Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "이야기" in Korean?

i-ya-gi. Three light syllables with only one real consonant in the whole word, and that one voices between vowels.

이야기 /i.ja.gi/

iyagi

Three beats, and the word is almost entirely vowels, which makes it a good test of whether you are keeping unstressed syllables full. English rhythm will reduce the middle one given any opportunity.

Listen: 이야기

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Sound it out

i A tight, pure ㅣ opening the word with nothing in front of it.

ya A y-glide onto the open ㅏ, all inside one beat.

gi ㄱ between vowels, so a genuine soft g, onto another tight 'ee'.

Hear it in a sentence

재미있는 이야기를 해 주세요.

Jaemiinneun iyagireul hae juseyo.

Please tell me an interesting story.

Listen: 재미있는 이야기를 해 주세요.

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

재미있는 이야기를 해 주세요 puts a long modifier in front, and 재미있는 nasalizes its batchim, coming out jae-mi-in-neun. The noun itself then flows through with no consonant changes at all.

Where English speakers slip

Hardening the ㄱ into a k is the one consonant error available here, and it stands out because everything around it is soft. Beyond that the risk is rhythmic: 'ee-YA-gi' with a stress bump is what English produces, and Korean gives all three syllables the same weight and length.