Comments on: Korea’s Top 10 Internet Search Words for Last Week

By: sewing

sewing — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 20:25:28 +0000

If someone has truly picked up the language after only a month, all power to her. I’ve been studying Korean for years, however, and can survive there—buy food, find places, use public transportation, make elementary conversation with strangers—without a dictionary or phrasebook, have a passable command of which speech levels to use when, and can even speak in a Gyeongsang accent when the whim strikes me, but I still wouldn’t presume to call myself fluent (though I’m still trying…). Having never watched Minyeo Suda or whatever it’s called, I can’t comment on those ladies’ command of the language.

By: bumfromkorea

bumfromkorea — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:00:39 +0000

@ dda

Haha, it’s like:

Salut! Au revoir! Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq.

Look, ma! I can speak French!

By: dda

dda — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:02:39 +0000

I don’t think many people here seem to have the idea that being fluent = being able to count to 10 and say Hi/Bye/f.off in a language.

That would be because that idea is wrong… Being fluent in a language means being able to read a newspaper, listen to the radio, watch TV, speak with people, read a map [ah, no, Koreans may be fluent in Korean, but can't read a map. Scratch that one]. Being able to say hi and bye, and 일이삼사오 and the like is not being fluent. It’s having the barest elementary notions.

By: arthjourneyman

arthjourneyman — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:54:07 +0000

Well, by fluent I mean being able to discuss generic things like movie plots or hold a conversation about the day. No need to be too pedantic about it as I don’t think many people here seem to have the idea that being fluent = being able to count to 10 and say Hi/Bye/f.off in a language. I don’t know, maybe it’s because Korean structure is somewhat closer to Farsi, but I found say, English to be a lot harder to learn. Also, I think the girl I mentioned was able to learn to converse quicker as she substituted tv shows with K dramas (apparently similar in nature to some Mexican dramas).

Anyway, I commend most of the girls on the show as their accents in Korean seem pretty good (can anyone with a strong Korean language background comment on this?), I don’t think there was a time I misheard a word they said, which is quite contrary to some professors I once had in the US, as I’d have hoped with their status they’d at least have had a good grasp of the local language.

By: bumfromkorea

bumfromkorea — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:41:44 +0000

So I rented “Lee Juck’s Music Space” today from the local Korean video/DVD store, and attached to it (since DVD records 2 hours, they pair two shows together at the store) was some random mixed concert performance. Lo and behold, one of the first performance was the infamous Wonder Girls that I have heard so much about but have never seen. Intrigued, I continued to watch.

4 minutes later, I realized that I just wasted 4 minutes worth of electricity, TV life span, DVD player life span, my eye longevity, my ear longevity, and life itself. Son of a bitch.

But then Lee Juck himself came up to the stage, and everything was A-Okay.

@#13

I’m afraid it’s not better over here either:
http://buzz.yahoo.com/overall/

By: gbnhj

gbnhj — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:01:24 +0000

I watched last night’s episode of ‘Minursuda’, and Djamilya seemed desparately out of her league. She started out by (once again) telling everyone how much she likes Korean stockings; later, a young Korean woman remarked how she preferred Italian stockings (snap!).

Although she’s hardly as beautiful, one of the more interesting guests is a Finn named Taru. She’s extremely fluent and friendly, and her idea of a great evening is a bottle of soju and some go-stop. Claiming that she’s not very interested in fashion, she said she only spent W1,000 last month on clothes (some socks). All in all, the guys might not go for her like they do Djamilya, but she’s bound to be The Ajumma’s Choice™.

By: Breaktrack

Breaktrack — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:31:05 +0000

One still should be happy that Paris Hilton didn’t get listed.

By: globalvillageidiot

globalvillageidiot — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:59:29 +0000

“I see I have a tough audience here.”

It wasn’t intended to be a comment on you mins. This top ten is a pretty grim statement on what passes for important here. Maybe it wouldn’t be much better in the States, Canada, or whatever, but it is a little depressing.

By: SomeguyinKorea

SomeguyinKorea — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:54:38 +0000

#11,

Yeah, it always makes me laugh when I hear some guy claim he’s fluent when all he can do is mimic a few phrases.

By: dda

dda — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:19:45 +0000

I knew a Mexican girl who picked up fluent Korean in a month or less

We’ll have to define fluent here.