Korean Grammar #2 - Final Consonants (받침)

In Korean language, one consonant letter can have 2 pronunciation, we call it first consonant and final consonant, when I searching in http://learnkorean.128pro.net, I found this article.

받침

The 받침 is the final consonant (or consonant cluster) at the end of a Korean syllable. The 받침 is written in the bottom/final position. Conjugation rules will often depend on if there is a 받침 or not. The consonant in the 받침 position is said to be in the "final position."

The sound of the jamo may also differ from its original sound if not followed by a vowel.

A sentence example where the 받침 is in red:

Significance

The 받침 is important for grammar conjugation. Many grammar pattern's conjugation method depends on whether it has a 받침 or not, for example the subject markers 가(if there's no 받침) and 이(if there is a 받침).

Pronunciation: Consonant followed by a vowel

If a consonant in the final position is followed by a vowel, the consonant sound shifts over to the syllable with the vowel. The only sounds that don't shift over to the next syllable are ㅇ since it is impossible to begin a syllable with an "ng" sound and ㅎ becomes silent when followed by a vowel. Also when ㅌ is in the final position and followed by the vowel 이, the sound becomes 치, see ㅌ + 이. Similarly when ㄷ is in the final position and followed by the vowel 이, the sound becomes 지. See ㄷ + 이.

Pronunciation When Followed By a Vowel

Original	Actual Pronunciation	Comment
맞아	마자	ㅈ sound shifts over to the next syllable
먹어	머거	ㄱ sound shifts over to the next syllable
집에	지베	ㅂ sound shifts over to the next syllable
좋아	조아	ㅎ sound goes silent if followed by a vowel
놀아	노라	ㄹ sound shifts over to the next syllable, becomes an /ɾ/ sound (flapped /r/) rather than an /l/ sound.
필요하다	피료하다	ㄹ sound shifts over to the next syllable, becomes an /ɾ/ sound rather than an /l/ sound.
영어	영어	The ㅇ 받침 sound does not shift over
한국어	한구거	ㄱ sound shifts over to the next syllable
같이	가치	ㅌ + 이 = 치. See ㅌ + 이
굳이	구지	ㄷ + 이 = 지. See ㄷ + 이
졸업	조럽	ㄹ sound shifts over to the next syllable, becomes an /ɾ/ sound rather than a /l/ sound.
십일	시빌	ㅂ sound shifts over to the next syllable
중앙	중앙	The ㅇ 받침 sound does not shift over

Pronunciation: Consonant not followed by a vowel

If a consonant is in the final position and it is not followed by a vowel (meaning it is the last syllable of the word or followed by another consonant), then it may have a different pronunciation. Notice from the table below that many characters share the same sound when in the 받침 position. Also note: ㅃ, ㄸ, and ㅉ can't appear in the final position.

Pronunciation for Consonants in 받침 Position When Not Followed By a Vowel

Letter(s)	Pronunciation	Comment	Examples	Audio
ㄱ,ㄲ,ㅋ	/k/	The /k/ sound is cut short.	먹다 부엌 깎다	/wiki/extensions/audio_player/player.swf
ㅂ,ㅍ	/p/	The /p/ sound is cut short.	밥 수업 춥다 높다	/wiki/extensions/audio_player/player.swf
ㄹ	/l/ sound	If ㄹ is followed by a vowel it is a /ɾ/ sound	말 살 칼 잘 팔다 멀다 알다	/wiki/extensions/audio_player/player.swf
ㅇ	/ŋ/ sound	Normally ㅇ acts as a placeholder for a consonant and makes no sound, only in the final position does it make a sound.	강 성 왕 콩 선생	/wiki/extensions/audio_player/player.swf
ㄷ, ㅎ,ㅈ,ㅅ,ㅆ,ㅌ,ㅊ	/t/ sound		옷 곧 찾다 있다 같다 꽃	/wiki/extensions/audio_player/player.swf

Consonant assimilation

When certain consonant sounds meet each other, there are consonant assimilation rules that modify the standard pronunciation. For a complete set of rules, see the consonant assimilation section.

Examples of Consonant assimilation Rules

Word	Actual Pronunciation	Consonant assimilation Rule
원래 (Originally)	월래	ㄴ + ㄹ → ㄹ, ㄹ
작년 (Last year)	장년	ㄱ + ㄴ → ㅇ, ㄴ
대학로 (An area in Seoul)	대항노	ㄱ + ㄹ → ㅇ, ㄴ
종로 (Jogno, an area in Seoul)	종노	ㅇ + ㄹ → ㅇ, ㄴ
열 하나 (Eleven)	여라나	ㄹ + ㅎ → ㄹ
행복하다 (To be happy)	행보카다	ㄱ + ㅎ → ㅋ
입학 (School admission)	이팍	ㅂ + ㅎ → ㅍ
그렇지 (That's right)	그러치	ㅎ + ㅈ → ㅊ
곧 할 거야 (I'll do it soon.)	고탈꺼야	ㄷ + ㅎ → ㅌ

Double 받침

It is possible to have two different consonants in the final syllable position (a consonant cluster). Note when we say double 받침 we are not refering to ㄲ, ㅆ. If the next syllable starts with a vowel, the sound in the second 받침 position will shift to the next syllable unless it is an ㅎ, in which case the sound is simply ignored. If the next syllable starts with a consonant, only one of the two 받침 consonants will be pronounced, but the second may assimilate with the following consonant.

Example

Pronunciation for double 받침 when followed by a vowel

Original	Actual Pronunciation	Comment
얽어	일거	The ㄱ in cluster ㄺ shifts over to the next syllable
없어	업서	The ㅅ in cluster ㅄ shifts over to the next syllable
앉아	안자	The ㅈ in cluster ㄵ shifts over to the next syllable
짧아	짤바	The ㄱ in cluster ㄺ shifts over to the next syllable
싫어	실어 → 시러	ㅎ goes silent when followed by a vowel, ㄹ sound shifts over
괜찮아	괜찬아 → 괜차나	ㅎ goes silent when followed by a vowel
많이	많이 → 마니	ㅎ goes silent when followed by a vowel
핥아	핥아 → 할타	The ㅌ in cluster ㄾ shifts over to the next syllable
굶어	굶어 → 굴머	The ㄹ in cluster ㄻ shifts over to the next syllable
읊어	읊어 → 을퍼	The ㅍ in cluster ㄿ shifts over to the next syllable

However if it is followed by a consonant in the next syllable over, there is no specific rule as to which sound to pronounce; you must memorize the words individually. The second consonant in the 받침 can also affect the next syllable if one of the consonant assimilation rules applies. See the picture example.

Pronunciation for double 받침 when followed by a vowel

Original	Actual Pronunciation	Comment
닭	닥	With the cluster ㄺ, ㄱ gets pronounced
읽다	익따	With the cluster ㄺ, ㄱ gets pronounced. Then ㄱ 받침 + ㄷ makes the ㄷ sound become a ㄸ sound.
많다	만타	The consonant assimilation rule ㅎ + ㄷ applies, making ㄷ sound become a ㅌ sound.
없다	업따	With the cluster ㅄ, ㅂ gets pronounced. Then ㅂ 받침 + ㅅ makes the ㄷ sound become a ㄸ sound.
젊다	점따	With the cluster ㄻ, ㅁ gets pronounced. Then ㅁ 받침 + ㄷ makes the ㄷ sound become a ㄸ sound.
굶다	굼따	With the cluster ㄻ, ㅁ gets pronounced. Then ㅁ 받침 + ㄷ makes the ㄷ sound become a ㄸ sound.
짧다	짭따	With the cluster ㄼ, ㅂ gets pronounced. Then ㅂ 받침 + ㄷ makes the ㄷ sound become a ㄸ sound.
앉다	안따	With the cluster ㄵ, ㄴ gets pronounced. Then ㅈ 받침 + ㄷ makes the ㄷ sound become a ㄸ sound.
넋	넉	With the cluster ㄳ, ㄱ gets pronounced
여덟	여덜	With the cluster ㄼ, ㄹ gets pronounced

Exceptions

Words like 닭(chicken) when followed by the subject marker 이 and the object marker 을 would normally have the pronunciation "달기" and "달글" respectively if they followed the normal rules. However they get pronounced as "다기" and "다글" instead.

Korean Grammar #1 - Syllable Blocks

Syllable Blocks

Korean words are written from left to right and words are formed by writing each syllable in a block-like shape. Each letter inside the block forms a sound. The word for 'person' is 사람, romanized as 'saram,' and consists of two syllables. The letters ㅅ + ㅏ make the syllable block of 사 ('sa'), while ㄹ + ㅏ + ㅁ make the next syllable 람 ('ram'). The picture below will show you a sound approximation of each of the Korean sounds contained in the word. Also note that written Korean doesn't actually draw boxes around the syllables, this is just for illustrative purposes.

Korean syllables are organized into blocks of letters that have a beginning consonant, a middle vowel, and an optional final consonant. A syllable block is composed of a minimum of two letters, consisting of at least one consonant and one vowel. In our lesson plan, Steps 2, 3 and 4 will focus on just words with a consonant and one horizontal vowel, and words with a consonant and one vertical vowel (see below). Step 5 will introduce the final consonant concept and step 6 will show syllables that can consist of double vowels.

Also note if you want to write only a vowel, it must be written with the consonant ㅇ, which acts as a silent placeholder for the consonant position. Why? Think of the ying and the yang concept. If one wants to write the vowel ㅏ, they would have to write it as 아 with ㅇ being a silent placeholder for the consonant position. An easy way to remember this is to think of the ㅇ as a zero. More examples below:

Original vowel	Written by itself
ㅏ	아
ㅐ	애
ㅓ	어
ㅔ	에
ㅗ	오
ㅜ	우
ㅡ	으
ㅣ	이

Writing

As already mentioned, Korean words are written from left-to-right and top-to-bottom in block-like forms. In the next few sections you will learn how to write each letter and its appropriate stroke order. While stroke order may not seem important at first, it is important when writing Korean naturally and helps others to be able to read your handwriting. The shapes and size of the letters can be stretched or compressed to fill in the block space and to make it evenly sized with other all other syllables. In the example below, you can see how the size and shape of the letter ㄱ changes to fill in this imaginary block (highlighted in sky blue).

Now we are going to start learning some letters, which are called jamo. Please note that, in order to view these lessons in their entirety, you must have Adobe Flash Player installed. This will allow you to play all included audio files on the following pages. Don't worry, you more than likely have it installed on your computer already.

source : http://learnkorean.128pro.net

How to install korean language on Windows XP

How to install korean language on Windows XP

the first thing that I do when learning korean language is installing the east asian language in my laptop, this article is taken from http://learnkorean.128pro.net.

You don’t need to download or install any kind of software. Actually, Windows (if you are using Windows Operating System) itself already provide this. All you need to do is to activate it. But to do this, you will need to provide your Windows XP installer CD, and you will have to log in as Administrator. Here, I’ll explain to you how to activate this feature, but the example I give will valid only for Windows XP. For Windows Vista or Windows 7, the steps maybe less similar.

1. It’s better for you to insert your Windows XP CD installation in your CD/DVD drive now.

2. Go to Start button -> Control Panel.

3. On control panel page -> c;ick icon “Regional and Language Options.”

4. After you click it, you’ll see a pop up “Regional and Language Options” dialog box.



5. Choose tab “Languages”

6. Normally you will see, in “Supplemental Language Support”, there are two unchecked checkboxes. All you need to do is check the “Install files for East Asian languages.”



7. There will be copying process, like the image below.



If you haven’t insert your Windows XP installer CD, you will face a error dialog box like this one



8. During the copying process, sometimes you will see a dialog box asking you to choose the correct file. File like “_XDLBBG.” (Just file name example, it doesn’t have to be the same though). You will have to direct them to the right folder in your Windows XP installer CD by just clicking Browse button. If you see in your Windows XP installer CD, there will be folder “I386”. Mostly file that you need during copying process is in that folder. (Sorry, I don’t have the image, since this doesn’t happen in my installation process, hehehe).

9. After that you may need to restart your computer.

10. now, your computer has feature to understand east asian languages. Congratulations! But oops, you still need several steps to utilize your korean-font language typing in your own computer.

Your computer now can read the character, but it doesn’t recognize Korean keyboard as the input device. Have no fear!!! Because it’s so easy to set up your “normal-keyboard” into Korean-keyboard one. You don’t need to go to Seoul just to buy Korean-keyboard. Hehehe..;)

1. Repeat step 2, 3, 4 and 5.

2. Click button “Details”.



You will see “Text Services and Input Languages” dialog box like the image below.



3. By default, your computer input language is “English (United States) – US”. You will need to add new input services, so that you can input korean font. Click button “Add”



4. You will see “Add Input Language” dialogue box. Choose “Korean” from dropdownlist.



5. Check the checkbox “Keyboard layout/IME”, and choose “Korean”. Click “OK”.



6. You will see in “Korean” language part, the keyboard part is now has “Korean”. You need to add “Korean Input System (IME 2002)” too.



7. Now, your computer recognize korean font as the input (Woohooo!!!..:) ) . But how can you tell your computer when you type on your keyboard, you want to type korean font. This is where the position “Language Bar”.

How to activate your “Language Bar”, so that you can switch easily between typing Latin font or Korean font.

1. Right click in your taskbar. You know taskbar…the blue line where the “Start” button are located. Choose menu “Toolbars” -> “Language Bar”.



2. You may find your “Language Bar” in minimize mode in the right of the taskbar.



3.Click on the “Restore” to see your “Language Bar” in full mode.



4. Then you will see, your “Language Bar” in full-mode. By default, your input mode will be “EN English (United States)”.



5. Click on the language to choose different input. You will see there are two input services. KO for Korean, and EN for English. Choose “Korean”.



6. Now, your language bar is different, right? If your language bar looks slightly different from the image below, no worries. Your language bar will adjust to what active window in your computer. The image below should be displayed when you activate your Office Ms.Word window.



7. If you want to type in font-Korean mode, just click the third, it will change into something like the image below.



8. Now you can type like this in your Ms.Word or even your browser.



The image below is the image of what Korean keyboard suppose to look like.



With a little creativity, you can “decorate” your keyboard to mark Korean font. All you need are label or white paper and glue or cellophane tape. And now you know which font are in which button of your previously-normal-keyboard. Hehehe…;)

The image below is my pc-keyboard, and my netbook keyboard.



Credit : altins@KI

What is your best translator tool? Mine is Google Translate

Today I want to discuss about tools for translation, when you open google.com and type Korean translator or Korean translator online, you’ll find several tools that can be used, and today I want to discuss about translate.google.com

It is very surprising me when know that it is not the first on Google search index, the first one is Babylon.com, and this site only placed at number 5, I think because Google translator is used for others languages and word has less Korean words.

As long as I learn Korean or translate Korean, I found that no one is better than this tool, I have tried Jung Um, Babylon, and others, and I guarantee that no one is better than this. Why? Here are my explanations.

Translate.google.com is easy to use

First of all, everyone doesn’t like something that difficult, so using this tool, the only thing you need is open the browser and type translate.google.com/#ko|en, and that’s it, you can use all the advantage of the translator.

You can translate the word, but how about the grammar?

Every translator can translate the word, like 한국 will be translated as Korean, but Korean has so many grammar that will change basic word form, when you write 누구 which mean ‘who’, and you can use 누가 as ‘who’ also, but it asking the subject, and 누구를 which also mean ‘how’, but asking the object, some browser can’t translate that accurately, but using Google translate, you can do that.

You can translate the word, but how about sentence?

Yes, this tool can translate the sentence, and as far as I know, this tool is the accurate one than other tools, I have Jung Um translator which cost me quite much, and I hardly understand every time I use this tools to translate sentence from Korean to English. Just write 당신은 누구세요? And it will translate as ‘who are you?’

You don’t have Korean keyboard? You don’t worry, Google translate have it.

Yes, using Google translate doesn’t require you have Korean keyboard, there’s an icon at right below the textbox, you can click it, and you’ll find the virtual Korean keyboard. Most of translator doesn’t have this, so you need to install East Asian language module at your computer before you can use the translator, but now you don’t have to do that, because it has the virtual Korean keyboard. This virtual Keyboard will help you when you are in internet café, or using other computer which doesn’t have East Asian language module.

Typo? You don’t have to worry, Google translate will give suggestion

When you type the wrong word, most of translator will translate to unknown word, but using Google translate, it will give you a suggestion that you can click it, and it will fix your wrong word or even wrong sentence.

Doesn’t know how to read it? You don’t worry, Google translate will speak to you.

This is the best thing I know about Google translate, Korean alphabets is different with Roman alphabets, and sometime it hard to understand how to read that word, by using Google translate, you don’t need to worry, because Google translate has a speech generator who will read the word or sentence that you type. It is great, isn’t it? You can use this tool also for learning Korean word and it spelling.

Do you hardly hear the word? Goggle translate has the Romanization.

When you can’t hear the word that speech generator creates, you can still know how to read the Korean word by seeing the Romanization below the textbox.

With all the advantages, will you use another tool? Please share with us if you find that other tool have advantages than Google translate, and one thing, Google translate can be found in mobile device also.

 

Best Regards,

2Cool

Korean Alphabets (Vowels and Consonants)

There are 14 consonants and 10 vowels and there are further 5 double consonants and 11 double vowels. In addition, there are 11 final double consonants in Korean. In this lesson, I am going to teach you how to pronounce each Korean alphabets so please become familiar with these beautiful geometric shapes.

Consonants (자음)

ㄱ = g

ㄴ = n

ㄷ = d

ㄹ = l, r (ㄹ is a sound somewhere between l and r)

ㅁ = m

ㅂ = b


ㅅ = s

ㅇ = “no sound” when used as a first consonant, “ng” when used as a final consonant.

ㅈ = j

ㅊ = ch

ㅋ = k

ㅌ = t


ㅍ = p

ㅎ = h

Vowels (모음)

ㅏ = a

ㅑ = ya

ㅓ = eo

ㅕ = yeo

ㅗ = o

ㅛ = yo


ㅜ = u

ㅠ = yu

ㅡ = eu

ㅣ = i

Double Consonants (쌍자음)

ㄲ = gg Click on the link to hear the difference between the sounds of ㄱ, ㄲ and ㅋ.

ㄸ = dd Note the difference in sounds; ㄷ, ㄸ and ㅌ.

ㅃ = bb Note the difference in sounds;ㅂ, ㅃ and ㅍ.

ㅆ = ss Note the difference in sounds; ㅅ and ㅆ


ㅉ = jj Note the difference in sounds; ㅈ, ㅉ and ㅊ

Double Vowels (쌍모음)

ㅐ = ae

ㅒ = yae (rarely used)

ㅔ = e

ㅖ = ye

ㅘ = wa

ㅙ = wae

ㅚ = oe


ㅝ = wo

ㅞ = we (rarely used)

ㅟ = wi

ㅢ = ui

taken from : http://letslearnkorean.com/2010/korean-consonants-and-vowels/