LingoDrop
Korean · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "강" in Korean?
gang. One syllable: a quiet plain ㄱ, an open ㅏ, and a nasal ㅇ with nothing released after it.
gang
One beat. Since the syllable ends in a nasal it can be sustained, and in practice speakers do lengthen it slightly when the word stands at the end of a phrase.
Listen: 강
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
우리 집 앞에 강이 있어요.
Uri jip ape gangi isseoyo.
There's a river in front of my house.
Listen: 우리 집 앞에 강이 있어요.
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우리 집 앞에 강이 있어요 attaches the subject particle, so the ㅇ carries across and the noun becomes gang-i with the nasal held. The 앞에 in front recovers its aspiration, giving a-pe.
Where English speakers slip
The English word 'gang' releases a small g at the end and Korean does not, and that is the single feature separating a native-sounding version from an imported one. The initial consonant is the other point, since it should be soft enough to pass for a k.