TeacherJoy

Let’s talk about ㄱ and ㅋ.

Think they’re just /g/ and /k/? Not quite.

In Korean, it’s about how much air you push out — the aspiration.

In English, it’s about voiced vs. unvoiced.

“ㄱ” was designed to show your tongue hitting the soft palate, and add a stroke and you get “ㅋ” — the aspirated version.

“고” and “구” as in “고구마” use the same consonant but sound little different.

“고” starts clean, no voice yet, almost like soft /k/.

“구” comes after a vowel, so vocal cords already vibrate. It sounds like /g/.

Now compare 공 and 콩.

To English speakers, both might sound like /k/.

To Koreans, totally different.

Here’s a strategy:

For ㅋ, apply an high pitch accent on it.

For ㄱ, keep it softer.