The difference between sound and spelling is that sound refers to how a word is actually pronounced, while spelling is simply its written form. This distinction matters for me as a Korean learner because if I rely only on the written word, I may mispronounce it or confuse it with a similar-looking form. For example, the Korean writing system (Hangul) is very systematic, but sounds often change in real speech, and I need to hear them to understand them fully.
Korean has a phonetic inventory that is both familiar and challenging for an English speaker like myself. There are ten basic vowels and a set of consonants that come in plain, aspirated, and tense forms. The tense consonants (ㄲ /k/, ㄸ /t/, ㅃ /p/, ㅆ /s/, ㅉ /t͈ɕ/) which do not exist in the English language. For example, 빠르다 [paɾɯda] means “to be fast,” and 쓰다 [sɯda] means “to write.” The vowel ㅡ /ɯ/ also has no English equivalent which makes it difficult to pronounce and understand. Like I mentioned before in pervious posts, the English language is a Indo-European language which its sub category falls into the Germanic family of languages. However, Korean is not an Indo-European language which makes it difficult to grasp some sound and spelling concepts.
To master these sounds, I will practice listening to minimal pairs, record myself repeating native pronunciation (To the best of my ability without butchering the language), and seek feedback from my language partner. Over time, I hope to train my ear and mouth to notice and reproduce these differences naturally and with fluidity.
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