Foreword
For those who are non-native speakers, Korean can be a hard language to speak/sing and as a result, most K-pop fans who are into UTAU resort to using Japanese banks to make usts. This means that many K-pop covers with UTAU are not native sounding due to differences in pronunciation.
Why not just make Korean banks, then?
Incidentally, South Koreans [or Korean Americans] also make more Japanese banks than those in their native language - this is due to...
- otos needing to be CVVC (still a relatively rare oto style beyond English utauloids and other languages that require VC endings)
- romaja (not an issue for Korean Americans and those who know English, perhaps more so for those born and raised in S.Korea)
- SeeU's VSQx' cannot be ported to UTAU without the VSQx -> VSQ plugin in addition to the UTAU Korean Patches (download them here:
4dreams.kr/search/UTAU - please note that you will still be required to manually change the lyrics from Hangul to Romaja; otos cannot be made in hangul and SeeU has hidden non-native phonemes that use X-SAMPA).
- Most songs available for UTAU covers/originals are Japanese/use Japanese banks
- non-native speakers have trouble pronouncing Korean.
While I cannot be of help for SeeU to those who do not have Vocaloid3, the plugin needed, or the patches (said patches will essentially be useless if you're not making covers in Vocaloid first using SeeU's Korean voice or downloading her VSQx files and converting them), I will do my best here to help anyone with at least recording, reading, and pronouncing Korean for those who want to make original songs/covers and have them sound native to the language.
I am not ethnically Korean, nor is Korean my native language. Those who speak the language fluently as a mother or 2nd tongue, feel free to provide any corrections deemed necessary.
Korean Banks that I currently know of (banks that are ethnically Korean but are not CVVC with Korean phonemes are not counted)
Female:
Anta Shizuko
Hanami
Hwang Gyuhwa
Kyou Hana
Kyuri
Kyuti
Linako Sonone
Neko Kanochi
Orenji Haruka
RaonZena
Tsukine Sayuri
Male:
Gyatmoon
Kaneyama Shou
For those who want a Korean vocal from an actual Korean (albeit in VCV), I recommend HaeYa/ヘヤ/해야.
Vowels
a (아) = a-ha! or あ
i (이) = sheep or い
u (우) = root - sounds like う but pronunciation is more closed
e (에) = red or え
o (오) = owe - sounds like お but pronunciation is more closed
eo (어) = sun, run, etc.
ae (애) = head - Seoul dialect does not distinguish between spoken 애 and 에. 에 is essentially a darker pronunciation of 애 if you choose to make the distinction; you may also simply pronounce 애 the same as 에 like SeeU does. It is not pronounced like Mandarin's ei (e + i).
see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel (e)
see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel (ae)
eu (으) = this sound has no English equivalent. The pronunciation is 우, but the lip position is 이. The 으 sound is essentially 우 pronounced from the back of the throat. It will sound more nasal/bright.
ㆍ= This sound is only present in Jeju dialect and is an obsolete sound in modern speech for both mainland Koreas. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_back_rounded_vowel
equivalent notation is X-SAMPA Q or Chezzie 9
야 - ya
유 - yu
예 - ye
요 - yo
여 - yeo
얘 - yae
- These are y- glides/semivowels similar to Japanese ya, yu, yo.
wa (ㅘ)
wi (ㅟ)
eui/ui (ㅢ)
we (ㅞ)
oe (ㅚ)
weo (ㅝ)
wae (ㅙ)
- These are w- glides/semivowels. You may sometimes see these in Japanese reclists (kwa, kwe, etc.), but these sounds do not exist in modern Japanese. くぁ くぃ くぇ くぉ ぐぁ ぐぃ ぐぇ ぐぉ have all been deemed obsolete. ㅞ, ㅚ, and ㅙ are essentially pronounced the same (should you not make the e/ae distinction). ㅢ is a semivowel that may also be pronounced as i (이), or ae (애) depending on the position and grammar use of a word.
Further (more accurate) explanation of ui:
- when it's at the beginning of the word, it's pronounced 의 {ui}
- if it's used at the end of the word as a possessive marker, it's usually pronounced as 에 {ae}. However, some Koreans pronounce it 의 {ui} in this case too
- If it's the end syllable of a word, it's normally pronounced 이 {long i}
As an example, 민주주의의 의의 (democracy's meaning/significance) is pronounced {민주주이에 의이}.
The {wi} pronunciation seems to be the most difficult for westerners to pick up. I have found that it is closest to the the French u, but with a more drawn out "ee" at the end. Contrary to the Romanized spelling, there is no 'w' sound.
bonewso.net/koreangrammar/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=312
Consonants
Consonants come in 3 different kinds: Plain, Tense, and Aspirated which may be nigh indistinguishable for non-native speakers. I will try my best to make them distinguishable. Most Korean consonants also have 2 different pronunciations (again, this necessitates the use of romaja where as SeeU will automatically switch to the right pronunciation depending on the position of the consonant within a given word).
Further explanation as explained by Prince Syo (creator of the standard Korean recording list and owner/voicer of Kaneyama Shou):
Korean G D B sound the same as Japanese G D B
but the K T P sounds in Korean are aspirated and Japanese doesn't have any aspirated consonants
K T P in Japanese sounds like GG DD and BB in Korean (か た ぱ= 까 따 빠)
Technically the Korean J and JJ sounds are the same as Z and TS in Japanese(자=ざ 쟈=じゃ)
However, standard south Korean pronunciation (Seoul dialect) pronounces 자 and 쟈 the same. (As Japanese J)
Plain
ㄱ = g/k (giyeok)
ㄴ = n (nieun)
ㄷ = d/t (digeut)
ㅁ = m (mieum)
ㅂ = p/b (bieup)
ㅈ = j (jieut)
ㅅ = s/sh (siot)
ㄹ = r/l (rieul)
ㅎ = h (hieut)
ㅇ = soundless/ng
Plain consonants are pronounced like Japanese in that they are not aspirated.
For ㅅ, it is pronounced similarly to sh (more like a lisp than an actual sh like in sheep) before 이, 요, 유, 야, and 여. The 's' sound is soft, almost unvoiced.
For ㅈ, it is pronounced like a soft 'j' which will sound closer to a soft, un-aspirated 'ch.'
For ㄹ, it is pronounced like Japanese ら り る れ ろ in the initial position and like a clear L in the second position
ㅇ is a special character. It is a placeholder when in front of vowels and in the absence of consonants. Korean grammar dictates that vowels must either have a consonant in front of it or a placeholder. At the end of a word, it is pronounced as 'ng.'
Tense
Tense consonants are stronger than their Plain counterparts. Again, they are not aspirated. They are made by temporarily stopping your airflow before sounding out the consonant.
ㄲ = kk
ㄸ = tt
ㅃ = bb
ㅉ = jj
ㅆ = ss
Aspirated
Aspirated consonants are pronounced roughly or with puffs of air. The easiest way to explain this is that the consonants are closer to American pronunciations in that they're harsher and more pronounced.
ㅍ = p'
ㅊ = ch'
ㅌ = t'
ㅋ = k'
Videos to watch for hearing the difference between sounds:
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3f7-4OV4Z381oHkkq2atbjsXgeSDNlhU [SurvivingInKorea: Learning Korean]
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLABF2F59A4530A359 [sweetandtasty: Learn Korean with Professor Oh]
And of course watching a lot of Korean dramas and listening to a lot Korean music (feel free to ask me for recommendations).
For those who are non-native speakers, Korean can be a hard language to speak/sing and as a result, most K-pop fans who are into UTAU resort to using Japanese banks to make usts. This means that many K-pop covers with UTAU are not native sounding due to differences in pronunciation.
Why not just make Korean banks, then?
Incidentally, South Koreans [or Korean Americans] also make more Japanese banks than those in their native language - this is due to...
- otos needing to be CVVC (still a relatively rare oto style beyond English utauloids and other languages that require VC endings)
- romaja (not an issue for Korean Americans and those who know English, perhaps more so for those born and raised in S.Korea)
- SeeU's VSQx' cannot be ported to UTAU without the VSQx -> VSQ plugin in addition to the UTAU Korean Patches (download them here:
4dreams.kr/search/UTAU - please note that you will still be required to manually change the lyrics from Hangul to Romaja; otos cannot be made in hangul and SeeU has hidden non-native phonemes that use X-SAMPA).
- Most songs available for UTAU covers/originals are Japanese/use Japanese banks
- non-native speakers have trouble pronouncing Korean.
While I cannot be of help for SeeU to those who do not have Vocaloid3, the plugin needed, or the patches (said patches will essentially be useless if you're not making covers in Vocaloid first using SeeU's Korean voice or downloading her VSQx files and converting them), I will do my best here to help anyone with at least recording, reading, and pronouncing Korean for those who want to make original songs/covers and have them sound native to the language.
I am not ethnically Korean, nor is Korean my native language. Those who speak the language fluently as a mother or 2nd tongue, feel free to provide any corrections deemed necessary.
Korean Banks that I currently know of (banks that are ethnically Korean but are not CVVC with Korean phonemes are not counted)
Female:
Anta Shizuko
Hanami
Hwang Gyuhwa
Kyou Hana
Kyuri
Kyuti
Linako Sonone
Neko Kanochi
Orenji Haruka
RaonZena
Tsukine Sayuri
Male:
Gyatmoon
Kaneyama Shou
For those who want a Korean vocal from an actual Korean (albeit in VCV), I recommend HaeYa/ヘヤ/해야.
Vowels
a (아) = a-ha! or あ
i (이) = sheep or い
u (우) = root - sounds like う but pronunciation is more closed
e (에) = red or え
o (오) = owe - sounds like お but pronunciation is more closed
eo (어) = sun, run, etc.
ae (애) = head - Seoul dialect does not distinguish between spoken 애 and 에. 에 is essentially a darker pronunciation of 애 if you choose to make the distinction; you may also simply pronounce 애 the same as 에 like SeeU does. It is not pronounced like Mandarin's ei (e + i).
see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel (e)
see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel (ae)
eu (으) = this sound has no English equivalent. The pronunciation is 우, but the lip position is 이. The 으 sound is essentially 우 pronounced from the back of the throat. It will sound more nasal/bright.
ㆍ= This sound is only present in Jeju dialect and is an obsolete sound in modern speech for both mainland Koreas. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_back_rounded_vowel
equivalent notation is X-SAMPA Q or Chezzie 9
야 - ya
유 - yu
예 - ye
요 - yo
여 - yeo
얘 - yae
- These are y- glides/semivowels similar to Japanese ya, yu, yo.
wa (ㅘ)
wi (ㅟ)
eui/ui (ㅢ)
we (ㅞ)
oe (ㅚ)
weo (ㅝ)
wae (ㅙ)
- These are w- glides/semivowels. You may sometimes see these in Japanese reclists (kwa, kwe, etc.), but these sounds do not exist in modern Japanese. くぁ くぃ くぇ くぉ ぐぁ ぐぃ ぐぇ ぐぉ have all been deemed obsolete. ㅞ, ㅚ, and ㅙ are essentially pronounced the same (should you not make the e/ae distinction). ㅢ is a semivowel that may also be pronounced as i (이), or ae (애) depending on the position and grammar use of a word.
Further (more accurate) explanation of ui:
- when it's at the beginning of the word, it's pronounced 의 {ui}
- if it's used at the end of the word as a possessive marker, it's usually pronounced as 에 {ae}. However, some Koreans pronounce it 의 {ui} in this case too
- If it's the end syllable of a word, it's normally pronounced 이 {long i}
As an example, 민주주의의 의의 (democracy's meaning/significance) is pronounced {민주주이에 의이}.
The {wi} pronunciation seems to be the most difficult for westerners to pick up. I have found that it is closest to the the French u, but with a more drawn out "ee" at the end. Contrary to the Romanized spelling, there is no 'w' sound.
bonewso.net/koreangrammar/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=312
Consonants
Consonants come in 3 different kinds: Plain, Tense, and Aspirated which may be nigh indistinguishable for non-native speakers. I will try my best to make them distinguishable. Most Korean consonants also have 2 different pronunciations (again, this necessitates the use of romaja where as SeeU will automatically switch to the right pronunciation depending on the position of the consonant within a given word).
Further explanation as explained by Prince Syo (creator of the standard Korean recording list and owner/voicer of Kaneyama Shou):
Korean G D B sound the same as Japanese G D B
but the K T P sounds in Korean are aspirated and Japanese doesn't have any aspirated consonants
K T P in Japanese sounds like GG DD and BB in Korean (か た ぱ= 까 따 빠)
Technically the Korean J and JJ sounds are the same as Z and TS in Japanese(자=ざ 쟈=じゃ)
However, standard south Korean pronunciation (Seoul dialect) pronounces 자 and 쟈 the same. (As Japanese J)
Plain
ㄱ = g/k (giyeok)
ㄴ = n (nieun)
ㄷ = d/t (digeut)
ㅁ = m (mieum)
ㅂ = p/b (bieup)
ㅈ = j (jieut)
ㅅ = s/sh (siot)
ㄹ = r/l (rieul)
ㅎ = h (hieut)
ㅇ = soundless/ng
Plain consonants are pronounced like Japanese in that they are not aspirated.
For ㅅ, it is pronounced similarly to sh (more like a lisp than an actual sh like in sheep) before 이, 요, 유, 야, and 여. The 's' sound is soft, almost unvoiced.
For ㅈ, it is pronounced like a soft 'j' which will sound closer to a soft, un-aspirated 'ch.'
For ㄹ, it is pronounced like Japanese ら り る れ ろ in the initial position and like a clear L in the second position
ㅇ is a special character. It is a placeholder when in front of vowels and in the absence of consonants. Korean grammar dictates that vowels must either have a consonant in front of it or a placeholder. At the end of a word, it is pronounced as 'ng.'
Tense
Tense consonants are stronger than their Plain counterparts. Again, they are not aspirated. They are made by temporarily stopping your airflow before sounding out the consonant.
ㄲ = kk
ㄸ = tt
ㅃ = bb
ㅉ = jj
ㅆ = ss
Aspirated
Aspirated consonants are pronounced roughly or with puffs of air. The easiest way to explain this is that the consonants are closer to American pronunciations in that they're harsher and more pronounced.
ㅍ = p'
ㅊ = ch'
ㅌ = t'
ㅋ = k'
Videos to watch for hearing the difference between sounds:
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3f7-4OV4Z381oHkkq2atbjsXgeSDNlhU [SurvivingInKorea: Learning Korean]
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLABF2F59A4530A359 [sweetandtasty: Learn Korean with Professor Oh]
And of course watching a lot of Korean dramas and listening to a lot Korean music (feel free to ask me for recommendations).
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