh. And let's try a few words like shy or she or share for the sh sound and s, C, 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, and that one sound is manifested as s in most cases, but sometimes as. 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 si, Korean speakers tend to manipulate it and turn it into. It happens because the tongue pulls back towards the sound, and as a result, the S changes a little bit to. The problem is that in English, that's a different sound. So if Korean speakers may want to say si and change the s into sh for them, it doesn't matter. It's kind of 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, they'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 will end up sounding like sign, and shoes will sound like shoes. However, when we need an S like see, it will be pronounced as she and if it's confusing, then simply go and drill 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 have been confusing because 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 weekly newsletter where you get updates about my podcast episodes, my weekly videos, and my live English show, all directly to your inbox every single week. 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.