Korean phonetics is based on Hangul. Korean has 19 consonant phonemes and there are three segments which are: plain, tense, and aspirated. Korean consonants also have three principal positional allophones: initial, medial, and final. As for vowels, Korean has eight vowel phonemes. I believe one of the hardest things to pronounce in Korean as a language learner is a double consonant. For example, ㅃ pp, ㄸ tt, ㅉ jj, ㄲ kk are hard to pronounce because these sounds do not exist in American English. I believe since I was born in Korea and my first language was Korean, I don’t have trouble differentiating any Korean consonants or pronouncing them. However, I do know that my Korean sounds very childish due to the fact that I emigrated out of Korea when I was eight. To fix my childish accent, whenever I read in Korean, I will read out loud to make sure I am being intentional with my pronunciation and talk in a manner that will be more of my age.
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