Korean Job Discussion Forums

[RACETRAITOR]

I'm Canadian and it sounds weird to me.

The even weirder one is "take food."

[laogaiguk]

I'm Canadian.

"take a rest" sounds funny, no not totally out of the ballpark weird
"got it" is perfectly natural for me

[robot]

i am canadian. this phrase does NOT sound fine.

while it is perfect english, and it's great that korean students are using a fixed expression -- something they need to do more -- the problem is a combination of misuse and overuse. here's an offending sentence:

After I graduate I'm going to take a rest.

A little strange, as "take a rest" is usually used in cases of physical exhaustion:

All this hiking is making me tired. Let's take a rest after the next hill.

But even so, we simply use the word "rest" by itself equally often:

All this hiking is making me tired. Let's rest after the next hill.

BETTER:

take some time off
take a break (from s/th)
relax

ROBT.

[cdninkorea]

I always like being told food is "quite delicious" and that people "have an appointment with friend." Or when you ask someone a yes or no question and they respond with "okay." Took me a while to get used to that last one.

[billybrobby]

yeah koreans, and english speakers who learn korean, don't always seem to understand the extent to which they gotta change their mindsets. "Is it delicious?" and "I have an appointment with my friend" are valid and intelligible, but christ, doesn't anybody ever say that crap?

that said, it think "take a rest" and "I got it" are OK. sometimes after hearing so much konglish your mental konglish alarm bell gets over sensitive.

[endofthewor1d]

[HapKi]

[Privateer]

Sometimes it can be perfectly good English (like 'I got it') but the stress or intonation is off so it just sounds wrong.

As teachers, that's something we need to address.

When we try to speak Korean our stress, or intonation, or accent, or just plain pronunciation, is often off as well which explains why we get so many funny looks.

[Privateer]

[HapKi]

[margaret]

My first boss used to annnoy me by telling me to "have relax time" when I had to wait for something. I told her that it was right to say "relax", not "have relax time", but although she supposedly wanted me to teach her English, she never "got it."
I was also annoyed because she would say it when what I was doing wasn't relaxing at all, such as waiting for her.
Margaret

[JongnoGuru]

"Take a Rest" is a Sesame Street song.
http://www.lyricsplanet.com/index.php3?style=lyrics&id=34590

(BTW, why does "Cookie Monster" talk like a Korean? Is Sesame Street trying to teach children to speak konglish?)


Cookie Monster: Hi Bob

Bert & Bob: Hi Cookie Monster

Bob: You know, Cookie Monster, you look a little tired

CM: Uh Bob. You right. Me just ate whole box cookies and me feel a little tired

Bert: Well, you know, I just spent a whole hour playing with my paperclip collection, and I'm feeling a little tired myself

CM: Well, you know what that mean?

Bert: No I don't. What does that mean?

CM: It mean it time to do very special thing

Me take a big box of cookies from the kitchen
Me eat them all 'till me tummy start to ache
So before me eat another box of cookies
There is one more thing me take


Me go and
Take a rest yeah
Me take a rest
Put me head on me pillow and me hands on me chest
Me love eating cookies
But sometime it best
To take it slow
Take it easy
Take a rest


Bert & CM: Everybody

All: Take it slow
Take it easy
Take a rest

Bert: Even softer

All: Take it slow
Take it easy
Take a rest

CM: Oh. Me so tired.

Former ESLer in Korea, currently language consultant on Sesame Street (studio backlot):

[RACETRAITOR]

When I was new in Korea, my first boss asked me, "Is this sentence right? 'How about her English?'" It sounded a bit off but I told him it got the message across. He then annoyed me for the rest of the year whenever we got a new student by asking me "How about her English?"

[peppermint]

they're just used out of context so often that they start to fall into the Konglishie basket.

I wish people at my school would learn the word principal though, cause it's uncomfortable as hell calling anyone (never mind a frail older-middle aged woman) "master".

[seoulsucker]

I don't take a rest very often, but I do have my time.