Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "시장" in Korean?

shi-jang. The ㅅ palatalizes before ㅣ, and the ㅈ voices between vowels into a soft j.

시장 /ɕi.dʑaŋ/

sijang

Two beats. Neither consonant is aspirated or tensed, so the word is unusually soft for one built on two obstruents, and it flows better than the spelling suggests.

Listen: 시장

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Sound it out

si ㅅ pulled back toward the palate by the ㅣ, so it comes out as 'sh', over a tight 'ee'.

jang ㅈ between vowels, so voiced, an open ㅏ, and a nasal ㅇ held as resonance.

Hear it in a sentence

우리는 시장에서 과일을 사요.

Urineun sijangeseo gwaireul sayo.

We buy fruit at the market.

Listen: 우리는 시장에서 과일을 사요.

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우리는 시장에서 과일을 사요 attaches 에서, so the ㅇ carries into the particle and the noun runs shi-jang-e-seo. Then 과일을 taps its ㄹ forward, giving gwa-i-reul.

Where English speakers slip

'si-jang' with a plain s misses the palatalization, and hardening the ㅈ into an English j overshoots the plain series, which between vowels should be as soft as possible. Releasing a g after 장 is the third habit, and it inserts a stop into a word that has none.