Wednesday, October 03, 2018

How is this guys' Korean intonation (억양)?

ANSWER: Great!

The guy speaking Korean in the first video below does not sound like a foreigner, even though he is, and one of the reasons he does not sound like a foreigner is that he is using almost perfectly the intonation that most South Koreans use when they speak their language, which is a weak, wave-like rhythm intonation. Intonation is the rise and fall of the voice while speaking, and Korean intonation is usually flatter and much weaker than American English intonation.

When Koreans read or say their thought groups--which are usually the noun phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases, and verb phrases in a sentence--they usually alternate from a subtle rising intonation at the end of one thought group to a subtle falling intonation at the end of the next, resulting in a gentle wave-like rhythm. Inside each phrase, or thought group, the tone will remain pretty much flat and only rise or fall slightly at the end of the phrase or thought group.

I do not know much about this subject, but when I read out loud to myself in Korean or speak Korean to someone, I usually try to keep my intonation as flat as possible, without using a lot of the strong rising and falling tones we normally use in American English to try to sound more polite and interesting. For example, when I practice Korean intonation by reading out loud to myself, I often hold my hand flat in front of me and push down a little bit when I come to a part in a Korean sentence where an American might normally use a strong rising tone, reminding myself visually not to do that. However, I still need to practice more on alternating my tones between the Korean thought groups to get the subtle Korean wave-like rhythm. It is similar to learning to sing a song, something at which I am not very good.

An American student just beginning to learn Korean might say, "어디 십니?" by using a strong rising intonation on the 가, and maybe even the 까, to sound more polite, but, instead, they just sound like a foreigner speaking Korean, or maybe someone from the Gyeongsang region, where they also seem to use stronger intonation than Koreans in Seoul. Koreans do not normally need to use intonation to sound polite because they have polite words and affixes to show politeness in their language. Of course, some Koreans might use polite words and affixes but change the tone of their voices to show they are upset or angry.

Anyway, the first video below is a foreigner giving a great speech in Korean. The second video is a Korean teaching Korean intonation. One of the things the Korean says about intonation in his video is that intonation usually rises slightly at the end of a phrase with a number. The important things to remember about Korean intonation, I think, is that Korean intonation is much more subtle than English intonation and usually alternates slightly from high to low at the end of each of the thought groups in a sentence to create a subtle wave-like rhythm. Even at the end of a declarative Korean sentence, the intonation can rise if the previous thought group fell, which is different from English intonation. In other words, to keep the alternating waves flowing seems to be the main focus of Korean intonation.

So, if you want to sound like a Korean, you must not only learn the correct Korean pronunciation but also the weak wave-like rhythm of Korean intonation.


In the video below, a Korean is teaching intonation by reading a newspaper article.

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