When do Korean babies go from "new-born" (신생아) to "infant" (영아)?

ANSWER: At 4 weeks

A new-born baby (신생아 新生兒) is a “new-born baby” for the first 4 weeks of its life. After that, until it is 1-year old, it is an “infant” (영아 嬰兒). From 1 up to 6 years old, it is a “preschool child” (유아 乳兒). And from 6 to 12 years old, it is a “preadolescent child” (아동 兒童). From 12 to 19 years old, it is an "adolescent child" (소년 少年 or 청소년 靑少年). And from 20 to 64 years old, it is an “adult” (어른). From 65 years old until whenever, it is a “senior citizen” (노인).

The above is just my general interpretation of the information provided in the pages shown below, which are taken from the book shown below. Certain laws and regulations in Korea define some of the terms slightly differently, something that is explained in the book.

The guy who wrote the book is the same guy who wrote the THIS BOOK. As for my using "it" in my description, feel free to substitute your preferred pronouns.

What's the difference between 왔어요 and 왔었어요?

ANSWER: one means "came" and the other means "came (and went)" 

This morning I picked up the book pictured below and read the article also pictured below. The article talks about the difference between 왔어요 and 왔었어요, and gives the following two example sentences to help show the difference:

1. "아까 친구가 왔어요." 
2. "아까 친구가 왔었어요." 

The article says the first sentence means "A friend came a little while ago (and is still here or maybe not)," and the second sentence means "A friend came a little while ago, (but is no longer here). The article says the first sentence is in the past tense and the second is in the past perfect tense. 

But a man named Lee Su-yeol (이수열) claims that "past perfect" is alien to Korea and has been adopted into Korean from English. Instead of saying, "아까 친구가 왔었어요," Mr. Lee claims Koreans would traditionally say, "아까 친구가 왔다 갔어요," which translates as, "A friend came and left a little while ago." 

Even the KBS research team, the people who wrote the book, explained that "아까 친구가 왔었어요" means "아까 친구가 왔다가 돌아갔다," which translates as "A friend came and left a little while ago." In other words, the KBS team used a sentence that Koreans clearly understand to explain a sentence many Koreans apparently do not understand. 

So, if you disagree with Mr. Lee's claim that the past perfect tense is alien to Korea, then why is the KBS book explaining 왔었어요 instead of 왔다 갔어요?

Finally, which sentence is correct and why? 

1. "우리 전에 본 적이 있었죠." 
2. "우리 전에 본 적이 있죠." 

Sentence (2) is correct because "우리 전에 본 적이 있다" translates as "We've met before," which means the sentence is already in the past tense and, therefore, does not need the past tense tag "었죠." 

The first sentence seems to be imitating the English-style tag question: "We've met before, haven't we?" But Koreans just say, "We've met before, right?" as in the second sentence. 

So, it seems English grammar is influencing Korean grammar. 

How does Korean poet Kim So-yeon (김소연) define "moon" (달)?

달

"변해가는 모든 모습에서 '예쁘다'라는 말을 들어온 유일무이한 존재."

Moon

"In all its states of change, the one and only entity that has heard the word '예쁘다'"

예쁘다 can translate as "pretty," "beautiful," or "lovely."

The above Korean and the page below come from Korean poet Kim So-yeon's book "Dictionary of Single Words" ("한 글자 사전"). The English translation is mine. 

What does "뱃사람의 계집은 뱃사람다워야 한다" mean?

ANSWER: "The wife of a sailor must be like a sailor."

In the expression "뱃사람의 계집은 뱃사람다워야 한다," the word 뱃사람 means sailor, literally boat (배) person (사람); the word 계집 can mean either woman, wife, or mistress; the word -답다 attaches to nouns and means to be like; and the ending -어야 한다 means must.

The expression means a wife should adopt the ways of her husband. To help better explain the expression, here is a story:

A maiden (처녀) of a poor but noble family (“yangban” 양반)) married a sailor (뱃사람). The food, clothing, and customs of her husband’s life were naturally different from those of her yangban family (친정), but she became comfortable with the customs of sailors.

The labor pains (진통) started sometime before the sailor’s wife was ready to give birth (출산). During a difficult birth (난산) in a yangban’s house, if the wife grabs hold of her husband’s topknot (상투) and pulls hard, the baby slides out easily, but that is not the custom of sailors. Instead, sailors sit next to their wives and repeatedly sing part of a song sailors sing as they struggle together to pull in a fishing net: “어기여차, 어기여차, 어기여차,” which translates in English as "Heave-ho! Heave-ho! Heave-ho!

The story comes from the following book. The rough English translation is mine.

Can this poem be translated into Korean?

ANSWER: Probably, but I have not tried to do it, yet.

"Not What It Seems"

In dark sunshine, I'm blind to all I see.
To still winds, I shout out my silent pleas.
Alone in crowds, sadness laughs inside me.

In sweet loneliness, dry tears wet my sleeves.

by Gerry Bevers

Where does the Korean word 시달리다 come from?

ANSWER: India

The Korean word 시달리다 means “to suffer from,” “to be afflicted with,” or “to be harassed by.” It usually follows a noun that has either 에 (for things) or 에게 (for people and animals) attached to it. Dong-a’s Prime Dictionary gives the following usage examples:

• 병에 시달리다 suffer from disease
• 가난에 시달리는 사람 a person suffering from poverty, a poverty-stricken person
• 남편에게 시달리다 be mistreated by one’s husband
• 빚에 시달리다 be harassed by debts

Though I guess 시달리다 could be considered as an adapted pure Korean word, the word actually comes from the name of a forest in central India named “Sitavana,” which means “Cold (Sita) Forrest (Vana). In Chinese characters, the pronunciation of the Indian name is represented as 尸陀林 (시다림). The 림 (林) character in the Chinese means "forest." Anyway, this “Cold Forrest” (尸陀林 시다림), which I understand is also be a Buddhist term, was located outside the North Gate of a walled city in central India named Rajgir (王舍城 왕사성). The people there would take the corpses of those who died in the city into the Cold Forest and leave them there, making the forest a kind of public cemetery. 

Practicing Buddhist monks would go into the Cold Forrest, apparently, to give the dead there Buddhist funerals. It was obviously not a pleasant duty, but they did it in spite of the smell of the rotting corpses, the disease, and the carrion-eating birds. In other words, they suffered the hardships of that place as a way to cultivate their understanding of their religious teachings. 

So, that is supposedly the origin of the Korean word 시달리다 since, I guess, the noun form of 시달리다 would be 시달림, similar to the Chinese name for the forest. The story I told above is only my interpretation of what is written on the book page below. The page comes from a 552-page book written by a Mr. Lee Jae-un (이재운), who writes in the book about the origins of Korean words and phrases. If I could afford the 28,000 won asking price for the book, I would probably buy it because it looks pretty cool. But since I cannot afford it, I thought I would post about the book here, in case there are some here who can afford it. You can get more information (in Korean) on the book HERE.

What does the Korean proverb "공자 앞에서 문자 쓴다" really mean?

ANSWER: "Pretending to know when one knows nothing, like loudly showing off what little one knows in front of a well-educated person like Confucius"

공자 (孔子) is the Korean pronunciation of "Confucius" (551 B.C. to 479 B.C.), the name of the Chinese philosopher. 앞에서 means "in front of," and 쓰다 means "to write."

The word 문자 (文字) has two meanings, one is "letters" or "characters" (글자) and the other is "idiomatic phrases from the Chinese classics" (한자 숙어 / 고사성어), so in the context of the above proverb, 문자 could probably mean either one, but I am going to use the second one.

So, "공자 앞에서 문자 쓴다" literally translates as "[He/She] is writing Classical Chinese idioms in front of Confucius."

But the meaning of the proverb does not really have anything to do with Confucius or any other "master." It is normally just used to sarcastically refer to someone who is using big words or difficult expressions to show off or to try to make people believe one is smarter than one really is. If you drop the "공자 앞에서" part and just say or write "문자(를) 쓴다," Koreans should know what you mean.

Here is the Korean definition of the proverb "공자 앞에서 문자 쓴다," as written on page 383 in the book shown below. The translation is mine:

"공자처럼 학식이 많은 사람 앞에서 조금 아는 것을 자랑삼아 떠드는 것 처럼, 아무것도 모르면서 아는 척한다는 뜻" 

"Pretending to know when one knows nothing, like loudly showing off what little one knows in front of a well-educated person like Confucius"

What is the old pure-Korean word for "turtle"?

ANSWER: 거붑

Last night I was reading about how Koreans mispronounce "담임" (擔任) when referring to the "homeroom teachers" of their kids in primary and secondary schools. The entry in the book I was reading said that instead of pronouncing the word as "다밈," the correct pronunciation, Koreans tend to say "다님" because they do not like pronouncing the same consonant sounds (밈) that close together. It said that in linguistics the phenomenon is referred to as 이화 (異化), which translates as "dissimilation."

Anyway, when talking about dissimilation, it gave an example of a pure Korean word that was originally written with two consonant sounds close together but has since changed over time. The example was the pure Korean word for "turtle," 거북, originally written as "거붑." Can you imagine saying "거부비" (거붑이) or "거부불" (거붑을) instead of "거부기" (거북이) or "거부글" (거북을)?

So, instead of saying "poop" or "boop" (붑), Koreans apparently over time starting pronouncing the second ㅂ as ㄱ, resulting in 거북.

Here is the book I was reading:

How does Korean poet Kim So-yeon define the word 씨?

Korean poet Kim So-yeon, famous for her "Dictionary of the Mind" (마음 사전), has written a new dictionary entitled "Dictionary of Single Words" (한 글자 사전). Here is one entry from the dictionary; the English translation is mine:

씨

그 안에 무엇이 들어 있는지
쪼개어 알아내는 것이 아니라
심고 물을 주어 알아내는 것

Seed

To find out what's inside,
it is not something you split open;
To find out what's inside,
it is something you plant and water.

"Dictionary of Single Words"