Korean Job Discussion Forums

[greek buddha]

I want to know if anyone can help with this. When you say or Korean's say anyiong ha seyo. What is your reply? is it just the same, anyiong ha seyo? I've asked some Korean's and they say yes. I asked if there is anything else I can say as a greeting, different was of saying hello, but they mostly say that, "oh, we just say anyiong ha seyo also" I find that hard to believe. I told them that, that sounds impossible. I know that you can say anyiong to your friend's or someone younger, or chari so so to some young kids. I would like to be able to say something more like how have you been, or long time no see kinda thing instead of always saying just anyiong ha seyo all the time. Does this make any sense??

[Straphanger]

[exit86]

Yeah, you will find that the Korean language is far far less
unpredictable and varied than the English language as used
by Koreans.
Example: Go on the subway on a freezing-ass cold winter day.
Listen.
You'll hear the same verb "춥다" repeated over and over and over--
something like this:

"Wow! It is cold!"
"I'm cold"
"Cold!"
"Cold, eh?'
"Very cold!"

In English conversation, we insist upon varying our expressions:

"I'm freezing my nuts off!"
"It is colder than a well-diggers butt!"
"Shit, why the hell is it so f'ing cold?"
"My ass is frozen"
"Brrrrrrrrrrrrr"

I think this is one reason Koreans in particular have a difficult time
with English; it is an unpredictable language where speakers
use different types of terminology for the expression of--not only--feelings/sensations, but also for an expression of one's personality.

[madxkilla]

[Jammer113]

Koreans do have several different greetings, and they're often used in conjunction with "안녕하세요?" when responding.

You can say "Did you eat?" "How are things going?" 'Everything is going well, I hope?" and a few others, I'm sure. I won't write exact translations or conversations because there's a fair chance I'll get particulars wrong.

I think it's also a little bit of a myth that English is so incredibly varied. We have conventions, as well. If your boss says to you, in English, "How are you today?" You cannot answer "Hey, what's up?" If your friend says to you, "What's up?" you cannot answer, "I'm fine today, how are you?"

[jkelly80]

I've heard 좆까추워 before.

"Pen1s kicking cold".

[Chamchiman]

[jkelly80]

It's my favorite 욕. Sue me.

[samd]

[ChinaBoy]

Chi le ma?

[AltF4]

[kingplaya4]

There is a word for freezing (sorry no hangul) but its ggong ggong hada. Double gee-ught "o" + "ng". There are a few cases where I've been surprised that Korean doesn't have more options (classic case being borrow and lend), but mostly I'm shocked at how many words there are for virtually the same thing. There's four words for a woman's older brother, although I believe two of them are rarely used anymore.

[jkelly80]

[Ginormousaurus]

[greek buddha]

thanks for the responses, that's what i've being trying to get at. we have many different responses to greetings and that's what i've wondered with the korean language. it doesn't make sense to me that there is only one response to someone saying anyiong ha seyo. i've been told by some, and maybe it's just laziness to teach me more, that most people just say anyiong ha seyo back in response. If someone in english says " hello, how are you? sure you can respond with "i'm fine thank you and you? but, i can't imagine everyone just going around and saying "hello, how are you and the response being "yes, hello, how are you? doesn't that seem odd? that's what i've been getting at here with some koreans i know. they seem almost unwilling to teach me more, which is frustrating. they just say to me, " well, we don't really say anything else" "we just say anyiong ha seyo" sometimes i feel that it's believable given just the way the language is or the culture. then, when i compare it to other languages i feel they are just lazy to teach me other responses and just say that.