Korean for Dummies (28 page)

im-ni-da;
I can be reached at [some word].)

Je jeonhwabeonhoga imnida.
(jae-juhn-hwa-bun-bo-ga [some word] im-ni-da
;
My phone number is [some word].)

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seonghami eotteoke doeseyo?
(
suhng-ham-ee uh-ttuh-kae dwae-sae-yo;
What is your name?)

seonghamreul dasihanbeon bulleojuseyo
. (
suhng-ham-eul da-shi han-bun
bul-luh-joo-sae-yo;
Could you tell me your name again?)

yeollak-cheo/jeonhwabeonhoreul dasi hanbeon bulleojuseyo.
(
yuhl-lak-chuh/juhn-hwa-bun-ho-reul da-shi-han-bun bul-luh-joo-sae-yo;
Could you please repeat your contact information/phone number for me?) Leaving a recorded message

If you don’t feel like leaving an awkward silence on someone’s voice mail or answering machine, try using the following phrases:

annyeonghaseyo [some word] imnida.
(
an-nyoung-ha-sae-yo, [some
word] im-ni-da;
Hello, this is [some word].) substitute [some word] for your name.

[some word] euro yeollakhae juseyo.
(
[some word] eu-ro yuhl-lak-hae-joo-sae-yo;
Please contact me at [some word] ). Substitute [some word] for your contact information, usually a phone number.

Jega dasi yeollakdeurilkkeyo.
(
jae-ga da-shi yuhl-lak-deu-ril-kke-yo;
I’ll contact you again later.)

Talkin’ the Talk

Greg Moore decides to call Ms. Han, a close friend, at her home,

but Ms. Han’s daughter, Judy, picks up the phone. Greg asks Judy to

put her mother on the line.

Greg: yeoboseyo?

yuh-bo-sae-yo?

Hello?

Judy: yeoboseyo?

nuguseyo?

yuh-bo-sae-yo? noo-goo-sae-yo?

Hello? Who’s this?

Greg:

gregeyo, eomeoni jibe gyeseyo?

greg-ae-yo, uh-muh-ni jee-bae gye-sae-yo?

Oh, is this Judy? I’m your mom’s friend Greg. Is your

mother home?

Judy: ye,

gyeseyo.

ye, gye-sae-yo
.

Yes, my mom’s home.

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Greg:

geureom eomeoni jom bakkwojuseyo.

geureom uh-muh-ni-jom bak-kwo-joo-sae-yo.

Oh, really? Could you put your mom on the line for

me?

Judy:

ye. jamkkanman gidariseyo.

ye. jamkkan-man gee-da-ree-sae-yo.

Yes. Please hold on.

Words to Know

angyeseyo

an-gye-sae-yo

[some word] is not

here (formal polite)

bakkwojuseyo

ba-kkwo-joo-

Please put [some

sae-yo

word] on the phone

bbyeongwon

byoung-won

Hospital

eopseoyo

uhp-ssuh-yo

[some word] is not

here (informal polite)

gyeseyo

gye-sae-yo

[some word] is here

(formal polite)

isseoyo

ee-ssuh-yo

[some word] is here

(informal polite)

jamkkanman gidariseyo jamkkan-han gee-Please hold on/

da-ree-sae-yo

please wait

jip

jeep

House/home

nuguseuo

noo-goo-sae-yo

Who’s this?

sijang

shi-jang

MarketSending a

Letter or Postcard

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Nobody likes waiting in long lines at post offices, and few people like making other people wait. When you go to the post office, it pays to know a few phrases to make everything go smoothly. If you want to send a
pyeonji
(pyuhn-jee;
letter) or a
yeopseo
(
yuhp-ssuh;
postcard), use the phrases described in the following sections to get in and out of the
ucheguk
(
oo-chae-goog;
post office).

Buying stamps

If you want to buy some
upyo
(
oo-pyo;
stamps) for your parcel but don’t know how many stamps you need, ask:

igeol [some word] ro bonaego sipeunde, upyoreul eolma eochireul

buchyeoyahaeyo?
(
ee-geol [some word] ro bo-nae-go shi-peun-dae,oo-pyoreul uhl-ma uh-chi-reul boo-chuh-ya-hae-yo;
I want to ship this off to [some word], how much in stamps do I need?). Substitute [some word] with the place you want to send parcel/letter/postcard.

Once you hear the amount, you can say:

[some word] won eochi upyoreul juseyo
. ( [some word]
won uh-chi oo-pyo-reul joo-sae-yo;
Please give me [some word] ’s worth of stamps.) Asking for special services

If you need to send anything via express certified mail or whatnot, the following phrases may come in handy:

i soporeul [some word] ro buchineunde eolmaeyo?
(ee-so-po-reul

[some word] ro boo-chi-neundae uhl-ma-ae-yo? (How much would it cost

to ship this via [some word]?)

i soporeul [some word] ro buchyeojuseyo.
(ee-so-po-reul [some word]

ro boo-chuh-joo-sae-yo
;
Please send this package for me via.) You can fill in the blanks above with the following methods of shipment:
gajang ssan upyeon
(ga-jang ssan oo-pyeon
;
cheapest mail)
gajang ppareun upyeon
(ga-jang ppareun oo-pyeon: fastest mail)
hanggong upyeon
(hanggong oo-pyeon
;
air mail)
jisang upyeon
(jee-sang oo-pyeon
;
surface mail)

deunggi upyeon
(deung-gee oo-pyeon
;
registered mail)

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And you may need to know the following phrases:

Bonaeneuni jusoga mwoeyo
(
bo-nae-neun-ee joo-so-ga mwo-ae-yo;
What is the sender’s address?)

Banneuni jusoga mwoeyo
(
ban-neun-ee joo-so-ga mwo-ae-yo;
What is the recipient’s address?)

Sending a Fax

If you need to fax something but don’t have a fax machine handy, most hotels and office-supply stores in Korea will let you send a fax for a fee: sometimes reasonable, sometimes not so reasonable. Walk up to the desk and say:
yeogiseo paekseureul bonaelsu iseoyo?
(
yuh-gi-suh pek-sseu-reul bo-nael-soo-ee-ssuh-yo;
Is it possible to send a fax from here?)

They might say
yeogiseoneun paekseureul mot bonaeyo
(
yuh-gi-suh-neun
pek-sseu-reul mot bo-nae-yo;
You can’t send a fax from here), in which case you’ll have to look for another place. But if they say
ye
(
ye
: yes), they’ll most likely point you over to
chaeksang
(
chaeg-sang;
desk) or a
kaunteo
(
ka-oo-tuh;
counter) that takes care of faxes.

The assistant or clerk will almost always ask you for a number, so do yourself a favor and write it down on a piece of paper before you go so you can coolly hand over the number. Even if sending the fax is important, you might want to find out the price
before
you get charged an arm and a leg by asking
paekseureul i beonhoro bonaego sipeunde, bonaeneunde eolmayeyo?
(
paek-sseu-reul ee-bun-ho-ro bo-nae-go-shi-peun-dae, bo-nae-neundae uhl-ma-ae-yo;
I want to send the fax to this number. How much will it cost?) It’s a good idea to inform the recipients that you are faxing them some material by saying
jaryoreul got paekseuro bonae deurigetseumnida.
(ja-ryo-reul
got pek-sseu-ro bo-nae-deu-ree-get-sseum-ni-da;)
I’ll be sending some material by fax in a moment.) Looking for an Internet Connection

Korea is an Internet junkie’s dream come true. You can find an incredibly high density of PC rooms per square block in Korea, all equipped with excellent network connection speeds. Usually each of these
PC bang
(
PC-bang;
PC

rooms) charge about one or two dollars by the hour, but if you’re at a hotel or a ritzy part of town, you’ll be charged an absurd price per hour, so make sure to ask
eolma
(
uhl-ma;
how much) it is.

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There are many hundreds and thousands of PC rooms in Korea. PC rooms are rooms full of state of the art PC’s (at least 20 to 30 PC’s per room) that all have extremely high speed Internet connection. Usually they are even highly populated around universities to enable students to do their work and “play.”

You can just walk in, pay per hour usage (usually really cheap) and check your e-mails or surf the net to kill time before your date.

You can find a PC room by asking:
geuncheoe pisibangi eodie iseoyo?

(
geun-chuh-ae pee-see-bang-ee uh-dee-ae ee-ssuh-yo;
Is there a PC room nearby?)

If you want to know how to ask for directions, look at Chapter 12 for further reference.

But don’t forget to find out what the price is first. Just ask:
sigandang
yogeumi eolmaeyo?
(
shi-gan-dang yo-geum-ee uhl-ma-ae-yo;
How much is the price per hour?)

Often, PC rooms have numbers above the computers so that they can track how long you’ve used the computer. If the assistant wants to tell you to sit at some particular number, he or she might say:

[some word] beon jarieseo keompyuteoreul sseuseyo.
(
[some word] bun
ja-ree-ae-suh keompyu-tuh-reul sseu-se-yo;
Please use computer number

[some word].)

Talkin’ the Talk

Sean is in Seoul, looking for a computer so he can check his email

and play some games.

Sean:

geuncheoe pisibangi eodie iseoyo?

geun-chuh-ae pee-see-bang-ee uh-dee-ae ee-ssuh-yo?

Is there a PC room around here?

Stranger:

jeo jjoge hana iseoyo

juh-jjok-gae ha-na ee-ssuh-yo.

There’s one over there.

Sean walks over to the PC room, which looks full, and approaches

the attendant.

Sean:

jigeum bin jari iseoyo?

jee-geum been-ja-ree ee-ssuh-yo?

Do you have an empty seat now?

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Attendant:

ye, sip chil beon keompyuteoga jigeum biyeo iseoyo.

Jeo jjoge iseoyo.

ye, ship chil bun keompyu-tuh-ga jee-geum bee-yuh

ee-ssuh-yo. juh-jjo-gae ee-ssuh-yo.

Yes, seat seventeen 17 is empty. It’s over there.

Sean:

cham, yeogineun sigandang eolmayeyo?

cham, yuh-gi-neun shi-gan-dang uhl-ma-ae-yo?

Oh, what is the rate per hour here?

Attendant: sigandang cheon obaegwonieyo

shi-gan-dang chun o-baeg-won-ee-ae-yo.

It’s 1,500 won per hour.

Sean: gamsahamnida.

gam-sa-ham-ni-da.

Thank you.

Words to Know

bin

been

Empty

cham

cham

By the way

eolmayeyo

uhl-ma-ae-yo

How much is it?

jari

ja-ree

Seats

keompyuteo

keompyu-tuh

Computer

pisibang

pee-see-bang

PC pc-rooms, internet cafés

sigandang

shi-gan-dang

Per -hour

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Fun & Games

Draw a line between the matching pair.

House

jip ( )

Phone number

nuguseyo (
)

Hello

jeonhwabunho (
)

Friend

yeollakcheo (
)

Contact information

yeoboseyo (
)

Who are you?

chingu ( )

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Around the House

In This Chapter

Doing business at the office and at dinner

Going to meetings

Finding your way around home

Being a good houseguest

Whether you spend most of your time at the
samusil
(
sa-moo-shil;
office) or at
jip
(
jeep;
home, house), you’ll want to know a word or two about
samu yongpum
(
sa-moo-yong-poom;
office supplies) and
gajeong yongpum
(
gajeong-yong-poom;
household goods). Especially, if you know few phrases in Korean, it’ll be very handy at business settings to impress your business partner or your clients. They’ll think that you have taken that “extra step”

to make themselves “at home” with your new found knowledge of Korean

language.

In this chapter, I will teach you how to say few handy phrases to use at work, such as asking for where things are and how to use office machinery. Also included in this chapter are phrases and words to use when you are staying at your Korean friend’s house. I will also teach you some Korean customs so that your host/hostess will think you are very well informed about the Korean culture.