Is the Korean ㄹ an R or an L?

Neither, and the position in the syllable decides which one it lands near. ㄹ is a single Korean sound English does not have. At the start of a syllable it is a quick tap, which English ears file as an R. At the end of a syllable it is an L. Two ㄹ letters meeting in the middle of a word give you a long, clear L.

This is why the same letter shows up as r in one romanization and l in another, and why neither spelling is wrong.

Three positions

Read those romanizations and you have the rule. Nothing about it needs memorising as a table, because the position does the work and your mouth follows the position.

⚠️ The position can move. 물 on its own ends in ㄹ, so it is an L. Add a particle and that ㄹ starts the next syllable instead: 물이 is mu-ri, 서울에 is seo-u-re. Same letter, new job.

What it actually is

The sound at the start is a tap: the tongue touches the ridge behind your teeth once and leaves. It is not the English r, where the tongue never touches anything, and it is not a rolled r either.

If you speak Spanish, Italian or Japanese, you already have this sound. If you speak only English, the closest thing you own is the American d in ladder or the tt in butter, which are taps rather than full consonants.

Where learners go wrong

• Using the English r. The tongue curls back and never makes contact, which produces a sound Korean does not have. It is one of the most recognisable English accents in Korean.
• Rolling it. A Spanish rr is several taps. Korean is one.
• Choosing one letter and sticking to it. Saying 물 with an r or 라면 with an l both sound off, and both come from deciding the letter before hearing the position.

The one that surprises people

A ㄹ at the end of one syllable meeting a ㄹ at the start of the next gives you a long, clear L. That is what is happening in 빨리 and it is the easiest of the three for an English speaker, because it is an ordinary L.

It also explains 서울 being written Seoul rather than Seour. The letter is at the end, so it is an L, and the romanization reflects the position rather than the letter.

How to practise it

1. Say 라면 with the tongue touching once and leaving. If your tongue never touches anything, that is the English r and it is the thing to change.
2. Say 물 with the L at the start of light rather than the heavy one at the end of full. The Korean one is the brighter of the two.
3. Say 빨리 and let it be a long L. Two ㄹ letters, one long sound.
4. Do not try to pick between R and L. Say the word and let the position decide, which is what a Korean speaker is doing.

The short version

One letter, two positions, and a third case when two of them meet. A tap at the start of a syllable, an L at the end, a long L in between. Romanizations that pick a single letter for all of it are making a choice Korean never made.

Read next

• Is Romanization Bad for Learning Korean?
• Korean Final Consonants: Why 학교 Sounds Like Hak-kkyo