Korean for Dummies (7 page)

you pronounce
difficult
in Korean?

Jewu:

Eoryeowoyo. “Eoryeowoyo”ga eoryeowoyo?
(
Uh-

ryuh-wo-yo. “Uh-ryuh-wo-yo”-ga Uh-ryuh-wo-yo?
)

Difficult.
Is “
difficult”
difficult to pronounce?

Jessica:

ye, jaeussi gomawoyo.

ye, jae-woo sshi go-ma-wo-yo
.

Yes. Thank you, Jae-Woo.

Words to Know

beoseu (buh-sseu)

Bus

haembeogeo (ham-buh-guh)

Hamburger

hompeiji (hom-pae-ee-jee)

Home

page

imeil (ee-mae-il)

E-mail

inteonet (in-tuh-net)

Internet

kamera (ka-me-ra)

Camera

keopi (kuh-pee)

Coffee

keumpeuteo ma-u-seu (kum-peu-tuh

Computer

ma-oo-sseu)

mouse

neetai (nek-ta-ee)

Necktie

radio (ra-dee-o)

Radio

syeocheu (syuh-cheu)

Shirt

tel-le-bijyeon (te-rae-bee-juhn)

Television

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Saying It with Body Language

If actions speak louder than words, when in the company of Koreans,
respect
is the word that all your body should be saying. Although the repertoire of Korean has expanded to handshakes and sometimes even hugs, aside from bows, it is up to the person of seniority who initiates all of these activities.

Juniors are to keep their hands at their sides and listen attentively, unless their seniors initiate a hug or a handshake.

Amongst peers, Koreans will use a wide range of body language. Most body language will translate without any problems, but you should be careful about a few gestures. Before you try these gestures yourself, first try to observe the native Koreans around you and maybe even ask them to explain why they are doing what they are doing. Once you get a sense of what’s going on try them yourself. Doing so will pleasantly surprise the people around you.

Beckoning

When Koreans beckon their peers or friends they will use an arm and make a scooping motion in the direction that they want the listener to go. When Koreans signal or beckon their superiors they will use both arms and at times it will seems as though they’re trying to signal a fighter jet on a runway.

One thing you will most likely never see, and should avoid is beckoning anyone using a single finger. It is insulting and rude. Apologize immediately if you catch yourself doing so.

Bowing

There are two kinds of bows done in Korean culture:

An informal bow, in which you tilt your head slightly

A more formal bow, in which you bow with the upper half of your body The informal bow is used when greeting a co-worker or an acquaintance. To your boss or anyone else you meet in a formal setting (or when addressing someone older than you, whom you respect), make sure you use the formal bow. And for your close friends, you can wave your hands, do an informal bow, or whatever else strikes your fancy like a high five, or even air guitar but expect to get some strange glances.

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If you’ve taken taekwon-do, you were taught to look at the other person’s feet, but there’s no need to do this in social settings. In fact, it might be preferable to look a foot or two in front of your feet.

Nodding

When listening to a senior you will see Koreans put their hands to their side, tilt their body a bit forward and listen attentively while nodding slightly and saying
ye
(
ye;
yes) at appropriate intervals. The more frozen the listener seems, the more important the speaker is to the listener.

But even amongst friends you will see Koreans sometimes nod and say

geuraeyo
(
geu-rae-yo;
Is that so?) or
jeongmal
(
jungmal;
really?) to show that they are paying attention to the speaker.

Shaking hands

As I had told you in the introduction, it is up to the senior to initiate a handshake. The grip of the handshake should be like any handshake anybody

from America should be used to, only if you are shaking hands with a senior or in a formal setting, put your left hand below your right elbow as if you were supporting your right arm. However, there is a gender difference when it comes to shaking hands. Generally speaking, Korean women do not shake hands that much, unless at a business setting. Even at that time, Korean women do not use two hands the way it’s described here. However, there are always exceptions.

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Fun & Games

Fill in the blanks with equivalent Korean words:

1. Bicycle

____________________________________________________________________

2. Bed

____________________________________________________________________

3. Greetings

____________________________________________________________________

4. Shaking hands

____________________________________________________________________

5. Body

____________________________________________________________________

6. Danger

____________________________________________________________________

7. Friend

____________________________________________________________________

8. Over there

____________________________________________________________________

9. Toothbrush

____________________________________________________________________

10. Bread

____________________________________________________________________

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Grammar and Numbers

In This Chapter

Understanding the parts of speech

Knowing how to ask questions

Figuring out numbers

For most of us mere mortals, grammar is intimidating. And when faced

with learning a new language, grammar can be a major turn-off. But the truth is, if you can read this textbook, you already know a lot of grammar even though you might not know exactly what rules you are using. You simply know what “feels” right.

In this chapter, I go over some simple tips and tricks on combining the ingredients of a sentence using the same parts that make up an English sentence, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Then I take concrete examples from everyday speech and eventually ease you into composing similar Korean sentences.

So be patient. Read over the text, go over the dialogues, and listen to the accompanying CD. By the end of the chapter, you should be able to string together and read a number of sentences. In no time, you’ll be able understand others and express yourself with style.

Speaking Politely

Formal English is coming to a slow demise. The few times that we ever hear or use it is in situations that we’d rather avoid, such as during job interviews, public speeches, and in conversations with police officers and judges. On the other hand, formal Korean is very much alive and well. In fact, there are four degrees of conversational politeness in Korean, formal polite, informal polite, intimate, and plain.

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Perhaps the number of polite forms that Korean has shows just how much emphasis Koreans place on showing the proper levels of respect to the listener or someone being talked about. But, showing too much respect is just as awkward as showing too little respect. And if one hopes to say they have mastered Korean, it is necessary to master the polite forms of the Korean language.

The good news is that you don’t need to have a full understanding of all the different polite forms of Korean to carry on daily conversations. Informal polite form of speech is all that you need for daily conversations when you are just starting to learn Korean. As you become more fluent in the Korean language, you can worry about the other forms of politeness. However, for those of you who are more interested in grammar, in Korean, you set the degree of politeness that you use by changing the ending of the verb or adjective that comes at the end of the sentence. For those of you who are curious about when to use different degrees of politeness in Korean, Table 2-1 will provide general guidelines.

Table 2-1

Speech Styles

Form

Used With

Formal Polite

Someone much older than you, your teacher, your boss, customers of your business, your in-laws, a judge, and sometimes

your parents. Basically people who have seniority over you, and

to whom you want to show respect.

Informal Polite

Your colleague, an acquaintance, church minister, shop keeper,

people you do not know (e.g., people you meet on the street,

bus, train, and park). Basically everyone who does not have

seniority over you, but you want to show some respect to.

Intimate

Your close friends, your sibling, your children, your student.

Basically anyone really close to you.

Plain

In newspaper or magazine articles. Usually to an unknown

audience.

In this book, I will stick with informal polite form of the Korean language. It is formal enough so that you never sound rude, and it is informal enough so that it can be used in a variety of situations. However, in incidences where formal polite form is necessary, I will tell you both formal polite and informal polite forms of Korean. When you say
jeoneun hangungmareul baewoyo
(
juh-neun
han-goong-ma-reul bae-wo-yo;
I am learning Korean) you are using the informal polite form. This form is more than enough for everyday conversations.

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Chapter 2: The Nitty-Gritty: Basic Korean Grammar and Numbers

27

I recommend starting off with the informal polite form, then eventually moving on to other degrees of politeness of speech as you become more fluent in Korean language.

Knowing the Basic Parts of Speech

English sentences are mostly made of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

Korean sentences are also mostly made up of these same parts. There are no outlandish grammatical terms that you have to learn or master in order to learn Korean. However, the order of the sentence in Korean is different from English sentences. The basic word order in English is subject-verb-object, whereas the basic word order for Korean is subject-object-verb. Please see examples of different grammatical orders in two languages below: English: I love you.

Korean:
naneun dangsineul saranghaeyo
(
na-neun dang-shin-enl saranghae-yo;
I love you). Literal translation: I you love.

English: I eat Kimchee.

Korean:
jeoneun gimchireul meogeoyo
(
juh-neun gim-chee-reul muh-guh-yo;
I eat Kimchee). Literal translation: I Kimchee eat.

English: I study Korean.

Korean:
jeoneun hangugeoreul gongbuhaeyo
(
juh-neun han-goo-guh-reul
gong-boo-hae-yo;
I study Korean). Literal translation: I Korean study.

Here are a few other cool things to know about the Korean language:

There is no need to distinguish between singular and plural nouns. For example, in Korean, a person and people are both called
saram
(
sa-ram;
person, people).

There is no such a thing as subject-verb agreement (e.g., I am, It is, They are).

You don’t have to change word order to ask a question. In Korean you would ask, “This is a cat?” instead of “Is this a cat?” Asking a question is indicated by raising the intonation at the end of the sentence.

Changing the tense of a verb follows a highly consistent pattern.

You don’t have to worry about memorizing the genders of the nouns.

There are no masculine or feminine way of speech in Korean as in other languages such as Spanish, German, or French.

These points should help you on your path to learning Korean. Soon, you’ll amaze your Korean friends with your new Korean language skills.

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Easy grammar, hard language?

You may now ask, “If Korean grammar is so

behind nouns in Korean. In addition, depending

easy, why is it considered such a difficult lan—

on the degree of respect you want to show to

guage?” Well, that’s a good question. The

the subject of the conversation, these particles

reason is most likely due to the many polite

can change. These particles, however, are not

forms of the Korean language and because of

as bad as you may think; I provide concrete

particle words like at, to, and from that are writ—

examples in the “Particles” section, later in this

ten as separate words in English are attached

chapter.

Nouns

Korean, like English, has several types of nouns:

Proper nouns for specific people, places, and things. For example,

hanguk
(
han-goog;
Korea),
hangugeo
(
han-goo-guh;
Korean language),
Socrates
(
so-keu-ra-te-seu;
Socrates), and
Seoul
(
Suh-ool;
Seoul).

Common nouns for common things. For example,
jadongcha
(
ja-dong-cha;
car),
jip
(
jeeb;
house),
saram
(
sa-ram;
person, people), gil (
geel;
road).