Learn Korean!!

Batchim

Definitions:

Batchim: a final consonant and abides to totally different set of pronounciation rules than plain and simple consonants (choseong) and vowels (jungseong)

Jamo: any of the 24 building blocks of the Korean (hangeul) alphabet

-~-~-~-

Rule 1: softened sounds

Many consonants will soften their sound if they're inside a word, as opposed to the beginning or end (batchim). In the , the letter is still written the same, but pronunciation softens:

ㄱ has a "k" sound at the beginning or end of the word, and "g" sound in the middle.ㅂ has a "p" sound at the beginning or end of the word, and "b" sound in the middle.ㄷ has a "t" sound at the beginning or end of the word, and "d" sound in the middle.ㅈ has a "ch" sound at the beginning or end of the word, and "j" sound in the middle.

The example used in my Japanese textbook is that 주소 or "address" is pronounced like chuso while 소주 or "Korean liquor" is pronounced like soju.

Rule 2: Hidden Pauses

If a jamo ends with the batchim ㄱ,ㅂ, ㅈ or ㄷ, and the next jamo starts with a regular consonant, the consonants sound will change to a double-consonant and you'll hear a slight pause in pronunciation like in the English word bookkeeping.

Case in point: the word for school is 학교 has a ㄱ for batchim and a consonant (another ㄱ) after it, so the second consonant becomes ㄲ and the word sounds like 학꾜. Another word, 학생 (student) sounds more like 학쌩, while the word for magazine 잡지 sounds like 잡찌.

Rule 3: Filling in the blanks

If a jamo ends with a batchim and the next jamo starts with the "filler" letter ㅇ, the batchim letter "shifts" its sound to the next jamo, replacing the filler letter. The word for Korean language is 한국어 but the ㄱ shifts to the next jamo and sounds like 한구거. Naturally, in the process, it softens as well (see Rule 1). The word for Japanese language is 일본어 sounds more like 일보너.

Further, batchim like ㄷ,ㅎ,ㅅ,ㅆ, and ㅊ will also revert to their original sound. For example, ㅅ will return to its original "s" sound, ㄷ will go back to "d", etc.

However, in a couple cases, not only will it shift the sound, but it will also soften slightly to a different sound. For example, ㅌ will become ㅊ (ch). 같이 will sounds like 가치. Similarly, ㄷ will shift over and become ㅈ (j) as in 굳이, which sounds like 구지. Again, the point of this, like many of the sound-shift rules in Korean, is to make things more natural sounding. Saying "gati" (같이) over and over again is a bit awkward, so it naturally morphs into "gachi" (가치), but the writing still spells it "gati" to disambiguate other, similar words.

Rule 4: The missing H

The letter ㅎ (h) tends to disappear in a lot of words. For example, the word for phone is 전화 but is pronounced more like 저놔. In other words, if the batchim ㄴ, ㅁ, ㅇ or ㄹ comes before the letter ㅎ, then ㅎ disappears. Likewise if ㅎ is the batchim itself, it's pronunciation will disappear if the next letter is the filler ㅇ followed by a vowel (the vowel sound obscures it).

Rule 5: Smoothing things out

This one is kind of tricky to explain. If a certain jamo begins with either ㅁ (m) or ㄴ (n) and the previous jamo has a batchim of ㄱ,ㄷ, or ㅂ then that batchim's sound will kind of smooth out like so:

Batchim ㄱ (g) will sound like ㅇ (ng)Batchim ㄷ (d) or ㅅ (s) will sound like ㄴ (n)Batchim ㅂ (b) will sound like ㅁ (m)

So, going back to the beginning of the post, the formal-polite word "to be" is written as 입니다, but because the middle jamo starts with ㄴ, the previous batchim (ㅂ) sounds like ㅁ. Another example in the book is the phrase "ten years" or 십년 which sounds more like 심년 (p -> m), or the phrase for a plant (e.g. a flower or fern), 식물 will sound 싱물. Another example is 존댓말 which is the word for honorific language on Korean. When pronounced it sounds more like 존댄말.

Rule 6: H finally makes a comeback

Unlike Rule 4, ㅎ sometimes also makes sounds stronger, more aspirated. If the batchim before is ㄱ, ㅂ or ㄷ (or if ㅎ is the batchim and the next letter is one of these three), then it becomes the aspirated version: ㅋ, ㅍ and ㅌ respectively and ㅎ sort of disappears (actually it fuses with the other letter in a way). So, the word for express is 급행 sounds more like 그팽 because of the way the 'p' and 'h' sounds fuse.

Rule 7: The double-R one-two punch

The last rule listed in the Japanese textbook I have is for cases when ㄹ and ㄴ are next to each other, regardless of which one is a batchim and which one starts a new jamo. Either way, if they're side by side each other, the ㄴ becomes an ㄹ, creating 2 ㄹ's. A great example of this less common rule is none other than Korean New Year, which is 설날 but is really pronounced as 설랄.

https://klingonbuddhist.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/sound-shifts-in-korean-language/
https://www.definitions.net/definition/JAMO
http://www.bing.com/search?q=batchim+definition&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&pq=&sc=0-0&sk=&cvid=287D6E4F3D6346E6A2B6A054B5C66351

Creds^^