Korean Job Discussion Forums

[CarolinaTHeels]

Ok so I finally looked up a word my students say to me all the time when I tell them something they dont like.

The word is "shebar" or something to that effect.

Online it says it means f***. So im gonna assume it really means f*** you. Am I correct?

Wow, korean kids have to take the cake when it comes to disrespect. lol

Wont be allowing that word anymore.

Any other words I should be on the look out for?

[Jack_Sarang]

Are you sure its Shebal and not Shill-uh?

The first can be loosely translated as *beep* and the second means I don't want to/I don't like it.

Honestly, any kid who says '씨발' (she bal) in your class should be ejected, whether it's directed at you or not.

[CarolinaTHeels]

I am almost 100% positive it is shebal.

Or sometimes sounds like sheberl"

Def sounds like a "b" sound in there and no "u"

[furtakk]

it may also be 싫다 (shil-tah), which means the same thing as the above, just in a different form.

if they're saying she-pal in your class, definitely set things straight. that's incredibly disrespectful.

[rainism]

the way the word sounds to me romanized would be

she-bahl.

and I would know because I hear the word at least a thousand times each day. It comes attached to every sentence uttered by almost every student at my school.

I've been told new incoming Korean teachers are "shocked" at how commonplace this "swearing" is at our school. They don't hear this at academic schools much but welcome to the world of vocational schools.

essentially it's the most common (by far) Korean "expletive". It could be equivalent to our f.. and f-ing.. though I sometimes get the sense it's not quite as strong.

your student shouldn't dare utter the word at you, but if our school were to expel every student who uttered that word to a friend or classmate even in the teacher's presence, there wouldn't be any students left

[fustiancorduroy]

The word 씨발 is one of the most vulgar words in Korean, if not the most vulgar. A student shouldn't say it to one of their teachers, but if they just say it to each other, then perhaps it's better just to look the other way.

[rainism]

[koreatimes]

[rainism]

[sbp59]

It's shocking how much these kids swear in class and to each other. They just assume all foreigners can't understand korean, they also speak banmal all the time to the foreign teachers at my school. Speaking ban mal to your teacher or an older person is so disrespectful in their culture.

One grade 5 boy actually told me, your not a korean person when I told him to stop speaking ban mal to me.

[northway]

[fustiancorduroy]

[rainism]

[fustiancorduroy]

The first consonant of Korean words is usually pronounced with a lot of aspiration, making the sound harder. Koreans also have a tendency to produce sounds through their noses, which might also contribute to the confusion. Moreover, "m" and "b" are closely related sounds anyway, which is why the ㅁ and ㅂ characters look so similar (just as ㄷ and ㅌ look similar because "d" and "t" are similar sounds), so if your students say the word with much aspiration, it can come out sounding somewhat like a "b". In any case, the word is 뭐라고 (mwo-ra-go), not 붜라고 (bwo-ra-go). You can see Naver's dictionary definition here: http://dic.naver.com/search.nhn?target=dic&query=%EB%AD%90%EB%9D%BC%EA%B3%A0&x=0&y=0&ie=utf8&query_utf=&isOnlyViewEE=[/url]

[koreatimes]