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w as in was

y as in yellow

You will no doubt notice double consonants such as "bb" in some Korean words. Such pairs receive more aspiration than the corresponding single consonants. For example, b sounds like the ordinary "b" in boy, and p sounds like the "p" in pen, but "bb" falls in between—much like the p in the normal pronunciation of the word "open." Even if you have trouble differentiating single and double consonants, keep in mind that most Koreans will be able to understand you no matter how imprecisely you enunciate. The language's absence of tones—such as those in Chinese—further facilitates pronunciation and understanding.

Please note that the "si" combination is usually pronounced as "she"; therefore, "sip" (the number 10) sounds like "sheep" and not "sip" or "ship." When the letters "ssi" are used together, however, they are pronounced "see" with emphasis on the "s" sound. Thus, Ssi Rum is pronounced "see reum" and not "shee reum."

You will also notice that several letters and sounds—f, v, th, z, etc.—are conspicuously absent. This is because they do not exist in Korean.