Saturday, May 29, 2010

Koreans' Way of Life that's Reflected on the Language (2)

4) Postpositions makes all difference

In English there are words like "also, too, but, at least, just" that add up the meaning. "I'll go there" and "I'll go there too" are obviosly different, aren't they? What's unique in Korea is that many of these extra meanings and nuances are described through postpositions. 은eun, 나na 도do, 까지kkaji are the common examples.
e.g. 너 친구 얼굴 예쁘다! (Your friend's so pretty!)
너 친구 얼굴 예쁘지.(Your friend is pretty, but.... (she's negative in other aspects.) )
너 가니? (Are you going?)
가니? (Are you going too?)

c.f. Koreans usually speak without postpositions. They also speak without subjects which are obvious.

4) I you love
Yes, that's how you say in Korean! It goes like subject-objective-verb. That's why you got to listen carefully till the end!

5) Three different words for one meaning
As I said, Korean language's largely affected by Chinese. There's been a lot of foreign words since 20th century, so there's often three words to express the same concept, or at least two, Korean and Chinese. Normally Korean words are used in colloquial, and the words originated in Chinese are usually big, academic words that's used in formal writings, but there's no set standard.
e.g. 얼굴-안면(顔面), 눈알-안구(眼球)
김-증기(蒸氣)-스팀(steam)

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