Korean → German
German uses 43 sounds. You already own 14 of them from Korean. The other 29 are the work — and 23 of those are the dangerous kind: close enough to something you already say that you will substitute them without hearing yourself do it.
The silent swaps
Your mouth has something close enough to reach for. These survive for years precisely because they sound right to you — the fix is hearing the difference first, not trying harder.
the move: alveolar → postalveolar
German: school · written "sch", "s in st-/sp-"
Your /s/ is the one in 사람 (person).
the move: alveolo-palatal → postalveolar
German: German · written "tsch"
Your /t͡ɕ/ is the one in 집 (house).
the move: close → near-close
German: child · written "i (short)"
Your /i/ is the one in 이 (this; two; tooth).
the move: close → near-close
German: mother · written "u (short)"
Your /u/ is the one in 우유 (milk).
the move: longer
German: father · written "a (long)", "aa", "ah"
Your /a/ is the one in 나라 (country).
the move: longer
German: lake · written "e (long)", "ee", "eh"
Your /e/ is the one in 네 (yes).
the move: longer
German: love · written "ie", "i (long)", "ih", "ieh"
Your /i/ is the one in 이 (this; two; tooth).
the move: longer
German: bread · written "o (long)", "oo", "oh"
Your /o/ is the one in 오늘 (today).
the move: longer
German: good · written "u (long)", "uh"
Your /u/ is the one in 우유 (milk).
the move: alveolar → labiodental
German: father · written "f", "ff", "v", "ph"
Native v = /f/. Loanwords keep /v/ (Vase, Vitamin).
Your /s/ is the one in 사람 (person).
the move: alveolo-palatal → palatal
German: I · written "ch (after front vowels, consonants, in -chen)", "-ig"
Whisper a 'y' (as in yes) hard. Ich-Laut.
Your /ɕ/ is the one in 시간 (time).
the move: alveolo-palatal → alveolar
German: time · written "z", "tz", "c (before e, i)", "-tion"
Your /t͡ɕ/ is the one in 집 (house).
the move: voiced
German: sun · written "s before a vowel"
Your /s/ is the one in 사람 (person).
the move: open → open-mid
German: bed · written "e (short)", "ä (short)"
Your /a/ is the one in 나라 (country).
the move: alveolo-palatal → velar
German: stream · written "ch after a, o, u, au"
Ach-Laut — from the back of the throat.
Your /ɕ/ is the one in 시간 (time).
the move: close → near-close, rounded
German: five · written "ü (short)", "y"
Your /i/ is the one in 이 (this; two; tooth).
the move: rounded, longer
German: beautiful · written "ö (long)", "öh"
Your /e/ is the one in 네 (yes).
the move: rounded, longer
German: door · written "ü (long)", "üh"
Your /i/ is the one in 이 (this; two; tooth).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
German: my · written "ei", "ai", "ey", "ay"
ei is always /aɪ/ (like English 'eye'), never 'ay'.
Your /a/ is the one in 나라 (country).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
German: house · written "au"
Your /a/ is the one in 나라 (country).
the move: open → near-open, front → central
German: mother · written "-er (final)", "r after a vowel"
Vocalised r — sounds like a light 'uh'. Tür /tyːɐ̯/.
Your /a/ is the one in 나라 (country).
Words you may say identically
Two or more German sounds landing on one sound of yours. Until the ear separates them, the mouth cannot — which is what the ear trainer is for.
Genuinely new
Nothing in Korean sits close to these. They sound foreign in your mouth — which is the good news: you can hear that you are not saying them yet.
horse
Closest thing you own: — but alveolo-palatal → labiodental.
water
Closest thing you own: — but alveolar → labiodental, voiced.
cheese
Many speakers say /eː/.
Closest thing you own: — but open → open-mid, longer.
can
Closest thing you own: — but open → open-mid, rounded.
new
Closest thing you own: — but it glides, yours would hold still, rounded.
red
Uvular like French. Bavaria/Austria roll it.
Closest thing you own: — but plosive → fricative, velar → uvular.
Rhythm and pitch
The layer spelling never records, and the one that makes a correct sentence still sound foreign.
| Korean | German | |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm | Syllable-timed, phrase melody | Stress-timed |
| Stress | None at word level. No syllable is reduced and no vowel becomes a schwa; every syllable is said in full. What an English ear hears as stress is the phrase-initial rise. | Contrastive in a very German way: with separable-vs-inseparable prefix verbs, the stress tells you which grammar you are in — and therefore what the sentence means. Otherwise stress sits on the stem syllable, and the unstressed prefixes (be-, ge-, er-, ver-, zer-, ent-) never take it. |
What you have that German doesn't
20 sounds with no job in German. They are not mistakes — but they are where an accent leaks in, because a sound you own is easy to use when a hard one is due.
The honest caveat
This is a prediction from the shape of two sound systems, not a recording of you. It says what your inventory makes likely — it cannot know that your Korean has a regional variety that already owns one of these, or that you learned German from someone whose accent you copied. A teacher listening to you beats it. Use it to know what to listen for.
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