# "American"



## pruny99

Hi,
I am a research assistant for an author.  He needs the word "American" as it might sound if a Korean were saying it.  In other words, a phonetic spelling of "American."  Is there anyone out there who might know how to say this?

Thank you so much,
Anne


----------



## Leopold

I, personally, have no idea, and maybe an approximation would not be adequate for this, but that's the only thing i can offer 
An American friend of mine who has lived with Koreans in America tells me that the would say: *a mhe li kan*   or  *a mhe li ken*    (dipending on how similar to the English sound they want to do it). The "mhe" stays for a "me" with a slightly longer "e".
I cannot provide you a phonetic spelling, but i can tell you that these vowels would probably be more similar in pronunciation to the Italian or Spanish ones than to the English ones.
Unfortunately, nothing of this is for sure. I hope some Korean will see this thread and be able to give you a more accurate answer.

L.


----------



## yngnhe

Hello, i am from Korea, and i think i know how Korean speaks. They first speak the vowels long ,as A- Mhe-li -Kaaaaan. I don't know why but it's the way how Korean speak Korean too. sometimes people say A-Mhe-li-GGan. I hope it helped you


----------



## hye young

hmm...I have a slightly different opinion.
American : ah-meh-ri-kahn 아메리칸
America : ahmehrikah 아메리카
I think the two above are more proper ways to spell it phonetically. But there is a difference when you pronounce -ri-. Because in Korean, it is not exactly 'r' nor 'l'. But if I have to spell it in English alphabet I'd choose 'r' because we *don't* really say like ah-meh-*Li*-kahn. And moreover, there shouldn't be any pause in pronouncing the word. I mean, we just pronounce it phonetically equally. (no stresses, no longer vowels)


----------



## Polak2008

미국 사람.
miguk saram.


----------



## javiskefka

I know of a website that may be helpful for your purposes.  I would post a link to it, but it seems that I need to prove that I'm not a robot first to gain the privilege.  Search the web for: Korean Accented English Pronunciation Simulator.

The website gives a background on Korean-English interlanguage phonetics and provides a means for simulating the pronunciation of English words by native Korean speakers of various levels of proficiency.


----------

