LingoDrop
Korean · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "잘" in Korean?
jal. One syllable: a plain unaspirated ㅈ, an open 'ah', and a bright forward l.
jal
One short block. Since 잘 always sits directly in front of a verb, the useful thing is what its ㄹ does at that boundary: it stays a clear lateral and links smoothly into whatever consonant follows, with no pause.
Listen: 잘
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
잘 지내요, 고마워요.
Jal jinaeyo, gomawoyo.
I'm well, thank you.
Listen: 잘 지내요, 고마워요.
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잘 지내요, 고마워요 puts 잘 in front of 지내요, and the ㄹ runs straight into the ㅈ with no gap -- and no tensing either, since a ㄹ batchim does not harden a following consonant across this kind of boundary.
Where English speakers slip
The English dark l is the whole problem: bunching the tongue at the back produces 'jahl' with a coloured vowel, which sounds heavy and slow. Keep the tip up. Aspirating the ㅈ into 'chal' is the other error, and it turns a very common adverb into something a listener has to work to identify.