Korean/RWP/Lesson 6

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Welcome back! This is the sixth lesson of "Learn to read, write and pronounce Korean". This lesson covers the remaining jamo, all just variations on the letters you already learned.

The diphthong ㅘ (wa)
The vowel ㅘ is pronounced like the wa in swan (IPA: [ wɑ ]) and transcribed as wa.

Exercise
The following Korean words contain ㅘ (wa). Guess what the words mean. Click "Show" to check your answers.

The diphthong ㅝ (weo)
The vowel ㅝ is pronounced like the wa in was (IPA: [ wʌ ]) and transcribed as weo.

Exercise
The following Korean words contain ㅝ (weo). Guess what the words mean. Click "Show" to check your answers.

The diphthong ㅙ (wae)
The vowel ㅙ (wae) consists of the vowel ㅗ (o) and the vowel ㅐ (ae), so the vowel ㅙ (wae) is pronounced similarly like the wa in wagon (IPA: [ wæ ]) and transcribed as wae.

Exercise
The following Korean words contain ㅙ (wae). Guess what the words mean. Click "Show" to check your answers.

The diphthong ㅞ (we)
The vowel ㅞ (we) consists of the vowel ㅜ (u) and the vowel ㅔ (e), so the vowel ㅞ (we) is pronounced the whe in when (IPA: [ we ]) and transcribed as we.

Exercise
The following Korean words contain ㅞ (we). Guess what the words mean. Click "Show" to check your answers.

The Tense Consonants
It is very important for Korean language to recognize the difference between basic sound, aspirated sound, and tense sound. It is not aspirated, but is pronounced strong and tense. Tense consonants are derived from their basic form by doubling the basic letter. The difference of the consonants' three aspects can distinguish the meanings of words: For example, 달dal[tal] means 'the moon', 탈tal[tʰal] means 'a mask', and 딸ttal[t͈al] means 'a daughter'.

Exercise
The following Korean words contain the tensed consonants. Guess what the words mean.

The diphthong ㅚ (oe)
The vowel ㅚ is pronounced like the ö in the German word schön (IPA: [ ø ]) or the wea in weather (IPA: [ we ]), and transcribed as oe. Its appearance shows that it was originally a diphthong of ㅗ (o) and ㅣ (i) - but you can just consider that ㅣ acts as the umlaut mark (¨) of German language.

Exercise
The following Korean words contain ㅚ (oe). Guess what the words mean. Click "Show" to check your answers.

The diphthong ㅟ (wi)
The vowel ㅟ is pronounced like the whi in whiskey (IPA: [ wi ]) or the u in the French word chute (IPA: [ y ]), and transcribed as wi.

Exercise
The following Korean words contain ㅟ (wi). Guess what the words mean. Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual.

You can check your answers by clicking at "Show" above, as usual.

The diphthong ㅢ (ui)
The vowel ㅢ consists of the vowel ㅡ (eu) and the vowel ㅣ (i), so when you pronounce this vowel ㅢ, pronounce ㅡ and move your tongue to pronounce ㅣ softly (IPA: [ ɯi ]). The vowel ㅢ transcribed as ui because of efficiency. Sometimes this is pronounced simply [ e ].

Exercise
The following Korean words contain ㅢ (ui). Guess what the words mean. Click "Show" to check your answers.

End of lesson 6
Congratulations! You have now learned the whole Korean alphabet! If you'd like to review or brush up, visit the course summary.