Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Zantetsuken]

This is for the 조선말 전문가들

I pretty much suck balls at Korean...I don't study at any school..nor buy any books...but I make it a point to pick up words and phrases here and there......commit them to memory and try to use them on the unsuspecting fools around me..

Anywho, everytime I've tried to find the equivalent for words like bro or dude (mate for you britannia dudes) I always get answers from Koreans like 사람 or 놈 or 친구.

Bro or dude does not mean person or friend to me...(well not exactly anyways) It has a different feel to me. I'd like to know if any of you have found a word that is more in line with dude...than the aforementioned words.

Like I'd like to say something like this "I'm a weird dude but I'm a cool dude." The Korean translation I guess is : 나는이상한사람 근데 멋있는사람이야 My point is that this doesn't have the same feeling or message.

So to all you waygooks slaving over your yonsei textbooks at starbucks coffee or you hardcore waygooks who take university classes in between your English teacher gigs......what say you on this most important subject?

[agoodmouse]

I learned a new phrase today: "예의가 up-da"

It means "you don't have any manners." It will come in handy soon, I think.

[cheolsu]

조선말 is what they call Korean in North Korea. It's called 한국말 (Hanguk-mal) here.

I've never met Koreans who talk like that. I don't think Koreans use different terms for person as a way of expressing emotion. What you're trying to say (I'm strange but cool) really doesn't carry over into Korean, much in the way that a lot of Korean expressions and ideas don't carry the same weight in English.

Korean revolves around honourifics and not using someone's name. You would either say nothing (eg "let's go) or use an honourific (eg "older brother, let's go"). You can use "ya!" to get someone's attention and it's their equivalent of "hey!", but it's not polite. You could use it to get someone's attention, the way we can say "dude!" in English, but I wouldn't use it to address someone.

Trying to talk to someone the same way in two very different languages just sounds strange. I have female students that call older cousins "cousin sister" because you call your older female cousins sachon eonni, but that doesn't make sense in English.

[NightSky]

[phoneboothface]

난 너무너무 멋져
눈이 눈이 부셔
그래도... 이상해

don't say that.

[jkelly80]

i like 놈. the closest equivalent to 'buey' in mexican spanish that i can find.

[Zantetsuken]

[phoneboothface]

[Zantetsuken]

[Toon Army]

[detourne_me]

Sheky is a pretty good replacement for bro, if you're friends with the person. Nom can be a little derogatory so be careful when using it around people you're not familiar with.
Hyung or hyung-nim is good too, when you're with men older than you, its a good way to show respect and project a close relationship.

For your other sentence, umm, my Koreans not great but I'd say something like:
저는 이생하 지만 멋이다.

[Zantetsuken]

[NightSky]

[phoneboothface]

what about 자식? 아저씨say that??

[billybrobby]

'bro' is just too culturally specific. There are a few words that are kiinda like that but with major differences. The main problem is that most Korean words of affection come with serious etiquette caveats. 자식, 놈 and 새끼 will get you into a fight in a lot of situations.

I'll give you the standard Wizened Korean Expert speech: you're trying to think in English and in a Western cultural context and then convert all that stuff into Korean, like it's feet to meters, but the language wasn't built for that. It was built for Korean culture and a Korean way of thinking and can't be seperated from it. It's like when I heard Koreans prattle on about "my senior told me this" and "my senior told me that" and have to tell them that nobody talks like that.

Ah, I love giving that speech.