Korean Speakers
Korean Native Speakers: 5 English Accent Tips
The market in South Korea is profound for the acquisition of the English Language and if you are Korean and reading this, I’m sure you know it better than anyone! Perhaps you have had over a decade of intense English instruction by native speakers while a student in that English Hogwan you used to attend sleepily after regular school classes. Maybe you even took units in English at university or perhaps you are living abroad trying to master English to this day.
While many Korean native speakers have dedicated hours to English instruction, for the most part, many may still continue to struggle with producing the English accent. So why is this so? Surely after so many hours of work, especially in a country that favours Language Immersion classes run by native speakers, your English should be sounding pretty authentic by now?
What are some common obstacles to getting that perfect English accent for Native Korean Speakers?
1. Those Special English Consonants
Sure, I know by now you can probably sing, chant and recite the English Alphabet back to front and inside out! I too was an ESL teacher in Seoul for 14 months so I’m familiar with the regimented training you most likely received. But did you know that chances are no one told you that many of the sounds of English are not even present in Korean? Did anyone ever sit down and show you how to make each one? Other than “th” which I’m sure you worked on with every South African, American, Canadian and maybe even Australian (my Irish teaching colleges tended to bypass this one as they didn’t need to articulate “th” ever with their accent!). Other than “th” there are some sounds that maybe you better start practicing!
Korean has a total of 17 consonants. English, in comparison has up to 24 consonants. Do the maths! That is a total of at least 7 sounds you have had to master along the way that are not present in your native language’s sound system! Maybe someone never told you how to produce a few of them correctly and these could be a major reason for why your English accent is not so close to locals or why people may still struggle to understand you. The consonants of English that are not present in Hangul mal include:
- “ng” as in words like sing, thing, understanding
- “f”
- v
- “th” as in “thought”, “three”
- “th” as in “that”, “this” (and yes, this is different from the previous “th”)
- “z” as in “zap”, “ozone”, “zealous”
- “sh” as in “shoes”, “bashful”, “charlatan”
- “zh” as in “fissure”, “fusion”
- “ch” as in “chocolate”, “batch”, “cheap”
- “dz” as in “jumper”, “jaw”, “exaggerate”
- “r” as in “ring”, “righteous”, “rebellion”, and finally;
- “w” as in “watch”, “Wellington”, “awake”
THE FIX: Listen carefully to the consonants of native speakers. Record yourself reading short paragraphs from newspaper articles. Do you sound like a native? Listen for the consonants that you know you need to work on. Practice saying the sound on it’s own. Try saying words that have that sound in them. Record yourself. Do you sound close? Consult an accent therapist for tips or maybe even therapy for production of the hardest sounds.
2. Substituting a Korean consonant for the special English ones you don’t say!
Although Korean shares many consonants with Australian English don’t make bibimbap out of those you can use. In English it is not ok to muddle consonants. What do I mean by this? Well, a “B” is always a “B” it is never going to sound like a “P”. Be careful that all the sounds you produce actually are the sounds you need to be producing. Make sure you don’t replace the target sound with a sound that is similar.
It is not uncommon for a native speaker to hear a “p” instead of the “b” that you may aim for. Don’t say “pan” for “ban”. Similar confusion can occur with “l” and “r”and so forth.
Some common sounds that Korean Native speakers are likely to interchange when speaking English are:
r and l, p and b, s and z, t and th
THE FIX: Make sure the following sounds are sharp and crisp and ultimately different from eachother: T and D, B and F, B and V, B and P, L and R, S and Z, T and TH
3. Difficulty on the Hardest English Consonants: Th, Ch, Sh, Ng, Z, R…
Some Korean Native speakers may struggle to pronounce several of our hardest consonants. This can impact heavily on intelligibility and clarity as well as speaker confidence.
THE FIX: This area can take a lot of work to improve. Try sounding the sounds you know you have difficulty with on their own. Practice the sounds by themselves. For many sounds you can use a mirror to see if you are making the sound correctly (for example, when you say “th”, does your tongue come between your teeth? If not, it’s probably wrong!).
4. Speech Intonation
What is intonation? In a nutshell, this refers to the music of your speech. Every accent and dialect follows parameters of rhythm, tone and pitch that match expression. When we learn a new language, we are all inclined to apply the intonation of our mother tongue to our target language. This can add charm but can result in listeners struggling to understand you, or even, at worst, becoming distracted by your accent instead of absorbing the content of what you are saying.
THE FIX: Try to slow down and link your words together instead of rushing to sound more fluent. If you speak at a slower rate, listeners will understand you better and you may also feel more calm and confident while speaking. Use pauses to collect your thoughts and don’t be afraid to take more time when you need it. Try to add inflection and colour your speech like native speakers do. Watch local soap operas in English and mimic the actors.
5. Be careful with word endings
All those years of speaking Korean and being surrounded by Korean and eating awesome kim bap/ bulgogi/dok/kochujang (that I still miss to this day) has invested you with the gift of a wonderful language and cultural background. But these years have also set you up to speak with certain habits that you are going to have to dump to master great English pronunciation. One of the characteristics of Korean speech that is likely to impact on your pronunciation majorly is what you may be inclined to do at the end of words! After struggling to say your “ch” sound maybe at the start of a word, don’t lose focus and throw away all your efforts by what you do once you end the word! Listen carefully, in English, unlike Korean, you MUST NOT add an extra vowel at the end. This is tricky to explain and I would love to just outline for you face to face in an accent therapy session as you would know EXACTLY what I mean. Here instead are a few examples of typical errors made by Korean speakers when ending an English word;
- kissed becomes kissta: see the added “a” at the end? Don’t do it!
- finished becomes finishedu: see the added “u” at the end? Finish the word with a consonant and just leave it at that!
THE FIX: Listen carefully to the ends of words of native speakers. Record yourself reading short paragraphs from newspaper articles. Do you sound like a native? Listen and be careful that you are not adding vowels to the ends of words that don’t have vowels at the end of them!
Accent neutralization takes alot of time. Many non-native speakers may still have strong accents even after decades of being immersed in an English speaking country. Sure, an accent is exotic and often very charming! With time and careful practice however, you can reduce it’s intensity and increase your speaking command and clarity while still retaining that element of difference, if you wish! Don’t give up. Work on your weaknesses and practice daily to improve your English proficiency.
Some non-native speakers choose to consult a Speech Pathologist for accent reduction /modification therapy.
We treat from Melbourne to Bogota, Capetown, Seoul, London, New York, Tel Aviv… anywhere you are based. Skype based services can be tailored according to the accent you require for your region, career or academic purpose.
For further information on accent modification and reduction programs for Korean Speakers please do not hesitate to contact Sarah Geiger Speech Pathology.
Words: Sarah Lobegeiger (MA Speech Pathology, MA Opera, pending, BMus, BAEng, TESOL cert IV)
http://sarahgeigerspeechpathology.com/
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