Korean Job Discussion Forums

Konglishman · Joined: 14 Sep 2007 Location: Nanjing

Actually, "same same" is not just used in Korea as Konglish, but it is also used in Thailand and Laos. If I am not mistaken, I believe it is also used in Vietnam. Could it be that South Korean soldiers adopted this "same same" during the Vietnam War? Or is it simply a case of a lot of Koreans picking it up while on vacation in southeast Asia?

Note that "same same" sometimes becomes "same same but different".

Bryan · Joined: 29 Oct 2007

People have it on t-shirts in Thailand. It's probably Thai because the Thai language has a tendency of repeating words for emphasis or for situations like that. I think it's something that will spontaneously be said by a Thai even if he has never heard that phrase before, because of his native linguistic mindset.

Never met a single Korean who said that though.

Kikomom · Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:22 pm Post subject:

From the spanish 'samo samo'?

sojukettle · Joined: 23 Aug 2005 Location: Not there, HERE!

GreenlightmeansGO · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Location: Daegu

Could be a misunderstanding of the word 'same'. By wishing to compare two things, they wish to indicate the 'sameness' by using the word for both objects.

Just a guess.

Hyeon Een · Joined: 24 Jun 2005

I think Koreans who say it have been 'taught' it by native English speakers who've spent time in SE Asia. Not just English teachers, but GIs and the like too. I hear westerners say it a lot more than Koreans actually, especially when a foreigner is trying to 'dumb down' his/her English for the Korean they are speaking to.

Thumbnail Postermonkey · Joined: 24 Jul 2006

Simple. It's the stepbrother of "OK OK."

dalem · Joined: 30 Dec 2008

I know my kids say it, when they are trying to compare it to two things being the same. I admit that when i try to simplify my english for my kids i have said this too. *oops*. But it is something they can definatley understand.

When in Singapore, people who were not native english speakers, and even some who were, said 'can can' instead of 'yes i can do it'. Another instance of this happening.

ddeubel · Joined: 20 Jul 2005

"same, same" is a word that probably developed out of a pidgin in all those countries. A pidgin not really being a language but a simplified way for speakers of different languages to communicate.

One of the basic characteristics of a pidgin is a vocabulary that repeats. It often sounds like "baby talk". Short, monosyllabic words and an incomplete syntax. Google Tok Pisin and see how a pidgin develops into a language or creole. It is now one of New Guinea's national languages and what they use in Parliament. It sounds hilarious to us English speakers given the influence of English in the development and history of this language. For example - the word for helicopter is "whirly whirly".

So it is highly conceivable that "same, same" arose independently in all these languages - as a pidgin word that was eventually adopted into the local languages and dialects.

DD
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katepult · Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 6:16 am Post subject:

I agree with Hyeon Een, that Korean students are taught this expression by native teachers who either think that it's cute or think that it's a translation of a Korean expression. I'm not sure, but I think it's a direct translation of a Thai expression. It's incredibly annoying in SE Asia and even more so in Korea where it's not a normal mistake for Korean English speakers.
I worked at a hagwon where the former teacher had been to Thailand and loved it, then taught all the students to say, "same same." I spent a few months teaching them not to say it by telling them it was baby talk.