Learning Journal #4

[Devin Chen]

Similar to English, the Korean hangul is also made up of consonants and vowels, however, that inventory has a lot more vowels and less consonants compared to English. What I have noticed that is especially hard for me to learn is the difference between the “eo” and “o” sound, they sound very similar with only subtleties in pitch. This goes similarly for sound difference between “yu” and “eu.” The sound of “yeo” does not exist in American English. The sound system in Korean seems to focus on accentuated pitch and relaxed pitch, there is a difference between pronouncing “k” and “kk,” which would result in two completely different words. I will learn to discriminate between different sounds by just practicing it more, through speech and listening. Also, as I get more familiarity with words and sentences, using context clues could also be helpful.