Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mgafunnell]

why do many koreans place a vowel sound at the end of their english vocabulary. for example, 'lunch' becomes 'lunchee'?

[asams]

i was told the reason why is because korean words end with vowel sounds, like kasahamnida or anyong gasayo, therefore koreans add vowel sounds to the end of words because they aren't used to the harsh consonant ending

[Whitey Otez]

Asams is close. Korean is divided into syllabic characters, and individual consonants need a minimum of a vowel.

[GreenlightmeansGO]

For the sake of uniformity, can we please stick to calling it Konglish?

When the word is written phonetically in hangeul, you cannot have a consonant stand alone, so you must add a vowel. So, you end up with In-Goo-Li-Shi (or close to that). Another example: Page, it becomes pae-ee-ji. If the last sound is a consonant...you'll probably end up with a vowel attached to it.

[crossmr]

Because when they transliterate english words ending in CH, they do it like this: 치. I have no idea why. if they did it as 츠 it would sound much closer.

They pronounce it like that because that is how its written in Korean. The first thing I teach them is that e on the end of words is silent (age, huge, etc) and things like CH, SH, etc don't end in ee

[Bibbitybop]

Because they can't touch their tongues to their nose.

[Ya-ta Boy]

At Popeye's the straw dispenser has this printed on it: 스트로아. Four syllables to transliterate a one-syllable word.

[crossmr]

[davai!]

[aboxofchocolates]

[Thedudeabides]

[Jane]

스트라이크! Gotta love that one. Strike takes 5 syllables.

파시언...for the longest time, I thought clothing stores were selling passion.

And I'll never forget the time a had a student who told me she likes 구피. I figured out later she meant Goofy. (and she was 26 years old!)

[Zantetsuken]

[CentralCali]

It's called phonotactics. Different languages have different rules for phonotactics. What is a permissible cluster in one language very well may not be permissible in another. The same goes for sounds which can begin a word or syllable as well as for sounds that can end a syllable.

One good example is the NG sound. In English, it cannot begin a syllable yet it is fine for ending one. In Vietnamese, the NG sound can occur either at the beginning or end of a syllable.