📌 Vowel Diagram

Many Korean learners are confused by the difference in pronunciation between 'ㅐ/ɛ/' and 'ㅔ/e/'. Unfortunately some Korean tutors are teaching they pronunce the same without any explanation. Half is right, and half is wrong. Technically, they are not same. 'ㅐ/ɛ/' and 'ㅔ/e/' are different vowels. They are used in the different words and manybe the pronouce is different, too.

 

This is the basic vowel diagram of Korean. As you can see, when you pronounce 'ㅐ', you need to open your mouth wider than 'ㅔ'. Also the tongue position of 'ㅐ' is lower than 'ㅔ'. 

Although 'ㅐ' and ‘ㅔ’ have different sounds, most Koreans pronounce these two vowels the same nowadays(except broadcasters). Koreans started to blur the distinction between 'ㅐ' and 'ㅔ’ at some point in the past, and now people pronounce them as something in-between. Therefore, there is no problem pronouncing them the same. Koreans would understand what word it is from the context.

 

These are examples of different words.