In today’s lesson, we will talk about internet cafes in Korea. There is plenty and plenty of them out there. So you won’t have any trouble connecting but they aren’t really similar to the ones you’ll find out in the west but before we get to that, let’s go over the word for internet café. The word for internet café is 피씨방 (pissibang). One time slowly, it’s 피씨방 (pissibang). And now by syllable, 피-씨-방 (pi-ssi-bang). The first word is 피씨 (pissi). This is the Koreanization of the word PC or personal computer. Let’s hear it again slowly, 피씨 (pissi). |
Next we have 방 (bang) which is the word for room. Let’s hear it again. 방 (bang). So altogether, we have 피씨방 (pissibang) which literally means PC room or in English, internet café. Now, it’s not really a café per se. It’s more like a big room kind of dark, a lot of smoke. Not really the place you want to take your date although if you did want to, they do have couple seats. One of the things is, all the computers are as you can guess PCs. So sorry Mac lovers. People go for a variety of reasons, surfing the web, chatting, word processing. However, the number one reason people go to 피씨방 (pissibang) is for the games and I don’t know if you know anything about Korea’s game industry but they take their gaming serious. |
So gamers go to 피씨방 (pissibang) to practice and meet other gamers. Now, I am going to walk you through what to do when you go there. First, when you walk in, there should be a counter. You just go up to it, there should be a stack of cars up there and you take one. Next, you find an empty seat and sit down. Now, after you sit down, there is two ways to log in depending on the system the café is using. The first system is pretty simple. You just take your card and insert it into the slot, pretty easy. The other way is, you use the number on the card to login. So that should be able to get you on to the computer. |
Now, after you’ve done your surfing, your chatting and maybe even gaming, what you do next is, get up, go to the counter with your card and pay it. Pretty straightforward. Now another critical question for all you laptop world trekkers is, does this store have wireless internet. In Korean, does this store have wireless internet is 무선 인터넷 돼요 (museon inteonet dwaeyo)? One time slowly, it’s 무선 인터넷 돼요 (museon inteonet dwaeyo)? And let’s break it down by syllable, 무선 인터넷 돼요 (museon inteonet dwaeyo)? The first word of the phrase is 무선 (museon). This means wireless. One time slowly, it’s 무선 (museon). Next we have 인터넷 (inteonet) which as you probably guessed is internet. One time slowly, it’s 인터넷 (inteonet). Lastly we have 돼요 (dwaeyo). This means something like can or possible. One time slowly, it’s 돼요 (dwaeyo). Altogether the phrase we have here is 무선 인터넷 돼요 (museon inteonet dwaeyo)? |
This means, wireless internet possible but this can be interpreted as, does this store have wireless internet. And let’s say your given location has wireless internet, but they require you to login. To ask for the login information, we can say 아이디하고 비밀번호 주세요 (aidihago bimilbeonho juseyo). One time slowly, it’s 아이디하고 비밀번호 주세요 (aidihago bimilbeonho juseyo). And by syllable, it’s 아-이-디-하-고 비-밀-번-호 주-세-요 (a-i-di-ha-go bi-mil-beon-ho ju-se-yo). The first part of the phrase is 아이디 (aidi). This is the Korean word for ID. One time slowly, it’s 아이디 (aidi). Next we have 하고 (hago). This means and. One time slowly, 하고 (hago). And after that we have 비밀번호 (bimilbeonho). This literally means secret number but it can be interpreted as password and lastly we have 주세요 (juseyo). |
This means to give or please. Altogether, the phrase we have here is 아이디하고 비밀번호 주세요 (aidihago bimilbeonho juseyo). This is literally ID and password please. Very straightforward hah! Now, you may not know but Korea has one of the most advanced internet infrastructures in the world and this is exemplified by the fact that certain subway stations have internet kiosks where you can connect to the internet. Now, my boss has told me that he used this when he was in Korea. He was looking for a famous barbeque restaurant but he couldn’t find it. So when he was in the subway, he checked it out on the internet. Pretty cool hah! He still couldn’t find it. Hah! |
Okay. To close our today’s lesson, we’d like for you to practice what you’ve learned. I will provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud. You will have a few seconds before I give you the answer. So 화이팅 (hwaiting)! |
Internet café - 인터넷 카페 (inteonet cape) |
Does this place have wireless internet - 무선 인터넷 돼요 (museon inteonet dwaeyo)? |
ID and password please - 아이디하고 비밀번호 주세요 (aidihago bimilbeonho juseyo). |
All right, that’s going to do it for today. |
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