xkcd

by **Pierrot** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 11:30 am UTC

I'm wondering if there is anybody who knows how to speak in Korean. I'm not sure if that many people know it compared to other languages but I think this is a good opportunity for people to practice it.

In my opinion, one of the hardest part of the language (and any other East Asian language for that matter) is that you have to change your manner of speech depending on the social position of the person you are talking to.

Oh and it is easier to speak and understand the language if you have some background knowledge of Chinese Characters.

저는 국어 선생님이 아니지만, 최선을 다해서 도와주겠습니다.

by **Monika** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 11:55 am UTC

Pierrot wrote:Oh and it is easier to speak and understand the language if you have some background knowledge of Chinese Characters.

How come? Korean is letter-based, isn't it?

by **Pierrot** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 4:19 pm UTC

It is letter based but most of the words are descended from Chinese characters.
The problem is that most of the words are Korean pronunciations of Chinese characters (Hangeul was used since the 15th century. Chinese characters were used a long time before then). Since Korean is a letter-based writing system, there's going to be a lot of problems with homophones. But if you understand the Chinese Characters, you will probably understand the conversation more than someone who knows only the basic writing system.
Also the Korean language uses a lot of "사자성어" which is the Korean version of Chengyu.

by **jinzougen** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 7:10 am UTC

Ok I'm ready. Let's talk.

...

err...

말할까요.

by **MrHan** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 1:37 pm UTC

Hi

uh... first, a little introduction.
Name's Han Maru, Han being my family name and Maru being my given name.
As the name suggests, I'm Korean (w00t) and my native language is Korean. I live in Seoul (proof: IP). yay.
I'm perfectly bilingual; i can speak both korean and english like a native. I can speak a bit of spanish and chinese as well.

I can probably answer most, if not all, of your questions regarding Korean language, culture, etc.

that, and, uh..

Pierrot wrote:저는 국어 선생님이 아니지만, 최선을 다해서 도와주겠습니다.

"도와주겠습니다"is informal, and in order to keep consistent with "저" (1st person formal)
the better choice of words here would be "도와드리겠습니다."

otherwise the sentence is pretty solid.

맨날 한국말만 하다가 갑자기 영어할라니까 좀 어색하네요.
경험 해보신 분들은 아시겠지만.. 몇개 국어 한다는게 쉬운게 아니라서요 ㅠㅠ
영어를 못 하는건 아닌데 평소에 한국말만 하다가 갑자기 할라니까 말이 좀처럼 잘 나오지를 않네요.
왜이리 떨리지 ㄷㄷ

근데 사실 저도 한국어에 대한 지식이 그닥 해박한게 아니라서요. 제 모국어인데도 말이죠. ㅠㅡ
며칠 전 부터 공부 좀 하기 시작하긴 했는데 다들 아시다시피 공부가 하루아침에 되는 것도 아니구요 ㅠㅠ
그래도 공부는 꾸준히 하고 있으니까 언젠가는 품질 높은(?) grammar nazi서비스를 제공 해 드릴 수 있을거에요.

뭐 어쨌든 ㅋㅋ
잘 부탁드립니다. 궁금하신 거 있음 물어보시구요~

by **jinzougen** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 5:56 am UTC

MrHan wrote:맨날 한국말만 하다가 갑자기 영어할라니까 좀 어색하네요.
경험 해보신 분들은 아시겠지만.. 몇개 국어 한다는게 쉬운게 아니라서요 ㅠㅠ
영어를 못 하는건 아닌데 평소에 한국말만 하다가 갑자기 할라니까 말이 좀처럼 잘 나오지를 않네요.
왜이리 떨리지 ㄷㄷ

근데 사실 저도 한국어에 대한 지식이 그닥 해박한게 아니라서요. 제 모국어인데도 말이죠. ㅠㅡ
며칠 전 부터 공부 좀 하기 시작하긴 했는데 다들 아시다시피 공부가 하루아침에 되는 것도 아니구요 ㅠㅠ
그래도 공부는 꾸준히 하고 있으니까 언젠가는 품질 높은(?) grammar nazi서비스를 제공 해 드릴 수 있을거에요.

뭐 어쨌든 ㅋㅋ
잘 부탁드립니다. 궁금하신 거 있음 물어보시구요~

저는 한국어를 2 년동안만 공부했으니까 네 포스트를 (post?) 이해하기가 많이 어려워요! 번역해 보고 싶은데 틀리면 고치세요.

Because I speak only Korean every day, it's a little embarrassing when I suddenly speak English.
Those who've experienced this know what I'm talking about but, speaking this many languages isn't easy ㅠㅠ
It's not that I can't speak English, I usually just speak Korean and then because I suddenly switch the words don't come out right.
Why am I rejected <-- translation very uncertain

Anyway, the fact is that what I know about the Korean language isn't that extensive or profound. (don't know what 그닥 means here). It is after all my native language. ㅠㅡ
So, if you're studying steadily, I can offer my services as a grammar nazi any time.

Well anyway,
Happy favor-asking???? If there's something odd/curious, just try asking.

(That's the best I can do).

Oh, and your grammar-nazi services are very welcome, at least with my posts. I can't even guarantee my (Korean) posts will make any sense. :/

For the sake of those of us who aren't pros yet, maybe keep the Korean posts a little shorter, so I don't have to read them 3-5 times each.

I guess as my first grammar-nazi favor question... how would I say something equivalent to "That's the best I can do"?
그건 할 수 있는 것 중에서 가장 좋아요??

by **MrHan** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 11:00 am UTC

mother trucker i typed up this huge ass-post and the forum disconnected me.

... i'll type it up again sometime.

by **MrHan** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 9:28 am UTC

nice translation.
a couple corrections, though

어색하다 means awkward. 부끄럽다 means embarrassing.
떨리지 means shaky. i drank like 5 cups of coffee while typing up that post, and that probably is why...
그닥 means "that", and is usually used in negation of something (like "not that great"). You should be able to find "아니" in the same sentence.
The second and third sentences of the second paragraph would translate into: "I did start studying a few days ago, but as you know it can't be done in a day. but i'm studying steadily so i should be able to offer you my services as a quality grammar nazi pretty soon."
잘 부탁 드립니다 literally means something like "i ask you the favor of thinking well of me." it's basically a formal "nice to meet you" that you would say to people you plan on seeing often or working together.

With that in mind, the translation would then be something like:

Because I speak only Korean every day, it's a little awkward when I suddenly speak English.
Those who've experienced this know what I'm talking about but, speaking this many languages isn't easy ㅠㅠ
It's not that I can't speak English, I usually just speak Korean and then because I suddenly switch the words don't come out right.
Why am I so shaky

But, actually, I'm not that knowledgeable about Korean either, even though it's my native language. ㅠㅡ
I did start studying a few days ago, but as you know it can't be done in a day.
but i'm studying steadily so i should be able to offer you my services as a quality grammar nazi pretty soon.

Well anyway,
nice to meet you all. if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

You probably already know this, but the hardest part about translating between korean and english is the fact that the two cultures are so different.
this probably holds true for any two languages from different language groups or from different cultural backgrounds.
it kinda gets annoying -.-

as someone who is can speak both english and korean fluently, i can tell you that culture and social norms play a much larger role in languages than you might normally expect. it's not just the idioms; even the things considered normal to put on a label or a poster or things considered normal to say in a certain situation are different. which is why i hate when they put english on the covers of notebooks, fliers, etc. sometimes it's so bad it makes my skin crawl.

and yeah i should try to keep the posts in korean shorter. these are getting pretty loooonnnnggg...

"that's the best i can do" would be: "이 정도 밖에 안되네요" or "이 정도 밖에 할 수 없네요", which literally are something like "i cannot do better than to this degree."
"(그건) 제가 할 수 있는 것 중에서 가장 낫(or 좋)네요" does carry the message across, but you wouldn't normally say it that way for the same reason why you wouldn't say "i cannot do better than to this degree" instead of "that's the best i can do" in english. Also, if you say "(그건) 제가 할 수 있는 것 중에서 가장 낫(or 좋)네요", it kind of implies that you're giving the listener/reader other options from which he can choose and you're just pointing out to him which one you think is the best among them.

Lastly, it would be of great help to anyone learning korean to familiarize themselves with the more common of the suffixes and sentence endings (eg -는, -가, -만, -에서, -네요., -어요., -습니다., etc.), cuz they tend to define the context in which the sentence is said.

by **jinzougen** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 5:25 pm UTC

대답해서 고마워요.

"어색하다"의 뜻을 몰으니까 번역은 틀려되기 시작했어요...

지금 가야 되지만 곧 재미있는 어떤 것을 슬게요.

by **Pierrot** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 4:10 pm UTC

아. 대한민국 국민으로써 국어를 기본적으로 알아야하는데...
이 사실이 너무나 부끄럽습니다. ㅠ ㅡ ㅠ

One of the big problems that most people have with the language (and mostly other East Asian Language for that matter)
is that there are different set of vocabulary for use with elders or someone who is in a higher position than you.

For example: the Korean word for "I" is "나" or "내" (which is usually used in a situation that denotes ownership of something: ex - "이것은 내 것이다" or "내 마음이 호수이다" )
but when you are talking to someone who is more than 1 year older than you or are in a higher position than you, the word which you use in order to address yourself is
"저" or "제" (used when to denote ownership of something).

아 그리고 한씨, 처음으로 뵙습니다. 저는 현재 수원에서 살고 있는 김씨 입니다. 앞으로 잘 부탁드리기 바랍니다.

by **michaelhasanalias** » Thu Aug 26, 2010 1:09 am UTC

I would love to know your thoughts on Pimsleur Korean.

I used it for a few lessons about 2-3 years ago, and I just downloaded it again, and now it seems that it has changed completely. Even pronunciations of simple words seem different, or the words themselves have changed. I've read that it could be that Pimsleur used to be overly formal, but now it's more casual in tone.

If you have the chance, would you mind listening to the opening 20-30 seconds of the first few lessons, and tell me if you think the korean is closer to the korean that is actually spoken? If not, what is different about it? (If you don't know, most lessons seem to revolve around an opening brief conversation, then spending a half hour understanding and repeating the words.

The reason I'm asking is mainly because in my limited Korean study, I have learned "excuse me" to mean something like sillye hamnida 실예함니다 (guessing on sound)... but the word they use is something different like shillehjiman 실에지만, and only has the first part in common. Is this just a different ending? What does each tone mean and why do you believe they'd change their tones?

I am hoping to get a decent review from a native Korean speaker before spending 30 hours on what is essentially parrot Korean for basic conversations.

by **michaelhasanalias** » Thu Aug 26, 2010 11:04 am UTC

I had my Korean coworker listen to the Pimsleur Korean intro conversations, and she said she thinks in the newest ones, the man doesn't sound like a native speaker (but close), but that the conversation seems like it will be generally helpful. Thought I would forward this information.

by **Maarsch** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 1:31 pm UTC

I'll drag this old thread up as my first post I suppose.

Been in Korea quite a while, but now that I've graduated I finally have time to learn it. I'm using Rosetta stone, a French-Korean language exchange (No, I don't speak French, my partner does) a friendly neighbour and some weigook friends that have been here longer than me.

I could do with a nice explanation how to derive base verbs from all the words that come up in my training and conversation. Obviously they're conjugated somehow or other, but half the time when I try to get the base verb to look up the meaning in my phone I end up doing it wrong leaving me guessing what the hell Rosetta Stone is talking about. Also, it annoys me learning all the conjugated verbs because I know that I'll end up having to de-conjugate (is that a word?) before re-conjugating when I get a hang of politeness levels, temporal and other stuff which may interfere(This already happened 3 years ago when learning Japanese and I'm rather keen avoiding this frustration a second time)

by **comet** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 3:44 am UTC

First post =D So... 아녕하세요 ^.^ (actually... can you even use that as a 'hello'? ^^u )

umm...

I guess I will start with a question =D

Is there an effective way to distinguish -다 verbs from -하다 verbs?

I am noticing that -하다 tend to be a state of continuous being (아넝하다, 건강하다, etc.), whereas -다 are not.

Ex:

저사람이건강해요 vs. 사람이만아요

-다 seem closer to the English notion of an 'adjective' (or the Chinese stative verb: wuzi hen da (house very big-being) = the house is big); -하다 could sometimes be like an infinitive verb in English (이사람이일해요 = this person works).

I should probably not think about this at my level of learning (which is... the beginning of the beginning of a beginner ^^u), but the linguist in me yearns for answers =9

Thank you ^.^

by **Adacore** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 5:14 pm UTC

Maarsch wrote:I could do with a nice explanation how to derive base verbs from all the words that come up in my training and conversation. Obviously they're conjugated somehow or other, but half the time when I try to get the base verb to look up the meaning in my phone I end up doing it wrong leaving me guessing what the hell Rosetta Stone is talking about. Also, it annoys me learning all the conjugated verbs because I know that I'll end up having to de-conjugate (is that a word?) before re-conjugating when I get a hang of politeness levels, temporal and other stuff which may interfere(This already happened 3 years ago when learning Japanese and I'm rather keen avoiding this frustration a second time)

I decided to put my Rosetta Stone Korean course on hold for a while to go through a Korean grammar book to learn the answers to those questions, because the Rosetta Stone was just starting to get too confusing without knowing any of the grammar. I think it's helping

Anyway, I'm a total beginner myself, really, but I'm moving to Changwon (I'd use Hangul but my work computer won't write it) for two years, from next month. I was hoping to have a solid grounding in the basics by then, but that's looking unlikely. I'll just have to hope I pick it up faster once I'm out there and have people to talk to. I don't know if any experts are still around, but if they are I might start using this thread properly soon-ish.

by **mieulium** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 2:06 pm UTC

Sorry, but I figured this should be the best place to ask this...

How do you say to a guy "in the end, you should do everything at your own pace, so as long it makes you happy."

by **JGodbout** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 10:42 am UTC

안녕하세요!

제 이름은 제이콥이고 한국어를 공부합니다
16 미국 살/18 한국 살입니다 (is this the right way to specify the aging systems?)
호주 시드니에 삽니다 (우리 집 가까이 한국 사람과 한국 가게가 (what is the best blanket word for shops/supermarkets/restaurants in general? afaik 가게 implies more of a street market shop) 많습니다) (sorry for confusing bracket usage)
1해 전부터 (만? can i say 전부터만 or do i have to pick just one particle?) 한국어를 배우기 시작해서 잘 못 합니다
하지만 잘 하려고 매일 열심히 공부합니다
보통 인터넷과 책으로 공부합니다

저가 한국어를 배우는 이유는
-스타크래프트 때문에! 스타 경기 실황 방송을 이해할 수 있고 싶었습니다 (somehow i remember that 알아 들다 can be used in this situation, as in ..을 알아 들 수 있고 싶었습니다 - can i do this? or has my mind just invented this?) 저는 지난 십이월에 한국에 갈 때 스타 경기를 보러 경기장에 갔습니다 (is it 갈 때 or 간 때? i think the former is correct, but the latter would certainly make more sense)
-한국 음식, 여자, 음악 (보통 k-pop을 안 들지만 소녀시대를 좋아합니다 ;] )
-많은 한국 사람은 유학하러 한국에서 우리 학교에 옵니다 , 이것 때문에 무료 한국어 선생님이 있습니다

최근에 어머니와 함께 이번 (이번 or 이해 or 이년?) 십이월에 또 한국에 여행을 계획했습니다 (is this the right way to construct the noun sentence: "이번 십이월에 또 한국에 여행"? i want to say [recently, with my mother, we planned] "another holiday to korea in december")

계획한 여행 동안, 1주 가량 동안 한국 고등학교에 (is 에 or 를 best here?) 다닐 계획해 보려고 합니다 (is there a better way to say the "during my holiday, for about 1 week" bit?)

천천히 한국어를 써서 쓰기 시작한지 1시간 지났습니다! whew!

어느 문장을 잘못 했습니까? 알려 주세요

감사합니다!

if anybody wants to practice either writing or speaking korean with me, feel free to add me on skype/msn/facebook at jngodbout @ 지 메일 덧 컴

by **IcedT** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:39 am UTC

I've been working on Korean out of a college text for a couple weeks now, and I just now remembered this thread is here. I've been focusing on learning the grammar first, so I've been tearing through the book but without memorizing all that many words so far- mostly because Korean grammar is so simple (weird, but simple) that I constantly have a feeling I'm missing something so I need to press on. I can read well and, when I know or can look up the words, I can understand well, but I really don't have much confidence in writing or speaking. I NEED A STUDY BUDDY

by **Dr-Whom** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:55 am UTC

A question about forms of address. Some time ago I won a free subscription to a site that shows Korean drama. Although I know no Korean at all, inevitably, I tried to figure out what was being said.

When watching 'My girlfriend is a gumiho' I was struck by the following. The main character calls his official girlfriend (not the fox) 'dun-a' (or something like that, anyway, that is what I heard). The subtitles gave the girl's name: Hye In. So, what is going on?

I know from anime that forms of address tend to be simplified in subtitles, for instance, a character may say senpai, while the subtitles simply use the name. Is something like that going on here?

by **f1g2h311** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 1:07 am UTC

Dr-Whom wrote:A question about forms of address. Some time ago I won a free subscription to a site that shows Korean drama. Although I know no Korean at all, inevitably, I tried to figure out what was being said.

When watching 'My girlfriend is a gumiho' I was struck by the following. The main character calls his official girlfriend (not the fox) 'dun-a' (or something like that, anyway, that is what I heard). The subtitles gave the girl's name: Hye In. So, what is going on?

I know from anime that forms of address tend to be simplified in subtitles, for instance, a character may say senpai, while the subtitles simply use the name. Is something like that going on here?

Noona (누나) is how a male addresses a female slightly older than him. I basically means "older sister".

"Hyung" for a male to a slightly older male
"Oen-ni" female to older female
"Oppa" female to older male

(Even if you don't learn the language its good to learn at least the forms of address as it helps with context. Some fan subs are actually good about showing them over just the person's name)

by **Dr-Whom** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:14 am UTC

I expected it was something like that. Thanks for clearing up 'oppa' as well.

by **math1985** » Mon Jul 18, 2011 9:31 am UTC

In an other thread (linking not allowed

), I posted this image, which turned out to be Korean.

http://www.matthijsmelissen.nl/temp/symbols.jpg

I found it in turkey, probably left behind by some touring group.

Can anyone read this text?

by **Adacore** » Mon Jul 18, 2011 11:50 pm UTC

Here's my best shot. The top bit is easy enough, it reads:

"Ottoman Restaurant
Welcome" [or, I suppose, "Welcome to the Ottoman Restaurant"]

The next line (in the coloured boxes) is types of food/drink, and my translation isn't completely up to it so this might not be 100%:

Lamb Chops [green box], Beer [yellow box], Lamb Kebab [blue box]; the second green box is something to do with water, but I'm not sure what - it might be saying you get water for everyone.

The the last line says something like "Traditional Turkish ??? on sale". I don't know what the third word (in inverted commas) is in that line, the last character in that word might just be a '3', because it isn't Korean, but then the word would be something like "la3". An actual Korean speaker might do better - I'll ask a colleague at lunchtime.

by **curtis95112** » Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:05 pm UTC

The second green box says 물담배. Literally, it means water cigarette. I assume it refers to this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_smoking#Water_pipes.
The 라3 is actually 라크 in a different font. They're offering Raki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rak%C4%B1), a traditional Turkish alcoholic beverage.

by **math1985** » Tue Jul 19, 2011 6:54 pm UTC

Thanks, that text makes totally sense in Turkey

.

by **Adacore** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 2:56 am UTC

curtis95112 wrote:The 라3 is actually 라크 in a different font.

Of course! Thanks, that was bugging me. I would never have worked out the translation though, even if I'd read the character correctly. I don't feel too bad for messing up 'water pipe' and 'raki'; they're not exactly anything I've covered in my basic Korean classes

by **Dr-Whom** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 10:28 am UTC

Forms of address again: when do you use the 'ah' after the name?

by **Slurgi** » Thu Mar 01, 2012 11:59 am UTC

Dr-Whom wrote:Forms of address again: when do you use the 'ah' after the name?

My understanding is that appending "ah" (아) is used when you're more familiar with a person. It's less formal than 님 or 씨. I often hear my students using it to call out to one another.

안녕하세요 여러분!

저는 이름이 Scott 이예요. 미국에 태어나요, 그로지만 지금 서울에 살아요. 고등하교에서 저는 영어를 가르쳐요.

한국어 공부하고 2 목적 있어요. 저는 영어 가르쳐는 것 더 숙련된이예요, 그리고 한국어 잼있어요! 자연적 언어 구사력를 없어요 그래서 매일 공부해요. 한국어 어려워요~ ㅠ.ㅠ

실수 많이 있었어요. 혹자 교정해 줄께요? ^^

by **Adacore** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 5:54 am UTC

저는 이름이 아다코르예요*. 영국 살아요. 11월동안 한국 창원에서 살았어요. 그런데 올해 일월에 한국어 수업 시작했어요. 저도 매일 공부해요. Scott 씨, 얼마 동안 한국어 배우세요?

저는 한국 좋아해요. 두산중공업에서 일해요. 회사원이에요**.

*I was going to use my name, then figured I may as well hangul-ize my forum name if I'm posting on a forum.
**I would say I'm an engineer, which is just 'engineer' in Korean as well, I think, but I don't know the hangul transliteration.

I'm afraid I can't provide much help with corrections/mistakes, because you're probably a little more advanced than me (I do at least know almost all the words you used, though, which I didn't a month ago). I think after your name the verb should be 이에요, rather than 이예요, although if you're transliterating 'Scott' as '스커트', rather than something like '스컷', then I believe 예요 (but not 이예요) would be correct. Anything more advanced than that probably needs someone better at Korean than me.

Are the conjunctions 그리고, 그래서, 그럼, 그런데, 그러니가, 그러지만, &c. not normally used after a period as the start of a new sentence, rather than as continuations of the same sentence, in written Korean, or is that just a quirk of the books I'm using?

At the moment the thing I'm not feeling that solid on is tenses. In the above, for example, does saying I've lived in Korea for 11 months imply that I'm not living there now, or is the wording I used ok?

EDIT: Also, I've subscribed to this thread now, so maybe if anyone ever posts here again I'll respond in markedly less than a month.

by **WanderingLinguist** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 4:43 am UTC

안녕하세요~

여기 2녕동안 여기 누가 29번 밖에 포스팅 안 했어요. 평균이 한달에 한번인가봐요. 조금 실만해요 ㅠㅠ xkcd게시판에서 한국어 할 수 있는분이 조금 더 많이 있는지 기대 했어요.

궁굼해요~ 여기 한국어 원어민 아직도 있어요?

난 한국어 원어민이 아니지만 다른 분이 썼던 한국어 할 수 있는만큼 도와드릴게요 ^^;;

미리, 만약에 제가 틀려면 미안해요. 도움이 돼면 좋겠습니다.

Slurgi wrote:
Dr-Whom wrote:Forms of address again: when do you use the 'ah' after the name?

My understanding is that appending "ah" (아) is used when you're more familiar with a person. It's less formal than 님 or 씨. I often hear my students using it to call out to one another.

맞아요. 근데, "아"만 아니고, 아/야 중에 선택해야해요. 아름은 받침으로 끝나면 "아"를 사용하는거 맞지만 받침없는 경우에는 "야" 써야합니다. 그리고 받침은 "ㅇ"경우에는 가끔 "이야" 붙이는거 본적이 있어요 (맞는지 모르겠어요). 예: 진수 -> 진수야! 경민 -> 경민아!

Slurgi wrote:안녕하세요 여러분!

"여러분, 안녕하세요!"라고 하면 조금 더 자연스러운것 같아요. "안녕하세요 여러분"순서가 조금 영어 순서 느낌이 있겠어요. (근데 난 원어민이 이나나까 확실한것이 아닙니다)

Slurgi wrote:저는 이름이 Scott 이예요.

"저의 이름은 Scott 이에요"란거 더 나아지 않아요?

Slurgi wrote: 미국에 태어나요, 그로지만 지금 서울에 살아요. 고등하교에서 저는 영어를 가르쳐요.

"태어났어요". 이것은 곽어 입니다 ^^;

Adacore wrote:저는 이름이 아다코르예요*. 영국 살아요.

영국이 나라이니까 살 수 없죠? "영국<에> 살아요"가 맞는것 같아요.

Adacore wrote: 11월동안 한국 창원에서 살았어요. 그런데 올해 일월에 한국어 수업 시작했어요. 저도 매일 공부해요. Scott 씨, 얼마 동안 한국어 배우세요?

저는 한국 좋아해요. 두산중공업에서 일해요. 회사원이에요**.

*I was going to use my name, then figured I may as well hangul-ize my forum name if I'm posting on a forum.
**I would say I'm an engineer, which is just 'engineer' in Korean as well, I think, but I don't know the hangul transliteration.

난 영어로 "Senior Engineer"라고 하지만 명함에서 "선임연구원"라고 써있습니다. 연구원의 의미가 Engineer와 같지 않지만 대부분 경우에는 그냥 연구원 써도 돼겠어요. 어떤 Engineer이요? 특별한 시술 있는 사람은 기술자라고 해도 됀것 같아서 Software Engineer경우에는 아마 소프트웨어 기술자라고 해도 돼겠지만 아는 사람중에 대부분 그냥 연구원라고 해요.

우리 영어, 한국어 섞는것 보다 더 할 수 있는 만큼 한국어 만 쓰는것이 좀 더 나아겠죠? 연습하기 위해서요...

~유목언어학자

by **Adacore** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 2:19 am UTC

That's a little way above my level, but I'm gonna try my best...

Spoiler:

Eurgh, my Korean is terrible. That's enough for now. I'll try and get through more/the rest later. 어려워요.

by **WanderingLinguist** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 12:25 pm UTC

Wow, very good! Don't be so humble about your Korean ability (most of the stuff you didn't get was due to my typos anyway).

Adacore wrote:That's a little way above my level, but I'm gonna try my best...

In two years, there haven't been more than 29 posts here [maybe? I know all the words in this sentence, but not what they actually mean in context]. That's an average of once a month [I don't know what 인가봐요 means, and google translate is... unhelpful].

인가봐요 is just 이다 (to be) with ~ㄴ가보다 tacked on. It's from "보다" (to look) and means "looks like" or "seems like". So, I was saying "That seems like once a month, on average".

That's a little ?? [no idea on 실만해요].

That's because I made a typo (why are ㅇ and ㄴ so damn close on the keyboard?). Um, it was supposed to be 실망해요.

I expected Korean to be done more on the xkcd fora [this is one of several guesses I have for the grammar of this sentence - I don't know the grammar for the endings of 있는분이 and 있는지, although I feel like I should].

You've have almost certainly gotten if I'd put the spaces where they were supposed to be (It's a really bad texting habit). "있는 분이" was what I meant to have typed, and in this case 분 means the same thing as 사람 (it's just the polite form -- I don't spend enough time on Korean internet forums to know if the honorific is appropriate on forums, so I'm really just guessing here).

I'm wondering - are there still any native Korean speakers here?

I'm not a native Korean speaker [or maybe you are? I'm not sure if 아니지만 negates this or not], however I'll give help to different people with korean writing.

Oh, I'm definitely not a native. Just talk to me about a subject that's outside of "everyday life stuff", "learning Korean" and "computer science" (I know technical jargon from work) and my Korean will utterly disintegrate. Anyway, 아니지만 is just "not, but" so... "I'm not a native speaker, but I'll help giving feedback on the writing that others have posted here as much as I'm capable." (and now you know what I was trying to say -- but failed miserably at -- in the later half of that sentence).

I'm sorry in advance if ??? [not sure I'm parsing this right, but I don't know 틀려면]. I hope I [or you? Contextual Korean is confusing] can help.
Eurgh, my Korean is terrible. That's enough for now. I'll try and get through more/the rest later. 어려워요.

That's... I'm sorry in advance if I made any mistakes (틀리다 is to be wrong, incorrect, mistaken, etc.). I hope this is (I've been/I can be) helpful.

Basically, if I'm saying "I hope I (something I did/provided) was helpful" then it's 도움이 됐으면 좋겠어요 or 도움이 돼면 좋겠어요.

But if I'm asking for someone else's help (I hope you can help me) then I should have 주다 at the very least (and preferably an honorific), like:
도움이 주실 수 있으면 좋겠어요.

Looking for the use of honorific can really help with figuring out context.

At least, that's as I understand it (I'm not a native speaker, so I could very well be wrong... take everything with a grain of salt).

Are you living in Korea? Your Korean level seems quite high.

by **Adacore** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 1:46 am UTC

감사합니다. 네, 저는 두산중공업에서 일해요. 그래서 한국 창원에서 살고 있어요. 일월부터 한국어 많이 공부했어요. 그렇지만 한달동안 가끔 안 공부해요. 한국어를 잘 못 해요*.

*'My Korean isn't good', or more literally, 'I can't do Korean well' is probably the phrase I use most often here.

by **WanderingLinguist** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 7:33 am UTC

Adacore wrote:감사합니다. 네, 저는 두산중공업에서 일해요. 그래서 한국 창원에서 살고 있어요. 일월부터 한국어 많이 공부했어요. 그렇지만 한달동안 가끔 안 공부해요. 한국어를 잘 못 해요*.

*'My Korean isn't good', or more literally, 'I can't do Korean well' is probably the phrase I use most often here.

와우~ 창원시가 서울에서 되게 멀어요. 부산에서 많이 멀지 않죠? 저는 서울에 살아요.

Your Korean really isn't that bad (honestly, the majority of westerners in Seoul don't even seem to know how to say "hello").

Anyway, here are a few suggestions/corrections...

가끔 안 공부해요 --> this is kind of awkward, like "I don't occasionally study".

If you want to say "I don't study very often", it's 자주 공부 하지 않아요.

Or if you want to use 가끔, I think it would be better with 밖에, like: "가끔 밖에 공부 하지 않아요" (but that still feel awkward to me, a little)

한달동안 means "for one month"... are you trying to say "I haven't studied very often this last month"? Or "I only study a few days each month"?

한달동안 자주 공부 하지 않았어요 --> I didn't study very much for a month (implies the past month).

by **Adacore** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 7:41 am UTC

Yeah, I don't have enough Korean to say most of the temporal language stuff I want to accurately. I was trying to say that I've studied solidly since January, except for a couple of month-long lapses, but that's tricky to word in English, let alone Korean.

by **WanderingLinguist** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 7:50 am UTC

Adacore wrote:Yeah, I don't have enough Korean to say most of the temporal language stuff I want to accurately. I was trying to say that I've studied solidly since January, except for a couple of month-long lapses, but that's tricky to word in English, let alone Korean.

Hmm, yeah, that's tricky. My best guess is something like this:

1월부터 한국어 열심히 공부했지만 가끔식 약 한달동안 공부 못 하는 시간 도 있었어요.

But I think the closest translation for "lapse" (in this sense) is 일탈 (more like "deviate", I guess?) So maybe this could work:

1월부터 한국어 열심히 공부했지만 공부에서 약 한달동안 일탈 몇게 있었어요.

Any native speakers who can check this? 이것을 확인 해주실 수 있는 원어민이 있어요? ^^;;

by **curtis95112** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 8:32 am UTC

WanderingLinguist wrote:
1월부터 한국어 열심히 공부했지만 가끔식 약 한달동안 공부 못 하는 시간 도 있었어요.

This is correct, save for a typo (가끔식 -> 가끔씩). But it would sound more natural if you changed 한달동안 to 한 달씩. I would also change the word order to 1월부터 열심히 한국어 공부를 했지만.
So, 1월부터 열심히 한국어 공부를 했지만 가끔씩 약 한 달씩 공부 못 하는 시간도 있었어요.

But I think the closest translation for "lapse" (in this sense) is 일탈 (more like "deviate", I guess?) So maybe this could work:

1월부터 한국어 열심히 공부했지만 공부에서 약 한달동안 일탈 몇게 있었어요.

Any native speakers who can check this? 이것을 확인 해주실 수 있는 원어민이 있어요? ^^;;

Hmm.. I wouldn't use 일탈, it connotes too much of an "escape to freedom" feeling. Which is fine if that's what you intended of course.

I'm not sure how to translate "lapse" into Korean word-for-word though.

by **WanderingLinguist** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 11:00 pm UTC

네, "일탈"은 그렇게 사용하면 조금 어색한지 생각했지만 lapse이 한국어로 번역하기 어려워요. 더 좋은 단어를 못 찾았어요. 그냥 다르게 표현해야하겠죠?

그리고 난 완전 오타쟁이 인지 알아요 ㅎㅎ 너무 빨리 타자해서 오타가 많이 나와요 (한국어만 아니고, 영어도...^^;;; )

by **Slurgi** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 5:42 am UTC

WanderingLinguist wrote:Your Korean really isn't that bad (honestly, the majority of westerners in Seoul don't even seem to know how to say "hello").

내, 저도 봤으면 얼떨떨헤요. 한국어 어려와도, '안녕하세요' 하고 '주세요' 안어려와요.

작년에 한국에 있어요. 2012년8월28일에 미국에 왔어요. 지금미국에 있어고 한국어한 업서서, 벌써 한국어한 힘들어요. 한국친구하고 밖에 한국밀 하고 없어요. 가끔 한구친구랑 알라도, 영어 보통으로 해요.

이forum 밖에, 어디 한국어 해요?

by **PicNick** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 2:17 am UTC

이thread에 오신분 아직 있나요~?

안녕하세요~ 저 인터넷으로 한국어 공부하는 학생 픽닉임니다. 고등학교에서 저는 12학년 학생 이고 한국 문화가 넘 좋아요! 재가 다른 한국말 공부하는분애게 도우면 좋겠고 저도 좀 도와주세요!

slurgi님, 재가 한국인 많이 사는 시에서 살아서 한국친구을이랑 얘기해요. 우리 학교에서 한국 유학생 많아서 그들이랑 연습하고, 한국집에서 먹고 노래방으로 가면 사장님이랑 한국말해요.

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