Learn about Korean social dynamics and standard politeness levels
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Seol: 안녕하세요. 윤설입니다. |
| Keith: Keith here! Just How Polite is ‘Polite’? Now, Seol, up to today, we’ve been using very, very formal language. Isn’t that right? |
| Seol: Yes. |
| Keith: The language that we’ve been using, how common is it? |
| Seol: It’s not very common, in fact. |
| Keith: So what we’re talking about is the formal politeness level. We’ve been saying 입니다, 입니까. And yes, we use this but it’s very, very textbook. |
| Seol: I feel like I was reading the lines in textbook. |
| Keith: Yeah, it’s really dry. |
| Seol: Yeah, it is dry. |
| Keith: Yeah, it’s very dry because a lot of people don’t talk like this. So today, we’re going to introduce you to a more commonly used but still polite politeness level. So this is a conversation between an employee and an employer. This is their first meeting. Let’s take a look. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 수진 사장님. 안녕하세요. |
| 사장 어?… 이름이 뭐예요? |
| 수진 한수진입니다. |
| 사장 어느 나라 사람이에요? |
| 수진 캐나다 사람입니다. 사장님은 한국 사람입니까? |
| 사장 네. 한국 사람이에요. |
| Seol: 한 번 더 천천히 |
| 수진 사장님. 안녕하세요. |
| 사장 어?… 이름이 뭐예요? |
| 수진 한수진입니다. |
| 사장 어느 나라 사람이에요? |
| 수진 캐나다 사람입니다. 사장님은 한국 사람입니까? |
| 사장 네. 한국 사람이에요. |
| Seol: 영어로 천천히. |
| 수진 사장님. 안녕하세요. |
| Keith: Hello, sir. |
| 사장 어?… 이름이 뭐예요? |
| Keith: Oh, what's your name? |
| 수진 한수진입니다. |
| Keith: I'm Sujin Han. |
| 사장 어느 나라 사람이에요? |
| Keith: What nationality are you? |
| 수진 캐나다 사람입니다. 사장님은 한국 사람입니까? |
| Keith: I'm Canadian. Sir, are you Korean? |
| 사장 네. 한국 사람이에요. |
| Keith: Yes I'm Korean. |
Lesson focus |
| Keith: Seol, what did you think about the conversation? |
| Seol: I feel much more comfortable. |
| Keith: Why? |
| Seol: Because this is the language that I use. |
| Keith: And that’s the point we want to make today. This is the language that most Koreans use. So before we take a look into the language, let’s take a look at the vocab. The first word we have is…. |
| Seol: 사장님 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Boss. |
| Seol: 사장님 [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 사장님 [natural native speed]. |
| Keith: So this means “boss” but it can also mean “employer” or “president”. Next we have… |
| Seol: 이름 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Name. |
| Seol: 이름 [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 이름 [natural native speed]. |
| Keith: And lastly we have…. |
| Seol: 뭐 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: What. |
| Seol: 뭐 [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 뭐 [natural native speed]. |
| Keith: So let’s take a deeper look into the conversation. The first line we have is…. |
| Seol: 사장님. 안녕하세요. |
| Keith: The first part we have is… |
| Seol: 사장님 |
| Keith: This is “boss” or “owner”. Now in Korean, we don’t call people by their names, right? |
| Seol: No. |
| Keith: Especially bosses. |
| Seol: Yeah, yeah. |
| Keith: And why is that? |
| Seol: Because sometimes it sounds a little bit like rude and impolite to call their names. |
| Keith: That’s exactly right. If someone has a title, we say the title. We don’t actually say their name, we say their title. So in this case, you don’t say their name, you say their title. And this is especially true for people that are important. |
| Seol: Yes. |
| Keith: So here, it’s your boss. Your boss is pretty important. So here, it’s 사장님, “boss”. But here, we can translate it as “sir” or “madam”. Okay, the next line, 사장님 says… |
| Seol: 이름이 뭐에요? |
| Keith: “What’s your name.” The first part is… |
| Seol: 이름 |
| Keith: “Name” followed by… |
| Seol: 이 |
| Keith: Subject marking particle. Next we have… |
| Seol: 뭐 |
| Keith: “What” And after that is…. |
| Seol: 에요? |
| Keith: This is the word 이다 just in a different form. Up until now, we’ve been learning 입니까 or 입니다. But here, it’s 에요. |
| Seol: Basically the same, but 입니까 is too formal and too polite. That’s what I feel, so I use 에요 or 뭐에요? more often. |
| Keith: That’s great. So this is much more colloquial. People use this all the time. 입니까 is the question form of the word 이다, the verb “to be.” Here, it’s 에요. And this is, once again, the more casual way of speaking but you’re still being polite. 뭐 “what, 에요? “is”. Can you give us some examples of who you use it with? |
| Seol: Maybe to my seniors and co-workers and maybe to teachers. |
| Keith: So even us, we were together, so I use this form with her. And Seol, she does the same with me, 에요. |
| Seol: You sound like Yay-yo! |
| Keith: Kind of like rocky, right? |
| Seol: Yeah. |
| Keith: Kind of like Yay-yo! |
| Seol: Sometimes in the hip hop music, you can hear Yay-yo! right? |
| Keith: Yeah, that’s true. Okay. So everything that we’ve covered so far, 입니다 can be replaced with 에요 or 이에요. The next line we have is…. |
| Seol: 한수진입니다. |
| Keith: “I am Han Sujin.” Or in English, her name would be “Sujin Han” but we change the order in Korean. And remember, the pronoun “I” is dropped because it’s inferred. And here, she’s using 입니다. She’s being more formal. |
| Seol: Yes, because she’s talking to her boss. |
| Keith: That’s exactly right. This is their first meeting. She has to give a good impression, right? |
| Seol: Yes. |
| Keith: So after a while, do you think maybe she brings her language down to 에요? Sometimes? |
| Seol: Maybe. Maybe. Sometimes. |
| Keith: It depends on the boss, right? |
| Seol: Right. |
| Keith: So maybe a lot of listeners are hoping to get a job in Korea. Should they be using 입니까? 입니다? or .. |
| Seol: 입니까 and 입니다 is better, I think. |
| Keith: It’s better. |
| Seol: Uh-hmm. |
| Keith: So with your boss, you should try to be as formal as possible. But her boss is using -에요. Because he’s the boss, he’s higher than her, so he can use a little less formal language. But he’s still being polite. Okay, the next line we have is…. |
| Seol: 어느 나라 사람이에요? |
| Keith: Now this should sound very familiar. Once again, we’ve been going over 어느 나라 사람입니까? “What nationality are you?” But here, it’s a little tiny change at the end. Once again, we did 어느 나라 사람입니까? but here it’s 어느 나라 사람이에요? Here once again, the politeness level has dropped just a little bit. It’s because the boss is talking to his employee. And here, instead of 에요, it’s 이에요. This is because 사람 ends in a constant. This is a little difficult to understand just by hearing it. So if you have the PDF, look along. 사람 ends in a constant ㅁ 사-람. And because it ends in a consonant, 에요 changes to 이에요. And this is to make the pronunciation a little more easier. And we’ve been learning 입니까, the question form, or 입니다, the simple present. Now the standard polite form is 에요 or 이에요. It depends on what comes right before it. If it ends in a vowel, it ends in 에요. If it ends in a consonant, it becomes 이에요. The next line we have is… |
| Seol: 캐나다 사람입니다. |
| Keith: “I’m Canadian”, “Canada person am.” But remember, the AM 입니다 here is being very polite, being very formal. Next line we have is… |
| Seol: 사장님은 한국 사람입니까? |
| Keith: Once again, this should be fairly familiar. Sir, are you Korean? Let’s take a deeper look into it. |
| Seol: 사장님 |
| Keith: “Sir” or “boss” followed by… |
| Seol: 은 |
| Keith: The topic marking particle. After that is…. |
| Seol: 한국 |
| Keith: “Korea”… |
| Seol: 사람 |
| Keith: “Person”…. |
| Seol: 입니까? |
| Keith: “Are”. “Sir, are you Korean?” And here, once again, she’s using formal language, 입니까? Lastly we have… |
| Seol: 네. |
| Keith: Yes. |
| Seol: 한국 사람이에요. |
| Keith: “I’m Korean.” But here, the politeness level has dropped a little bit. And if you notice, we’ve done 이름이 뭐에요? “What’s your name?” And also we have… |
| Seol: 어느 나라 사람이에요? |
| Keith: Yeah, “what nationality are you?” These are all questions 에요, 이에요. But here, the last line we have is 한국 사람이에요. This is a statement. So 에요 or 이에요 can be either a question or statement. It just depends on your intonation. So 설, 한국 사람이에요? |
| Seol: 네, 한국 사람이에요. |
| Keith: Okay. If you notice, we said exactly the same words. |
| Seol: 한국 |
| Keith: “Korea”… |
| Seol: 사람 |
| Keith: “Person”…. |
| Seol: 이에요. |
| Keith: “Is” or “Am.” So here I said 한국 사람이에요? The little rise at the end makes it into a question. Seol says… |
| Seol: 한국 사람이에요. |
| Keith: It drops at the end. That makes it a statement. So remember, you got to be a little careful when you’re saying 이에요? or 이에요. Seol, do you think our listeners will be hearing this a lot? |
| Seol: Yes, I think so because it’s really common. When I talk to Keith or to my friend, I use 에요, 이에요 more than 입니다, 입니까? |
| Keith: In Korea, if you’re even talking to strangers, you can 이에요 or 이에요? if you want to ask a question or 이에요 to make a statement. So you’ll be hearing this form all the time. All right. Seol, I’m very glad we got to introduce 이에요 and 에요. This is very, very important. |
| Seol: Yeah. Yeah, that is true. And, like, I’m happy that I finally use this 에요, 이에요because I feel much more comfortable with 에요, 이에요. |
| Keith: As Seol and I, we’re starting to work more and we’re getting closer and closer, and we want to drop the politeness level a little bit, right? |
| Seol: Yeah. |
| Keith: So no more 입니까, 입니다 right? |
| Seol: No more 입니까, 입니다. |
| Keith: Well, actually, we never even said that when we first started. |
| Seol: Yeah, that’s right. |
| Keith: Yeah, that’s exactly our point though. Even when you first meet somebody, 입니까 and 입니다 is way too formal. So here, we just want you to get used to it. And then we’re going to start easing you into using 에요 and 이에요. |
Outro |
| Keith: All right. Well, good lesson today, huh? |
| Seol: Yeah, it was. |
| Keight: That’s going to do it for today. |
| Seol: 안녕! |
| Keith: See you! |
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