Korean for Dummies (23 page)

Knowing the Time and Day

yoil
(
yo-il
) is a Korean word that means “day of the week.” The prefix determines which day of the week it is. So
mogyoil
(
mo-gyo-il
) means Thursday,
toyoil
(
to-yo-il
) means Saturday,
woryoil
(
wo-ryo-il
) means Monday and so forth. Notice the word “
yoil
” that is present in all of those days.
si
(
shi
) is hour and
boon
(
boon
) is minutes. So, if someone asked you to meet at a
geukjang
(
geukjang
; theatre) on
suyoil
(
soo-yo-il
; Wednesday),
ohoo
(
o-who
; afternoon)
neshi
(
nae-shi
; 4 o’clock)
siboboon
(
shi-bo-boon
; 15 minutes), you’ll have to meet that person at a theatre on Wednesday, at 4:15 pm. In this section, I will teach you how to say the day of the week, what months it is, and also how to tell times in Korean.

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Days, weeks, months

The Korean word for a week is
ju
(
joo
).
juil
(
joo-il
) is a weekday, and
jumal
(
joo-mal
) means weekend. The Korean week begins on a Monday and ends on Sunday.
juil
is from Monday through Friday, and
jumal
, being the weekend, is Saturday and Sunday. For those who live for the weekend,
jumal
is the time when all the fun takes place. These are the days you go bar hopping; these are the days you go catch a movie. You can talk about what happened
jeobeonju
(
juh-bun-joo
; last week) or
jinanju
(
jee-nan-joo
; a week that had already passed), or
jeobeonjumal
(
juh-bun-joo-mal
; last weekend) or
jinanjumal
(
jee-nan-joo-mal
; a weekend that had already passed), or if this week’s no good you can make plans for
daeumju
(
da-eum-joo
; next week). If it’s a plan that cannot be postponed, you’ll have to meet
ibeonju
(
ee-bun-joo
; this week).

See Table 7-1 for how to spot and pronounce days of the week.

Table 7-1

Days of the week

Korean Word

Pronunciation

English Word

woryoil

wuh-ryo-il

Monday

hwayoil

hwa-yo-il

Tuesday

suyoil

soo-yo-il

Wednesday

mogyoil

mo-gyo-il

Thursday

geumyoil

geum-yo-il

Friday

toyoil

to-yo-il

Saturday

iryoil

ee-ryo-il

Sunday

Telling time

After you are familiar with numbers in Korean, telling the time becomes a pretty easy thing to do. The only thing that you have to remember is
si
(
shi
; hour),
boon
(
boon
; minutes) and
cho
(
cho
; seconds). It is also helpful to know
ojeon
(
o-juhn
; morning, am) and
ohu
(
o-who
; afternoon, pm). If you have an important meeting at
ojeon ahopsi
(
o-juhn a-hop-shi
), then you know the meeting starts at 9:00 am. If the meeting starts at
ojeon ahopsi ban
(
o-juhn
-
a-hop-shi-ban
), that means your meeting starts at 9:30 am.
ban
(
ban
) means half, so translated literally,
ahopsi ban
means nine hours and a half, or half past nine. Remember, punctuality is a quality that is valued highly, so if you want to make a good impression, be sure to make it to your meeting a little early. To keep you on track and on time, just check out Table 7-2.

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Table 7-2

Time-Related Terms

Korean Word

Pronunciation

English Word

hansi

han-shi

1:00

dusi

doo-shi

2:00

sesi

sae-shi

3:00

nesi

ne-shi

4:00

daseotsi

da-suh-shi

5:00

yeoseotsi

yuh-suh-shi

6:00

ilgopsi

il-gop-shi

7:00

yeodeolsi

yuh-duhl-shi

8:00

ahopsi

a-hop-shi

9:00

yeolsi

yuhl-shi

10:00

yeolhansi

yuhl-han-shi

11:00

yeoldusi

yuhl-doo-shi

12:00

ojeon

o-juhn

Before noon, am.

ohu

o-hoo

After noon, pm.

Telling time relative to now

oneul
(
o-neul
) is the Korean word for today.
eoje
(
uh-jae
) is yesterday, and
naeil
(
nae-il
) is tomorrow.
jigeum
(
jee-geum
) is the Korean word for right now.
najunge
(
na-joong-ae
) means later. One shouldn’t do
naeil
what can be done
oneul
, right? But it’s so much easier to say
najunge
. You can also say,
jom itdaga
(
jom ee-dda-ga
), which means, “in a little while, little later.”
eonje
(
un-jae
) is the Korean word for when. So the question,
eonje hasilgeoeyo?

(
un-jae ha-shil-guh-ae-yo?;
when will you do it?) can be answered,
oneul
halkkeoeyo
(
o-neul hal-kkuh-ae-yo;
I will do it today).

Other examples of using these words are:
naeil halkkeoeyo
(
nae-il hal-kkuh-ae-yo;
I will do it tomorrow),
jigeum halkkayo?
(
jee-geum hal-kka-yo;
Should I do it right now?),
najunge galkkeyo
(
na-joong-ae gal-kkae-yo;
I will go later) and
jom itdaga jeonhwa haseyo
(
jom ee-dda-ga juhn-hwa ha-sae-yo
; Please call in a while or please call little later.) If you have done it already, you can say, “
eoje haeseoyo
” (
uh-jae-hae-ssuh-yo;
I did it yesterday.) Then again, you may need to list the month in which you’ve done or plan to do something.

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Seasonal terms can be helpful when making plans or discussing things you’ve done. Use Table 7-3 as your guide.

Table 7-3

Seasonal Terms

gyejeol

gae-juhl

The seasons

bom

bom

Spring

yeoreum

yuhreum

Summer

gaeul

ga-eul

Fall

gyeoul

gyuh-wool

Winter

Talkin’ the Talk

Sarah asks Tom about his birthday.

Sarah:

tomssi saengiri eonjeeyo?

tom-shi, saeng-ee-ree un-jae-ae-yo?

Tom, when is your birthday?

Tom:

je saengilreun samwol isipsamirieyo. sarahssi saen-

gireun eonjeeyo?

jae saeng-ee-reun sam-wol ee-ship–sam-il ee-ae-yo.

sarah-sshi saeng-ee-reun un-jae-ae-yo?

My birthday is March 23. When’s your birthday,

Sarah?

Sarah:

je saengireun sawol siboirieyo.

jae saeng-ee-reun sa-wol-ship-o-il-ee-ae-yo.

My birthday is April fifteenth.

Tom:

jinanjuyeonaeyo? neujeotjiman saengil chukha-

haeyo! jal bonaeseoyo?

jee-nan-joo-yuhn-nae-yo? neu-juh-jee-man saengil

chook-ha-hae-yo! jal bo-nae-ssuh-yo?

Then it was last week? Happy birthday! Did you

spend it well?

Sarah:

ne. gajogirang gachi bonaeseoyo. jeonyeok gachi

meogeoseoyo

nae. ga-jo-gi-rang ga-chi bo-nae-ssuh-yo. juh-nyuhk

ga-chi muh-guh-ssuh-yo.

Yes. I spent it with family. We had dinner together.

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Words to Know

Months of the Year and Related Terms

irwol

ee-rwol

January

iwol

ee-wol

February

samwol

sam-wol

March

sawol

sa-wol

April

owol

o-wol

May

yuwol

yoo-wol

June

chirwol

chirwol

July

parwol

pa-rwol

August

guwol

goo-wol

September

siwol

shi-wol

October

sibirwol

shi-bee-rwol

November

sibiwol

shi-bee-wol

December

ibeondal

ee-bun-dal

This month

daeumdal

da-eum-dal

Next month

jeobeondal

juh-bun-dal

Last month

saengil

saengil

Birthday

seollal

sul-nal

New Year’s day

Exploring Fun Places

From culture to clubs, Korea has a variety of places to check out for nightlife.

The sections that follow not only introduce you to these places, but also, the following sections help you to navigate these places as well.

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Visiting museums and galleries

Korea boasts of a long history and museums can be found not just in Seoul, but in other cities and areas.
gyeongju
(
gyoung-joo
) area, in the south east corner of the peninsula has many historical sites and museums for you to check out as well. You can also take in a lot of Korean history and culture in many of the Buddhist temples scattered throughout the countryside.
haeinsa
(
hae-in-sa
; Buddhist temple Haein) in particular, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the home of Tripitaka Koreana, or
palmandaejanggyung
(
palmandae-jang-gyoung
), which is the world’s oldest and most complete Buddhist canon, carved in wooden blocks around the 13th century. The wooden blocks which were used to print Tripitaka, predate the Gutenburg press by almost 400 years, are the oldest set of prints in the world.

Aside from temples and museums, you might also be interested to visit one of many palaces still remaining from the previous dynasties. Many of them have been renovated into parks and historical sites and guided tours are available.

For example,
changdeokgung
(
chang-duhk goong
) palace, built in 1405, lends a glimpse into the beauty of traditional architecture and landscape of Korea.

Going to concerts, theatres, and

performances

Korea has more than just museums and temples. The entertainment industry, and Korean pop culture has been exported to many different countries in the world, and the phenomenon has even given birth to a term,
hallyu
(
han-ryu
), meaning the “Korean Wave.” Television dramas and films have been translated into many different languages and exported, and Korean music and the stars have been received very well by other Asian nations. While there are many entertainment venues that focus primarily on traditional Korean entertainment, more venues showcase modern Korean entertainment, and are easily accessible through ticket brokers. The front desk at the hotel, or a phone call to any tourism offices should make it easier for you to catch a glimpse of the “Korean Wave” and its stars.

Korean films

A large part of
hallyu
(
han-ryu
; Korean wave) is in its film industry. In the last few years, Korean films have been noticed by various international film festivals and a few of them have even made it into Hollywood as remakes. For 12_037188-ch07.qxp 6/24/08 11:09 PM Page 131

example,
The Lake House
(2006) starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock is a remake of a Korean film titled
Il Mare. Il Mare
means the “sea” in French. In this movie, the building where the female character lived was called
Il Mare
.

In Korea, this movie was called
Siwore,
which means “in the month of October.” Korean films have been recognized in international film festivals as well. In 2002, the movie
Chihwaseon
(
chi-hwa-sun
) was awarded the best director prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and in 2004, the Grand Prix award from the same festival was given to a film titled
Old Boy
, and a film titled
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter . . . and Spring
was given three different awards at the 2003 Locarno International Film Festival. A film titled
The Brotherhood of
War
received critical acclaims, with limited release in the United States, and most recently, a film titled
The Host
enjoyed a limited release and rave reviews in the United States.

Talkin’ the Talk

Peter and Janet decide to go see a movie together.

Peter: