Learn how to talk about your occupation
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| Hi, everyone! Welcome to the Korean Whiteboard Lesson. My name is K-Jin. |
| 안녕하세요, 케이진입니다. |
| (Annyeonghaseyo, keijin-ibnida.) |
| In this lesson, you will learn how to talk about your occupation in Korean. |
| Let’s get started! |
| Okay, so let’s look at the vocabulary. |
| First word we have is 학생 (haksaeng). |
| 학생 (haksaeng) [enunciated] |
| 학생 (haksaeng) “student” |
| 경찰관 (gyeongchalgwan) |
| 경찰관 (gyeongchalgwan) [enunciated] |
| 경찰관 (gyeongchalgwan) |
| It means “police officer.” |
| Next, we have “lawyer” 변호사 (byeonhosa). |
| 변호사 (byeonhosa) [enunciated] |
| 변호사 (byeonhosa) |
| Next, we have 연구원 (yeonguwon). |
| 연구원 (yeonguwon) [enunciated] |
| 연구원 (yeonguwon) “researcher” |
| Next, we have 바리스타 (bariseuta). |
| 바리스타 (bariseuta) [enunciated] |
| 바리스타 (bariseuta) “barista” |
| So, this is a loanword from English, so 바리스타 (bariseuta). |
| Next, we have “teacher” 교사 (gyosa). |
| 교사 (gyosa) [enunciated] |
| 교사 (gyosa) |
| There are many Korean words for “teacher,” actually. |
| For example, you will find this word a lot: |
| 선생님 (seonsaengnim) |
| 선생님 (seonsaengnim) [enunciated] |
| 선생님 (seonsaengnim) [enunciated] |
| Or even: |
| 강사 (gangsa) |
| 강사 (gangsa) [enunciated] |
| 강사 (gangsa) |
| Or, you will also find: |
| 교수 (gyosu) |
| 교수 (gyosu) [enunciated] |
| So, what are the differences? |
| If you say 교사 (gyosa), people will think it’s a teacher for elementary school, middle school, high school, 교사 (gyosa). And it’s a name for the occupation. |
| 선생님 (seonsaengnim) |
| 선생님 (seonsaengnim) |
| People call 교사 (gyosa) as 선생님 (seonsaengnim). So, when you address the person, you don’t call them 교사 (gyosa), 교사 (gyosa). You’ll say 선생님 (seonsaengnim), 선생님 (seonsaengnim). So, when you call them, 선생님 (seonsaengnim), then they will say, “Yes, do you have any question?” |
| 선생님 (seonsaengnim) [enunciated] |
| How about this? |
| 강사 (gangsa) |
| 강사 (gangsa) |
| It’s more like “instructor” or “lecturer,” 강사 (gangsa), 강사 (gangsa). |
| 교수 (gyosu) |
| 교수 (gyosu) |
| 교수 (gyosu) is a “professor.” And when you call a professor, you will call 교수님 (gyosunim). |
| So, you will probably see 선생님 (seonsaengnim) very often because that’s the word you will use to call your teacher. But these teachers often say, oh, I’m 교사 (gyosa) because it’s the name of the occupation. |
| Next, we have 의사 (uisa). |
| 의사 (uisa) [enunciated] |
| 의사 (uisa) “doctor” |
| 소방관 (sobanggwan) [enunciated] |
| 소방관 (sobanggwan) |
| 소방관 (sobanggwan) [enunciated] |
| 소방관 (Sobanggwan) means “firefighter.” |
| 소방관 (sobanggwan) |
| 회사원 (hoesawon) [enunciated] |
| 회사원 (hoesawon) |
| 회사원 (Hoesawon) means “office worker.” |
| There is another word for “office worker” which is, 직장인 (jikjangin). |
| This word is very similar to this. Actually, these two words are closer to “company officer/ company employee.” Company employee is 회사원 (hoesawon) or 직장인 (jikjangin). So, someone who’s working for a company and the person is belonging to a company, belong to some organization, then they will say 회사원 (hoesawon) or 직장인 (jikjangin). |
| But if you want to mention the occupation that usually has lots of documents in the office, particularly, then there is a word for it, 사무원 (samuwon). So, basically, a lawyer and then researcher can be 회사원 (hoesawon) too because the law firm and then also the research organization can be a company for them too. So, they can be both 회사원 (hoesawon) or 직장인 (jikjangin), so it’s a company employee. The 사무원 (samuwon) is name for the occupation, so this person deals with all the documents. They have lots of other document-related work. |
| 사무원 (samuwon) |
| 사무원 (samuwon) |
| Next, we have 간호사 (ganhosa). |
| 간호사 (ganhosa) |
| 간호사 (ganhosa) [enunciated] |
| It means “nurse.” |
| 간호사 (ganhosa) |
| 요리사 (yorisa) [enunciated] |
| 요리사 (yorisa) |
| 요리사 (Yorisa), it means “chef.” |
| But this English word is also commonly used in Korea, so we can also just say 셰프 (syepeu). Korean people often think 셰프 (syepeu) is more cool and modern. |
| 셰프 (syepeu) |
| 셰프 (syepeu) |
| 셰프 (syepeu) |
| So, this is a loanword, so you can use it directly in Korean too, 셰프 (syepeu). But please remember, in Korean, we don’t have the F sound, so it’s not “chef.” So, we change the F sound with P sound and put E sound. It’s not 솊 (syep), 셰프 (syepeu), (-eu), (-eu), 셰프 (syepeu), 셰프 (syepeu), 셰프 (syepeu). So, this is how we pronounce this word in Korean. |
| Next, we have 엔지니어 (enjinieo). |
| 엔지니어 (enjinieo) |
| 엔지니어 (enjinieo) [enunciated] |
| It means “engineer.” |
| Okay. This is a loanword and there is a word for “engineer” in Korean too, which is 기술자 (gisulja). |
| 기술자 (gisulja) [enunciated] |
| 기술자 (gisulja) [enunciated] |
| 기술 (gisul) means “skill.” |
| 기술 (gisul) |
| 기술 (gisul) |
| 자 (ja) is a person, so someone who has some specific skill, then we call them 기술자 (gisulja), 기술자 (gisulja). |
| But these days, we often use this word too, “engineer” or computer programming. For other engineer stuff, you often say 엔지니어 (enjinieo). |
| 엔지니어 (enjinieo) |
| Next, we have 회계사 (hoegyesa). |
| 회계사 (hoegyesa) |
| 회계사 (hoegyesa) [enunciated] |
| 회계사 (Hoegyesa) means “accountant.” |
| The last word we have is “bank employee,” so the people who work for the bank is 은행원 (eunhaengwon). |
| 은행원 (eunhaengwon) |
| 은행원 (eunhaengwon) |
| So, if you read letter by letter, it’s… |
| 은행원 (eunhaengwon) [enunciated] |
| 은행원 (eunhaengwon) |
| But if you read it quickly, then it will be 은행원 (eunhaengwon). |
| 은행원 (eunhaengwon) |
| 은행원 (eunhaengwon) |
| This is how Korean people pronounce. |
| So, when you see these words for the occupation, you’ll find something in common. |
| For example, 관 (gwan) or 관 (gwan). Police officer and fire fighter, they work for the government, right? So, we have 관 (gwan) here. So, when you have 관 (gwan) at the end, we often have some impression that this person is working for the government. |
| 경찰관 (gyeongchalgwan) |
| 소방관 (sobanggwan) |
| How about this? |
| 사 (sa), 사 (sa), 사 (sa), 사 (sa), 사 (sa), 사 (sa) |
| So, a lot of jobs, occupation also have the letter 사 (sa) at the end. And we often have the impression that among some jobs, some occupation ending with 사 (sa) earns a lot of money. They are professional in a specific area, like lawyer, doctor, so 사 (sa), 사 (sa), or accountant, 사 (sa). |
| Another letter you will probably find here also would be, this 원 (won), 원 (won), 원 (won), 원 (won). So, this person is close to some organization, has been doing some work for the organization, so 원 (won). |
| So when you see the name of the occupation, you will find these common words, and you will also find 자 (ja) at the end. So when you see this, you know this means a person. Like in English, you have -ER at the end, right, officer, lawyer, researcher, something like that in Korea. |
| So… |
| 학생 (haksaeng) “student” |
| 경찰관 (gyeongchalgwan) “police officer” |
| 변호사 (byeonhosa) “lawyer” |
| 연구원 (yeonguwon) “researcher” |
| 바리스타 (bariseuta) “barista” |
| 교사 (gyosa) “teacher” |
| 의사 (uisa) “doctor” |
| 소방관 (sobanggwan) “firefighter” |
| 회사원 (hoesawon) “office worker” |
| 간호사 (ganhosa) “nurse” |
| 요리사 (yorisa) “chef” |
| 엔지니어 (enjinieo) “engineer” |
| 회계사 (hoegyesa) “accountant” |
| 은행원 (eunhaengwon) “bank employee” |
| Okay, so, let’s look at the dialogue. |
| Two neighbours are talking and they are getting to know each other better. When I read the dialogue, please find the occupation word and see how they’re used in the dialogue. |
| 교사예요? (Gyosayeyo?) |
| 아니요, 교사가 아니에요. 학생이에요. (Aniyo, gyosaga anieyo. Haksaengieyo.) |
| Listen one more time. |
| 교사예요? (Gyosayeyo?) |
| 아니요, 교사가 아니에요. 학생이에요. (Aniyo, gyosaga anieyo. Haksaengieyo.) |
| Did you find occupation words here? |
| 교사예요? (Gyosayeyo?) |
| 교사예요? (Gyosayeyo?) [enunciated] |
| 교사예요? (Gyosayeyo?) “Are you a teacher? |
| 교사 (Gyosa) means a teacher, right? |
| 아니요, 교사가 아니에요. (Aniyo, gyosaga anieyo.) |
| 아니요, 교사가 아니에요. (Aniyo, gyosaga anieyo.) “No, I’m not a teacher.” |
| 학생이에요. (Haksaengieyo.) |
| 학생이에요. (Haksaengieyo.) |
| 학생 (Haksaeng) means a “student.” |
| “I’m a student.” 학생이에요. (Haksaengieyo.) |
| So… |
| 교사예요? (Gyosayeyo?) “Are you a teacher? |
| 아니요, 교사가 아니에요. (Aniyo, gyosaga anieyo.) “No, I’m not a teacher.” |
| 학생이에요. (Haksaengieyo.) “I’m a student.” |
| Let’s look at more examples. |
| 아니요, 경찰관이 아니에요. 변호사예요. (Aniyo, gyeongchalgwani anieyo. Byeonhosayeyo.) |
| 아니요, 경찰관이 아니에요. 변호사예요. (Aniyo, gyeongchalgwani anieyo. Byeonhosayeyo.) |
| Did you find the occupation word here? |
| 아니요, 경찰관이 아니에요. 변호사예요. (Aniyo, gyeongchalgwani anieyo. Byeonhosayeyo.) “No, I'm not a police officer. I'm a lawyer.” |
| 아니요 (Aniyo), it means “no.” |
| 경찰관 (gyeongchalgwan) means “police officer.” |
| 이 아니에요 (I anieyo) means “I’m not.” |
| But have you noticed some difference? |
| Here, I used 가 (ga), but here, I used 이 (i). So, I’m using a different particle. So, 가 (ga) and 이 (i) both are subject-marking particle, but now, I’m using a different one. Why? Let’s look at this word, first. |
| 교사 (gyosa) |
| 교사 (gyosa) |
| 교사 (gyosa), (-a), (-a) |
| 교사 (Gyosa), it ends with a vowel, right? This word ends with a vowel, so I’m using 가 (ga) here. 교사 (Gyosa), (-a), (-a), it’s ending with a vowel, 가 (ga). |
| How about this? |
| 경찰관 (gyeongchalgwan) |
| 경찰관 (gyeongchalgwan) |
| 경찰관 (gyeongchalgwan), (-n), (-n), (-n). |
| Do you hear the N sound at the end of this word, 경찰관 (gyeongchalgwan)? |
| Yes, it ended with a consonant. When the word ends with a consonant, we use 이 (i). |
| So, there are two subject-marking particles, and which one would you use? It depends on the last letter of this word. So, here, I used 가 (ga), 이 (i). |
| And another difference here, 변호사예요 (byeonhosayeyo). |
| 변호사 (Byeonhosa) means a lawyer and I say 예요 (yeyo), 예요 (yeyo). It literally means 예요 (yeyo). 예요 (Yeyo) is from the verb 이다(ida) meaning “to be.” So, it literally means, it’s like, it’s a lawyer, I’m a lawyer. |
| 예요 (yeyo) |
| 예요 (yeyo) |
| Again, I used 예요 (yeyo) here and I used 예요 (yeyo) here? Why? It’s because of the last letter of this word. So, before this 예요 (yeyo), see the word, what sound comes? |
| 학생 (haksaeng), 학생 (haksaeng), 학생 (haksaeng), (-ng), (-ng), (-ng), so it kind of end with NG sound, which is a consonant. So when the word ends with a consonant, then you use 이에요 (ieyo), 이에요 (ieyo). It means “to be” or “it is” or “I am.” |
| We are omitting the subject here, so you have to guess. So here, it looks like “I’m” because I’m talking about my occupation, so even without “I’m,” you understand that I’m talking about myself, right? So, 이에요 (ieyo). |
| How about this? |
| 변호사 (byeonhosa) |
| 변호사 (byeonhosa), (-a), (-a). |
| It ended with a vowel sound, so we are using 예요 (yeyo). |
| So, as you can see, in Korean, the sound is very important. What sound the word ended with? Is it a consonant or a vowel? So, depending on the sound, we use different particles or different endings. |
| Let’s see another example. |
| 아니요, 연구원이 아니에요. 바리스타예요. (Aniyo, yeonguwoni anieyo. Bariseutayeyo.) |
| 아니요, 연구원이 아니에요. 바리스타예요. (Aniyo, yeonguwoni anieyo. Bariseutayeyo.) |
| 아니요 (aniyo) |
| 연구원 (yeonguwon) “researcher” |
| 이 아니에요 (i anieyo) |
| 바리스타예요 (bariseutayeyo) |
| 바리스타 (Bariseuta) means “barista.” |
| 아니요 (Aniyo), it means “no.” |
| 연구원 (yeonguwon) “researcher” |
| 이 (i) |
| Oh, I used 이 (i), not 가 (ga). Why? |
| 연구원 (yeonguwon), 원 (won), it ended with a consonant sound, right? |
| 연구원 (yeonguwon) |
| Kind of like N sound, so we are using 이 (i). |
| 아니에요 (anieyo) “no, not” |
| 바리스타 (bariseuta) |
| Again, 바리스타 (bariseuta), (-a), (-a), it ended with a vowel sound, so we are using 예요 (yeyo) here. |
| 아니요, 연구원이 아니에요. 바리스타예요. (Aniyo, yeonguwoni anieyo. Bariseutayeyo.) |
| So, you probably noticed the sentence pattern. |
| 아니요 (Aniyo) and say [name of the occupation] and use 이 (i) or 가 (ga) 아니에요 (anieyo). |
| 아니에요 (Anieyo) means “not.” |
| So, 아니요 (aniyo) “no”, I’m not [occupation]. So put the name of the occupation. If the name of the occupation ends with a consonant, then which one would you use? You use 이 (i), 이 (i). If the name of the occupation ends with a vowel, then you are going to use 가 (ga), 가 (ga). |
| [Occupation] 이에요 (ieyo)/에요 (yeyo) |
| “I’m [occupation].” |
| So, see the name of the occupation. Does it end with a consonant, like this, 연구원 (yeonguwon), then you use 이에요 (ieyo), 이에요 (ieyo), 이에요 (ieyo). If the name of the occupation ends with a vowel, for example, like 교사 (gyosa), 사 (sa), then you will use 에요 (yeyo), 에요 (yeyo). |
| 아니요 (aniyo), [occupation] 이 (i) or 가 (ga) 아니에요 (anieyo). [Occupation] 이에요 (ieyo) or 예요 (yeyo). |
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