Archive for 'Vocabulary'
Neologism that Reflects the Changing Korean Culture Posted by Flying Oyster on Oct 27, 2020
Even if I live far away from Korea, I still keep in touch with friends that I grew up with. It is fun to talk to them, but I hear some words that I had never heard when I grew up in Korea. My friends are not in their 20’s, but they still use many…
What is K-Beauty? Posted by Flying Oyster on Oct 8, 2020
When I was in school, I had a classmate whose skin was always radiant despite her age. I asked her once what her secret was, and she said that she used olive oil. She added that it was her family secret coming down from her great-grandmother to her daughter. I guess women in many different…
Differences in Korean and American Home Design Posted by Flying Oyster on Sep 9, 2020
Because I travel often, I have stayed in many different places in equally many different countries. When I stay in different short term rentals, I like to discover just how different things are from my childhood home in Korea. Living in an apartment is very common in Korea since 인구밀도 (in-goo-mil-doh: population density) is…
A Review of Honorific Korean (Part 2) Posted by Flying Oyster on Aug 17, 2020
In general, I think the quality of customer service in Korea is excellent. Most of the sales clerks that I have ever encountered at shops were polite. Even government official clerks were well-mannered to their customers. I strongly believe using 존댓말 (jon-dat-mahl :the honorific) is one of the many reasons that most of my experiences…
A Review of Honorific Korean (Part 1) Posted by Flying Oyster on Jul 20, 2020
My husband seems to be more cautious to speak to my parents, especially my father. He thinks that he has to speak perfect honorific Korean to my parents in order to show respect. I told him many times that my father would understand even if he makes some mistakes, but he still can’t be free…
Korean Words That Phonetically Sound Like English Posted by Flying Oyster on Jul 9, 2020
About 20 years ago, I remember how startling it was when I heard a native speaker pronounce the word “chocolate” because the pronunciation of the word “chocolate” was entirely different than what I had known. There are no other Korean words for this 외래어 (wae-rae-uh: loanword, foreign word usage). Therefore, I thought that native…
Wait, Is That Korean or English? (Part 2) Posted by Flying Oyster on Jun 24, 2020
I have been collecting Korean 허위 동족어 (huh-wee-dong-jok-uh: false cognates) for a while. 허위 동족어 are pairs of words that seem to be cognates because of similar sounds and meaning, but have different etymologies. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_cognate#:~:text=False%20cognates%20are%20pairs%20of,even%20within%20the%20same%20family.) I have more Korean false cognates that I can share with you. I hope this post helps you expand your Korean…