Ayumi offered some realistic advice to LE SSERAFIM’s Sakura about pronunciation struggles.
On the March 4th KST episode of JTBC’s ‘Knowing Foreigners’, Ayumi (Japan), Nichkhun (Thailand), Julian (Belgium), and Fabien (France) appeared as guests.
Ayumi recalled her 2006 solo promotions with ‘Cutie Honey’, saying, “It’s an anime OST. I wrote the lyrics myself. Since I was trying to match the Japanese lyrics, I ended up writing ‘a girl like me with small and pretty hips.’ But back then, I had trouble pronouncing ‘hips’ properly. Sakura, you probably understand this struggle.”
She continued, “Japanese pronunciation doesn’t have ‘ㅓ’ or final consonants like ‘ㅇ' so my pronunciation came out as ‘ondoni.’ But since people found it cute, I felt like I had to keep doing it. Even though my pronunciation improved after performing on music shows every week, people expected me to keep the mispronunciation, so I had no choice.”
Sakura then asked for tips on improving her final consonant pronunciation, admitting, “I can’t differentiate ‘ㅇ,’ ‘ㄴ,’ and ‘ㅁ.’ There’s a phrase ‘transformed,’ but if I pronounce it with ‘ㅇ,’ it changes the meaning, so I have to be careful.”
Ayumi advised her to practice each syllable separately, saying, “I struggle with it too. Try saying ‘엉. 덩. 이.’ one syllable at a time.”
However, Nichkhun reassured Sakura, saying, “Not being able to pronounce it perfectly can actually be charming.”Ayumi also added, “Don’t fix it,” while Boom encouraged her, saying, “That’s part of your character.”
Ayumi then shared her own experience, explaining how people exaggerated her “short-tongued” greeting style, saying, “I used to say, ‘Hello, I’m Ayumi,’ but people mimicked me with an even shorter-tongued version. I never actually spoke like that, but now, every time I meet someone, they ask me to do it. I moved back to Korea in 2019, and they still ask me to greet them like that. I’m 40 now!”
Despite her frustration, when Jonathan requested a short greeting, Ayumi played along, mimicking the way people impersonate her. She then shared a practical piece of advice for juniors in the industry, saying, “If people expect a certain character from you, you have to keep it. That’s how you stay in the industry for a long time.”
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