Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "방" in Korean?

bang. One syllable: a plain ㅂ with almost no voicing, an open ㅏ, and a nasal ㅇ with nothing released after it.

방 /paŋ/

bang

One beat only, and because it ends in a nasal it can be held a fraction longer than a stop-final syllable. That extra length is available but not required, and Korean generally keeps it short.

Listen: 방

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Sound it out

ba Word-initial ㅂ, quieter than the English b in 'bang', over a wide open vowel.

ng Final ㅇ as pure resonance. The back of the tongue rises and stays there, and the sound simply fades out.

Hear it in a sentence

제 방은 작지만 편해요.

Je bangeun jakjiman pyeonhaeyo.

My room is small but comfortable.

Listen: 제 방은 작지만 편해요.

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제 방은 작지만 편해요 attaches 은, and the ㅇ carries into the particle rather than releasing, giving bang-eun. Then 작지만 tenses its ㅈ after the unreleased ㄱ, coming out jak-jji-man.

Where English speakers slip

The English word 'bang' releases its final g slightly, and importing that habit adds a stop Korean does not have, because ㅇ never releases. The initial consonant is the other point: it should be quiet enough that you might mistake it for a p, whereas an English b makes the whole syllable heavy.