Korean Job Discussion Forums

[zappadelta]

These days, my co-teacher is stuck on three words that she uses over and over. They are famous, convenient, and adequate.

I have noticed that most Korean people use the word 'famous' to mean three different things. They use it to mean famous, popular, and well respected. If they are talking about a celebrity, they will say: "Tom Cruise is famous." This is the correct usage.
But, they will also say "That Kalbi restaurant is so famous." In this case, popular is the better choice of words.
On top of that, they will say "Our principal is very famous." In this case, famous means well-respected.

She is also stuck on the word convenient. She will use this to mean convenient and comfortable and many other words.

Finally, adequate is a word that she uses a lot and often incorrectly. Making things even more confusing is that it sounds more like etiquette when she says it. Usually, we will say "Does it fit?" "How are the new shoes/pants? Do they fit well?" This is the kind of situtation where she will use adequate.

So , I was wondering what words your co teachers or friends/bosses are stuck on. How do they use those words?

[TheUrbanMyth]

One VP always uses the words "our master" when talking about the Principal. It makes me cringe ever so slightly.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Expect. They always confuse it with look forward to. 'I think student very expect your lesson'.

Bored and boring. 'Are you boring today at meeting?'

Heating oil. 'We already call man to bring heating oil yesterday. Heating oil you no have?' (What they did was replace my propane gas tank, which didn't need replacing.)

[pet lover]

5....4...3...2...ONE!!!

Seriously. She doesn't know much English but has realized how well a countdown works on the kindy kids...heard her using it during art time (my free time)

[Qinella]

A word that is misused often, not just by my co-workers but by most Koreans I know who speak English, is promise. This correlates to the word ��� in Korean, but when it's appropriate in Korean isn't always appropriate in English. It peeves me when someone reminds me of our "promise" this weekend, or if I have to cancel plans and they say, "We had a promise." Like two weekends ago, my director said he'd take me out to dinner one night if he had time. When he called, I was out of town and busy. He said we had a promise, and I said we absolutely didn't have a promise, but I appreciated his gesture.

Another often misused word is prepare, which arises, again, due to differences in Korean and English. For example, I may bring in some choco pies for my students, and one of the teachers will say, "Oh, did you prepare a snack?" Not really. I just bought them; there was no preparation involved.

Which leads me to: snack. Snack, to me, is any type of light food eaten between meals. But to most Koreans I've spoken to, a snack is a specific kind of food, which leads to confusion when I say I'm having a snack but I'm eating a banana. Some have argued with me about it, eventually deciding that I'm wrong and a banana can't be a snack.

The "boring/bored", "annoying/annoyed", etc. debacle is prevalent, and very amusing. I love when my students tell my they are boring. I smile and affirm that, yes, they sure are. Another often confused set is "funny/fun". How was your trip? Was it funny? No, but you are!

I think most of the problems arise from poor studying, and probably poor teaching, on their parts. Korean and English is so often unequivocable, and one must take special care to understand from the other language's perspective. Like the "convenient/comfortable" problem mentioned in the OP. That's a usage error that could easily be fixed.

Q.

[some waygug-in]

Don't forget poor textbooks that have mistakes or konglish phrases disguised as English.