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Korean · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "강아지" in Korean?
gang-a-ji. The nasal ㅇ of 강 carries into the bare vowel of 아, so the two syllables are joined by resonance rather than separated.
gangaji
Three beats. Nothing here is aspirated or tensed, and the only place where anything happens at all is the nasal join in the middle, which is continuous rather than segmented.
Listen: 강아지
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
강아지가 크게 짖어요.
Gangajiga keuge jijeoyo.
The dog barks loudly.
Listen: 강아지가 크게 짖어요.
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강아지가 크게 짖어요 attaches the subject particle to a vowel-final noun, and 짖어요 releases its buried ㅈ, which resyllabifies forward and voices: ji-jeo-yo. The adverb 크게 in front supplies the sentence's only aspirate.
Where English speakers slip
The 'finger' reflex inserts a g between 강 and 아, giving 'gang-ga-ji' and adding a consonant that is not there, since Korean's ㅇ is resonance only. Hardening the ㅈ is the other error, because between vowels it should be as soft as the j in English 'ajar'.