∞ Common Mistakes

 

I've had more than my fair share of roleplays and fanfictions. and I've also had my share of seeing people use Korean incorrectly. Here is the compilation of common mistakes people make when using Korean. This list is going to be updated as I go so check in regularly!

 

01| Unnie? Oppa? Huh?


In South Korea, the cultural issue of respecting someone older than you is very important. This cultural phenomenon is the reason why Koreans use honorifics and other such qualities that are so thoroughly embedded into the everyday life of Koreans. 

The terms oppa, unni, hyung and noona is a very normal, expected way to call older people. It shows respect and endearment. 

If you're a girl, you say--- Unni to an older girl, Oppa to an older guy

If you're a guy, you say--- Noona to an older girl, Hyung to an older guy

Both girls and guys say--- Dongsaeng to girls and guys younger than them. Note (This is important! Because a lot of you make this mistake): The term dongsaeng, isn't usually used to call someone directly. it's more of a referring term. So while it's appropriate to refer to someone as your dongsaeng, you don't usually say "Hey what's up dongsaeng?"

It's also not appropriate to call someone who's a lot older than you with these terms. These are used only for close age gapped people! 

So those of you who have Minho and Key calling each other hyung in your fanfic, go fix it now :p

 

02| Korean name suffixes


There are other honorifics and suffixes that follows a person's name when you call them. It's similar to the whole idea of using 'Mr. Mrs. or Ms.'

-nim: Formal; to someone with a high status; ex) 선생님 seonsaengnim meaning teacher

-sshi: Formal; used for both females and males of approximately equal status

-goon: Formal but less common; used for males

-yang: Formal but less common; used for females

 

03| Jonghyun-ah? Jonghyun-yah?


First of all, yes, Shinee is my bias group. So I will be using examples with their names. 

You may have noticed people calling the other's name with either a '-ah' or '-yah' after the name. This is a similar concept to 02 but much informal. The endings are just naturally added after the name when you're calling them. Note, don't use this to call an older person because that would be very rude. You shouldn't be calling the name of someone older than you anyways. 

-ah: Used when the name have a final consonant. (Remember? The lighter orange box for final consonants?)

ex) Taemin-ah because min;  Kibum-ah because bum

-yah: Used when the name does not have a final consonant

ex) Minho-yah because ho (no final consonant); Key-yah because ey

 

Fateen 11 years ago
@Aime :D
Aime [A] 11 years ago
@Fateen My pleasure!
Fateen 11 years ago
wow! This is so helpful! I always confused about the number 2 and 3 and now i get it! Thank Youuuuuuu ~ :3
Aime [A] 11 years ago
@Jae asfghjkl now im getting confused. It might depend on the situation but..

Yes, you would use sshi, even to an older person. but the age gap would have to be pretty small
Jae 11 years ago
@Aime So even though they are older I would use their name with -sshi?
Aime [A] 11 years ago
@Sapphire haha i should maybe check it out. it might help:p
Aime [A] 11 years ago
@Jae you would normally use -sshi. nim is only for someone higher than you, and goon and yang are not really common. sshi is, however, common.
Sapphire 11 years ago
@Aime oooh there was a bit in the TTMIK podcast things that they explained the -ssi one in particular OTL I can't recall what one it was but I could go take another listen to it 8D
Jae 11 years ago
So if someone was older than me but we both started working at the same place at the same time how would I call them?
Aime [A] 11 years ago
@Anny No. I'm not too sure actually I'll have to check up on that. But as far as im concerned, it's just anyone with an approximately equal status. It can be referred to both older and younger people.

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Out-Of-Control 11 years ago
hi guys, Jae left, sorry. let me know if you have time to do this again though.
ephxmeral 11 years ago
ey-em left. sorry~
Cookiez 11 years ago
Hello there being of Human!
The name is Destiny.
The gender is unknown and is of age 16 of the people who speak English. I also know a little Italian and German (school classes) and I am trying to learn Japanese but mostly Korean and Chinese so ummmmm yeah~
I can read Hangul except for the blended vowels.
Right now my bias is Minseok from E X O
CutiePatootie 11 years ago
Donna ish leaving sowwy ;;
sxhunhan 11 years ago
Niel will be on a two week semi hiatus.
457a8882d984756beb48 11 years ago
Sorry I'm leaving~
Have too many rps and with school it's too much
exoticinspirit 11 years ago
Anny is leaving, thank you for the lessons I think I've learned a lot~ School is overpowering me though :/
Bye and thanks again!~ I wish you all luck!~
hyxmin 11 years ago
01| Kaye
02| 12, female,Filipino, I can speak english and filipino.
03| I want to learn the culture and language of korea because I love it a0
04| Myungsoo
Coldheartangel 11 years ago
01| Sol
02| 18, female, Hispanic, speaks English Spanish And a somewhat of French
03| I wan tot learn as much as i can of korean because i love it and i wanna use it in the future as i palm to study abroad in Korea.
04| Xiumin, kris
fadedinmylastsong 11 years ago
Mero is leaving, sorry.
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