B or P

How can i differentiate b and p?

안녕하세요 Eyerus! The letter ㅂ is pronounced as the English "b" while the letter ㅍ is pronounced as the English "p". You can check out the writing lessons for more details on each letter of the Korean alphabet. I hope that helps! - Sujung

Is it true that ㅂ sounds like "b" when at the beginning of a word and like "p" when at the end?

Hi James, It's more of the other way around actually! ㅂ at the beginning of a word sounds closer to a "p", or between a "p" and "b" (in contrast to ㅍ which would be a more airy "p"). ㅂ at the end of the word is a closed "b" (as in no air would exit the mouth) but if there is a vowel afterwards, it would sound like a normal "b". As an example, the word 밥 (rice) on it's own would be pronounced "bab" or almost "pab". However if we say 밥이 (the rice) it would be "bab-i" or almost "pab-i". You can hear the pronunciation of the these here: 밥 : http://translate.google.com/?hl=en&eotf=0&sl=auto&tl=en&q=%EB%B0%A5 밥이 : http://translate.google.com/?hl=en&eotf=0&sl=auto&tl=en&q=%EB%B0%A5%EC%9D%B4 I hope this helps! Please let me know if you need any further help. - Sujung