Learn about Korean politeness levels
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Minkyong: 안녕하세요. 민경입니다. (annyeonghaseyo. mingyeongimnida.) |
| Keith: Hey Keith here. Who Has It? Now this conversation is taking place in an office and 지민 (jimin) our heroine of today’s lesson I guess is going around and asking for what? |
| Minkyong: 풀 (pul). |
| Keith: A glue stick. |
| Minkyong: Yes. |
| Keith: Well a glue stick doesn’t really match with office. |
| Minkyong: Yeah. We usually use paper clips and staplers in office, not a glue stick, right? |
| Keith: Yeah glue stick I think is primarily reserved for elementary school students. All right, so what’s going on, what’s happening? She is asking for a glue stick and what? |
| Minkyong: And no one has it. |
| Keith: So she is going around asking different people and as she is asking, do you have a glue stick, what should the listeners be listening for? |
| Minkyong: 풀 있어요? (pul isseoyo?) |
| Keith: Do you have a glue stick and since most of them don’t have it, what else should they be listening for? |
| Minkyong: 풀 없어요. (pul isseoyo?) |
| Keith: I don’t have a glue stick. All right, let’s see who has it and who doesn’t. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 지민 (jimin): 어... 풀... (철수에게) 풀 있어? (eo... pul... (cheolsuege) pul isseo?) |
| 철수 (cheolsu): 없어요. (eopseoyo.) |
| 지민 (jimin): 과장님... 풀... 있어요? (gwajangnim... pul... isseoyo?) |
| 과장 (gwajang): 없어. (eopseo.) |
| 지민 (jimin): 부장님... 풀... 있어요? (bujangnim... pul... isseoyo?) |
| 부장 (bujang): 풀? 없어요. (pul? eopseoyo.) |
| 지민 (jimin): 사장님... 풀 있어요? (sajangnim... pul isseoyo?) |
| 사장 (sajang): 풀? 있어요! (pul? isseoyo!) |
| Seol: 한 번 더 천천히. (han beon deo cheoncheonhi.) |
| 지민 (jimin): 어... 풀... (철수에게) 풀 있어? (eo... pul... (cheolsuege) pul isseo?) |
| 철수 (cheolsu): 없어요. (eopseoyo.) |
| 지민 (jimin): 과장님... 풀... 있어요? (gwajangnim... pul... isseoyo?) |
| 과장 (gwajang): 없어. (eopseo.) |
| 지민 (jimin): 부장님... 풀... 있어요? (bujangnim... pul... isseoyo?) |
| 부장 (bujang): 풀? 없어요. (pul? eopseoyo.) |
| 지민 (jimin): 사장님... 풀 있어요? (sajangnim... pul isseoyo?) |
| 사장 (sajang): 풀? 있어요! (pul? isseoyo!) |
| Seol: 이번에는 영어로. (ibeoneneun yeongeoro.) |
| 지민 (jimin): 어... 풀... (철수에게) 풀 있어? (eo... pul... (cheolsuege) pul isseo?) |
| Jimin: Um...glue stick...do you have a glue stick? |
| 철수 (cheolsu): 없어요. (eopseoyo.) |
| Cheolsu: No, I don't have one. |
| 지민 (jimin): 과장님... 풀... 있어요? (gwajangnim... pul... isseoyo?) |
| Jimin: Section Chief, do you have a glue stick? |
| 과장 (gwajang): 없어. (eopseo.) |
| Section chief: No, I don't have one. |
| 지민 (jimin): 부장님... 풀... 있어요? (bujangnim... pul... isseoyo?) |
| Jimin: Department Chief, do you have a glue stick? |
| 부장 (bujang): 풀? 없어요. (pul? eopseoyo.) |
| Department manager: A glue stick? I don't have one. |
| 지민 (jimin): 사장님... 풀 있어요? (sajangnim... pul isseoyo?) |
| Jimin: President, do you have a glue stick? |
| 사장 (sajang): 풀? 있어요! (pul? isseoyo!) |
| President: A glue stick? I have one. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Minkyong: I was actually surprised that 사장님 (sajangnim) has the glue stick and no one else. |
| Keith: Well maybe he is just sitting in his office making paper mache dolls all day. That’s what I do. |
| Minkyong: Really? |
| Keith: Well I wish. Once I owned my own company, that’s what I am going to do. |
| Minkyong: Anyway. |
| Keith: All right. So before we get into the vocab, I think this conversation displayed a lot about Korean companies and Korean company structure. Now who did 지민 (jimin) ask first? |
| Minkyong: 철수 (cheolsu). |
| Keith: Another co-worker probably sitting next to her and he doesn’t have it. |
| Minkyong: No, he didn’t. |
| Keith: So who else does she ask? Who is next on the block? |
| Minkyong: 과장님. (gwajangnim) |
| Keith: At section chief and the section chief says, no I don’t have it. Who else? |
| Minkyong: 부장님. (bujangnim.) |
| Keith: Department chief and finally who else is left to ask but the president. |
| Minkyong: 사장님 (sajangnim). |
| Keith: So that’s the basic – a very, very basic Korean company structure. So let’s go over it real quick from top to bottom. |
| Minkyong: 사장님, 부장님, 과장님. (sajangnim, bujangnim, gwajangnim.) |
| Keith: And if you are at the bottom, you have to answer to everybody pretty much. |
| Minkyong: Of course. |
| Keith: Of course but if you are 과장님 (gwajangnim) if you are a section chief, you only have to answer to two people. |
| Minkyong: Yeah 부장님 (bujangnim) and 사장님 (sajangnim). Department chief and president. |
| Keith: And maybe some of our listeners can relate to this as well in their own work experience maybe in a Korean company. Let us know, leave us some feedback. Let us know your experiences. All right, before we get into the vocab, I want to remind our listeners to remember to stop by KoreanClass101.com and check out our My Feed feature. The My Feed feature lets you customize and download your own feed. Only review tracks, only dialogue tracks, only newbie lessons, only PDFs whatever you want, you can customize it and download it all at once. All right, so let’s move on. What’s our first word? |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Minkyong: 풀 (pul). |
| Keith: Glue. |
| Minkyong: 풀 (pul) [slowly - broken down by syllable] 풀 (pul) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Next we have |
| Minkyong: 있어 (isseo). |
| Keith: I have, do you have? Casual language. |
| Minkyong: 있어 (isseo)[slowly - broken down by syllable] 있어 (isseo)[natural native speed] |
| Keith: Next we have |
| Minkyong: 있어요 (isseoyo). |
| Keith: I have, do you have? Polite language. |
| Minkyong: 있어요 (isseoyo) [slowly - broken down by syllable] 있어요. (isseoyo.) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Next we have |
| Minkyong: 없어 (eopseo). |
| Keith: I don’t have, do you not have? Casual language. |
| Minkyong: 없어 (eopseo) [slowly - broken down by syllable] 없어 (eopseo) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Next is |
| Minkyong: 없어요 (eopseoyo). |
| Keith: I don’t have, do you not have? Polite language. |
| Minkyong: 없어요 (eopseoyo) [slowly - broken down by syllable] 없어요 (eopseoyo) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Next we have |
| Minkyong: 과장님 (gwajangnim). |
| Keith: Section chief. |
| Minkyong: 과장님 (gwajangnim) [slowly - broken down by syllable] 과장님 (gwajangnim) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: After that |
| Minkyong: 부장님 (bujangnim). |
| Keith: Department chief. |
| Minkyong: 부장님 (bujangnim) [slowly - broken down by syllable] 부장님 (bujangnim) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: And what’s after that? |
| Minkyong: 사장님 (sajangnim). |
| Keith: President, CEO. |
| Minkyong: 사장님 (sajangnim) [slowly - broken down by syllable] 사장님 (sajangnim) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: All right. Before we get into this conversation, let’s go over a couple of words really quickly. Why do we have two I haves? |
| Minkyong: Because one is casual language and other one is polite language. |
| Keith: Yeah and the only change between them in Korean is |
| Minkyong: Adding 요. (yo.) |
| Keith: Yeah at the end. That 요 (yo) at the end is being a little more polite and this happens with a lot of verbs in Korean but generally speaking, if you know something in casual language, you can just add |
| Minkyong: 요. (yo.) |
| Keith: At the end and there you go, it’s polite and the same goes for I don’t have. You don’t have? |
| Minkyong: 없어 (eopseo). |
| Keith: And to be a little more polite, all you’ve got to do is add that 요 (yo). |
| Minkyong: 없어요 (eopseoyo). |
| Keith: All right. So let’s break down this conversation real quick line by line. First we have |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Minkyong: 풀… 풀 있어? (pultt pul isseo?) |
| Keith: And he is asking his co-worker right next to him probably on the same level in the company. So they are probably pretty close to each other and they don’t have to use polite language. |
| Minkyong: Yeah so they used 반말 (banmal). |
| Keith: Casual language. So what did he say exactly? |
| Minkyong: 풀 있어? (pul isseo?) |
| Keith: What’s that first word? |
| Minkyong: 풀 (pul) |
| Keith: Glue stick |
| Minkyong: 있어? (isseo?) |
| Keith: Have – glue stick have and you can pretty much infer, do you have a glue stick and now her co-worker responds |
| Minkyong: 없어요. (eopseoyo.) |
| Keith: Don’t have. Literally don’t have. The word I is not in there but you can infer don’t have means I don’t have. And I don’t know why. Why is she adding that 요 (yo) at the end in there? |
| Minkyong: I don’t know. Maybe 지민 (jimin) is a senior. |
| Keith: Yeah maybe she is older than this person or maybe she is her boss. |
| Minkyong: Maybe. |
| Keith: Maybe. Well there can be a variety of reasons why one uses polite language and one doesn’t use polite language but in this specific context, we are not sure. We don’t have enough information. |
| Minkyong: Yeah. |
| Keith: All right. So next, who does 지민 (jimin) ask? |
| Minkyong: 과장님 (gwajangnim). |
| Keith: Once again, the section chief, the next in line. So she asked the same exact question. |
| Minkyong: 풀 있어요? (pul isseoyo?) |
| Keith: Well, it wasn’t exactly the same right? |
| Minkyong: Yes but similar. |
| Keith: Yeah well because she is asking her boss who definitely you have to be polite to. |
| Minkyong: So she is speaking in 존댓말. (jondaenmal.) |
| Keith: Polite language. So because this person is her boss, she has to be polite. So it’s not exactly the same. It’s just a little change. |
| Minkyong: She added 요 (yo). 풀 있어요? (pul isseoyo?) |
| Keith: Yeah it’s pretty much the same exact sentence except that last part at the end. |
| Minkyong: 요 (yo). |
| Keith: Yeah and that’s once again just being a little politer. So once again, we have glue stick have – do you have a glue stick and now the section chief replies the same |
| Minkyong: 없어 (eopseo). |
| Keith: This is without the 요 (yo). Why would the section chief not use polite language? |
| Minkyong: Because 지민 (jimin) is working for Section Chief. |
| Keith: Yeah. She is working directly under the section chief. So the section chief probably knows her very well. They work together every day. They are always talking to each other. So a lot of times, the section chief won’t use polite language to those working beneath him. |
| Minkyong: Yeah probably. |
| Keith: So once again, the polite version is |
| Minkyong: 없어요. (eopseoyo.) |
| Keith: And the casual |
| Minkyong: 없어. (eopseo.) |
| Keith: All right. So let’s move on just as 지민 (jimin) moves on. Her next victim is |
| Minkyong: 부장님 (bujangnim). |
| Keith: The department chief. So what does she ask? |
| Minkyong: 풀 있어요? (pul isseoyo?) |
| Keith: Same thing that she uses for the department chief, polite language. Glue stick have, do you have a glue stick and the department chief replies |
| Minkyong: 풀? 없어요. (pul? eopseoyo.) |
| Keith: Not have 없어요 (eopseoyo) in polite language. Why would the higher person, the department chief use polite language while the section chief who is lower than him, the department chief use casual language. |
| Minkyong: Because probably 부장님 (bujangnim) doesn’t know 지민 (jimin) very well. So you know, you have to be polite if you don’t know her. |
| Keith: Yeah the 과장님 (gwajangnim) the section chief is probably working directly with her everyday but the 부장님 (bujangnim) the section chief probably doesn’t even know she exists, maybe. |
| Minkyong: Maybe. |
| Keith: But regardless, they don’t work close together. So they don’t know each other so well. So they are using polite language to each other. |
| Minkyong: Yeah. |
| Keith: All right and finally |
| Minkyong: 사장님, 풀 있어요? (sajangnim, pul isseoyo?) |
| Keith: President, CEO do you have glue and what is the answer? |
| Minkyong: 풀? 있어요. (pul? isseoyo.) |
| Keith: Of course he has it but once again, he is using polite language. 있어요 (isseoyo) at the end. What’s going on? It’s the president. |
| Minkyong: So he probably doesn’t know 지민 (jimin). So that’s why he is using 존댓말 (jondaenmal) the polite language. |
| Keith: Yeah the president really probably does not know she exists. |
| Minkyong: Yeah because there is many people working in a company. He can’t… |
| Keith: Keep track of everything. |
| Minkyong: Yeah. |
| Keith: So yeah, still don’t know each other, using polite language. Let’s go over a couple of examples where our listeners can use something similar to what we just went over today. |
| Minkyong: 여동생 있어요? (yeodongsaeng isseoyo?) |
| Keith: Younger sister have, do you have a younger sister? Yeah 있어요 (isseoyo). Why are we using polite language? |
| Minkyong: Because we are not close. |
| Keith: Oh! |
| Minkyong: Just kidding. |
| Keith: It’s because we work together, come on. |
| Minkyong: Yes because we work together |
| Keith: And we are not close? |
| Minkyong: Yes no… |
| Keith: That’s so mean. All right, what’s another example? |
| Minkyong: 돈 있어요? (don isseoyo?) |
| Keith: Money have, do you have money? 돈 없어요 (don eopseoyo). I don’t have any money. |
| Minkyong: 저도 없어요 (jeodo eopseoyo). I don’t have money either. |
| Keith: All right. Next is |
| Minkyong: 세탁기 있어요? (setakgi isseoyo?) |
| Keith: And that’s a strange example sentence. Do you have a washing machine? |
| Minkyong: Sometimes people don’t have it. |
| Keith: Okay. Do you have a washing machine? So literally what is that? |
| Minkyong: 세탁기 (setakgi). |
| Keith: Washing machine. |
| Minkyong: 있어요? (isseoyo?) |
| Keith: Have. Do you have a washing machine? And you probably figured out by now, the construction of this is noun - have, noun - have; and remember you got to have a rising intonation 있어요? (isseoyo?) |
Outro |
|---|
| Minkyong: Yeah, you are right. |
| Keith: All right. So I think that’s going to do it. Bye. |
| Minkyong: Bye. |
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