It is a bit hard to know the correct pronunciation of a certain word only by its spelling, as there are differences between the spelling and the actual pronunciation. And it is also difficult to write down the word phonetically, because the pronunciation of English and that of Korean are not exactly the same. Reading the terms of Korean Medicine properly is very important. Yet we can often find a twist in foreigners' tongues and mispronunciations of those words. For that reason we realized that it is necessary to establish a principle of English transcription.

In this article, we tried to organize the outline of Phonetic Reading by classifying it into two categories -vowels and consonants- and give weight to vowels. There will be constant updates for a more clear understanding.

1.Principles

 Write according to the Standard Pronunciation - Not as the word is written but as it is pronounced. Especially in the case of final consonant (ㄷㅅㅈㅊㅌ t, ㄱㅋㄲ k)

ex)  벚꽃 [벋꼳]  - boejkkoch (☓)  beotkkot ()

      신라 [실라]  - Shinla (☓) Shilla ()

       월곶[월곧]  - Wolgoj (☓) Wolgot ()

 Shortest spelling - In the case of words that have duplicate consonants, one of them is omitted.

ex) 압구정 [압꾸정] - Apggujeong(☓)  Apgujeong ()

 If there are a number of available vowels, the most simple one is selected.

    ( as shown in the following table)

 Spacing words - Most of the words are divided into syllables and each syllable is capitalized.

ex) 집현전  Jip Hyeon Jeon

 There are 3 phonemes in Korean orthographic syllables - an initial sound (the consonants),  the medial syllable (the vowels and semivowels), a final consonant (the consonants).

  ex) 한강(Hangang) - ㅎ(h)ㄱ(g) is the initial sound, ㅏ(a) is the medial syllable, ㄴ(n)ㅇ(ng) is the final consonant.

  2. Pronunciation of Vowels

Korean	English-Phonetic sign	actual pronunciation with example
ㅏ	a  [ɑ]	a is pronounced as in art.
ㅑ	ya  [jɑ]	ya is pronounced as in yard or yah
ㅐ	ae  [æ]	ae is pronounced as in apple
ㅒ	yae  [jæ]	yae is pronounced as in Yankee
ㅓ	eo  [ə]	eo is pronounced as in about
ㅕ	yeo  [jə]	yeo is pronounced as in yearn
ㅔ	e  [e]	e is pronounced as in essay
ㅖ	ye  [je]	ye is pronounced as in yellow
ㅗ	o  [ɔ]	o is pronounced as in office
ㅛ	yo  [jɔ]	yo is pronounced as in yacht or yawn
ㅜ	u   [u]	u is pronounced as in foot
ㅠ	yu  [ju]	yu is pronounced as in universe
ㅡ	eu  [?]	eu is pronounced as in dave
ㅣ	i   [i]	i is pronounced as in image
ㅢ	ui  [?]	ui is pronounced as in ?
ㅚ	oe  [?]	oe is pronounced as in went
ㅟ	wi  [wi]	ui is pronounced as in with
ㅙ	wae [wæ]	wae is pronounced as in wagon
ㅞ	we  [we]	we is pronounced as in western
ㅘ	wa  [wa]	wa is pronounced as in water

*  exception

   여 - young, 우 - wu, 이 -yi

   3. Pronunciation of Consonants

Korean	English-Phonetic sign	actual pronunciation with example
ㄱ	g [g] k [k]	g is pronounced as in guest k is pronounced as in book
ㄴ	n [n]	n is pronounced as in news
ㄷ	d [d] t [t]	d is pronounced as in dog t is pronounced as in cat
ㄹ	l [l] r [r]	l is pronounced as in well r is pronounced as in radio
ㅁ	m [m]	m is pronounced as in money
ㅂ	b [b] p [p]	b is pronounced as in boy p is pronounced as in weep
ㅅ	s [s] sh [ʃ]	s is pronounced as in second sh is pronounced as in show
ㅇ	ng [ƞ]	ng is pronounced as in king
ㅈ	j [ʤ]	j is pronounced as in job.
ㅊ	ch [ʧ]	ch is pronounced as in check
ㅋ	k [k]	k is pronounced as in kiss
ㅌ	t [t]	t is pronounced as in today
ㅍ	p [p]	p is pronounced as in party
ㅎ	h [h]	h is pronounced as in heart
ㄲ	kk [?]
ㄸ	tt [?]
ㅃ	pp [?]
ㅆ	ss [?]
ㅉ	jj [?]

* ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ - g, d, b : in front of vowels

               k, t, p : in front of consonants or at the ending of the word (at the                          final consonant)

* ㄹ - r : in front of vowels

       l  : in front of consonants or at the ending of the word

* ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ (in the case of fortes)

4. Instances