Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "우산" in Korean?

u-san. A bare rounded vowel, a light Korean ㅅ, an open ㅏ, and a tongue-tip n.

우산 /u.san/

usan

Two level beats. The vowels move from high and rounded to fully open, so the jaw drops noticeably between the syllables while the volume stays completely level.

Listen: 우산

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Sound it out

u A high rounded ㅜ opening the word on the voice, with no consonant and no glottal catch.

san ㅅ made with less friction than English, over a wide open ㅏ, closed by a forward n.

Hear it in a sentence

비가 오니까 우산을 가져가세요.

Biga onikka usaneul gajyeogaseyo.

Take an umbrella, it's raining.

Listen: 비가 오니까 우산을 가져가세요.

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비가 오니까 우산을 가져가세요 attaches 을, so the ㄴ moves forward and the noun becomes u-sa-neul. Then 가져가세요 drops the y-glide of 져, coming out ga-jeo-ga-se-yo.

Where English speakers slip

A glottal stop before the initial vowel is the first habit, and English speakers add one automatically. The second is the ㅅ, which gets more friction than Korean wants. And nasalizing the vowel before the final n blurs a consonant that should be a definite tongue contact.