We all become babies when we start to learn a foreign language. We learn new words, tone, proper register, etc., from the speakers of the language around us, just as a baby learns them from parents by mimicking their way of speaking and saying things. You naturally follow the speech patterns of your teachers and interlocutors around you, and they get ingrained into your brain and tongue. More often than not, they determine your linguistic life when you become more fluent.
Thus, it is of paramount importance for you to choose the right people to mimic in the first place. Who are your “language parents” that you emulate now? If you emulate some immature Koreans who use ephemeral slang and broken foreign words here and there, you will speak the language of their kind of people and sound like them. If you listen to and follow a certain aggressive and rude speech habit, you will soon find yourself speaking the hostile language of shady characters in some obscure marketplaces before you even know it. But suppose you are lucky enough to find well-educated people who speak elegant Korean in noble manners and emulate them. In that case, you will be able to speak Korean beautifully, and that alone can eventually lead you to many opportunities, in business or personal relationships, as you become more fluent. So choose well your Korean teachers, friends, and language partners when you start to learn Korean.
The following video shows two types of Korean speakers. Listen carefully to their command of vocabulary, structure, tone, and overall composure. Which one would you emulate as your Korean teacher or language partner? The choice is all yours.
Note:
*(1) sentence ending -다요 here seems to mimic the Japanese verb ending だよ, which is an informal register similar to “…, you know?” in English. In Korean, however,-다요 is almost obsolete in today’s Korean society. In the past, only slaves or servants used the -다요 ending when speaking to their masters, as you may have heard in historical dramas. You wouldn’t want to mimic this, unless you want to sound like a slave.
*(2) いっぱい ですね (ippai desune) means “there is a lot/much of it(them)”
*(3) 커플템 [ neologism (“couple + item”): items/clothes worn or used by two lovers together to confirm and commemorate their affection for each other ]
Level A2: In the first part of the video, she randomly mixes English and Japanese words in many sentences. Please replace those foreign words with correct Korean words, conjugating verbs/adjectives if necessary, as normally educated Koreans would speak to their friends and boyfriend/girlfriend, even if they are international:
a. Lunch는? =>
b. Delicious하게 =>
c. 많이 먹었다요(だよ)* =>
d. 밥 많이 먹었으면 힘 いっぱい ですね* =>
e. 너무 hot해! =>
f. Board도 buy, 선글라스도 buy, 속옷도 buy =>
g. 또 buy한게 뭐가 있더라? =>
h. 그냥 회사랑도 bye-bye 할래? =>
Level B2: In the second part of the video, the Korean linguist Ross King introduces himself and talks about his experience with the Korean language, speaking in perfectly educated Korean. Which of the following is not consistent with what he says?
a. He teaches the Korean language and Koreanology in Canana.
b. He has been learning Korean for over 40 years.
c. He will go back home tomorrow.
d. The number of university students currently studying Korean in the U.S. is about 2000.
e. He built a “Korean language village” in 1999 to create an immersive environment for young students.
P.S.> Please pay special attention to how he rephrases the “foreign”(English) words, “Residential immersion,” into Korean so his interlocutor or audience can easily understand. It is exactly how well-educated people introduce foreign words into a conversation. Once again, do not transliterate. Translate, instead.
– Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 – 1951), “Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus” (1921)
“Die Grenzen meiner Sprache sind die Grenzen meiner Welt”
“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”
– 주시경 (Korean linguist, 1876 – 1914)
“한 나라가 잘 되고 못 되는 열쇠는 그 나라의 국어를 얼마나 사랑하느냐에 있다.”
“The key to a nation’s success is how much its people love their language.”
𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆®‘s previous article: SOS Korean: 여러분, 한국말을 구해주세요! (September 2023):
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