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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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antoniothegreat
Joined: 28 Aug 2005
Location: Yangpyeong
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 Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:18 am Post subject: lesson for asking for something, or requests |
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i am sure everyone else gets the standard korean student saying "give me candy" "five me pepero." "give me..." "i want ..."
so, because of the 5000 "Tony, give me pepero" i heard, i decided to do a lesson on polite requests. in that, i mean using please, and making it a question. for example, "May I have some pepero please?" so far i have the basics of making it a question using "may" or "can" and add please, but does anyone else have an idea or maybe a set of rules for this? anything can help. i guess i should say "could someone please help me?"
also, is there a reason in korean language that they refuse to use please? or is it just that their english isnt too good? or they are lazy...
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Ekuboko
Joined: 22 Dec 2004
Location: ex-Gyeonggi
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| Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:56 am Post subject: |
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They tend to translate "~ �ּ���" into English as "Give me ~."
When I was teaching international students (adult) at home, I encountered a rude Korean male who said that to me after he'd won a quiz in class. I was so shocked at his rudeness (plus he was arrogant and a problem student to boot), but now I know why Koreans tend not to equate "please" with being polite. |
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schwa
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Yap
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| Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 3:36 am Post subject: |
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Carrot approach.
I lined up my kids (grade 5) at the end of one class & modelled "May I have a candy please?" They had zero problem asking nicely & receiving as they left. Best 1000 won I ever spent. The pattern stuck. |
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sheba
Joined: 16 May 2005
Location: Here there and everywhere!
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| Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 4:11 am Post subject: |
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| I wrote "Can I ................... please?" and then I wrote a list of requests to go in the space eg. play a game, have some candy, use the bathroom, get a drink, go home, do my homework, open the window etc At first I only pushed the candy and game sentences which made them catch on pretty quick. I made sure they understood that the answer would always be no unless they used the complete sentence. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 4:34 am Post subject: |
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| Once they get the idea, this is a good time to teach them that 'Of course' is a good answer--but only to this kind of yes/no question. It drives me crazy when they answer regular y/n questions with 'of course'. |
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SPINOZA
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul
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| Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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| also, is there a reason in korean language that they refuse to use please? |
The Korean equivalent of 'please' is 'Chay Baerl' (difficult to pronounce, but fairly close) but it doesn't quite mean the same. In English we say please all the time but Chay Bael is like pleading apparently. If you make a simple request in Korean with Chay Bael on the end, you'd sound weird. It's just different.
In Korean, 'yo' signifies politeness.
See: Yogiyo ('over here', politely; if you just say yogi, which means 'here', you'll come across as rude, although it's acceptable to say it to a child); joo se yo (give me, politely), mwool a yo (I dunno, politely). So 'please' is superfluous because politeness is already signified by 'yo' or - if you need to use a higher realm of politeness - hamnida where that is applicable. Eg, Kamsa Hamnida is more polite than kamsa he yo, and Mi an hamnida more polite than Mi an he yo. There are others too like "Ol ma im ni ka?" (how much?) being more polite than "Ol ma ee yo?" So don't put 'hamnida' on the end of everything because it's not that straightforward but you get the idea hopefully about politeness.
Recently, I've asked all my classes (including teachers) what "Yogiyo! Kimchie Mandu joo se yo!" is in English. They always go for the direct, literal equivalent "over here, Kimchie Mandu give me!" I tell them the equivalent is "excuse me! Kimchie Mandu please" or if the students are of a higher level "excuse me! May I have some Kimchie mandu please?" I tell them that "over here, Kimchie Mandu give me" isn't acceptable in English because we don't stick a 'yo' on the end of stuff to signify politeness automatically - we MUST say please. So, whilst 'excuse me, kimchie mandu please' isn't the same as 'yogiyo etc', it sort of is. It's vital that Koreans are taught this difference in expressing politeness between our two languages. In England, even 'over here please' would be deemed weird and rude. We MUST say 'excuse me' and 'please' when making requests to a stranger. Sadly Koreans tend to go "aah, Shil ye hamnida" when you introduce 'excuse me' (again they're not identical, so avoid that too). |
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