Welcome to the InFluency Podcast. I’m Hadar, and this is episode number 52. Today we’re going to talk about common pronunciation challenges Korean speakers face. But this episode is for you as well, even if you’re not a Korean speaker, and you’ll understand why in just a sec.

Hey, everyone, what’s up. Thank you so much for tuning in again. Today I have a fun episode for you because there’s nothing that I love more than to compare two different languages and to dive deep into understanding the nuances between the languages, and to look at certain processes that occur in one language and to see how that creates conflicts when speaking a second language.

Let me explain. So when speaking English, what happens is, is that you bring some of your first languages baggage onto English. No, it’s not really baggage, but it’s just habits, pronunciation habits, or in fancy words, phonological processes that occur in your native language and you carry it over to your second language, in this case, English.

Now, the same thing happens with certain sounds. If you don’t have some of the sounds in English that we have in English in your native language, it’s going to be hard for you to pronounce those sounds in English, or words that have those sounds. And when you want to have a better understanding of the challenges that you’re facing as a speaker of English as a second language, it’s not enough to learn the sounds of English or to understand how things should sound like, but you have to have a deeper understanding of how your language works. And then compare it to English and see where there is conflict. Like things that happen in your native language and don’t happen in English are likely to happen in English as well. And that may not serve English or your clarity so much.

So for example, one of the things that we did for English Teachers Academy, my English membership program where we teach how to teach pronunciation. We took several different languages and we analyzed them. As to, you know, look what are the sounds that the languages share and what sounds they don’t share, and common processes, and things that happen in certain languages that affect the clarity of those speakers.

And the response has been great. Like people really loved it because it’s really more than just teaching pronunciation, it’s creating clarity for the learners around what they need to do or what they need to understand about the languages and not just what they need to do.

Now, we have already done this with Russian speakers and Spanish speakers and Brazilian Portuguese speakers. We’re going to post the link or the links to all of them in the description below. So if you’re not a Korean speaker, but you speak one of those other languages, you might benefit from that as well.

And at the same time, even if you don’t speak any of those languages, I would love for you to see how I analyze the two languages so you can do the same with your language as well. So you see what we look into and what we explore, and then that might give you a better understanding as to what you need to do when you speak English, taking into consideration your native language.

Also, some of the processes that occur in Korean or some of the challenges that we’re going to talk about, they occur in other languages as well. So I’m going to give you practical tips and ways to practice, and you can use that as well if this is something that you find challenging.

So, let’s go ahead and listen to the biggest pronunciation challenges Korean speakers face in English.

Hey, it’s Hadar. Thank you so much for joining me. Today we’re going to talk about the 5 most common pronunciation challenges Korean speakers face. This videos for you, of course, if you’re a Korean speaker and you want to understand why it is so hard to pronounce certain words and how to overcome these pronunciation challenges.

But this video is also for you if you’re not a Korean speaker and you want to learn more about how to compare different languages to understand what you need to do in order to improve your clarity and confidence in English. Also, many of the challenges that we’re going to talk about exist in many other languages. So it’s important for you to learn how to do that and get the tools to improve.

If you’re new to my channel, then welcome. This is the place for you if you want to speak English with clarity, and confidence, and freedom. So be sure to subscribe and click the bell to get notifications so you don’t miss out on any video lesson that I share.

Let’s get started with Korean. Now, before we go into some of these challenges, it is important to clarify that some of the things that I’m going to talk about are not going to be relevant for all speakers. So if this is relevant to you, awesome, use it and use the tools that I share with you. But if it’s not, then skip over to the next challenge.

Now, I also created for you a free American accent guide for Korean speakers that outlines 10 of the most common pronunciation challenges, including exercises for you to start practicing today to be able to see the improvement. Because you got to take action it’s not enough to know what the challenge is, you got to do something about it. And the workbook is going to help you maintain it and do it on a regular basis until you see results, and it’s completely free. So click on the link to download it now.

The first challenge is confusing R’s and L’s. Here’s the thing. Korean speakers don’t really confuse R’s and L’s in American English, but it actually goes a little deeper. And I’m going to explain why that happens so you have a better understanding and you’re more in control when trying to change it.

Unlike English, Korean doesn’t have two sounds that are ‘r’ and ‘l’, like English does. So in English, we have ‘r’ as in “right” and ‘l’ as in “light”. These are two different sounds that exist in the language. But in Korean, there is only one sound and that is ‘l’.

But sometimes, and this is where it gets confusing, so stick with me, the ‘l’ sound is pronounced as an L -‘l’, as in “light”, but sometimes it is pronounced as a light tap, /ɾ/. And that sound sounds to people like an R sound. Where in fact, for Korean speakers, it is just another manifestation of the L sound. So the L for them sounds either like ‘l’ or /ɾ/.

Now, for other speakers who are not Korean speakers, the ‘l’ sound is clear, it sounds like an L, but the /ɾ/ sound takes them into analyzing it as an R because the /ɾ/ exists in many other languages as an R. For example, in Spanish, as in the word “pero”. /ɾ/, /ɾ/. So people associate it as an R, where in fact, Korean speakers think of it as an L. And hence, the confusion. Because it seems like Korean speakers confuse R’s and L’s.

Now, the /ɾ/ sound does resemble the ‘r’ sound in English. So when Korean speakers hear ‘r’, they associate it as ‘l’. Because they don’t have ‘r’ in their language. So when Korean speakers hear English, whenever they hear an R or an L, it is categorized as an L. And that is why they tend to confuse it because their brain doesn’t distinguish between the two clearly, unless they listen to it closely, which is what we need to do.

So, and this is why words like “rivalry” or “literally” or a “reality” might be extremely confusing, and the R’s and L’s might be replaced. To overcome this challenge, first of all, we need to understand that this is something that is happening. Second, we need to learn how to pronounce the two sounds in English clearly.

For the L sound you want to keep on doing what you’re doing: keeping contact between the tip of the tongue and the upper palate, and make sure there is always clear, continuous contact. “light”, “allow”, “belly”, and “well”. When the L is at the end, there’s that extra dark sound for the dark L, but for now only concentrate on keeping contact between the tip of the tongue and the upper palate. “fall”.

Cause you do not want it to sound like /fɑɾ/, ɾ, ɾ, cause then people will analyze it as “for”, rather than “fall”. This is me demonstrating “fall”. So, make sure there is always contact between the tip of the tongue and the upper palate whenever there is an L.

When there is an R you actually want to go against your habit, and instead of reaching for contact between the upper palate and the tongue – ɾ, ɾ, “right”, you want to pull the tongue in and create that dark deep sound of the R – r-r-right. You want to be able to hold it out and don’t forget to round your lips. So pull the tongue in, round your lips: right, red, around.

Again, if you want to practice more, download the workbook that I’ve prepared for you because you have minimal pairs with recordings, so you can listen to it and practice. Because the secret is to familiarize yourself with those two sounds and start training your tongue to do what you want it to do and not what your brain wants it to do. Which is kind of confusing, but still, it works.

Another challenge is that Korean doesn’t have V and F. These are called fricatives, where the air passes in a continuous manner and that is the sound that is created: ‘v’ and ‘f’. When certain consonants don’t exist in a certain language, the speakers might use the closest possible consonants that do exist in that language.

In Korean, a /v/ sound would end up sounding like /b/, which is a stop sound that is created in the lips – /b/. So “very” might sound like “berry”, and the /f/ sound might sound like a /p/ sound. That’s the substitution. So instead of saying “fine”, speakers might say “pine”. “pine” and “berry” instead of “fine” and “very”.

The secret here is to understand what happens in the mouth for the F and V, and it’s pretty consistent with a spelling. The bottom lip touches the top teeth, and air passes. So you want to feel the air coming out as you pronounce it. Make sure that the bottom lip is really soft. “fairy”, “fine”, ‘after”.

And the same thing goes for the /v/ sound. The bottom lip touches the top teeth. It’s the same sound, only for the /v/ sound you activate your vocal chords. “very”, “vine”, “every”. /v/ – /f/. And sometimes you just want to go back and forth between /f/-/v/ /f/-/v/ to get used to pronouncing the sound.

Again, I have created a list of words for you and minimal pairs, so you can practice it with the audio. So, don’t forget to download the workbook, it’s absolutely free. ‘fffree’.

Challenge number 3 is all about the syllable structure in Korean versus English. The syllable structure in Korean and American English are very, very different. While in American English, a syllable, which is the smallest unit in the word: like ‘par-di’, two syllables, or ‘kree-EY-sh’n’, three syllables.

If we break down a word into the smallest unit in English, you can have up to three consonants at the beginning, like in the word “scream” – ‘skreem’. And at the end you can have up to four consonants, like in “texts”. In Korean, this is absolutely impossible. In Korean, you can only have up to two consonants at the beginning, and only if the second continent is either a /j/ sound or a /w/ sound, like in “cute” or “queer”.

Now, at the end of the syllable, you can only have up to one consonant, and even that, it cannot be every possible consonant that exists upon the planet. But no, it can only be one of the following: a nasal consonant – /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, the /l/ – and we already talked about that – or voiceless stop sounds: /p/, /k/, /t/. That’s it.

Anything that deviates from that, any syllable that ends with another sound, or with more than one consonant, is bound to change when Korean speakers say that word, because they will try to fit it into the syllable structure that is permitted in Korean.

For example, if we take the word “bag”, the word ends with a /g/ consonant. As we said, words don’t usually add with a voiced sound in Korean – ‘bag’. So Korean speakers are likely to add a vowel at the end – ‘ba-gu’, ‘ba-gu’, usually an /u/ sound, but it could be any other neutral vowel sound. ‘ba-gu’, ‘gu’, ‘gu’. So they’re actually adding another syllable, turning a word with one syllable into a word with two syllables. Instead of “bag” – ‘ba-gu’.

This might create confusion because then listeners won’t understand what word you’re trying to say. And it’s important to understand that such things happen subconsciously without you even noticing because the brain plays tricks on you.

So, this also happens when we have clusters at the beginning. So if we look at the word “christmas”, it might be pronounced as ‘ku-ri-su-ma-su’  ‘ku-ri-su-ma-su’. Instead of saying ‘kris’, a vowel might be inserted – ‘ku-ri’. Instead of saying ‘sməs’, we hear ‘su-ma’ and then ‘su’, we add a vowel at the end because words don’t end with a /s/ sound in Korean. So, an /u/ is added to help it fit the structure of Korean.

Confusing? I think so. You don’t have to remember all of these rules. I’m just trying to show you the process that occurs in the brains of Korean speakers and why this might be challenging.

Now, if you want to overcome adding sounds, the best way would be to say the word really slowly and to transition from one sound to another. For example, /k/-/r/: instead of saying ‘ku-ris’, try to connect the two sounds together – ‘kris’. And say it again and again and again. ‘FRend’. Or when you want to end a word with a consonant that doesn’t exist, again, you want to say it slowly – “bag”, and hold it before you add the vowel at the end. And do it again and again and again, until you train your tongue to avoid adding those extra vowel sounds.

Again, awareness is key here. So becoming aware is a huge part of the solution, but train your tongue to do what you want it to do we’ll help you really resolve that challenge.

Now, one more thing that might happen if one of those consonants that is not permitted in Korean happens to be at the end of a word. Sometimes, Korean speakers might just devoice it. So for example, in the word “lab”, that ends with a voiced /b/ sound – “lab”, instead of adding a vowel, they might just devoice it and turn it into “lap” because P is okay at the end of words. Okay?

So that’s small change makes it possible for them to pronounce it. So sometimes they can solve it by devoicing it – “lap” instead of “lab”. And sometimes they might add a vowel – ‘bagu’ instead of “bag”. Again, the behavior might be different.

So I want you to understand that it’s not that Korean speakers add vowels or they devoice sounds. You have to understand that the root of the problem is the different syllable structure. And once you understand that that is the challenge, you’ll learn how to use it and how to pronounce it. Again, we have outlined everything in the workbook and included exercises for you. So work with it as you’re trying to change these patterns.

Another challenge that we might see is misplacing the primary stress. In American English, the primary stress of a word plays a significant role. And there is a very distinct way to identify the stressed syllable from all the other syllables. That means that if we want to stress a syllable, we want to stretch that syllable, and say it a little higher in pitch, and sometimes a little louder. “CONflict”, “contraDICtion”, “PREsent” versus “preSENT”.

In Korean, there isn’t a clear distinction between the syllables in a word. So, Korean speakers might not distinguish the primary stress, and all syllables might sound the same: “present”, “conflict”, “contradiction”. That makes it a little harder for native speakers and other speakers to understand what the word is because the primary stress is essential for speakers to retrieve the word, right, from their vocabulary closet.

And this is especially important that when we have two different words that the only difference is the primary stress, like “PREsent” and “preSENT” or “REcord” and “reCORD”, if speakers pronounce those two words the same, it is not going to be clear what word they’re actually using. “present, present, present”, or “record, record, record”. So on and so forth. So if Korean speakers don’t distinguish between those two syllables and don’t distinguish one of them, it’s going to be really hard to understand what word they’re actually saying.

So distinguishing the primary stress in certain words, and in multisyllabic words, is extremely important for clarity. So when you’re trying to overcome this challenge, make sure that you know how to distinguish the primary stress, again, by stretching it and raising the pitch a little more: ‘PREsent’, and practice it again and again, and see how your voice changes.

And then use dictionaries, use resources to understand what is the primary stress in a word. And I also have additional videos that can help you do that, I’m going to link to them in the description. So you can use that to learn what words you actually need to stress.

The last challenge we’re going to talk about is when S and SH are confused. Now, first of all, I’m going to talk about the solution and how to overcome it, and then I’m going to talk about the reason, cause it’s really interesting, but it’s a little complex. So if you don’t want to go into it, don’t go into it, but it might be interesting to understand why Korean speakers tend to substitute S and SH.

Now, the /s/ sound is created where the tip of the tongue goes up and almost touches the upper palate, and you release air – /s/. The /sh/ sound is created as the tongue goes back a bit and the lips push forward – /sh/. /s/, as a snake /sss/, and /sh/ as when someone is really loud and you want them to be quiet , /sh/.

So first of all, just try to compare the two sounds: /s/ – /sh/, and let’s try a few words, like “shy” or “she”, or “share” for the /sh/ sound. And /s/ -“see”, “sun”, and “sounds”.

Now let me explain why the SH and S are confused. In Korean, there aren’t two separate sounds – /s/ and /sh/, like we have in English. In English, we have “she” and “see”, and these two words are completely different. And the only difference is that one sound that has changed.

In Korean, there is only one sound – /s/. And that one sound is manifested as /s/ in most cases, but sometimes as /sh/. So it is pronounced as /sh/ in certain positions, even though Korean speakers perceive it as a /s/ sound. So only when the /s/ appears before a high vowel, like “see”, Korean speakers tend to manipulate it and turn it into /sh/. It happens because the tongue pulls back towards the ‘ee’ sound and as a result, that /s/ changes a little bit to /sh/.

The problem is that in English, that’s a different sound. So if Korean speakers may want to say “see”, and change that /s/ into /sh/, for them, it doesn’t matter, it’s kinda like the same sound. In English, it changes the meaning of the word – “see” changes to “she”. And that causes a problem with understanding what they’re trying to say.

So, while every time Korean speakers may say a word with /s/, there’ll be fine, but when it appears before a high E, they might turn it into a /sh/ sound. Another problem happens when we have /sh/ in English. Because Korean doesn’t have /sh/, technically, I mean, they do pronounce it, but they don’t perceive it as a sound, as a phoneme.

And as a result, every time there is a /sh/ sound, like in the word “shine”, Korean speakers might just turn it into a sound that is easier for them to pronounce and that exists in Korean, and that is the /s/ sound. So “shine” we’ll end up sounding like “sign”, and “shoes” will sound like “Sue’s”. However, when we need an S, like “see”, it will be pronounced as “she”. If it’s confusing, then simply go and drill the words with S and SH, and make sure that your tongue is in the right position for each sound.

Okay, that’s it. I know this might’ve been confusing cause we really dug deep into understanding the phonological and phonetic differences between Korean and English. I personally love doing that when trying to understand pronunciation challenges. And for you, I think it is also important to understand as speakers or as English teachers, if you’re trying to help your students, who are Korean speakers, master the sounds and clear pronunciation of English.

Okay, that’s it. Let me know in the comments below, which of the five challenges was the most confusing one for you. And be sure to like and share it with your friends. If you want to learn with me more, come on over to my website and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, where you get updates about my podcast episodes, my weekly videos, and my Live English Show, all directly to your inbox every single week.

Thank you so much for watching and don’t forget, speak up because mistakes is the only way to learn. Have a beautiful, beautiful week. And I will see you next week in the next video.