Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "놀라다" in Korean?

nol-la-da. The two ㄹ letters merge into one long held l, so the middle of the word takes an extra beat.

놀라다 /nol.la.da/

nollada

Three beats joined by a geminate in the middle. That long l takes roughly twice the time of a single one, and shortening it is what makes a learner's version of this word sound rushed.

Listen: 놀라다

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Sound it out

nol A tongue-tip n over a rounded ㅗ, closed by a ㄹ that does not release before the next one arrives.

la The second ㄹ continues the first as one sustained lateral, and then comes a wide open ㅏ.

da Plain ㄷ voiced between vowels, closing the citation form.

Hear it in a sentence

그 소식에 정말 놀랐어요.

Geu sosige jeongmal nollasseoyo.

I was really surprised by the news.

Listen: 그 소식에 정말 놀랐어요.

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그 소식에 정말 놀랐어요 puts the past tense on it, keeping the geminate and adding a resyllabified double s: nol-la-sseo-yo. So the word carries a long lateral and a tensed sibilant in the same breath.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers produce a single quick l and the word loses its length, so hold the contact. The other error is a dark l, and combining the two gives something closer to 'no-la-da' -- short in the wrong place and muddy in the wrong way.