How to Pronounce Korean Vowels

The table below shows the vowels in the Korean writing system.  Readers who landed on this page through a search engine are recommended to start with our main article on the Korean writing system, which explains how to assemble the characters into syllable clusters.

Many of the sounds represented by the vowel letters in the Korean alphabet actually begin with the /w/ or /y/ sounds, which are classified by Western phoneticians as semi-vowels or semi-consonants. For example, in European languages, the sound of “wa” is thought to have two elements, the /w/ sound and the /a/ sound. Korean phoneticians, however, treat the /wa/ sound as a single vowel as far as the letter denotation is concerned, and the same is true for /ya/, /we/, etc.

Character	Sound	Click for Examples
	Similar to the sound represented by “a” in the English word “father”	Examples
	Similar to the first part of the English word “yahoo”, before the /h/ sound	Examples
	Unlike any English vowel.  The closest one is possibly the vowel sound in the English word “bird” (without the /r/ sound) or the sound represented by “u” in the English word “but”.	Examples
	Similar to the first part of the English word “young”, before the /ng/ sound	Examples
	Similar to the vowel sound of the English word “all”, before the /l/ sound	Examples
	Similar to the first part of the English word “yogurt”, before the /g/ sound	Examples
	Similar to the vowel sound of the English word “ooze”, before the /z/ sound	Examples
	The sound is exactly like the English word “you”.	Examples
	Unlike any English vowel.  To produce this sound: (i) Say "ah";  (ii) with your lips relaxed and with your tongue resting on the floor of the mouth, slowly close your jaws until the upper and lower lips are about to touch (but not actually touching);   (iii) you would notice that the sound has lost the “ah” character (because your mouth is no longer open wide enough to make the “ah” sound) and that you are making a sound you can’t recognize as an English vowel.  The sound you are making is possibly close to this Korean vowel.	Examples
	Similar to the vowel sound of the English word “eat”, before the /t/ sound	Examples
	Similar to the first part of the English word “apple”, before the /pl/ sound	Examples
	Similar to the first part of the English word “yank”, before the /ngk/ sound	Examples
	Similar to the vowel of the English word “end”, before the /nd/ sound	Examples
	Similar to the first part of the English word “yes”, before the /s/ sound	Examples
	This begins with one vowel and rapidly transitions to another. The beginning sound is similar to the first part of the English word “wad” (before the /d/ sound) or “wash” (before the /sh/ sound), but it rapidly changes into a sound resembling the /a/ sound of “father”.	Examples
	Similar to the first part of the English word “wag”, before the /g/ sound	Examples
	Similar to the first part of the English word “west”, before the /st/ sound	Examples
	Similar to the first part of the English word “one”, before the /n/ sound	Examples
	Another Korean vowel similar to the first part of the English word “west”, before the /st/ sound	Examples
	The sound is exactly like the English word “we”.	Examples
	Unlike any English vowel.  The sound begins with and rapidly changes into   .	Examples

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