There are many sounds in Korean that do not exist in American English. One example is tteok1, which an American may pronounce as, “duck” or “tuck.” (Unfortunately, the International Phonetic Alphabet still greatly confuses me, so these are the best ways I can describe the pronunciations.) However, in Korean, it is pronounced as a combination of the two sounds, or “tduck” (/tʌk/). Another example of a Korean word that has different sounds is my Korean name: 선결. It is spelled “Sun Gyul” or “Seongyeol.” (You can listen to how it sounds here: https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=ko&tl=en&text=%EC%84%A0%EA%B2%B0.)2 An American could get away with the first part by just saying “Sun,” although it is pronounced more like “Seong.” I have had much difficulty conveying the second part of my name to Americans. When I say it to them, they think that I am saying “Kyul.” But after I spell it to them, they overemphasize the G sound. In fact, it is a combination of the K and G sounds, which is not found in American English. Overall, the Korean sound system combines several sounds that are found individually, but not together, in American English.
Since I have been around Korean speakers my entire life, I am used to hearing the different sound segments. However, since I have never spoken Korean, my pronunciation is very bad. First and foremost, practicing speaking Korean will help me improve. It is a bit embarrassing not being able to pronounce Korean words correctly since I am Korean. Practicing with my family and friends is a good strategy to eliminate any embarrassment.
While working on this assignment, I realized the importance of the International Phonetic Alphabet. My Korean name is spelled as “Sun Gyul” on my birth certificate, but it sounds different than what an American would say. (I also realize now that it should be spelled “Seongyeol,” which is really making me rethink my whole life.) This difference in sound systems is not only the case for Korean words, but different languages from all over the world. If everyone could read and understand the IPA, learning to speak new languages would be much easier. Since few people can read the IPA, we have to continue to rely on spelling words as close as possible in English, and listening to it being said.
1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tteok
2Google Translate is wrong! My Korean name means “good” and “pure.”
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