Korean Job Discussion Forums

[antoniothegreat]

I am going to teach a lesson on the differences between "to see," "to watch," and "to look at." I am curious if anyone can give some advice. I know Koreans have trouble with these because they all translate to 보다 (boda).
my definitions i have thought of are
To see-able to see, your eye perceives something is there. if you can't/don't see it, it is because it is too small, too far away, invisible, or unable to be located. for example, you can see the theatre from my window. I see the bird...

To look at- you focus on the item. not only do you know it is there, but you think about it, or focus on it. example: look at a watch, look at a person over there

to watch- you focus on something for an extended time. for example, you watch tv, or watch your kids at the playground.

i think this is accurate... but one thing that is either an exception, or shows i am wrong. we see a movie. why do we use see for a movie?

any other exceptions? any advice? am i right?

thanks

[Hanson]

My only suggestion here is that 'to watch' is usually associated with actions. You watch something happening, eg. a soccer game, a movie, a fight break out at a bar.

Compare these two sentences:
1) I saw you walking on campus.
2) I watched you walking on campus.

The first one sounds like a common and normal occurance, whereas the second suggests a stalker!

As for 'look', I think it suggests trying to observe, to find information from something.

And, 'see' suggests no effort on the part of the 'see-er'. To me, it suggests a haphazard, or just-happened-to-have-my-eyes-rest-on-something kind of occurance. Of course, we often say that we saw a movie, which doesn't fit my description above...

Forgive any errors, this is all off the top of my head...

[antoniothegreat]

yeah, that helps, thanks.