Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "길" in Korean?

gil. One syllable: a light plain ㄱ, a tight 'ee', and a bright forward l.

길 /kil/

gil

One short beat. Because the word ends in ㄹ it behaves differently depending on what follows: before a vowel that l taps forward, and before another ㄹ it forms a long geminate.

Listen: 길

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Sound it out

gi A quiet, unaspirated ㄱ onto a pure 'ee', with no breath and very little voicing.

l Final ㄹ made entirely with the tongue tip, sides open and the back of the tongue kept low.

Hear it in a sentence

이 길로 쭉 가세요.

I gillo jjuk gaseyo.

Go straight along this road.

Listen: 이 길로 쭉 가세요.

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이 길로 쭉 가세요 shows the geminate -- 길 ends in ㄹ and the particle 로 begins with one, so the two merge into a single long l, giving gil-lo. Then 쭉 opens with a tensed ㅉ.

Where English speakers slip

An English-style dark l of 'gill' is the main problem, because bunching the tongue at the back changes the vowel in front of it as well, so keep the tip high. And the ㄱ needs to stay soft, since a hard English g makes a one-syllable word sound emphatic when it should be quiet.