*Right-click and click 'Save link as' to save this MP3 file.
Written Korean (informal)
샘은 한국에 갔다 = Sam went to Korea [Sam, to Korea, went]
준수는 5(오)월에 왔다 = Jun-su came in May [Jun-su, in May, came]
샘은 작년 10(시)월 가을에 한국에 갔다 = Sam went to Korea last year in October during the autumn season [Sam, last year, in October, in Autumn, to Korea, went]
준수는 2000(이천)년도 여름에 호주에 왔다 = Jun-su came to Australia in summer 2000. [Jun-su, in 2000, in summer, to Australia, came]
*Right-click and click 'Save link as' to save this MP3 file.
Written Korean (informal)
나는 라면을 먹었다 = I ate noodles [Literally, noodles을 ate]
책을 읽었다 = read a book
콜라를 마셨다 = drank coke
TV(티비)를 봤다 = watched TV
옷을 입었다 = wore clothes
집을 지었다 = built a house
케잌을 만들었다 = made a cake
*Right-click and click 'Save link as' to save this MP3 file.
Written Korean (informal)
나도 학생이다 = I am a student, too
그도 친절하다 = He is kind, too
이것도 연필이다 = This is a pencil, too
하늘도 높다 = The sky is high, too
그녀도 공부한다 = She studies, too
존도 갔다 = John went, too
영수도 먹었다 = Young-su ate, too
다윗은 왕이었다 = David was a king
솔로몬도 왕이었다 = Solomon was a king, too
*Right-click and click 'Save link as' to save this MP3 file.
Happy New Year! = 새해 복 많이 받으세요 (= May you receive lots of blessings (this) new year!)
Written Korean (informal)
나는 샀다 = I bought
내가 샀다 = I bought
나는 잤다 = I slept
내가 마셨다 = I drank (It wasn't anyone else but me)
동생이 먹었다 = Younger brother/sister ate (It wasn't someone else but them)
민지가 왔다 = Min-ji came (It wasn't some other person but Min-ji)
안토니가 갔다 = Anthony went (It wasn't some other person but Anthony)
저것이 한강이야 = That is the Han River
빌딩이 높다 = The building is high
공원이 넓다 = The park is large/spacious
*Right-click and click 'Save link as' to save this MP3 file.
Written Korean (Informal)
나는 학생이다 = I am a student
그는 친절하다 = He is kind
이것은 연필이다 = This is a pencil
하늘은 높다 = The sky is high
그녀는 공부한다 = She studies
존은 갔다 = John went
영수는 먹었다 = Young-su ate
Click on the play button below to listen to the audio recording.
This is another recording that I produced with my own voice.
*Right-click and click 'Save link as' to save this MP3 file.
In this recording I pronounce the words below which are the common basic combinations of Korean consonants and vowels.
ㅏ(a): 가(ga) 나(na) 다(da) 라(ra) 마(ma) 바(ba) 사(sa) 아(a) 자(ja) 차(cha) 카(ka) 타(ta) 파(pa) 하(ha)
ㅑ(ya): 갸 냐 댜 랴 먀 뱌 샤 야 쟈 챠 캬 탸 퍄 햐
ㅓ(eo): 거 너 더 러 머 버 서 어 저 처 커 터 퍼 허
ㅕ(yeo): 겨 녀 뎌 려 며 벼 셔 여 져 쳐 켜 텨 펴 혀
ㅗ(o): 고 노 도 로 모 보 소 오 조 초 코 토 포 호
ㅛ(yo): 교 뇨 됴 료 묘 뵤 쇼 요 죠 쵸 쿄 툐 표 효
ㅜ(u): 구 누 두 루 무 부 수 우 주 추 쿠 투 푸 후
ㅠ(yu): 규 뉴 듀 류 뮤 뷰 슈 유 쥬 츄 큐 튜 퓨 휴
ㅡ(eu): 그 느 드 르 므 브 스 으 즈 츠 크 트 프 흐
ㅣ(i): 기 니 디 리 미 비 시 이 지 치 키 티 피 히
I was compelled to write this quick announcement regarding the new Google Translate features.
The google translate now features "Listen" which allows you to listen to the pronunciation of the Korean you type.
Please check it out if you'd like to listen to the proper pronunciations of certain Korean words!
I believe it will be of a good resource for your listening and speaking exercises.
I am embedding audio files to the posts. I hope that these audio files will help you with your listening skills and pronunciation. I am pretty impressed by the quality of the pronunciation of this computer-generated speaker. Her pronunciation of each letter is quite accurate and her intonation is pretty good. I encourage you to listen to these audios to practice your listening skills. I also recommend that you watch Korean TV programmes to improve your listening and speaking skills.
I find this programme very helpful for learning Korean. You can listen to a few sentences found in ordinary conversations and they are explained to you in English and so it will be easier to understand them. You can also practice listening and speaking in Korean. I have also made some explanations of the sentences below.
Eg.
안녕하세요! = Hello! [Formal]
친구한테 문자 메시지 보내는 거야? = Are you sending a txt message to your friend?
The most difficult part of Korean Grammar is probably to pronounce words and sentences correctly. Individual consonants and vowels' pronunciation can be listened to from "Korean Alphabets" section. It is very helpful for beginners.
And for those who wish to hear more dynamic spoken Korean, I have posted many videos so please check them out. The best way to learn pronunciation is to listen to the words repeatedly.
To help those who want to learn more about pronunciations, please read the following rules.
[Note: I discourage the use of Romanization because the romanized words do not represent the words' proper pronunciation. Nevertheless I included them here for convenience.]
Rule1. Any words without a final consonant should be read as they are.
Eg.
바다 = bada
노래 = norae
Rule2. A letter containing ㅇ as an initial consonant is replaced by the final consonant of a letter before it.
You will get to learn these basic consonants and vowels, learning how to read, write and pronounce.
Click on the alphabet to listen to their corresponding pronunciations. (Provided by Korean language learning online, Sogang Unversity)
자음[Consonants]
ㄱ = g ㄴ = n ㄷ = d ㄹ = l, r (ㄹ is a sound somewhere between l and r) ㅁ = m ㅂ = b ㅅ = s ㅇ = "no sound" when used as a first consonant, "ng" when used as a final consonant. ㅈ = j ㅊ = ch ㅋ = k ㅌ = t ㅍ = p ㅎ = h
모음[Vowels]
ㅏ = a ㅑ = ya ㅓ = eo ㅕ = yeo ㅗ = o ㅛ = yo ㅜ = u ㅠ = yu ㅡ = eu ㅣ = i
쌍자음[Double consonants]
ㄲ = gg Click on the link to hear the difference between the sounds of ㄱ, ㄲ and ㅋ. ㄸ = dd Note the difference in sounds; ㄷ, ㄸ and ㅌ. ㅃ = bb Note the difference in sounds;ㅂ, ㅃ and ㅍ. ㅆ = ss Note the difference in sounds; ㅅ and ㅆ ㅉ = jj Note the difference in sounds; ㅈ, ㅉ and ㅊ
ㅐ = ae ㅒ = yae (rarely used) ㅔ = e ㅖ = ye ㅘ = wa ㅙ = wae ㅚ = oe ㅝ = wo ㅞ = we (rarely used) ㅟ = wi ㅢ = ui
● How to form a character
There are two ways of making a character, using the consonants and vowels as building blocks.
Initial consonant + Vowel
Initial consonant + Vowel + Final consonant
1. Examples
가 = ㄱ + ㅏ = ga
너 = ㄴ + ㅓ = neo
도 = ㄷ + ㅗ = do
루 = ㄹ + ㅜ = lu/ru
므 = ㅁ + ㅡ = meu
비 = ㅂ + ㅣ = bi
2. Examples
각 = ㄱ + ㅏ + ㄱ = gag
넌= ㄴ + ㅓ + ㄴ = neon
돗 = ㄷ + ㅗ + ㅅ = dod
를 = ㄹ + ㅡ + ㄹ = leul/reul
쟁 = ㅈ + ㅐ + ㅇ = jaeng
Characters with final consonants of ㄱ, ㄲ and ㅋ, all sound the same. Thus 각, 갂 and 갘 will sound exactly the same.
For example,
국, 엌, 밖 Their final consonants all sound the same. Click on the links to hear.
Now, below is a list of the final consonants and their respective sounds.
ㄱ/ㄲ/ㅋ = ㄱ
ㅂ/ㅃ/ㅍ = ㅂ
ㄷ/ㅌ/ㅅ/ㅆ/ㅈ/ㅊ/ㅎ = ㄷ
ㄴ= ㄴ
ㄹ= ㄹ
ㅁ= ㅁ
ㅇ= ㅇ
For example,
낚시 [낙시] = fishing
부엌 [부억] = kitchen
앞 [압] = front
씨앗 [씨앋] = seed
낮 [낟] = day
For a more detailed explanation and audio files, click here.
When the initial consonant of second and/or third characters is ㅇ, for example, 돌이 and 만악이, the sound of the final consonant of each letter is pronounced with the next vowel. Because ㅇ has no sound, 돌이 is pronounced as 도리 and 만악이 as 마나기. These are just made-up words to show you how these work.
There are also 11 additional final double consonants.Their sounds are as follows. As you can see, the first consonant of the double consonants is pronounced. (except ㄺ = ㄱ,ㄻ = ㅁ and ㄿ = ㅂ) I do not recommend that you learn these exhaustively right away because that is a hard work and I rarely employed them in my grammar lessons anyway. So it would be better to come back to these when you come across them from time to time.
ㄳ = ㄱ
ㄵ = ㄴ
ㄶ = ㄴ
ㄺ = ㄱ
ㄻ = ㅁ
ㄼ = ㄹ
ㄽ = ㄹ
ㄾ = ㄹ
ㄿ = ㅂ
ㅀ = ㄹ
ㅄ = ㅂ
Eg.
삯 [삭] = amount
앉다 [안따] = sit
많다 [만타] = many
읽다 [익따] = read
삶다 [삼따] = boil
넓다 [널따] = spacious
외곬 [외골] = a single way
핥다 [할따] = lick
읊다 [읍따] = recite (a poem)
잃다 [일타] = lose (a thing)
값 [갑] = price
Excellent pronunciation lessons by Sogang Unversity (Korean language learning online)