Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chriswylson]

Once in a while, a Korean will use 'Arasso' when talking to me. I understand that this expression is commonly used among friends, but not from a student to a teacher. But how should I take it if someone I don't know very well uses this expression? Is it a sign of closeness, or a sign of disrespect? I feel Korean would not use that expression with a fellow Korean they don't know that well, even if the person may be younger. Am I wrong?

[jazblanc77]

Said in that way, it is ban-mal which is a lower form of speaking. If you are friendly with that person and it was not done in a rude tone, it's probably alright. If the person is younger than you or an equal and you are not familiar with them, you can probably call them on it. Even if the person is older than you, but a stranger, it is not really polite.

Generally, you should at least "yo" a person until you have established that it is okay to do otherwise, by asking directly, or becoming more friendly.

[JJK1]

Mostly depends on how he says it and the situation. Were you in a friendly conversation or were you telling him to do something?

[Hyeon Een]

Some Koreans think that foreigners always talk in banmal in their own languages, so in a way they think they're respecting your culture by talking to do you in the way you are most familiar with. (Of course they are wrong, we do have levels of respect in English, it's just we don't conjugate our verbs to show it.)

An example: I introduced this girl I was dating to my friend. My friend is about 10 years older than her and speaks Korean well. She immediately started speaking Korean to him in banmal. When he asked why, she explained "In English you don't have jondaemal, so I thought I should speak to foreigners in banmal"..

The person involved probably isn't trying to disrespect you, but maybe they are. Helpful huh?

[Qinella]

Eh.. if a student above say, grade 2, ever said that to a Korean teacher, that student would be promptly reprimanded at a varying level of severity. It could go from a scolding to actually hitting, depending on how childish the adult is. Simply put, the students are speaking that way to you either because they think you don't understand or they think you don't deserve that kind of respect, or both.

I mean yeah, some people will get on here and say it all depends on your relationship with the student, or it is a sign of closeness.. perhaps, but the fact remains that if you were Korean it would not happen.

[billybrobby]

From a student or a co-worker, it's totally rude.

The whole pan-mal/jondaet-mal thing is somewhat tricky even for Koreans. When do you make the switch? Is it too soon? Are they young enough to start off with pan-mal? If Korea had a Seinfeld, or any stand-up comedians at all, or any funny comedians at all, he'd probably write a good bit about this.

[chriswylson]

It happened to me last week, a Korean guy, 35; we're not close friends. I wasn't telling him to do anything, I was briefly and politely answering / explaining something to him.

"The person involved probably isn't trying to disrespect you, but maybe they are. Helpful huh?"

Yep.

[Passions]

[Satori]

Next time you have reason to say "I understand" to him you can go him one better and drop an "Ara" ...

[mikekim]

Durr. . . what does arraso mean?

[Hater Depot]

For some people the whole 반말/존댓말 is just an irresistible power trip. I've had to call out a coworker for talking me to inappropriately. She got all weaselly, lied by saying it's acceptable to a younger co-worker, and made a quick exit.

[Sine qua non]

If you are not friends with each other, both of you should pretty much always be using the -yo at the end of your sentences (verbs).

I concur with the comment about the power trip thing.

[Juregen]

[Sine qua non]

[SPINOZA]

RACETRAITER needs to add this to his bingo card (the general theme being misconceptions about the English language):

주세요 = give me
여기요 = here!
재발 = please ("아줌마! 아줌마! 밥 조금 더 재발!" )
몰라고요? = what?
언녕 = hello
X 어디에 있어요? = X where?
너 = "you"
앉으세요; = sit down
얼마예요? = how muchy?
기다려 주세요 = wait
잠시만 기다리세요 = wait a minute

English doesn't have levels of speech. There is only one way to ask someone's name - "what's your name?" - nothing more polite exists. Likewise with "how old are you?". You might think that English speakers use modal verbs for formality and politeness (do you want? = would you like?, May I? Could you? Would you?) but oh no. English = banmal. Did you know that there's no way to politely express "yes" and "no" in English too? When declining an offer, just say "no!" - English is like hip-hop!

Unless a polite context is absolutely crystal clear, a Korean teacher will always translate English into banmal...."do you?"-questions including "너는?" despite the fact that the latter is wildly discourteous.

Hardly surprising I enjoy nothing more than to discuss the 일본해.