Korean Job Discussion Forums

[yingwenlaoshi]

Ok. It's not much.

The reason why children or adults might speak in banmal to foreigners is because they are taught English in banmal. When they translate, they use banmal.

I often seems to me that when I ask a student how to say a sentence in Korean, they use it. I'm not sure if it's because they're translating it the way I would speak to them though. Or the way they would speak to each other.

In short, I'm not sure. Someone please spread some light on this.

[the_beaver]

Simple Korean of the sort that adults speak to children and pets is 반말. Without thinking, some Koreans speak 반말 to foreigners because of the perception that it's somehow simpler and easier to understand.

And, of course, some people are shit heads.

[yingwenlaoshi]

Yeah, but in the classroom, when translating (God help us all), do the Korean teachers translate English sentences into simple Korean?

[jeffkim1972]

All you need to do with English is add the word "please" in the ending or beginning, then it's no longer banmal.

Banmal in english is just talking without the pleases and titles. There is a Korean word for "please" but it's rarely used.

[yingwenlaoshi]

[the_beaver]

[yingwenlaoshi]