Greetings, all!
Or should I say: Anyeonghaseyo!
I’d write that in Hangul but I’m still trying to figure out how to switch languages on my phone.
It’s been a busy week (more on that later), and last night was our first night in the new apartment (more on that later). We don’t have internet yet, so I can’t post pictures. Hopefully, soon.
Anyway, I wanted to briefly discuss our first impressions with the language. I read somewhere that the Korean for Korean is Hangugo, but honestly I’m not sure what’s real or not anymore.
Why? Let me explain…
When I first started researching this country, I read that English and Korean are so different as languages that it’s difficult for native speakers of one to learn the other. That’s why few Koreans speak English even though it’s a mandatory subject at school.
“Pish posh,” I thought. “I got a hold of that whole pluralize-a-word-by-nasalization thing in Urdu, I’m sure it will be fine.”
Now, I am by no means a master linguist, but I studied language in school. Plus, I’ve travelled quite a bit and picked up key phrases in various countries, so I figured I’d start the same.
Let’s start with: “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” Because if you’re going to be an ignorant foreigner, you can at least be a polite ignorant foreigner.
I checked my little So You’re Moving to Korea book’s phrase list and there was “I don’t understand”: XYZ. Got it. Off I went to the grocery store, but drat if I didn’t remember. That’s okay, I’ll just check Google Translate. “I don’t understand”: ABC. Huh. Well, let’s try that again. “I don’t understand”: MNO. Hmm. Okaaaaay, how about that Korean language learning app? “I don’t understand”: QRS.
WTF? What the heck do I say???
Sure enough, the cashier asked me something about my credit card and ignorant foreigner just shook her head and made some strange “Duhhhhhh ohhhhh uhhhhh” noises like a weirdo.
Later that day, I asked the kindly realtor Ms Lee. “XYZ?” I said, with hope. She shook her head, “EFG.”
Well, whatever. We start language lessons next month, so maybe we can figure it out then.
One word I did learn for certain is the word for bunny: tokki. I was trying to have Connery say, “I like cars,” for Ms Lee, but he was struggling with the word for car: jadongcha. How about Lena? Bunnies.
“Tokki!” Ms Lee said. She then preceded to both sing and dance a children’s song about a bunny in the mountains.
I highly doubt you’re reading this right now, but if you are: “Ms Lee, you’re awesome.”
I just can’t translate that very well.