Category: Korean Language (Page 10 of 12)

Learning Korean and discussions about language

Custard

2012/10/27 / Nic / 23 Comments

Natalie asks:

Do you have any more Konglish experiences you could write about? Or is does this not happen too often anymore?

It still happens, but not as much with my husband. My husband is really aware of what is Konglish and what is English. This happened earlier in the relationship though:

So when I think of custard I think of delicious custard that is a LIQUID usually to be poured over desserts, but I do enjoy it by itself too. Home made or store bought- I don’t care, I love it all. I do not love what Koreans consider to be custard though. Technically on the box it says something like “custard cream cakes” and they are cakes with some vague resemblance of custard in the centre but my husband called it just ‘custard’. Custard is one of my all time favourite foods so needless to say I was a bit disappointed when he showed up with that. It’s the thought that counts though.

It does happen a bit where an English name for a food is used in Korea and the meaning changes a bit. Like the way Koreans use the name “Cream Pasta” instead of having specific names for pasta. It’s not exactly wrong, but not exactly right either.

So while my husband doesn’t have much trouble with Konglish now, it still comes up all the time with Korean friends. I think a big reason why this is a problem is because in Korea English is just not taught well in most schools in Korea. They should spend more time teaching the difference between English and Konglish instead of just getting students cramming for exams. There is nothing wrong with Konglish- some of it is so inventive – but unfortunately it can cause problems for Koreans tying to speak English to native English speakers.

Adele, who was in the previous comic, was asking me for something today. She kept saying, “Name pen! Name pen!” I had a vague idea of what she wanted but wasn’t exactly sure and I knew she didn’t just want a normal pen. Turns out she wanted a permanent marker. But she didn’t know that name, only the Konglish one and she got more and more frustrated when I couldn’t understand exactly. There are different names for a permanent marker in English, here in Australia we might say ‘texta’ or ‘laundry marker’ or variations, but I’d also understand American names like the brand name ‘Sharpie’ as well. But Adele’s attempts were just too far from one of the real English names. The funny thing is I actually found a Korean permanent marker in our apartment AND it actually says “Name pen” on it. No wonder Adele thought that was the right English.

Other Konglish that has popped up lately is ‘one piece’ which in Konglish means a dress, but would probably refer to the full piece swimsuit in English.

Skinship is another one and it usually needs a longer explanation. In Korea skinship refers to the point in a relationship where there is physical contact (hand holding etc). Most Koreans I’ve met (and I mean Koreans who have spent all their life in Korea) assume skinship is English and will use it in English conversation which no doubt confuses people who don’t know any Konglish. When they discover it’s not English they ask what the word is in English… but there isn’t really one. Some type of physical contact early in a relationship in Western culture isn’t a big deal and it’s normal to hold hands or kiss before actually officially being in a relationship so I guess we don’t need to label that.

I don’t mean to be too critical about Konglish. I love a lot of Konglish and use a bit myself. It just causes some confusion sometimes.

Blister

2012/10/26 / Nic / 10 Comments

Apparently ‘blister’ in Korean is ‘muljib’. Which does actually translate as ‘waterhouse’. Of course it would be unlikely that someone would guess that she was trying to say blister in English which is why my husband was in hysterics laughing at it.

This friend is the friend I went to see Psy with. She is from the same area my husband is from in Korea and is in Australia for her working holiday visa. She is likely to pop up in some other comics too (her English name is Adele).

Belly

2012/10/23 / Nic / 6 Comments

The Korean language allows for dramatic and poetic statements and phrases in everyday conversation but when directly translated to English they can sound a bit funny…

Facebook Likes

2012/10/18 / Nic / 8 Comments

(Hangul is the alphabet of the Korean language: The history of Hangul is really interesting so I suggest reading about it.)

8.48% of my readers are in Korea. A lot of them are foreigners living in Korea but I do get some Koreans reading my blog. So on the Facebook page I do get some likes from people whose name is only in Hangul. I can read Hangul so I had no problem reading their name out. My husband wanted to point out they were Korean which was obviously already evident to me! hehe

However, I am starting to notice people who are not Korean using Hangul for screen names or on Facebook, so it is possible that they might not be Korean. But in this example they had a pretty obvious Korean name. (When this happened it was not actually the name Kim Minji. I didn’t want to use a real name and a Korean friend was here when I drew this comic so we just thought of a really common Korean name to use).

If you want to learn Korean or even are just interested in Kpop and/or Korean culture I recommend learning how to read Hangul. The romanizations of Hangul are so different from how Korean actually sounds and Hangul is pretty easy to learn. When I first started Korean classes our teacher told us to never rely on romanizations and the sooner we learn how to read Hangul, the better. Correct pronunciation is of course much harder but even just being able to read Hangul to yourself opens up a whole new world.

Also, currently 207 likes on Facebook! Amazing for this little blog I started earlier this year.

Talking to his parents

2012/09/27 / Nic / 15 Comments

Oh boy…. I don’t like it when people hold a phone up to me and tell me to talk when I only have to speak in English… so having a phone held up to me and being told to speak in Korean is way worse! PANIC MODE!

I get blackmailed into it. It’s hard backing out of things in Korean culture! My husband will say things like “They just want to hear your voice. They miss you. My mother says that when she hears your voice all her aches and pains from working on the farm go away.”

How can I say no to that? Speaking shyly and softly hasn’t worked so well in the past because I end up having to repeat myself. So now I just panic and speak really loudly and just say a bunch of stuff. Luckily they don’t care and just like that I’m trying. Also they have the phone on speaker so I’m not damaging anyone’s ears… hopefully. But yes, his family is really really sweet.

Koreans choosing English names

2012/09/25 / Nic / 61 Comments

When Koreans come to an English speaking country they often choose an English name for themselves. This is usually because many Korean names are too hard for native English speakers to pronounce. They may choose something that is similar sounding to their Korean name, or use the initials from their Korean name (I’ve known a GD), or they may just pick any name they randomly like.

I’ve found that Korean guy names tend to be much harder than Korean girls names to pronounce. I know too many guys with names like Sung-hyeon, Sung-yong, Sung-eun, Sung-hyuks. Confusing right? The ‘hy’ sound in particular is difficult.

A lot of Korean girl names are easy enough and I don’t think they always need to adopt an English name, especially when they tend to pick the same few names. I’ve known so many Ellies, Ellas, Irenes, Eileens… That gets confusing too! But I can understand the desire to pick a new name when going to a new country, perhaps it can be seen as an opportunity to reinvent yourself.

So what is my husband’s English name? Well… it’s Hugh. And this is how he chose it:

Yup, that’s how. He named himself after Hugh Grant. He actually uses the name ‘Hugh’ with other Koreans as well. His Korean name is a bit country sounding and Koreans will often comment on it. It is ‘Sun-hong’. But actually should be spelled like “Soon-hong” as that’s how you pronounce it properly. But, when my husband first made his passport he couldn’t speak English and if he wrote “Soon-hong” it didn’t fit on one line, but “Sun-hong” did. And that’s how he got stuck with the wrong spelling in English.

Choosing the English name ‘Hugh’ didn’t stop Korean people from making comments about his name either. Hugh Grant is not exactly the coolest actor and people laugh at him for copying that name. Especially Korean girls because they don’t think he looks like a romantic comedy actor. So often this happens:

Sometimes it’s just easier to pretend that he named himself after Wolverine.

So what do I call him? Neither of those names usually. An interesting thing about Korean culture is how much you can avoid actually saying someone’s name. You end up having many names/titles, not only both a Korean and English name, but for example, with my husband: younger guys will call him Hyung or Hyung-nim and younger females can call him Oppa. Technically he can also be called Ajusshi now – but don’t call him that! It makes it sound like he is old! Anyway, I usually use Korean pet names like ‘Jagi-ah’ but we don’t use ‘Yeo-bo’ yet because that feels a bit weird and young people don’t use it as much these days. And I use ‘Oppa’ when I want something or want him to do something.

So if YOU could choose a new name for yourself, what would you choose?

Time to go home

2012/09/22 / Nic / 17 Comments

I’m learning Korean but very slowly, and I’m still a beginner. But because I am exposed to the Korean language every day I can understand more than people think. Especially the things my husband says because I’m used to how he speaks Korean. Every day I’m slowly understanding more and more- which may not always be good for him!

Bad boy! He was trying to be cool in front of his younger single friends.

I had to draw this comic quickly late at night, hence the grey-scale and roughness. Sorry!