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Don't Take Korean Language Advice From Kyopos

I'm not sure why it took me so long to figure this out, but the last people you should take Korean language advice from are kyopos (foreign-born or raised Koreans). That being said, if you do follow their advice, you will get many laughs from Koreans. Some of my personal favorites, all of which actually happened to me:

- When I first got to Korea, I was at some open-air event, and during a break I started talking to one of the hosts. He said he was only a part-time host, so I asked him what his full-time job was, and he said "백수" (which is slang for "unemployed guy"). I asked him what that was, and he replied, "Comedian". So then the next few people I met, I proudly told I was a baeksu. (Edit: Actually, this guy was Korean Korean, not kyopo.)

- Next, a kyopo who lived in the apartment I moved into back in 2010 asked me what I was doing in Korea, and I told him I was starting a company, and asked how to say that in Korean in case people ask. He told me the way to say "starting a company" is "싸우다", which literally means "to fight", but apparently is a slang way of saying "to do business". I bought it, and the next day on the subway, a random stranger asked me what I was doing in Korea, and sure enough, I said, "싸우다". Thinking they misheard, they asked again, and again I replied that I was in Korea to fight. They quickly moved away.

- My favorite might be a recent occurrence. While eating "흑돼지", my kyopo friend asked me if I knew what "흑" meant, and I said, "Yeah, it means 'black', right?" No no, came the reply. "흑" means "dirt", so it's just slang for "black". Knowing that "흑인" is what Koreans call black people, I was like, "Uh, does that mean all this time Koreans have been calling black people "dirt people"? That's fucked up!" Kyopo friend says, "Yeah, isn't that fucked up?"

Yes! That is fucked up! Especially if it were true, which it isn't. "흑" means "black", so "흑인" literally means "black person". The word for "dirt" is "흙", which in most parts of Korea is pronounced exactly the same as "흑". Korea might be a racist country, but in this instance the reality is far more benign than the kyopo imagination.

Lesson learned - whatever you do, don't learn Korean from kyopos!

Comments

  1. notreally8:27 AM

    푸헐~ ㅋㅋㅋ 완전 웃기네요~ 본인은 당황 하셨겠지만 ㅎㅎㅋㅋㅋㅋ 빵터짐 ㅋㅋ

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown10:47 PM

    That is funny. . .. a kyopo that I know also told me the dirt thing and I was offended. But when I asked my Korean born and raised bf he told me they were completely different words. . . .figures, loll

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown7:21 AM

    For Number Two. I think he meant "세우다" as in "Erect/Start a company"-- :) Either he pronounced it wrong, or you pronounced it wrong haha :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Darren8:58 AM

    @angiepewpew That would totally make sense, except he actually described it to me as "the same word as 'to fight'". Ah well, now I know :).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Samuel8:59 PM

    Really i am impressed from this post....the person who created this post is a genius and knows how to keep the readers connected..

    Black Dirt Company

    ReplyDelete
  6. Unknown4:44 AM

    Even if you learn that word from 교포s (me, American born Korean), for most native speakers, 흑 in that sense almost always connotates as black. But straight up as it is, literal translation means "dirt". Usually use out of context, most of the time, it's never meant to be offensive. That's just our way of describing such attributes. 흑인, taken literally, means dirt (흑) person/human (인), but that's not at all the way we interpret that. In the best sense, when translated, that just purely means black person. It's our way of describing dark skin I guess. It's not supposed to be in anyway offensive, no matter the literal translation. For example, 흑(our meaning for dark/black)돼지(pig/hog) means black pig (specific type of meat/cut of pork). Doesn't mean we're classifying it as a lesser/greater meat.. they're actually a delicacy in most places. Just that it comes from a black colored hog/pig. Hope this clarifies and clears up a lot of misunderstandings. Many Korean words and phrases can often be grossly taken out of context, but the underlying meaning is usually not fully understood. However, that's our way of describing things, and in no ways (or maybe most ways) is it meant to intentionally attack any other cultures / skin colors. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Unknown4:47 AM

    To reiterate 흙 / 흑 (dirt) usually points to the same thing depending on context and how it's used in a sentence.

    ReplyDelete

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