You know, Younghoe Koo, the kicker for the Atlanta Falcons? Koo is the first Korean NFL player since Hines Ward, and his given name is a low-hanging source of memes and jokes.
But his name isn't pronounced the way you think it is. Well, the first syllable is. Young is young. Or rather, 영 is Young. The second syllable, 회 or Hoe, is pronounced more like "hweh". think Stewie Griffin's "cool hwip" sound...
And the second part "eh" sounds like "meh", making "hweh".
This is where dipthongs come in. A dipthong is the combination of two vowels in a single syllable. The korean syllable 회 is made of three characters:
| Korean | ㅎ | ㅗ | ㅣ |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | H | O | E |
which immediately betrays the reason for the "hoe" spelling. But the ㅚ dipthong makes the "hweh" sound instead of the "oh" sound that you think when you see the "oe" dipthong.
Similarly, 최 or Choi is a common Korean surname that often gets mispronounced, as in "choice". But the correct pronunciation is similar to Younghoe Koo's "hweh", but with a "ch" sound to make "chweh". This is a mouthful syllable that even Koreans often neglect to enunciate perfectly. Nevertheless, it sounds nothing like the "hoe" sound you expect when you see Younghoe Koo's name.