I’m currently learning Korean. It is a different language, but I wouldn’t say hard or else I’d be putting limits on myself before I even start. So one of the best ways to start practicing a language is by watching shows in the language being learned. It’s the best way to start listening to the rhythm of the language and the sounds. Korean happens to be a language where the sounds differ from English. And so watching the dramas or shows is a must.
While watching Playful Kiss, I decided to work on my Korean listening skills to see if I would be able to identity words and hear where words begin and end. I say this because Korean has mostly been mixed mush sounds to me. But since I started learning, I can catch some words. And the more I practice, the more I hear and the more excited I get about learning it.
The Words
The following is the list of words that I caught while watching Playful Kiss:
하지마 (hajima): Do not, don’t do it, stop (this was the first Korean word I ever learned!)
알아 (ara): (I) know
그래서 (geulaeseo): so
저기요 (jeogiyo): excuse me
앟줌마 (ahjumma): auntie, mrs., madame (a respectful term said to a married (older) woman)
여보 (yeobo): honey; term of endearment
차 (cha): tea
너 (neo): you
왔오 (wasso): (I) came…I learned from watching that it also means, “you’re here.” They will say it where someone arrives.
엄마 (eomma): mom
아빠 (appa): dad
빨리요 (ppalliyo): Hurry up/come on
마니 (mani): a lot
누가 (nuga): who
가요 (gayo): (I) go
알다 (alda): to know
These are the words I was able to catch. Some of them I already knew, but some were new. I did have a few words that I caught, but I didn’t know how to write them, so I skipped over them.
Also the “(I)” means that you can put that there, but you could also use other pronouns. Korean is a context language which mean you have to be paying attention to the conversation to know what’s going on. The verb form can be used with any pronoun, unlike English where we say “I am” or “You are.”
Also in the parenthesis is the romanization of the Korean words (using the roman alphabet to write the Korean words). Korean sounds are different than English and so I don’t think the romanizataion helps too much. But it might help you. A lot of the Korean sounds are inbetween English sounds, such as 가요 (gayo)…it’s spelled with a G, but you can also use a K. The actual sound is inbetween both the G and the K. This was a fascinating thing I learned. I like it because I never thought about how close G and K are in sounding until recently.
If you want to practice these vocabulary words, I made a set on Quizlet, my current favorite app right now.
What words have you caught watching a Korean drama? Share in the comments.
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