Foreign words when used in Korean undergoes transcription, to make them pronounceable and memorable. Transcription into Korean, for the most part, is very similar to or even influenced by transcription into Japanese, although the number of homophones resulted by imperfect mapping of foreign sounds onto native sounds is significant smaller, as Korean has a larger phoneme inventory and a more inclusive phonotactic.
Practicalities of transcription
The typicalsyllable structure of Korean is CGVC, with C being "consonant", G "glide", and V "vowel". Consonants and glides are optional. A few English words may get irregular transcription treatment, likely due to the influence of Japanese. Eg: shirt → 샤츠 sya-cheu ; mother → 마더 ma-deo ; dragon → 드래곤 deu-rae-gon ; level → 레벨 re-bel. For the most part, transcription into Korean is phonemic, i.e., based on the phonologies of both the source and the target languages. However, , an allophone of /r/ in Korean, is utilized syllable-finally and intervocalically to transcribe the foreign sound /l/. This makes the foreign sound /l/ more transcribable into Korean than it is into Japanese, which has no strategic differences between and /r/. E.g.: ball → 볼 bol ; gallon → 갤런 gal-leon. Note that is always geminated intervocallically in transcriptions. E.g.: Hellen → 헬렌 Hel-len. Syllable-initially, the foreign liquid sounds /r/ and /l/ are rendered as /r/. E.g.: right and light → 라이트 ra-i-teu Consonants and vowels are transcribed to the native ones that approximate them the most, because, of course, Korean does not have all the sounds of all languages, nor has it developed any new sounds due to recent linguistic contact like Japanese with new sounds like /f/ or even /v/. E.g.: father → 파더 pa-deo into Korean, but as either b or v'' into Japanese.
Consonants
Like Japanese, Korean does not allow any consonant clusters other than CG, therefore, when foreign words with such clusters are transcribed, the clusters are broken down and distributed among several syllables. For example, the English word brand is transcribed into Korean as 브랜드 beu-raen-deu, wherein the sequence bran is broken down into two syllables, beu-raen. In these cases, a vowel ㅡ eu is inserted in between the consonants of the cluster. Korean has seven consonants that can occur at the end of a syllable and that are used in transcriptions. Those are /p/, /t/, /k/, /r/, /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/. /p/, /t/ and /k/ generally represent foreign voiceless consonants, although /p/ and /k/ occasionally denote voiced consonants, too. E.g.: lab and lap → 랩 raep; deck → 덱 dek. Foreign /t/ is variously rendered as ㅅ or 트 teu. E.g.: secret → 시크릿 si-keu-rit; set → 세트 se-teu. Foreign /p/, /t/, /k/ are rendered using jamoㅂ, ㅅ, ㄱ if the preceding foreign vowel is short, but generally using 프 peu, 트 teu, 크 keu if that vowel is long or a diphthong. E.g.: map → 맵 maep, but mark → 마크 ma-keu and type → 타이프 ta-i-peu . Foreign /l/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ are always rendered using jamo ㄹ, ㅁ, ㄴ, ㅇ, regardless of the quality of the preceding vowel. E.g.: Tom → 톰 Tom; time → 타임 ta-im. Syllable-finally, foreign consonants not covered by the seven sounds above are transcribed as Cㅡ Ceu. E.g.: dead → 데드 de-deu ; speed → seu-pi-deu ; five → 파이브 pa-i-beu ; life → 라이프 ra-i-peu.
Vowels
Also, like Japanese, modern Korean lacks diphthongs. Likewise, foreign diphthongs are broken down and distributed among two syllables. For example, English eye is transcribed into Korean as 아이 a-i, wherein the diphthong /aɪ/ is rendered as a-i. Korean has a larger phoneme inventory than Japanese, which allows broader coverage when transcribing foreign sounds. Whereas Japanese uses a single "a" sound for various English sounds such as /æ/, /ɑː/, /ə/, /ʌ/, Korean uses ㅐ ae for /æ/, ㅏ a for /ɑː/, ㅓ eo for /ə/ and /ʌ/. E.g.: hand → 핸드 haen-deu; card → 카드 ka-deu; hunter → 헌터 heon-teo. Occasionally, however, the choice of sounds for transcription is influenced by Japanese. E.g.: brother → 브라더 beu-ra-deo ; dragon → 드래곤 deuraegon. Like Japanese, transcription from English into Korean is largely based on Received Pronunciation. However, while Japanese still denotes English vowels like /ɑː/ in car, /ɔː/ in course, /ə/ in monster as lengthened vowels, Korean ignores vowel length almost entirely, although such length is still indirectly denoted in some cases mentioned above with the use of 프 peu, 트 teu, 크 keu. E.g.: car → 카 ka ; card → 카드 ka-deu ; course → 코스 ko-seu ; monster → 몬스터 mon-seu-teo.
