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Korean · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "거울" in Korean?
geo-ul. Two vowels meet with nothing between them: the unrounded ㅓ and then a rounded ㅜ, closed by a bright l.
geoul
Both blocks carry the same weight. The lips change from flat to rounded across the join with no consonant to cover the transition, which is exactly the shape of 겨울 minus its glide -- the two words are worth practising together.
Listen: 거울
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
아침에 거울을 봐요.
Achime geoureul bwayo.
I look in the mirror in the morning.
Listen: 아침에 거울을 봐요.
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아침에 거울을 봐요 attaches 을, so the ㄹ taps forward and the noun becomes geo-u-reul. The verb 봐요 then compresses 보 and 아 into a single w-glide beat.
Where English speakers slip
Collapsing the two vowels is the main error, and it usually means rounding the first one so the whole word becomes 'go-ul' -- keep the first flat. A glottal stop at the join is the second habit, and the dark l at the end is the third.