Where is Korea????

[hyunwoo]

Here's where you can find Korea on the planet!!
(Please wait until the photos to load if you don't see them right away.
I've used clipped images from Google Maps.)

[JockZon]

Will there be any talk about the geography of north korea and how they speak there? I know sensitive topic

[hyunwoo]

The language itself is the same in North Korea, but it's just that the 50 years of gap between the two Koreas has resulted in some different vocab and accent. The North Korean government's policy to use only pure Korean words has played a role too. But both North Korean and South Korean people have no problem understanding each other

But this will be a good future topic in one of the lessons!

[JockZon]

It is actually a very interesting experiment showing how a language developes.

[hyunwoo]

It sure is! But in the case of the way North Korean people speak, it was more 'controlled' and 'directed' than it developed. Well, maybe it's the same thing. ^_^ Anyway, I really hope that we can cover some difference in the language between North and South Koreans. It will be interesting!!

[JockZon]

Well developed and not developed then. ^^ Like what happens to an isolated langauge.

[hyunwoo]

Yeah, I guess so. But one day, if the two Koreas get united again, it will be interesting to see how the difference in the language will be handled.

[Ulver_684]

I really hope both Koreas get reunited someday because reunited that it feels so good, reunited cause we understood. There's a song call reunited from the 70's or 80's not sure and it's great, I recommend it very much!

[hyunwoo]

Yes, I hope so too! But it shall take some time . The two governments should be ready, and the people should be ready

By the way do you mean the song "우리의 소원은 통일(our wish is reunification)"?

[steved]

I had heard that one of the differnces in language is that the North pronounces the ㅈ more like a ㄷ. I think have have actually heard this myself in the difference between the "Standard" 서울 accent versus the more southern accents. At the time I thought that the pronunciation didn't sound표준 at all. The again, I had spent virtually all of my time in the South.

[hyunwoo]

Yeah the language spoken in North Korea is a bit stronger, mainly to give it a touch of more discipline. . . but other than that, it's basically the same thing as in the South.

I think what's even more different from the 표준어(Standard Korean) are the local dialects in 전라도(Jeonla province), 경상도(Gyeongsang province) and 제주도(Jeju Island).

Can you understand those 사투리(dialect)s, 스티브(Steve)?

[steved]

There are certainly many slang words unique to different provinces that I don't know. Mostly I notice the inflections at the end of the sentence when hearing 전라남도 사투리. They use 니 instead of 너 fairly frequently, or is that common throughout Korea? Perhaps that would be an interesting lesson to hear different dialects of Korean.

[hyunwoo]

Well, using "니" in place of "너" is fairly common throughout Korea, but the extend to which it is used varies from region to region.

For example,

1. Saying "니가" instead of "너가" is common in all of Korea.
(you'll even be corrected if you keep saying "너가" because it sounds very strange,
so 너가 should either be 네가 or 니가, but then '네가' sounds like '내가',
so virtually everyone ends up saying '니가' instead of '너가'

But,

2. '너는' is always '너는' in standard colloqial Korean,
but in the southern regions they say "니는" ^_^

3. 너한테('to you') becoming 니한테 is also only commonplace in the southern regions.




Can you guess what this means in the Gyeongsangnamdo dialect?

"니 머꼬?"


^_^

[steved]

OK, having never been to 경상도 I cheated and asked my wife. She thinks it means 니가 뭐야? Are we close?
현우 고향이 어디입니까?

[hyunwoo]

스티브, 제 고향은 광주예요.
(Steve, my hometown is Gwangju)

어디인지 아세요?
(Do you know where it is?)

서울에서 남쪽으로 400km 정도 떨어진 곳 -
(It's about 400km to the south from Seoul)

그런데 저는 지금 서울에 살고 있고 부모님은 광주에 아직 살고 계세요.
(But I'm living in Seoul right now and my parents are still living in Gwangju)



한국에서 다른 데 어디 가 봤어요?
(Where else have you been to in Korea?)