Did you know “ㄹ” has three different sounds depending on where it appears?
In native Korean words, it doesn’t come at the beginning.
But in loanwords, it does.
And it sounds like an English /l/.
- 라디오 (radio)
- 레몬 (lemon)
- 로마 (Rome)
When it appears between two vowels, it turns into a flap.
It’s just like the /t/ in American English words like: writer, letter, and butter.
In Korean, when it’s at the end of a syllable, it’s no longer a flap.
It’s a held sound.
It may sound like an English /l/, but in English, the tongue curls and pulls back.
Like feel and cool.
In Korean, your tongue stays flat, forward, firmly pressed, no curling.
Don’t memorize the sound.
Feel how it moves.
Your tongue already know what to do.