Korean pronunciation generator: hear Hangul read aloud

Type Korean in Hangul and hear it read aloud, so you catch the sound changes the spelling hides. Free, no sign-up.

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How to pronounce Korean words

For longer Korean audio and more voices, see Korean text to speech. To spell out an English word by sound, use the phonetic spelling generator.

Type Korean

Type or paste up to 500 characters in Hangul, or pick a sample. Write Korean in Hangul rather than romanization.

Press play

Listen to the whole phrase, then pick a sample to hear one hard sound on its own.

Compare voices

Pick another voice from the menu and press play again to hear the same Korean from a different speaker.

Korean sounds that trip up learners

Hangul is spelled by syllable, but Korean is said in a flow, and sounds change where syllables meet. These are the parts learners hear wrong first.

Plain, tense and aspirated

ㄷ, ㄸ and ㅌ are all t sounds: plain, tense and breathy. 달 is moon, 딸 is daughter and 탈 is mask. The same three-way split runs through ㄱ ㄲ ㅋ, ㅂ ㅃ ㅍ and ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ.

달 [tal] · 딸 [t͈al] · 탈 [tʰal]

어 and 오

어 is an open aw with relaxed lips; 오 is a rounded o. English speakers often merge them.

어 [ʌ] · 오 [o] · 서울 [sʰʌ.ul]

으

으 is an oo said with spread, unrounded lips.

으 [ɯ] · 음악 [ɯ.mak]

Linking

A final consonant moves onto the next syllable when that syllable starts with a vowel. 음악 (music) is said as if written 으막.

음악 [ɯ.mak] · 한국어 [han.ɡu.ɡʌ]

Nasal changes

ㅂ, ㄷ and ㄱ before ㄴ or ㅁ turn into ㅁ, ㄴ and ㅇ. 감사합니다 is said as if written 감사함니다.

감사합니다 [kam.sa.ham.ni.da] · 한국말 [han.ɡuŋ.mal]

Custom Korean pronunciation for developers

Product names in Latin letters inside Korean text need a reading. A pronunciation dictionary maps each one to the Hangul you use, so iPhone is always 아이폰.

A pronunciation dictionary is a list of words and how to say each one. Cartesia swaps every match for its sounds-like spelling before the text is read, on sonic-3 and newer.

Get an API key Read the pronunciation guide

pronunciation-dictionary.json

// Create the dictionary once, through the API or the Playground.
[
  { "text": "iPhone", "pronunciation": "아이폰" }
]

// Then pass its ID with each text-to-speech request.
{
  "model_id": "sonic-3",
  "language": "ko",
  "pronunciation_dict_id": "<your dictionary ID>"
}

Pronunciation in other languages

All languages

Arabic pronunciation

ع and ح, the heavy consonants and long vowels, read aloud from Arabic script.

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Chinese pronunciation

The four tones, tone changes and retroflex sounds, in a Mandarin voice.

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French pronunciation

Nasal vowels, liaison and the French r, in a Parisian or Canadian French voice.

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German pronunciation

Umlauts, ich and ach, and z, in a Standard German voice.

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Italian pronunciation

Double consonants, gli and gn, read by an Italian voice.

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Japanese pronunciation

Kanji and kana read aloud, with long vowels and small tsu, in Standard Japanese.

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Polish pronunciation

Sz and ś, cz and ć, rz and ł, and the nasal ą and ę.

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Portuguese pronunciation

Nasal ão, the Brazilian t and d, and the r, in a Brazilian voice.

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Spanish pronunciation

Rolled r, ñ and the jota, in a voice from Mexico or Spain.

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Korean pronunciation FAQs

How do you pronounce Korean words correctly?

Learn the plain, tense and aspirated consonants, then the rules for how sounds change between syllables. Type the word in Hangul into the generator above and repeat it after the audio.

Is there a free Korean pronunciation tool?

Yes. The generator on this page reads up to 500 characters of Korean aloud, free and with no account.

Why is Korean pronounced differently from how it's written?

Hangul spells each word's root, and the sounds change where syllables meet. A final consonant links onto a following vowel, as in 음악 [ɯ.mak], and ㅂ before ㄴ becomes ㅁ, as in 감사합니다 [kam.sa.ham.ni.da].

How do you say thank you in Korean?

감사합니다 (gamsahamnida), said [kam.sa.ham.ni.da]. The ㅂ in 합 becomes an m before ㄴ. Press the 감사합니다 sample above to hear it.

Can I download the Korean audio?

Yes, with a free Cartesia account. Make an MP3 or WAV of the same text in the Cartesia Playground, or request it from the text-to-speech API.

Can Cartesia read longer Korean text?

Yes. Cartesia's text-to-speech model speaks 44 languages. For Korean voiceovers and apps, see the Korean text to speech page.

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