Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JMO]

Actually yea, I'd love to hear some examples.

I'll ask my korean teacher for her take on this next class..

[Auslegung]

I never got very far into Korean so I'm going to need help explaining this probably, but the idea of the subject of the sentence is different. This is probably not a correct example, but I think it is. In English, you say, "I am going to the store," and the subject is "I." In Korean (I think) you say, "Store I go," where the subject would be "store." Is this correct? I began to notice this at some point and asked a gyopo friend who said the idea of subject is indeed different.

[NohopeSeriously]

[Cedar]

[Auslegung]

[tomato]

Don't forget the vowels which Koreans are tempted to insert when they pronounce English words.
One of my classes was tempted to pronounce "notebooks" as 노트브크스.

The three extra syllables were for three different reasons:
1. The /t/ sound followed by another consonant is difficult for them.
2. The /k/ sound followed by another consonant is difficult for them.
3. Ending a word on an /s/ sound is difficult for them.

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In English, when a noun is modified by two adjectives, one of which is a possessive adjective, the possessive adjective comes first ("My sweet Lord").
In Korean, the possessive adjective comes last (예쁜 네 얼굴).

In one school where I worked, we performed a skit written by a Korean who was supposed to know English.
One of the lines read "Poor my son!"
I didn't have any clout in that school, so I kept my mouth shut.

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In a Korean question, the subject rather than the interrogative word comes first.
During my first year here, I didn't know that, so I showed a child a map and asked, "어디에 미국 있습니까?"
That should be "미국이 어디에 있습니까?"

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I have the dangdest time getting students to pronounce the plural S.
They think it's optional, since the -들 suffix is optional when the plurality is obvious from the context.

I saw an educational TV program in which a wegukin goes in a stationery store and says. "Notebook, please."
The clerk says, "How many?"
The wegukin says, "Two."
Obviously, the wegukin playing that role wasn't consulted about the accuracy of the script.

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How about the distinction between "promise" and "appointment" both translating as 약속?
They don't see the distinction, so they say "I have a promise."

That works both ways.
I never know when to say 일, 날, or 하루.


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How about words with sounds which are reversed?
The Koreans make jokes about "kitchen" and "chicken," since they tend to confuse the two.

That works both ways.
I'm having the dangdest time learning the words 공간 (room, space) and 건강 (health).


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Prepositions are treacherous in any language.
They don't always make sense, either.
Why do we ride IN a car but ON a bus?
Why does an actor play IN a movie but ON a TV show.

I had that trouble in Spanish, and now I'm having that trouble in Korean.
I am never sure when to use -에. -에서, 위에, 속에, or 안에.

[Auslegung]

[tomato]

I'm afraid Auslegung beat me by one syllable.

Now that we got derailed onto talking about ㅡ's, let me tell you a story:

A few weeks ago, I tried to order a Whopperburger Set at Burger King,
but I neglected to pronounce the ㅡ at the end of 세트.
They thought I said 셋, so instead of a Whopperburger Set,
they tried to give me three Whopperburgers.

So let that be a lesson to you:
Always be careful pronouncing your Konglish.

[spicy]

One of the things that more readily comes to mind (there are many, trust me), is the honorifics. I'm sure there's a more descriptive phrase for this...

Anyways, some of them lower the speaker, while others elevate the listener. I guess you just kind of have to memorize which does what, since at the beginning, I just figured that there's a regular way to say X and a polite way to say X.

simplest example I could thing of:
명 vs 분
If you include yourself while counting and then say 분, you're being rude because you're elevating yourself unduly, while if you're talking about someone else, it's rude (if they're socially higher than you, etc) to use 명.

likewise, 저 lowers the speaker, and 나 doesn't.

I guess the most succinct way to put it would be you can either lower yourself, or elevate the other person. Perhaps that's considered the same thing...

In English (at least in my mind), politeness is generally linked with formality. This exists to some extent in Korean, although Korean also has the various endings where in English verb endings don't change based on who you're speaking to.

Oh, and that reminds me -- sometimes I have trouble with keeping the listener/the subject straight.

Ex:
To a friend: 우리 부모님이 계셨어.
To a superior: 제 친구가 왔습니다.

The verb reflects the subject's position, but the ending changes depending on who the listener is (or who I'm speaking to? I'm not sure how that goes, like if there's an old woman overhearing the conversation, etc).

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh *sigh*.

Perhaps things will clear up later on. I'm only level 4 / level 6 at Ewha, but I can't seem to figure out when all the revered fluency is supposed to come... I feel a lot closer to the level 1 students, facility-wise, than to the level 6 students...