In the Korean alphabet, or Hangul, there are 24 letters in total that include 14 consonants (e.g. ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅅ) and 10 vowels (e.g. ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅣ, ㅠ, ㅜ). The letters are then combined together to form into syllable blocks.
This is how most of the consonants translate into the English sound:
ㄱ= k
ㄴ= n
ㄷ= d
ㄹ=r/l
ㅁ= m
ㅂ= b
ㅅ= s
ㅈ= j
ㅎ= h
Unfortunately, the ‘ㄹ’ is a consonant that is very difficult to pronounce in English and really does not exist. Personally, the sound of the letter is a mix between the sound of an ‘R’ and an ‘L.’
Something that I found was very interesting when I first moved to the States was the way in which Korean people and others pronounced their last names. For instance, there are many people that have the last name ‘Kim.’ However, in Korea, ‘Kim’ or ‘김’ is actually pronounced as ‘Gim.’ However, for some reason, the consonant ‘ㄱ’ always translated to the consonant ‘K’ in English which I thought was quite interesting.
Sometimes, I still have trouble pronouncing the ‘ㄹ’ sound, however, I think the most important thing is to continue to practice these words that contain this sound and target the exact place in my mouth where I can manipulate the air coming from my diaphragm to produce that consonant sound.
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