How is your initial 이응 pronunciation?

The lady in the video below talks about three problems some provincial Koreans have with intonation and pronunciation, and since it is something foreign learners of Korean can also benefit from, I decided to post it below.

First

The first problem she talks about is a problem some Koreans have with the intonation of the Korean consonant 이응 (o) when it comes at the beginning of a word, such as in 이마트 (E-mart), 억양, 에스케이 (SK), 오백 원, 인덕원, and 이의 이승 (2²). She says some Koreans tend to put too much stress on that first "o" consonant syllable, especially Koreans from the Gyeongsang region.

To correct the problem, she suggests relaxing the lips, lowering the tone, shortening the vowel sound, and pronouncing it by coming up from the bottom rather than from over the top, which suggests a slight rising tone on the first syllable. She even suggests physically using your hand, as I do, to help you visualize yourself correcting he problem. Finally, she says that when pronouncing a multi-syllable phrase like 이의 이승 that you must keep the intonation smooth and level, being careful not to give stronger stress to the second 이, as people from the Gyeongsang region tend to do.

Second

The second problem she talks about is the problem of not changing the pronunciation of the consonants ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, and ㅈ to their aspirated versions (ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, ㅊ) when they are followed by the consonant ㅎ. For example, many Koreans in the Jolla region mispronounce 도착해서 as /도차개서/, ignoring the influence of the ㅎ sound. Instead, it should be pronounced as /도차캐서/. This is because the ㄱ in 착 and the ㅎ in 해서 are back-to-back to each other, causing the ㄱ and ㅎ to combine to form ㅋ. She says many Koreans from the Jolla region also tend to mispronounce 약하다 as /야가다/ instead of /야카다/ and 곱하기 as /고바기/ instead of /고파기/. 

Other practice examples she gives are the following:

• 급격히 -- /급겨키/ 
• 급하게 -- /그파게/
• 노력했어요  --/노려캐써요/
• 충당을 못해 -- /충당을 모태/ (The ㅅ is pronounced as ㄷ, so becomes ㅌ.)
• 국하고 밥하고 -- /구카고 바파고/
• 갑갑하다 -- / 갑가파다/
• 졸업하고 /조러파고/
• 약해 빠졌다 -- 야캐 빠졌다

Third

The third problem she talks about is how some Koreans, especially those in the Gyeongsang region, do not smoothly connect the syllables of words. She also says they sometimes mistakenly put the stress on the second syllable of the word instead of the first.

To solve the problem, she suggests they use their index finger to draw an arch in the air as they are saying the words to help them smoothly connect the syllables. First, she gives examples of how the words are mispronounced and then gives examples of how they should pronounced. The examples she gives are 경영, 안양, and 영양사.

Fourth

Finally, the video ends with the instructor explaining how to pronounce combined words and gives 뉴로얄 and 쌍철창살 as examples. 

뉴 is, of course, the Korean pronunciation of the English word "new," and 로얄 is the Korean pronunciation of the English word "royal," so words that would normally be separated in English are combined into one word in Korean to form the name 뉴로얄. These sentences seem to be tongue-twister pronunciation exercises, so the first sentence actually begins with "로얄 뉴로얄," which translates as the royal New-Royal.

Anyway, she says that even though 뉴로얄 is written as one word, you need to pause slightly after 뉴 to separate it from 로얄 when pronouncing it.

As for 쌍철창살, the syllable 쌍 means double, 철 means iron, and 창살 can mean wooded lattice or iron bars, such as those used in a prison or a zoo. By adding 철 to 창살, you are confirming that it should be translated as iron bars, not wooden lattice. Since 쌍 and 철 are describing the 창살, you should pause slightly between 쌍 and 철 and 창살, similar to the pause between 뉴 and 로얄 above. She added that to avoid mispronouncing the second syllable, 철, you could give it extra stress to help ensure it is understood.