LingoDrop
Korean · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "호텔" in Korean?
ho-tel. A borrowing, but pronounced on Korean terms: an aspirated ㅌ that keeps its breath, and a bright forward l at the end.
hotel
Two blocks of equal weight, which is exactly what the English source resists: 'hotel' has a strong second syllable and a reduced first one, and the Korean version levels them completely.
Listen: 호텔
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
이 호텔은 아주 깨끗해요.
I hotereun aju kkaekkeutaeyo.
This hotel is very clean.
Listen: 이 호텔은 아주 깨끗해요.
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이 호텔은 아주 깨끗해요 attaches 은, so the ㄹ taps forward and the noun becomes ho-te-reun. Then 깨끗해요 delivers two tensed ㄲ sounds and an aspirated ㅌ from its ㅅ-plus-ㅎ merger.
Where English speakers slip
Importing the English stress pattern gives 'ho-TEL' with a reduced first syllable, when Korean gives both the same length. The dark l is the other habit, and English speakers reach for it automatically here because the English word ends the same way.