Korean for Dummies (40 page)
Read Korean for Dummies Online
Authors: Wang. Jungwook.; Lee Hong
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Fun & Games
Please write down the following transports in Korean. (See Appendix C for the answers).
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
A. ________________
B. ________________
C. ________________
D. ________________
E. ________________
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Planning a Trip
In This Chapter
Picking the right time for travel
Choosing a destination
Packing for the trip
Dealing with the travel agency
So you’ve decided to go to Korea. What should you bring? Will you be
going for business, or pleasure? Is there a certain site you have to see, or a certain festival you have to attend? Careful planning and knowing exactly what you want out of your vacation will go a long way in maximizing your time and money during your trip. This chapter guides you through picking out what time of the year you may want to travel, where you may want to go to see what sites, what you may need to bring, and how to deal with the people that you may encounter. Got your passport and toothbrush ready?
Picking a Good Time for Travel
You obviously wouldn’t want to take a trip to Korea in the middle of the winter time if you’re interested in playing golf. Likewise, you wouldn’t want to plan a trip to Korea in the middle of the summer if you’re interested in skiing.
The following sections show you not only what times might be good for
travel, but also how to communicate your travel dates to someone else, by examining how to name days and months in Korean.
Checking out the seasons
Korea does have four very distinct seasons, so what ever type of weather you fancy, you can find it in Korea:
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From March to May, you can see a beautiful
bom
(
bom;
spring) with rare flowers in bloom, and trees burst into leafy splendor.
During the hot and humid
yeoreum
(
yuhreum;
summer), the vegetation is lush and you’ll see many people escape the summer heat by going to
the beaches.
Monsoon rains begin usually in late June and last until mid-July, and August is hot and humid.
gaeul
(
ga-eul;
fall) begins as September brings in the cool continental winds and dry weather.
October, when the leaves turn color, the whole countryside turns a vivid orange, red, and yellow.
The winter is cold and generally dry with occasional snow. During the
gyeoul
(
gyuh-ool;
winter) months, three or four days of cold weather are often followed by a few warm days.
Naming months and counting days
If you want to ask someone when they’re planning a trip to Korea, you can ask them,
“eonje hanguge gasilkkeoeyo?”
(
un-jae han-goo-gae ga-shil-kkuh-ae-yo?
), which is translated as, “When will you be going to Korea?” If someone asks you that very question, you can answer,
“ne, siwol isibsamilnal
tteonaseo siwol samsibilnal olkkeoeyo”
(
ne, shi-wol ee-ship-sam-il-nal ttuh-na-suh shi-wol sam-ship-il-nal ol-kkuh-ae-yo
). You just told that person, “Yes, I will be leaving on the 23rd of October and I will be back on the 30th of October.”
You have to substitute the days and months to tell someone when you’re really planning on leaving and returning. To do that, you have to be able to name the days and months in Korean (see Table 15-1).
Conveniently enough, you don’t have to remember separate names for all the months. If you can count up to twelve, just add the suffix
wol
(
wol;
month) behind the number and you have the corresponding month. For example,
samwol
(
sam-wol
) means the third month, which is the month of March.
Similarly, if you just attach the suffix
–il
(
il;
day) to a number, you have the date. For example,
siboil
(
ship-o-il
) is the fifteenth. You may notice that the Korean word for “day” and the number “one” is the same (
il
). So the first day of the month becomes
ilil
(pronounced,
ee-ril
). The reason for the difference in pronunciation is because Koreans use the same consonant for the letters “r” and “l”, and the pronunciation of that consonant changes depending on the position of that consonant. In general, the same consonant is pronounced as ‘r’ when it appears at the beginning and ‘l’ at the end. Chapter 7 has a table 21_037188-ch15.qxp 6/24/08 11:15 PM Page 249
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that lists all the months in the year, days of the week and time relative to now. In case you don’t feel like going back to that chapter, I have reproduced it for you here.
Table 15-1
Months of the Year and Other Pertinent
Travel-Planning Terms
Korean Word
Pronunciation
Translation
irwol
ee-rwol
January
iwol
ee-wol
February
samwol
sam-wol
March
sawol
sa-wol
April
owol
o-wol
May
yuwol
yoo-wol
June
chirwol
chee-rwol
July
parwol
pa-rwol
August
guwol
goo-wol
September
siwol
shi-wol
October
sibirwol
ship-ee-rwol
November
sibiwol
ship-ee-wol
December
ibeondal
ee-bun
This month
daeumdal
da-eum-dal
Next month
jeobeondal
juh-bun-dal
Last month
saengil
saengil
Birthday
seollal
suhl-nal
New Year’s day
woryoil
wo-ryo-il
Monday
hwayoil
hwa-yo-il
Tuesday
suyoil
soo-yo-il
Wednesday
mogyoil
mo-gyo-il
Thursday
(continued)
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Table 15-1 (continued)
Korean Word
Pronunciation
Translation
geumyoil
geum-yo-il
Friday
toyoil
to-yo-il
Saturday
iryoil
ee-ryo-il
Sunday
hansi
han-shi
1:00
dusi
doo-shi
2:00
sesi
sae-shi
3:00
nesi
nae-shi
4:00
daseotsi
da-suh-shi
5:00
yeoseotsi
yuh-suh-shi
6:00
ilgopsi
il-gop-shi
7:00
yeodeolsi
yuh-dul-shi
8:00
ahopsi
a-hop-shi
9:00
yeolsi
yuhl-shi
10:00
yeolhansi
yuhl-han-shi
11:00
yeoldusi
yuhl-doo-shi
12:00
ojeon
o-juhn
Before noon, am.
ohu
o-hoo
After noon, pm.
Talkin’ the Talk
Jim is planning a trip to Korea. Heather is asking him about the
trip.
Heather:
jimssi, annyeonghaseyo?
jim-sshi, a-nyoung-ha-sae-yo?
Jim, have you been well?
Jim:
heatherssi! bangawoyo!
heather sshi! ban-ga-wo-yo!
Heather! Glad to see you!
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Heather
hanguk gasindago deureosseoyo. eonje gaseyo?
han-goog ga-shin-da-go deu-ruh-ssuh-yo. un-jae ga-
sae-yo?
I heard you were going to Korea. When are you
going?
Jim:
ne. daeumju suyoire tteonaseo iljuil jeongdo
iseulkkeoeyo.
ne. da-eum-joo soo-yo-ee-rae ttuh-na-suh il-joo-il
jung-do ee-sseul-kkuh-ae-yo.
Yes. I leave next Wednesday and plan on staying for a
week or so.
Heather:
daeumju suyoirimyeon guwol isib pparirineyo.
hanguk gaeul punggyeongi cham meositdago deure-
oseoyo. jaemi itgetneyo.
da-eum-joo soo-yo-ee-ree-myun goo-wol ee-ship ppa-
ril-ee-nae-yo. han-goog ga-eul poong-gyoung-ee
cham muh-shi-da-go deu-ruh-ssuh-yo. jae-mee ee-
get-nae-yo.
Next Wednesday is the September twenty-eighth. I
heard that the fall scenery in Korea is very beautiful.
It sounds like fun.
Jim:
ne. hanguge gabogo sipeunji oraedoeseoyo. sajin
mani jjigeo olkkeyo.
ne. han-goo-gae ga-bo-go shi-peun-jee o-rae-dwe-
ssuh-yo. sa-jin ma-ni jjee-guh ol-kkae-yo.
Yes. I’ve wanted to go and see Korea for a long time
now. I’ll bring back lots of pictures.
Heather:
jeo ginyeompum hanaman gatda jusillaeyo?
juh gee-nyum-poom ha-na-man gat-da joo-shil-
lae-yo?
Will you bring me a souvenir?
Jim:
mullonijyo!
mool-lo-nee-jyo!
Of course!
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Words to Know
banggawoyo
ban-ga-wo-yo
Glad to see you
bidio
bee-dee-o
Video
daeumdal
da-eum-dal
Next month
daeumju
da-eum-joo
Next week
eonje gaseyo
un-jae ga-sae-yo
When are you leaving?
ginyeompum
gee-nyum-poom
Souvenir
mullonijyo
mool-lo-nee-jyo
Of course
punggyeong
poong-gyung
Scenery
sajin
sa-jin
Photo
seonmul
suhn-mool
Present
tteonaseo
ttuh-na-suh
Leaving
Korean holidays
Koreans officially follow the Gregorian calendar, though some holidays are observed on the lunar calendar of that year. On official holidays, offices and banks are closed, but palaces, museums, most restaurants, department stores, and amusement facilities are open.
seollal
(
suhl-nal;
New Year’s day) and
chuseok
(
choo-suhk;
Korean harvest festival) are the most important traditional holidays for Koreans. Millions of people visit their
gohyang
(
gohyang;
hometown, one’s place of origin) to celebrate with their families during these periods. On
seollal
, Koreans hold a memorial service for their ancestors and perform
sebae
(
sae-bae;
a formal bow of respect to their elders) as a New Year’s greeting. Table 15-2 lists Korean holidays.
On these holidays you never know if it’s a good time to visit — it depends on how you feel about crowds. Although everyone visits their families, department stores and other businesses might be crowded. Of course, all the transport systems will be totally full and in total mess.
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Table 15-2
Korean Holidays
Holiday
Date
Description
New Year’s Day
January 1
The first day of the new year is recognized and celebrated.
Seollal, Lunar New
January 28 to 30
Lunar New Year’s Day (
Seollal
) is one
Year’s Day
(changes year
of the most important traditional days
to year)
of the year, still more recognized than
January 1st. Most businesses are
closed, and people take off several
days to visit their hometowns to be
with family.
Independence
March 1
This day commemorates the
Movement Day
Declaration of Independence
proclaimed on March 1st, 1919, while
under Japanese colonization. A reading of the declaration takes place in a
special ceremony at Tapgol Park in
Seoul, where the document was first
read to the public.
Buddha’s Birthday
May 5
It falls on the 8th day on the 4th lunar
(changes year
month. Elaborate, solemn rituals are
to year)
held at many Buddhist temples
across the county and lanterns are
hung in the temple courtyards. On the
Sunday evening before Buddha’s
birthday, these lanterns are lit and
carried in parades.
Children’s Day
May 5
On this day, parents dress up the little
ones and take them to children’s
parks, amusement parks, zoos or the
