한국어 VS 한국말

[taurin]

Is there a difference between 한국어 and 한국말? In the very few lessons I've listened to I've heard them both used when referring to the Korean Language. Are they completely interchangeable or are there certain situations that one is more appropriate then the other?

[trutherous]

Good question. I would also like to know if one term is preferred above the other in certain situations.

My understanding:

For the most part these terms are interchangeable without making a great difference in meaning; however, 한국어 is probably most accurately translated 'Korean language, referring to the whole language i.e. oral and written, whereas 한국말 would probably be best translated 'Korean talking/speech,' although it can certainly connotate the written language as well.

I suppose if we want to say "Let's talk in Korean" we could easily say 한국말로 합시다 (Korean speech in let's do), but if we say simply 한곡어로 합시다 (Korean language in let's do), the latter expression could leave a question as to whether we are talking about speaking or writing so we might want to say 한국어로 말 합시다 (Korean language in speaking let's do). But in real life conversation the intent of the speaker using either term is usually understood by the listener.

In my research I found a Chinese character root 語 (word) for '어' but I find no language related Chinese root for '말' which may indicate that it is completely of Korean origin.

George - fellow student

[julialim]

한국어is same as 한국말

but we use 한국어 more often.

안녕하세요 조지님!

[paekdusan]

Hmmm....

Do you think it's more often used because both "한국" and "어" have 한자? (Whereas "말" is 고유어.)

Perhaps that's a ridiculously esoteric question. No reply necessary. I'm just wondering out loud...

wbg

[imaBALLER]

I have seen in a text book that 한국어 is more formal than 한국말.

[trutherous]

The following examples may shed some light on the subtle difference between '어' and '말':

We can say "말 해 주세요" - 'Please tell me' 'Please say it'

but we do not say "어 해주세요'

We can say "말을 좀 합시다" - 'Let's talk' 'Let's have a little talk'

but we do not say "어를 좀 합시다"

We can say "국어" or "나랏말" -'mother language' -(our) (Korean) language

but we do not say "국말"

Other misc examples of interchangeability:
일어 -Japanese 일본말/일본어 -Japanese (same)
독어 - German 독일말/독일어 -German (same)

[manyakumi]

The following examples may shed some light on the subtle difference between '어' and '말':

We can say "말 해 주세요" - 'Please tell me' 'Please say it'

but we do not say "어 해주세요'

We can say "말을 좀 합시다" - 'Let's talk' 'Let's have a little talk'

but we do not say "어를 좀 합시다"

Above 말 shouldn't be 어(語) but 언(言).

As trutherous said,
언(言) is the word for individual talking between persons.
어(語) is the word for generic words or languages.

Anyways we don't use neither "언 해주세요" nor "언을 좀 합시다". ^^
In some formal situations, you can see it using like...

언급(言及)해 주세요. Tell me about it, please.
언질(言質)을 주세요. Let me know your thinking, please.
첨언(添言)해 주세요. Add your opinion, please.

언어(言語) : spoken language

[imaBALLER]

I envy your 한자 knowledge.

일본인 이죠? 내 생각해는 만야끄미씨 많이 한자가 알죠...

You're Japanese, right? I think you probably know a lot of Hanja.

[trutherous]

韓國語를 먼저 알면 辭典에서 漢字를 쉽게 찾을 수 있어요. 그래서 繼續 韓國語를 열심히 工夫하세요.

Don't mind me I'm just trying to get my post count to 200

[imaBALLER]

Haha, George that is great. I actually can recognise quite a few 漢字 but don't know the readings or how to use them appropriately as yet. Wow, 繼續 is INSANE, I had to zoom in on my screen several times to make sense of it. There is no way I would ever hand write that (if I could )...계속 is so much easier.

I am also surprised by 工夫하세요.

[manyakumi]

I'm a 100% native Korean hoping to be good at English and Japanese.

[imaBALLER]

Oh Manyakumi, I'm sorry!

I thought Manyakumi seemed like a Japanese name and I assumed that if you were on KCLASS101 you must be learning Korean.

죄송합니다, 정말요.

[manyakumi]

No problem.
Many other people also thought like that. lol
Manyakumi isn't my name but just a nickname, actually.
My real name is 김선재, Sean Jae Kim.
And somewhere in this forum I explained why I am here.