Need help understanding some Korean expressions

[Soll]

Hi,

I lived in Korea for a year some 25 years ago. I can speak and read a fair amount of Korean. I have a friend in Korea with whom I exchange letters. I can understand most of what she writes but this letter is tougher than most and I'm stuck on some things and would appreciate a translation:

1. T.V에서 미국에 있는 그랜드 캐년의 가을을 본적이 있습니다.
I understand some of this: Something about the Grand Canyon on American TV, in the fall. What does 본적이 있습니다 mean in the context of the sentence?

2. 친구라고 하면 당연히 안부를 묻는거지요.
I don't understand this at all.

3. 21st 통신 과학에 대하여 일하고 있다니 대단합니다.
Something about 21st century science ...

4. 우리들은 Lederman씨 같은 많은 사람들 덕분에 편리한 Internet세상에서 살고 있다고 생각합니다.
Lederman is my last name. Something like "We have many people like you ..."

5. 나와는 친구 같이 지냅니다.
friend ... comes out ... like ...

6. 7 and 9 years old의 조카들이면 무척 귀엽고 예쁘겠습니다.
조카들은 언제 만나도 행복하고 사랑스럽습니다.

Thanks,

Sol

[holdfast]

i might be able to help a little bit....

first: 본적이 있습니다 means to have the experience of having done something. 적 is an experience, and 보다 means to have tried something in this case. since 본적이 is a noun in this case, you'd use 있다 with it instead of something else. it's similar to using 보다 to mean "to try" with another verb. example:

김치 먹어 봤어요 i have tried eating kimchi
김치 먹어 본적이 있어요 i have the experience of having tried kimchi

it sounds weird when it's translated like that, but the real difference is adding the noun "an experience". that might be more explanation than you were looking for, however ^^
so, in her sentence, she is saying she has seen the fall at the grand canyon on t.v. but literally she said she has had the experience of seeing fall at america's grand canyon on t.v.


and i'll take a stab at the last one, too:

7 and 9 years old의 조카들이면 무척 귀엽고 예쁘겠습니다.
조카들은 언제 만나도 행복하고 사랑스럽습니다.

i'm assuming you told her you have 7 and 9 year old nieces/nephews? 조카 means neice or nephew. so the first sentence says "if you have 7 and 9 year old nieces/nephews they must be extremely quite and pretty." the second sentence literally says 조카들은 (nieces/nephews) 언제 (when) 만나도 (meet) 행복하고 (happy and) 사랑스럽습니다 (lovely/charming). so she could be saying if she meets your nieces/nephews she would be happy and... it would be lovely?

hmm.. i guess i'm going to need more help here too, but i tried (:

i hope this helps even a little bit.

[Soll]

Holdfast,

Thanks for the explanations. They help me tremendously. I can often decipher sentences when I know enough of the words. But, sometimes the expressions throw me.

Sol

[manyakumi]

1. T.V에서 미국에 있는 그랜드 캐년의 가을을 본적이 있습니다.
I understand some of this: Something about the Grand Canyon on American TV, in the fall. What does 본적이 있습니다 mean in the context of the sentence?

Emily(holdfast)'s answer was quite good.

2. 친구라고 하면 당연히 안부를 묻는거지요.
I don't understand this at all.

We are suppose to ask after each other if we can call us as 'friends'.

3. 21st 통신 과학에 대하여 일하고 있다니 대단합니다.
Something about 21st century science ...

It's great to hear you work in the line of 21st century science.

4. 우리들은 Lederman씨 같은 많은 사람들 덕분에 편리한 Internet세상에서 살고 있다고 생각합니다.
Lederman is my last name. Something like "We have many people like you ..."

We think we are living in convenient world of internet because of many people like you, Mr. Lederman.

5. 나와는 친구 같이 지냅니다.
friend ... comes out ... like ...

Let's get along with me as a friend.

6. 7 and 9 years old의 조카들이면 무척 귀엽고 예쁘겠습니다.
조카들은 언제 만나도 행복하고 사랑스럽습니다.

Emily's answer was also great.

언제 ..도 : whenever (subject) ..., everytime (subject) ...

[Soll]

Manyakumi,

Thank you very much for filling in the gaps in my understanding with your translations.

Sol

[javiskefka]

1. T.V에서 미국에 있는 그랜드 캐년의 가을을 본적이 있

2. 친구라고 하면 당연히 안부를 묻는거지요.
I don't understand this at all.

We are suppose to ask after each other if we can call us as 'friends'.

Just curious, but how do you know that his penpal meant 'we'? My thought was that it was something like, "Of course I'm asking about you if you're my friend!"

Maybe the difference between 'you and me' and 'we' doesn't even matter in Korean .

[manyakumi]

Maybe the difference between 'you and me' and 'we' doesn't even matter in Korean .

Yeah, you've got the point.

But your translation would be more accurate for English speakers.
As you know, I'm not very good at english.

[matthew254]

But your translation would be more accurate for English speakers.
As you know, I'm not very good at english.

앗! 형 ~ 너무 겸허해요...

[manyakumi]

앗! 형 ~ 너무 겸허해요...

Thanks for your comment though,
But it's true.

Sometimes I totally have no idea what i'm trying to say.