LingoDrop
Korean · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "사람" in Korean?
sa-ram. A light Korean ㅅ, a quick tap in the middle, and a lip-closed m to finish.
saram
Two blocks, both carrying the same open vowel. Nothing is stressed, and the word makes a good tap drill because the ㄹ sits between two identical vowels, where an English r would be extremely obvious.
Listen: 사람
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
그분은 좋은 분이세요.
Geubuneun joeun buniseyo.
He is a good person.
Listen: 그분은 좋은 분이세요.
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그분은 좋은 분이세요 uses the honorific 분 rather than 사람 itself, which is worth noticing as a register point, and 분이세요 resyllabifies its ㄴ into the ending to give bu-ni-se-yo.
Where English speakers slip
The American r is the standard substitution and it stretches the middle of the word noticeably, when a Korean tap is one contact and then gone. Learners also release the final ㅁ with a small vowel after it, when the lips should simply close and the word should end there.