Korean Job Discussion Forums

taobenli · Joined: 26 Apr 2004

Hi, all-

I've been studying Korean for a few years and while I still have a long way to go, I've learned a lot. (I'm not an English teacher, but a grad student in the U.S. I'll be trying to come to Korea as often as I can to study more and do research).

I'm really interested in learning North Korean dialect (okay, now if I start getting my phone tapped I'll know why!). I just don't know how to go about it. I can read the Rodong Shinmun at school, but surely people don't always talk like that.

Anyone know of any good resources?

Thanks!

RACETRAITOR · Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Location: Seoul, South Korea

It's not that radically different, aside from the fact that there are no Chinese characters and I doubt they have many loanwords or "Konglish." Sounds kind of nice, if you ask me. If you learn regular Korean you'll be able to communicate with people speaking Chosunmal.

thebum · Joined: 09 Jan 2005 Location: North Korea

Pyongan dialect korean uses almost no words from chinese and no english loan words, so that means you have to relearn a lot of vocabulary. they also have different names for letters, different pronunciation, etc. understanding it might not be hard but it will take some work to learn to speak it. i've been working on it, just by searching korean websites and talking to some north koreans here in korea.

thebum · Joined: 09 Jan 2005 Location: North Korea

warezthebeef · Joined: 04 Feb 2006

This may help...

http://wiki.galbijim.com/Comparison_of_South_and_North_Korean_vocabulary

mokpochica · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Location: Ann Arbor, MI

Here's a start: My language teacher told us to be careful not to pronounce 같이 (together) as Kah-tee because that's the way the North Koreans say it. Wink

Son Deureo! · Joined: 30 Apr 2003

Here's the only North Korean I know, I hope you find it helpful:

ballpoint pen - 원조필 (instead of the SK 볼펜)
hamburger- 고기 겸 빵 (instead of the SK 햄버거)
ice cream - 얼음 뽀송이 (instead of the SK 아이스크림)

That's really cool! - 진짜 주체적 입니다!

billybrobby · Joined: 09 Dec 2004

thebum · Joined: 09 Jan 2005 Location: North Korea

mithridates · Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 3:07 am Post subject: Re: learning North Korean?

noelinkorea · Joined: 09 Apr 2003 Location: Shinchon, Seoul

Actually, in order to graduate the Yonsei KLI we had to write mini-theses-type essays - mine was on the difference between these two major forms of Korea. There's a heap of material and book printed about the stuff in Yonsei's fast decaying and extremely bookless library. My angle was that the NK dialect would serve as a stumbling block and means of judgement towards North Koreans should reunification ever come...The dialect will probably be viewed as representative of the old regime and shunned...

zappadelta · Joined: 31 Aug 2004

When I went there a few weeks ago, I got to here a lot of them speak. It sounds very strange, almost as if they are singing when they are talking. As other people said, they don't know some words. I was at a buffet and the food was cold, so I asked if they had a jeonja rangee (microwave, sorry, no Korean on this computer) and was just met with blank stares. I asked if they had beoteo (butter), once again, blank stares. She went on to say oh, the stuff that usually accompanies jam. And, I said Mahjayo. So, it's interesting talking to those guys.

Francis-Pax · Joined: 20 Nov 2005

buster brown · Joined: 26 Aug 2005 Location: Seoul

I bought a study book at the Pyongyang airport called Let's Learn Korean, published by the Foreign Languages Publishing House in Pyongyang . Perhaps you could do a search and find an available copy? There's a guy on E-Bay who sells authentic North Korean books, CDs, and other paraphernalia. His handle is dprkstuff, if you email him, he might be able to come up with a copy for you.