LingoDrop
Korean · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "정말" in Korean?
jeong-mal. A plain ㅈ, an unrounded ㅓ, a held nasal ㅇ, and then a bright forward l to close.
jeongmal
Even though the word means 'really', neither of its two syllables takes emphasis. English carries intensification in the voice; Korean carries it in the choice of word, so 정말 and 진짜 differ in register rather than in loudness.
Listen: 정말
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
정말 고마워요.
Jeongmal gomawoyo.
Thank you very much.
Listen: 정말 고마워요.
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정말 고마워요 puts the intensifier before the verb, and the whole phrase is voiced from beginning to end -- there is not a single voiceless consonant after the initial ㅈ, which is why the line sounds so smooth.
Where English speakers slip
Releasing a g between 정 and 말 is the English reflex and it inserts a consonant that is not there. The other errors are rounding the ㅓ into 'jong' and using a dark l at the end, and together they turn a light, fast word into a heavy one.