Conquering Korean! #2

So after reviewing the things I learned last night... "hello, excuse me, yes, no, thank you, thank you, how much is ___? this, that, give me, water, more, that's alright, and I'm sorry"

I gave in and decided if my flash cards were going to mean anything, then I would need to learn the alphabet. You can't swim before you sink, right?

It's a slow going process, but, and I thought this was interesting, the consonant that is giving me the most trouble is riul-- the "r/l" consonant. Yes, that very one which we in the English-speaking parts of the world, say that speakers of Asian languages always get confused (i.e. they confuse "l" sounds with "r" sounds).

But riul isn't truly an "r" sound, nor truly an "l" sound...it's somewhere in between. But that's a middle ground, a gray area, that isn't wholly present in the English alphabet, and thus, I find myself having difficult pronouncing it ^.^ I want it to be either a "l" sound or a "r" sound.. which, I know, is projecting my own language aesthetics onto a foreign language, something that I need to rid myself of quickly if I want this to be meaningful.

Lastly, I find that I have to make some corrections in the way that I say certain words, "hello" and "thank you" in particular. I picked up these words purely from auditory perception--through kdramas-- and now I find that I say a vowel incorrectly. I know that if I say if fast enough, or mumble it quietly enough, that the difference isn't readily noticeable (because anyone fluent in a language slurs together vowels and consonants anyway) but it still irks me. So I find myself being especially careful with these words, which of course, makes me sound like an amateur >.<

But I'm enjoying it so far. And I can't help giggle occasionally from the knowledge that I'm actually learning this. Or at least, attempting to learn it! :)