Tag: english mistakes (Page 2 of 3)

Interphone

2012/08/29 / Nic / 19 Comments

Says the guy still learning English, who uses Konglish and makes mistakes all the time…

Konglish is funny. Some words make a lot of sense, others are weird or completely different to the real English word. While I do enjoy some Konglish the biggest problem with Konglish is that Koreans often think it is real English. Some Koreans come to an English speaking country thinking “I’ll be fine, I know lots of English words.” Big difference between English and Konglish. While some like interphone/intercom really don’t matter there are plenty that sound like gibberish to native English speakers.

Some we can guess but you are probably going to be confused if a Korean says to you: “Fighting! I need to buy some fancy and then let’s go back to my apart for some skinship and eat some cream sand.”

10 points to whoever can translate that.

The other night while out with Korean friends I was asked if I wanted to play some ‘pocketball’? What? I was pretty confused for a while. Apparently that is pool/billiards.

What a nice!

2012/08/23 / Nic / 20 Comments

When learning a second language there are obvious benefits of having a partner who speaks it natively. Skills can be really improved just by having to speak it every day. My husband’s English is constantly improving. However, a partner can’t correct everything. It is hard to have a conversation if one person is constantly correcting the other. So that is why some mistakes can slip through.

My husband has the habit of exclaiming “What a nice!” at something good.

Often because he is excited when saying it I don’t want to ruin the moment by saying “That’s wrong”. Also it’s really cute! So I didn’t correct it for a long time. Eventually I explained that it didn’t really make sense, though I knew what he was trying to say. He stopped saying it for a while but it creeps back in occasionally.

The problem is, because couples end up sounding like each other, now I say it sometimes!

Medicine Misunderstanding

2012/07/28 / Nic / 7 Comments

My friend (the wife in the comic) allowed me to make a comic about this. When she realised what her husband had sent her to get, with the vague information of it being for ‘skin care’, she was very angry! She had patted her face in front of shop assistant and told her that it was for skin care on the face. Needless to say, the shop assistant looked very shocked. When my friend discovered the truth of course she told others. So what her husband hoped to keep secret even from his wife was told to everyone at a barbeque! And now it’s on the internet!

For those that might not understand what her husband needed: he needed a cream for his…uh…. butt hole. I’m not explaining anymore than that!

Learning English F and P

2012/06/25 / Nic / 6 Comments

When my husband first came to Australia about 6 years ago he didn’t speak much English. I did not know him back then so it’s hard for me to imagine him not being able to say much! This is a story he told me about being in English class in Brisbane. I’ve mentioned before that Koreans often have trouble with F and P. Usually they pronounce the F as a P when first learning English. There is good reason for this as they don’t have the F sound in Korean and when English words with F are translated to hangul the Korean P sound ㅍ is used.

He was lying anyway, I know his favourite food is not fruit… it’s meat! Lots and lots of meat!

I can’t help wondering though, why this English teacher didn’t know that Koreans have trouble with F and P? Was she new at teaching English? There are many many Koreans in Australia learning English and you’d think she’d have some experience with this before. Anyway he got quite upset!

Maybe

2012/06/16 / Nic / 9 Comments

One of the many differences between English and Korean is how direct you are to people. The Korean language has a lot of ambiguity and people often don’t say exactly what they mean. Whereas in English we can be very clear and say exactly what we mean and it’s socially acceptable to speak like that as well. So while native Korean speakers can usually understand each other because they understand the subtleness of the language, it can be hard for someone learning the language.

What is also hard is when a Korean person speaks with the ambiguity of the Korean language but in English!

Sometimes my direct questions are answered this way too often and I can get a bit annoyed!

One time I asked my Korean teacher about this and he said, “If your husband says ‘maybe’ he probably means no.”

Then I asked my husband and he said, “I usually mean yes.”

See? Even Koreans can’t agree on it!

English is Scary

2012/06/11 / Nic / 18 Comments

This happened many times the first time we visited Korea together.

This happened a lot! Friends would boast on the phone how they could speak English but just stood there in stunned silence when they met me because they’d never actually spoken to a native English speaker before. I think it’s a combination of getting nervous and scared in the situation with a mistaken idea of what their English skills actually are.

I know the feeling though- I freeze when I’m supposed to speak in Korean.

Actually the reason why my husband is quite good at conversational English is because he didn’t learn in Korea. He went to The Phillipines and learnt English there and then improved it by speaking with native speakers.

I do a bit of tutoring and I’m always surprised at students who say they have intermediate English but cannot have a single conversation in English. I suspect when they are taught English in Korea there is not enough emphasis on speaking skills- perhaps anyone who has experience with the Korean school system can offer some insight on this?

Say what?

2012/06/04 / Nic / 6 Comments

Another letter that Koreans have trouble saying in English is V. Often they say it as a P. That’s alright it’s not different… except in some cases!

My husband was helping the Koreans next door who are in Australia on working holiday visas. They wanted to buy some cheap winter clothes so he took them to a second hand clothes shop. In Australia there is one in particular called St Vincents which we shorten to ‘Vinnes’.

Speaking of innocent words sounding really wrong… you may have seen the video of the Korean woman trying to explain how to ask about ordering a coke in Korean. Unfortunately her pronunciation of the word ‘coke’ in English turns the word into a much ruder word. I feel really bad for this woman because many people have seen this video and laughed at her. Let this be a big warning to Koreans who are going to an English speaking country: please be careful about some words.

If you are Korean and you aren’t sure why people were laughing at that video. She is just saying the word coke right? Actually the way she is saying it makes it sound like a certain man part (think of the different meaning of gochu).

This is one of the first things I correct when Korean friends come to Australia. I warn them about walking into McDonalds and asking for a large coke (not good!). It is really tricky for Koreans so I recommend saying Coca-Cola instead. It means the same and is the proper name for coke anyway. While my husband makes funny mistakes with me, it doesn’t matter because I’m his wife and in general he has good English. But you don’t want to accidentally ask for something very different to what you actually wanted!