Hyung(ㅠ) and hyeong(ㅕ) problem
This is one of the most common problems when learning Korean, misspell and mispronounce. Many people think that Korean is hard to learn because of this problem. Each characters of Korean writing system represent a sound. Learning Korean will require that you learn various sound change rules.
Many Korean words sound almost the same, you might have little difficulty pronouncing most of the words, some may sound almost indistinguishable from one another, and some will simply be tricky to pronounce.
Note:
1.Korean has six basic vowels that can also be found in English.ㅐ(ae) and ㅔ (e) are two different sound and the difference between the two combination vowels are very subtle and younger people often don’t make the distinction in their speech
Example: 예(Ye) and얘(Yae). Ye mean yes just like 네 (ne). Yae mean that person (informal)
2.The other combination vowels are 왜 (wae) and 외(oe)
Example: 왜(wae) and 외톨이(oeTori). Wae mean why and eotori mean alone/loner just like CN BLUE’s song 외톨이야(loner)
Note that eo sound like wae when it was the first syllable and it will sound as the way it is if it was after a consonant
Example: Choi (최) Seung Hyun aka T.O.P of Big Bang(빅뱅)
There is no (oi) in Korean writing system and Korean pronounces Choi as CHOE but you cannot distinguish it because it is very subtle.
Why?
1. About the hyung thing, just like the example that I gave, it pretty much sound like ‘hyung’ and ‘hyeong’. However, note that it is not hard ‘hyung’ or even hard ‘hyeong’. It is more to soft and subtle yeo(ㅕ) just like ye and yae. Example: Yesung(예성) of SUJU. Try saying yesung(예성) and yaesung(얘성) and you will not be able to hear the difference.
2. Moreover, it depends on the speaker too. Korean sometimes uses slang and accent in their daily speech and you can hear it in Korean dramas and even in songs too. Example: GD&TOP new song; knock out (뻑이가요)
3. If you are a kdramas freak and you learn Korean, you may note that sometimes it is hard know what they are saying and if you misspell and mispronounce just one word it will become another word and sometimes that another word tend to be a bad word. Example: shoes in Korean can be a curse word if you mispronounce it. Youngster tend to show their shoes when they don’t want to say that curse word aloud
*I cannot write it here b/c it is a bad word*
4. One more reason is that it depends on the speaker itself. Some may pronounce it different from other.
Because I am YG ENT Stan, I will use YG’s artist in my example
Example 1: in GD(지드래곤) new song, obsession (악몽) he used a lot of words that end with seo(서) [늘어서 / 좋아서 ] but when you listen to the song you will hear (so) and (seoh) instead of (seo).
Example 2: in 2NE1(투애니원) first mini album, CL(씨엘) sang in her own style in FIRE. Instead of saying [cheoreom] for 바보처럼(like a stupid person) she said [cheodeom].
Many Korean words sound almost the same, you might have little difficulty pronouncing most of the words, some may sound almost indistinguishable from one another, and some will simply be tricky to pronounce.
Note:
1.Korean has six basic vowels that can also be found in English.ㅐ(ae) and ㅔ (e) are two different sound and the difference between the two combination vowels are very subtle and younger people often don’t make the distinction in their speech
Example: 예(Ye) and얘(Yae). Ye mean yes just like 네 (ne). Yae mean that person (informal)
2.The other combination vowels are 왜 (wae) and 외(oe)
Example: 왜(wae) and 외톨이(oeTori). Wae mean why and eotori mean alone/loner just like CN BLUE’s song 외톨이야(loner)
Note that eo sound like wae when it was the first syllable and it will sound as the way it is if it was after a consonant
Example: Choi (최) Seung Hyun aka T.O.P of Big Bang(빅뱅)
There is no (oi) in Korean writing system and Korean pronounces Choi as CHOE but you cannot distinguish it because it is very subtle.
Why?
1. About the hyung thing, just like the example that I gave, it pretty much sound like ‘hyung’ and ‘hyeong’. However, note that it is not hard ‘hyung’ or even hard ‘hyeong’. It is more to soft and subtle yeo(ㅕ) just like ye and yae. Example: Yesung(예성) of SUJU. Try saying yesung(예성) and yaesung(얘성) and you will not be able to hear the difference.
2. Moreover, it depends on the speaker too. Korean sometimes uses slang and accent in their daily speech and you can hear it in Korean dramas and even in songs too. Example: GD&TOP new song; knock out (뻑이가요)
3. If you are a kdramas freak and you learn Korean, you may note that sometimes it is hard know what they are saying and if you misspell and mispronounce just one word it will become another word and sometimes that another word tend to be a bad word. Example: shoes in Korean can be a curse word if you mispronounce it. Youngster tend to show their shoes when they don’t want to say that curse word aloud
*I cannot write it here b/c it is a bad word*
4. One more reason is that it depends on the speaker itself. Some may pronounce it different from other.
Because I am YG ENT Stan, I will use YG’s artist in my example
Example 1: in GD(지드래곤) new song, obsession (악몽) he used a lot of words that end with seo(서) [늘어서 / 좋아서 ] but when you listen to the song you will hear (so) and (seoh) instead of (seo).
Example 2: in 2NE1(투애니원) first mini album, CL(씨엘) sang in her own style in FIRE. Instead of saying [cheoreom] for 바보처럼(like a stupid person) she said [cheodeom].