Pronunciation Trainer Resources

The Korean Pronunciation Trainer Resources

Hi! If you’re seeing this, you’ve probably purchased my Korean Pronunciation Trainer (if not, you can get it at the store). I’m going to be using this page to keep track of changes, to provide instructions for repairing problems, and to have a central place to keep the instructional videos that you should watch before using your pronunciation trainer.

ESSENTIAL VIDEOS TO START LEARNING

– Instructions for using your pronunciation trainer effectively
– Korean Video 1: Korean Alphabet (Hangul) and 12 of its Consonants
– Korean Video 2: Korean Consonants – Part 2
– Korean Video 3: Korean Vowels
– Korean Video 4: Korean’s Spelling Rules

HOW TO USE ANKI

– How to use Anki for the first time
– Creating an AnkiWeb account
– Getting Anki synchronized across your various devices
– I’m having trouble installing Anki or the deck, where can I get help?

MODIFYING YOUR DECK

– Optional spelling test version

LANGUAGE LEARNING RESOURCES

– Other useful resources specifically for learning Korean
– Fluent Forever Help Center

FLUENT FOREVER PRONUNCIATION TRAINER VS FLUENT FOREVER APP

– Are the Fluent Forever Pronunciation Trainers the same as the Fluent Forever App?
– I heard you have an app in development, but I just bought your other materials. What do I do?

Want to get the Fluent Forever App? You can still help Fluent Forever create the first app that can bring you all the way to fluency — find Fluent Forever on Indiegogo.

NEXT STAGE OF THE FLUENT FOREVER METHOD

– I’ve completed the pronunciation trainer, what do I do next?

UPDATES TO THE PRONUNCIATION TRAINER

– Pronunciation trainer versions changes
– Bug reports to be reviewed
– Get the latest version

ESSENTIAL VIDEOS TO START LEARNING

Instructions for using your pronunciation trainer effectively:


Korean Video 1: Korean Alphabet (Hangul) and 12 of its Consonants


Korean Video 2: Korean Consonants – Part 2


Korean Video 3: Korean Vowels


Korean Video 4: Korean’s Spelling Rules


Note: If you’d like more information on phonetics and the IPA, check out this series of videos. I’ve also create the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Anki deck, which is available at the Fluent Forever shop.

HOW TO USE ANKI

How to use Anki for the first time

First, you’ll need to install Anki onto your computer if you haven’t already. The details of how to install Anki is provided in the ReadMe file you received with your Pronunciation Trainer. Once you have followed these instructions and installed Anki, you’re free to start studying using the pronunciation trainer deck.

If you have more questions about Anki and learning Korean, there’s also the Anki language learners community on Reddit. You can even check out this Anki language learning blog for other Anki tips and tricks for learning Korean.

If you’ve never dealt with Anki before, we’ve created Anki video tutorials to help guide you when using Anki for the first time. You will find tutorials about:

  • Getting Anki installed and making your first flashcards
  • Installing the Model Deck
  • Learning Simple Spellings and Sounds with the Model Deck
  • Learning Simple Words with the Model Deck
  • Creating Flashcards with images and sound files

Go to our How to use Anki page to access the tutorials.

Creating an AnkiWeb account

Create a free AnkiWeb account to regularly and automatically save your Anki data online by syncing your computer’s Anki account with an AnkiWeb account.

This is useful if you lose all your Anki files on your computer and want to download the latest version of your Anki decks and cards. Having an AnkiWeb account means you can also study your Anki deck and cards on several devices, such as your computer, smartphone and tablet, and you can easily move your decks and cards to different devices.

Learn how to create an AnkiWeb account for free here.

Getting Anki synchronized across your various devices (Laptops, smartphones, etc.)


I’m having trouble installing Anki or the deck, where can I get help?

If you are having difficulties installing Anki or the deck, please check out the Fluent Forever Help Center as your question may already be answered there.

If you can’t find the answer at the Fluent Forever Help Center, you can either post the problem on the forum or send us an email. Please include as much detail as possible and screenshots of the issue.

MODIFYING YOUR DECK

Optional spelling test version

This is an optional version of the deck that asks you to actually type in words to test your spelling, rather than just spelling out the words in your head.

I’ve included a pre-made version of this called the “Optional Spelling Test Version” in the pronunciation trainer download. If you would like to have this feature in your deck, please follow the instructions in your ReadMe file.

LANGUAGE LEARNING RESOURCES

Other useful resources specifically for learning Korean

We have a dedicated page of other Korean learning resources. These are books, websites and tools that I personally recommend using.

There is also a general language learning resources page on our website that provides a list of tools and resources that may also be useful for you.

There are also some useful Anki flashcards for Korean to improve your pronunciation, such as the Korean alphabet, IPA pronunciation and other useful goodies.

You can even access ready-made Korean Anki decks to boost up your Korean vocabulary which is recommended, as it could save you time and get you started faster.

Fluent Forever Help Center

The Fluent Forever help center provides you with advice and answers from the Fluent Forever Team about the most common questions users have. You can access articles about:

FLUENT FOREVER PRONUNCIATION TRAINER VS FLUENT FOREVER APP

Are the Fluent Forever Pronunciation Trainers the same as the Fluent Forever App?


Nope, they’re different!

The Fluent Forever Pronunciation Trainers are a set of videos and audio-visual flashcards. To use them, you watch some videos on YouTube, then you download a flashcard app called Anki, load our pronunciation trainer flashcards into Anki, and start studying. After 2-3 weeks, you’ll have a solid foundation in the sound system of your target language, both in terms of ear training and in terms of the spelling system. After that, you can go create flashcards on your own within Anki, as described within the Fluent Forever book. We began creating these trainers in 2013, and finished in late 2017.

The Fluent Forever App is a much bigger project that we’re currently working on. Many of our users have had trouble learning how to use Anki, or have found that parts of the flashcard creation process were overly tedious. Instead of spending all of their time exploring their new language, they were getting stuck, spending their time struggling with flashcard creation.

In response, we decided to make our own mobile app that could automate the entire Fluent Forever method, so that a student could focus all of their time on exploring their target language, while the app created flashcards automatically, based upon that student’s choices. While the Fluent Forever App DOES teach pronunciation in the first few weeks, that’s only a small part of what it can do. It’s designed to take you all the way to fluency, teaching you vocabulary and grammar from 1,875 sentences we’re making, and letting every user of the app share their original content with every other user of the app. Within the next year or two, this will become the largest database of easily learnable sentences in the world. We began this project in late 2017, and we should have a final version ready by August of 2018. If you’d like to get early, discounted access, join our Indiegogo campaign: http://indiegogo.fluent-forever.com

I heard you have an app in development, but I just bought your other materials. What do I do?

Want to get the Fluent Forever App? You can still help Fluent Forever create the first app that can bring you all the way to fluency — find Fluent Forever on Indiegogo.

NEXT STAGE OF THE FLUENT FOREVER METHOD

I’ve completed the pronunciation trainer, what do I do next?

If you have completed the pronunciation trainer deck you will no longer see any daily cards to review in Anki. If you’re still having problems with pronunciation, you could ask for help at the Reddit Forum for Anki
Language Learning or try Rhinospike.com for help. There are also other websites that have pre-made flashcard deck resources which are highly recommended, such as the alphabet flashcards, IPA pronunciation flashcards and other useful goodies. There’s also blogs about language learning tips with Anki in general which could help you.

The next step in becoming fluent in Korean is to learn a set of extremely common, simple words using pictures, not translations. There are 625 basics words that are commonly used. You can purchase the Wordlist for Korean at the shop and begin creating cards to study.

There’s also the option of using ready-made decks of Korean vocabulary, or checking out a Korean frequency dictionary.

You can read more about this stage of the Fluent Forever method in Chapter 4 of the Fluent Forever Book entitled “Word Play and the Symphony of a Word”. If you don’t already have the book, you can purchase the audiobook version at our shop or purchase a physical copy online.

UPDATES TO THE PRONUNCIATION TRAINER

Pronunciation trainer versions changes

The following are the various versions of the Pronunciation Trainer, listed from the newest to oldest, along with information on new features and improvements in each version.

Version 3.0

On June 12, 2018, the Fluent Forever Korean Pronunciation Trainer Version 3.0 was released to the public.

What’s New

General
  • Upgraded the version number to 3.0, as part of a major concurrent update for all Pronunciation Trainers in order:
    • To phase out all Beta releases and move all Trainers into non-Beta
    • To make all Trainers uniform by placing them within the 3.0 version series (even for Trainers without a Version 2.0)
    • To make it easier for version control in the future
  • Updated the names of the folders, zip file and other files of the Pronunciation Trainer so that they are all standardized, easier to understand and follow the same conventions as all other Pronunciation Trainers in the 3.0 version series
  • Updated the URLs and titles of the Pronunciation Trainer Resources page so that they are all standardized, easier to understand, and follow the same conventions as all other Pronunciation Trainers in the 3.0 version series
  • Added a new hidden, suspended note in the Pronunciation Trainer Anki deck which includes basic information about the current version number of that particular deck. This will make it faster for users to get Fluent Forever tech support for their specific version
  • Improved the documentation and accessibility of version release notes and bug reports with updates
Word Stress Cards
  • Added new “Word Stress” cards for languages with word stress rules. Those languages included: Spanish LA, Spanish EU, Dutch, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese
What’s the Meaning of Words Cards
  • Deprecated: “What’s the word?” and “What’s the word mean?” card types
  • Modified the “Picture Words” card model so that it doesn’t force students to try and memorize words, but rather just spell them or pronounce them out loud.
  • Created distinct Trainer versions for “Old Users” and “New Users”. Old Users are those who have already installed and used the Trainer in the past, and would like to update their Trainer. New Users have never installed and used the Trainer before. Users must use their respective Trainer version so that the “Picture Words” cards display properly.
ReadMe File
  • Changed the filetype from HTML to PDF
  • Updated the design of the ReadMe file, such as the color scheme and formatting, to improve user experience
  • Improved the explanations of each of the ReadMe file steps to make them easier to understand
  • Included screenshots of the main steps to make the ReadMe file more user-friendly
  • Added a FAQ section with useful answers, such as suggestions for what to do after finishing the Trainer, and the difference between the Pronunciation Trainer and the Fluent Forever App
  • Removal of references in the ReadMe file to the Beta version of the Trainer
  • Included link to the Fluent Forever App as a faster alternative to the Trainer
Bug Fixes
  • Cards 265, 271, 280: IPA for Sound changed to dʑ
  • Cards 266, 272, 299: IPA for Sound changed to tɕʰ
  • Cards 303, 311, 319:
    a) Spelling (a letter or combination of letters) changed to ㄷ
    b) Example Word (Letters in red) changed to correct the highlighted letter
    c) Word with Letter Missing changed to correct the highlighted letter
  • Cards 304, 312, 320:
    a) Spelling (a letter or combination of letters) changed to ㅅ
    b) Example Word (Letters in red) changed to correct the highlighted letter
    c) Word with Letter Missing changed to correct the highlighted letter
  • Cards 305, 313, 333:
    a) Spelling (a letter or combination of letters) changed to ㅈ
    b) Example Word (Letters in red) changed to correct the highlighted letter
    c) Word with Letter Missing changed to correct the highlighted letter
    d) IPA for Sound changed to tɕ͈
  • Cards 326, 332, 340: IPA for Word changed to aŋge
  • Cards 325, 331, 353:
    a) IPA for Word changed to summu
    b) Recording for the Word changed, where the speaker isn’t speaking it so carefully (if they do it very carefully, then they will say “”sun mu””, but if they say it casually then it will be “”summu””)
  • Cards 147. 154. 191: IPA for sound changed from we/we to we. It used to be that this sound could also show up as ø, but that’s apparently not happening in modern Korean speakers much, anymore, so we’re cutting that.
  • Card 381: Deleted this because it’s a duplicate to a spelling rule
  • Cards 67 and 71: IPA changed from sʰɯmini to sʰɯnimi

Responses to Previous Bug Reports

Other bug reports may have been given about the previous version of this Trainer, and all of them were checked and considered. To see a full list of the bug reports that were checked, including details of whether those bugs were fixed or not fixed for the latest version of the Trainer, please see this Trainer’s: Bug Reports for “All Versions Prior to Version 3.0

All versions prior to Version 3.0

Bug Fixes & Bug Reports
  • I suggest that when the Korean reader is speaking the single letter, they voice it, even though the example word may be showing it in the initial position when it is unvoiced. I’ve noticed this in audios in other Korean language learning programmes. If you’re wanting to teach pronunciation, then I assume you will want the audio to say the actual sound, not the way that Koreans think of it.
    e.g. card 68 당은 with the first letter highlighted.
    I think the male reader says “d” then the female reader says “taŋgɯn”.
    Replaced the one in 68
  • 20: Both audios sound very harsh, and I can’t hear the difference. Reduced harshness in a bunch of that speaker’s files.
  • 28: minjy. The English pronunciation sounds artificial, and to my ears the korean doesn’t sound authentic. Swapping out for a new recording
  • 22: is there a difference between these recordings? I can’t hear it. The vowels sound different, but not the consonants. I’m hearing a vowel and a consonant shift here..
  • It’s better if the speaker doesn’t pause for English two-word examples, otherwise this provides a clue to listeners as to which is the Korean sound and which is the two-word English sound.
  • 28, 65: The male reader pronounces dz more like zh.Swapping out for a new recording on 28 and 65
  • 39: The Korean and the English are both described as hʌm, so are they different at all?
    To my ear, the English vowel is a bit longer, but not longer than I have heard many Korean words pronounced. And to my ears, the recording of the Korean vowel almost sounds like taŋgɯn rather ʌ. – IPA has limits – especially when it comes to vowels – in terms of how specifically it describes a sound/position. This distinction is too small to show up in an IPA change, even though the sounds are different.
  • Sometimes the limitation is in the quality of the audio recording, but listening to the Korean? say “ill” on card 15, he seems to be pronouncing it “iw” like many Asians do when saying our “l”. Keeping this one for the moment.
  • In many instances I’ve heard of a Korean saying “n” ㄴ at the beginning of a word, it almost sounds like an unaspirated “d”.
    A common word that turns up in many Korean TV shows is 누구 = “who”, which often sounds like “dugu”, or at least that the speaker has a blocked nose.
  • I just downloaded the Korean trainer and saw Richard England’s comment while looking through the read-me. He is right. Some Koreans distinguish between initial and non-initial nasal ㄴ and ㅁ comparably to how they distinguish between initial and non-initial stops ㄷ and ㅂ (and ㄱ and ㅈ). They pronounce the initial sounds stronger, which involves devoicing the stops and turning the nasals into prenasalized voiced stops (and the prenasalization can disappear). Just as 누구 ‘who?’ can sound like *두구, 뭐 ‘what?’ can sound like 붜.Another place where you can hear a stop that isn’t written is in double ㅆwhich can sound before a vowel like ㅆㄷ (not directly writable in Korean) i.e. strong Korean sibilant ㅆ plus stop ㄷ. A common example 있어요 ‘is’ can sound like *있더요. Choo and O’Grady, Sounds of Korean is great for high-and mid-level pronunciation matters but tends to gloss over low-level ones. BTW I don’t think learners have to imitate these pronunciations but they do need be ready for them when listening to a native Korean speaker. Interesting. We’ll keep this in the list of eventual changes/additions to make for the future!
  • add pronunciation diagrams to flashcards We’ll keep this one too as a potential addition to make in the future.

Recent bug reports (posted December 2015):

  • 204: “Spelling” is ㄴㅊ, should be ㄴㅈ [fixed]
  • 214: “Recording of the sound” sounds very weird [fixed]
  • 241 & 257: word should be written “멋있다” no space, not “멋있 다” — the graphics and “example word” are both wrong. [fixed]
  • 261, 267: the “ㅍ” is only partially masked in the graphics, which gives clues to the answer on certain cards [fixed]
  • 262: “spelling” is ㅋ,ㅁ should be ㄱ,ㅁ [fixed]
  • 263, 276: IPA is “hangugʌ”, should be “angjʌŋ” [fixed]
  • 282: “Spelling” is ㅊ,ㅁ, should be ㅅ,ㅁ [fixed]
  • 306, 314, 338: “let’s look” is actually spelled 봐요–I personally feel you didn’t choose a great example here. In addition, your native speaker seems to be pronouncing clearly and slowly and not showing the w-glide you wanted to highlight. [Tricky, and not entirely sure whether we need a new recording or a new example. I’m seeing 보아요 used on the net quite a bit – seems like it shows up a lot in picture books for kids – e.g., http://tinyurl.com/nm469lg – perhaps the translation needs editing? In the meantime, fixed the IPA and swapped in a better recording.]
  • 322: the ㅚ in the first syllable is highlighted/blanked out, rather than the ㅘ in the last syllable. Same problem with too much clear articulation as 306. [fixed]
  • 367, 372,: To illustrate Korean culture, you’ve used a picture of the US White House. [Ha! yeah, not a great pic for that. Fixed.]
  • 407: The “English meaning” caption reads “dessert” when in fact the picture is of a desert. [Fixed. Should be “desert”.]
  • 416: “지갑” means wallet or coin purse; the picture you show is more of a 가방 or 핸드백 [fixed image]

Earlier bug reports received:

  • On the “ostrich” card, the speaker is saying a “p” sound and not a “t” sound. [FIXED]
  • After you flip many (but not all) the cards, the audio is not available. [NOT SURE WHY THIS IS HAPPENING OR IF IT’S HAPPENING TO ANYONE ELSE.]
  • The “R” shortcut to hear the audio on the card for ㅇㅏㄹ (“egg”) won’t work. Also, with other sets, there was a link so that you could replay without using the keyboard. Was it deliberate to leave that out this time? [ANYONE ELSE SEEING THIS?]
  • Some of the IPA symbols you use do not show up on the Android client (my primary study location). What I have noticed specifically is that the diacriticals indicating unreleased and tensed consonants do not display. [WE CAN EXPERIMENT WITH USING IMAGES INSTEAD OF IPA FONTS. TENSE CONSONANTS ARE OFTEN A MESS WITH COMPUTERS (UNRELEASED ONES SEEM TO BE A BIT MORE COMPATIBLE…)]
  • Card 104: “Spelling” is ㅋ when it should be ㄱ [FIXED]
  • Card 131: “Recording of the sound” does not match pronunciation in “Recording of the Word”. [FIXED, LARGELY. THERE’S ALWAYS GOING TO BE SOME VARIATION HERE, BUT I WENT WITH A CLOSER RECORDING.]
  • Card 223 & 230: “Spelling” is ㅌ instead of ㅅ; “Notes on usage” discusses word-final ㄷ,ㅌ,ㅈ,ㅊ,ㅅ,ㅆ but the highlighted ㅅ is word-initial [FIXED]
  • Card 244: “Recording of the Sound” is a rolled /r/ instead of /b/ [FIXED]
  • The “Minimal Pair” card types and deck settings somehow reached into a previous trainer of yours (Latin American Spanish) that I had installed and changed what I had pre-existing. Since I personally prefer that minimal pair cards give only the correct answer on the back and not the wrong one, and I liked my settings I had in place for Spanish, I found this to be pretty annoying. Not sure how this is happening, as the models are named differently. [ANYONE ELSE SEEING THIS?]

Bug reports to be reviewed

Currently there are no bugs reported for Version 3.0.

If you encounter problems with your trainer: Please check that you are using the latest version of the Pronunciation Trainer before reporting any bugs.

If you encounter problems and are using the latest version: Either email it over or post it to the forum. Include screenshots if possible (if you need an image upload service, use Imgur.com), and be as detailed as you can! If the forum won’t cooperate or if you have something you’d prefer to send in private, send an email.

Please read through the bug report to check whether the bug has already been reported before sending an email or posting on the forum.

Get the latest version

Latest version of the Pronunciation Trainer: Version 3.0

If you have previously purchased the Pronunciation Trainer, you should have received an email regarding the release of the latest version and the direct link to download the latest version. If you did not receive the latest version, please send us an email.

If you do not have the Pronunciation Trainer, you can purchase it here: https://fluent-forever.com/product/fluent-forever-pronunciation-trainer/

[shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="28313910"]

Think In Any New Language

GET THE APP