Korean pronunciation struggle

1

Hey everyone,

I’ve been learning Korean but I keep having trouble telling the difference between the “g” and “k” sounds. Sometimes when people say words, they sound really similar, and when I try to say them myself, I’m not sure if I’m getting it right.

For example, words like 가다
(gada - “to go”) and 카드
(kadeu - “card”) sound really close to me. Or 고기
(gogi - “meat”) and 코끼리
(kokkiri - “elephant”)—I struggle to hear and say the difference clearly.

I’m not sure if this is normal for beginners or just me, but it’s kinda frustrating. In English, these sounds are pretty easy to tell apart, but in Korean they seem really close sometimes.

Has anyone else faced this? Any tips on how to practice or improve pronunciation would be really appreciated!

Thanks!

2

I had the same problem! One thing that helped me was thinking of ㄱ (g) as a sound that goes down in tone, more solid. And ㅋ (k) as going up with a little burst of air. That tiny “airy” push made it easier to feel the difference.

It’s totally normal to struggle at first, but once you get the feel of it, it becomes way clearer.