Friday, June 28, 2019

Is the Korean word for "uterus" a gender-biased word?

ANSWER: Some Koreans think it is.

Korean Dictionaries and Gender-Biased Words
Some Koreans want gender-biased words removed from Korean dictionaries. For example, the Korean word for “uterus” is 자궁(子宮), which literally means either “son’s palace” or “child’s palace,” but some Koreans think that is a gender-biased word and want to see it changed to 포궁 (胞宮), which literally means “cell’s palace.” When referring to a “baby stroller,” Koreans usually say 유모차(乳母車), which literally means “wet nurse car” or “nanny car,” but some Koreans think that is also a gender-biased word and, therefore, prefer the word 유아차(乳兒車), which literally means “baby car.”
Here are more words considered gender-biased words by some Koreans:
• From 처녀작 (maiden work) to 첫작품 (first work)
• From 미혼 (unable to marry) to 비혼 (unmarried)
• From 여직원 (female employee) to just 직원 (employee)
• From 여의사 (female doctor) to just 의사 (doctor)
• From 여교수 (female professor) to just 교수 (professor)
• From 저출산 (low delivery [rate]) to 저출생 (low birth [rate])
• From 여자고등학교 (girls high school) to just 고등학교 (high school)


Thursday, June 27, 2019

What does 육하원칙 (六何原則) mean?

ANSWER: The Principle of the Six Ha's

In the video below, a woman gives really good advice, in Korean, on writing book reviews (독서록). By the way, I love her videos.
Anyway, during the video she mentions 육하원칙 (六何原則), which literally translates as "Principle of the Six 'Ha's (하's).'" In the United States, we would refer to "The Six 하's (六何)" as "The Six W's," which refers to "who," "what," "when," "where," "why," and "how." And "The Six W's" is a checklist that reporters and others commonly use when gathering information to tell a story.
So, why do Koreans refer to "The Six W's" as "The Six 하's"? Because in Classical Chinese and Literally Korean (한문), the Chinese character 何 (하) was an interrogative word that could be used to mean any of "the six W's," depending on the words surrounding it.

The Six Ha's (육하 六何)

  • 하인 (何人) - Who
  • 하사 (何事) - What
  • 하시 (何時) - When
  • 하처 (何處) - Where
  • 하고 (何故) - Why
  • 여하 (如何) - How



When did 가까이 become a noun?

ANSWER: I'm guessing sometime between 1992 and 2017.

In my 1992 edition of "Donga's New Korean-Korean Dictionary" (동아 새國語辭典), 가까이 is listed only as an adverb. But recently, while I was looking at a preview of Nam Yeong-shin's 2017 book 보리 국어 바로쓰기 사전, I noticed that he listed it as both an adverb and a noun.

Here are the two example sentences Mr. Nam gave for the use of 가까이 as a noun:
문 가까이에 물건을 두지마라.
"Don't put things close to the door."
개가 아이 가까이에 오지 않도록 해라.
"Don't let the dog get close to the child."
The Korean particle 에 attaches to nouns and pronouns and means "to," "in," "on," or "at," so since the example sentences show 에 attached to 가까이, that means 가까이 is being used in the sentences as a noun. It also suggests that the use of 가까이 as a noun was accepted in Korean society sometime between the publication of my 1992 dictionary and that of Mr. Nam's 2017 book.
Anyway, I am curious to know if Koreans think it sounds better to use 가까이 as an adverb or as a noun. In other words, which of the following sentences sound better? The As or the Bs?
A: 문에 가까이 물건을 두지마라.
B: 문 가까이에 물건을 두지마라.
A: 개가 아이한테 가까이 오지 않도록 해라.
B: 개가 아이 가까이에 오지 않도록 해라.
The following is a page from Nam Yeong-sin's (남영신) 2017 book 보리 국어 바로쓰기 사전, where he listed 가까이 as both and adverb and a noun.



Saturday, June 22, 2019

What does 안녕하세요 mean?

ANSWER: Are you feeling well?

I am from Texas, where we frequently say "hello" to strangers as we pass them on a sidewalk. In Texas, strangers even raise a hand in greeting as they pass each other in cars or trucks on narrow country roads. So, I was a pretty surprised when I first went to Korea back in the late 70's and discovered that Koreans did not greet strangers on the street, even if one of them was staring at the other as they passed.
Back in the late 70s and early 80s, foreigners were a much rarer sight in Korea than they are today, so Koreans would almost always stare at me when I would walk down a Korean sidewalk, even a sideway in Seoul. I remember the first time I said "안영하세요" to a Korean stranger on the street. He was a middle-aged man, who was staring a hole in me as he walked toward me on a lonely sidewalk. Since we had made eye contact, I felt obliged to say "안녕하세요" when he was close enough to hear it, but instead of returning the greeting or answering, he just looked a me as if I had asked if his wife were good bed. After a few more similar experiences, I learned not to greet strange Koreans on the street. By the way, even non-military foreigners back then would often ignore my greetings, as if they were New Yorkers or as if they had learned the Korean custom of not greeting strangers on the street.
Today, I read an article entitled "안녕" in Nam Yeong-sin's "Usage Handbook of the Korean Language" ("난영신의 한국어용법핸드북"). The first sentence in the article was as follows:
요즘 한국어를 배우는 외국인이 가장 먼저 익히는 말이 '안녕하세요.' ('하세요'의 높이가 거의 같도록 소리내.)라고 한다.
"These days, it is said that "안녕하세요" (saying '하세요' with almost the same pitch) is the very first expression foreigners studying Korean learn."
The greeting "안녕하세요" is supposed to be a question meaning, "Are you well?" but by saying that foreigners say the "하세요" part of it with almost the same pitch, Mr. Nam is suggesting that foreigners are not using the greeting as a question but rather as a simple "hello." He also suggests that even Koreans are forgetting the true meaning of the greeting. As an example, he gives the following anecdote:
두메 산촌에 의료 봉사를 하러 간 의대생이 거동이 심히 불편해 누워 있는 80대의 할아버지를 찾아가서 "안녕하세요, 할아버지?"라고 인사를 했더니 이 할아버지가 "아니, 난 안녕하지 못해요, 젊은이."라고 하더란다.
In a remote mountain village, a college medical student, who had gone there to do charity medical work, goes up to an old man in his 80s who was lying down because it was very uncomfortable for him to move and asked, "Are you feeling well, Grandfather?" The old man answered, "No, I'm unable to feel well, young man." 
The old man's response was probably his way of saying, "Does it look like I'm feeling well? The point Mr. Nam was trying to make with that anecdote was that even some Koreans are forgetting the original meaning of "안녕하세요?" Mr. Nam did not mention it, but I think a more sincere and appropriate greeting to the sick old man would have been something similar to the following: "할아버지, 어디 아프세요?" which translates as "Grandfather, where does it hurt?"
I have not lived in Korea for about ten years, but I think today if a foreigner were to say "안녕하세요" to a Korean on a sidewalk, the Korean would probably return the greeting, knowing that the foreigner was not being nosey by asking about his or her health, but was just being friendly by saying "Hello."

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Is it better to hear the Korean expression before the English?

ANSWER: For Korean-language learners, I think it is better to hear the Korean first.

The following video says the Korean expression first and then the English. This allows the Korean-language learner to hear the Korean and consider its meaning before hearing the English translation. Then, after hearing the English translation, there is enough pause to allow the Korean-language learner to repeat the Korean expression.

For Korean-language learners, hearing the Korean first helps them build their listening comprehension skills. If they were to hear the English first, it would be similar to hearing the answer before hearing the question. An English-first version would be better for testing rather than teaching. For English-language learners, the process would be the reverse.

Therefore, even though the following video seems to have been created to teach English to English-language learners, it seems better suited for teaching Korean to Korean-language learners, especially since the English expressions are often awkward or wrong.



Tuesday, June 11, 2019

What is the Korean word for "cheese"?

Well, these days Koreans usually say 치즈, which is just a transliteration of the English word "cheese," but the Sino-Korean word for "cheese" is 건락 (乾酪), which literally means "dried (乾) milk (酪)." The "락 (酪) in 건락 is the same character used in 낙농 (酪農), which means "dairy (酪) farming (農)." When 락 comes at the beginning of a word, the ㄹ changes to ㄴ.
Why am I writing about this? Because I found a mistake in my 1995 edition of "Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary." The mistake is as follows:
The word 타락 has two meanings in my dictionary. One meaning is "to fall" or "to go astray," and the other is "cow's milk." The Chinese characters for the "to fall" 타락 are 墮落, and the Chinese characters for the "cow's milk" 타락 are 駝酪, which literally means "camel's (駝) milk (酪)," but my dictionary mistakenly uses the "to fall" Chinese characters for both "to fall" and "cow's milk," an unforgiveable mistake.
I wonder if I can get a refund on my nearly 24-year-old dictionary. It would be great if I could because it is falling apart.




Saturday, June 08, 2019

What are you doing when you "cross tails"?

ANSWER: having sex

The Korean word for copulation is 교미 (交尾), which literally means "to cross (交) tails (尾)," though it could also translate as "to exchange (交) tails (尾)."

For some strange reason, I picture one dog asking another dog, "Shall we cross tails?" (교미할까요?)

Saturday, June 01, 2019

Are the videos teaching English or Korean?

ANSWER: I guess it depends on if you are studying Korean or English.

These videos are good for those who like to study with their eyes closed.