Random Korean Language Notes #1

• In english, we call it “selfie” but in Korean it’s known as “selca” (셀카)

• 큰절 and 근절 may sound similar but have to different meanings. The former means “deep bow” while the latter means “extermination” or “eradication.”

• Anki is a great tool for memorizing Korean vocabulary. Make sure to download it for your smartphone as well!

• In Korea, China and Japan, the number system uses decimals grouped into ten thousands (만, 억, 조) as opposed to the western thousands (thousand, million, billion).

• While the Koreans greet each other the same way no matter the time of day (an-nyeong-ha-se-yo (안녕하세요)), young people sometimes useKonglish words when chatting with friends online. 하이 (hi) and 굿나잇 (goodnight) are some examples.

• Konglish means words derived from the English language and used in Korean (Korean + English = Konglish).

• 뭐 at the end of a sentence means “well..”

• In sports, players are always refered to by [name]+선수 (seon-su, meaning player).

• 머리카락 refers to hair on your head but if you want to talk about hair on your body, you should use the word 털 (다리털 = leg hair)

• 정 (jeong) refers to a kind of love that a lot of foreigners have a hard time grasping. Try asking your Korean friend what it means and see if you can relate.

• 한 (han) is another one of those special Korean feelings and refers to, to put it simply,  a type of feeling of oppression. Wikipedia has a great article on han, be sure to check it out if you want to learn more!

 By: Kimchi Cloud