Learn some common Korean slang
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Intro |
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| Michael: What is Korean slang like? |
| Kyejin: And is it commonly used? |
| Michael: At KoreanClass101.com, we hear these questions often. "Daebak!" Wait, what does this mean? |
| Ga-eun Gim uses a slang Ben Morris has never heard before. |
| "It’s lit!" |
| Ga-eun Gim: 대박! (daebak) |
| Dialogue |
| Ga-eun Gim: 대박! (Daebak) |
| Ben Morris: 그게 무슨 뜻이야? (Geuge museun tteusiya?) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ga-eun Gim: 대박! |
| Michael: "It’s lit!" |
| Ben Morris: 그게 무슨 뜻이야? |
| Michael: "What does that mean?" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: “It’s lit!” Wait, what does this mean? Is something on fire? No, it’s just a slang expression meaning “exciting” or “excellent.” Yes, we’re talking about slang here. Slang is defined as “an informal language that is used by particular groups of people.” Then, is there slang in Korean too? Yes, there are words and expressions that can be classified as slang! First, there is |
| Kyejin: 은어 (euneo); |
| Michael: “Jargon.” It’s “an expression used exclusively by a certain group or class of people, so that others cannot understand it.” For example, |
| Kyejin: 득템 (deuktem) |
| Michael: is “slang” which can be classified as a jargon in Korean because it was initially used by gamers when they achieved an item during their play. But now this word has become somewhat common, and those who don’t play games also say this when they receive or purchase something new, so it can also be classified as |
| Kyejin: 유행어 (yuhaengeo); |
| Michael: a “buzzword.” It stands for expressions widely spread among many people in a specific period of time. Another example of this criteria is |
| Kyejin: 아싸 (assa), 인싸 (inssa). |
| Michael: The first word derived from the English word “outsider” is read as |
| Kyejin: 아웃사이더 (autsaideo) |
| Michael: in Korean. It’s used for what it means in English, “those who don’t get along with others in a group.” Then, this word gets divided into two parts “out” and “sider,” and first syllables are taken to form the first expression “assa.” People also started using “insider” as the antonym of “outsider,” |
| Kyejin: 인사이더 (insaideo). |
| Michael: Again, the word was put into two segments “in” and “sider,” then forming the expression “inssa” with first syllables. This expression can be put as “people person” in English. Actually, these words are widely used and are relatively new at the same time, thus they are also categorized as |
| Kyejin: 신조어 (sinjoeo); |
| Michael: “Neologism,” which means “a newly formed word.” Acronyms (syllable-wise in Korean), loan-words, and deliberate misspellings often appear on these expressions. Another example of this is |
| Kyejin: 할말하않 (halmalhaan) |
| Michael: which is the abbreviation of |
| Kyejin: 할 말은 많지만 하지 않겠다. (Hal mareun manchiman haji anketda.) |
| Michael: literally meaning “There’s a lot to say, but I won’t mention” and translates as “I bit my tongue.” Lastly, if an expression lacks decency, dignity, or contains swear words, it’s classified as |
| Kyejin: 속어 (sogeo); |
| Michael: “slang” or “vulgarism.” It’s defined as “an indecent or unrefined word widely used by people.” So, really, the other three classifications we covered above might belong to or overlap with this category. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Ga-eun Gim says "It’s lit!"? |
| Kyejin: 대박! (Daebak!) |
| Michael: This short, two-syllalbe-word often appears on tv shows and conversations in Korea. Its dictionary definition is “great success.” So, when someone says |
| Kyejin: “대박이 나다” (Daebagi nada) |
| Michael: it means there was an achievement of something big. But, these days, when someone shouts |
| Kyejin: 대박! (Daebak) |
| Michael: or |
| Kyejin: 대박이야! (Daebagiya!) |
| Michael: it means “awesome, cool, it's sick/lit, ...etc.” instead. It’s also used like an adverb such as “very” and “super.” Here’s an example: |
| Kyejin: 대박 비싸! (Daebak bissa!) |
| Michael: “It’s super expensive!” So, here, “daebak” was used as “super.” So, these usages, apart from the dictionary definition, may count as buzzword-like-slang in Korea. |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now, let’s take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Ben Morris says "What does that mean?" |
| Kyejin: 그게 무슨 뜻이야? (Geuge museun tteusiya?) |
| Michael: So, here, Ben is asking what Ga-eun’s remark meant. The first phrase |
| Kyejin: 그게 (geuge) |
| Michael: is the shortened form of |
| Kyejin: 그것이 (geugeosi) |
| Michael: meaning “that.” |
| Kyejin: 무슨 뜻 (museun tteut) |
| Michael: stands for “what meaning.” So, this sentence literally means “That what meaning is?” but translates as “What does that mean?” in English. |
| Kyejin: 그게 무슨 뜻이야? (Geuge museun tteusiya?) |
| Michael: However, if you were to ask this question to someone older, then you may say it like this: |
| Kyejin: 그게 무슨 뜻이에요? (Geuge museun tteusiyeyo?) |
| Michael: It’s basically the same question at a different politeness level, which is the [informal addressee-raising level] in this case. Please check out our lesson on politeness levels to find out more about different levels of speech. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, we discussed classifications of words and expressions that can be equivalent to “slang.” First, it was “jargon” |
| Kyejin: 은어 (euneo). |
| Michael: “an expression used exclusively by a certain group or class of people, so that others cannot understand it.” The next is “buzzword” |
| Kyejin: 유행어 (yuhaengeo). |
| Michael: It’s a phrase widely spread among many people in a specific period of time. There was also “neologism” |
| Kyejin: 신조어 (sinjoeo), |
| Michael: which means “a newly formed word.” Acronyms(syllable-wise in Korean), loan-words, and deliberate misspellings often appear in these expressions. Lastly, there was “slang” or “vulgarism” |
| Kyejin: 속어 (sogeo) |
| Michael: It’s defined as “an indecent or unrefined word widely used by people.” So, the other three classifications we covered above might belong to or overlap with this category. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: It’s true that we need to be cautious of the type and the amount of “slang” we use, especially in formal settings, but being acquainted with these expressions might help you get familiarized with the so-called “trend” and issues in Korea. So, how about we give you even more Korean “slang” expressions? Let’s begin! |
| Kyejin: 워라벨 (worabel) |
| Michael: “Work-life balance.” Next we have, |
| Kyejin: 손절 (sonjeol) |
| Michael: “to cut ties with (someone)” another slang expression is, |
| Kyejin: 심쿵 (simkung) |
| Michael: literally “heart dropped” but the meaning resembles the English "the heart skips a beat," |
| Kyejin: 갑분싸 (gapbunssa) |
| Michael: meaning "sudden mood change." You can use it, when the atmosphere turns from good to bad all of a sudden. Next is, |
| Kyejin: 멘붕 (menbung) |
| Michael: “mental breakdown/meltdown” |
| Kyejin: 댕댕이 (daengdaengi) |
| Michael: “Doggy” or "puppy." Our next expressions are, |
| Kyejin: 남사친 (namsachin), 여사친 (yeosachin) |
| Michael: “male friend, female friend” |
| Kyejin: 맛점 (matjeom) |
| Michael: “Enjoy your lunch.” |
| Review |
| Michael: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then, repeat after Kyejin focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how Ga-eun Gim says: "It’s lit?" |
| Kyejin: 대박! (daebak) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Kyejin: 대박! (daebak) |
| Kyejin: 대박! (daebak) |
| Michael: And do you remember how Ben Morris says: “What does that mean?” |
| Kyejin: 그게 무슨 뜻이야? (Geuge museun tteusiya?) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Kyejin: 그게 무슨 뜻이야? (Geuge museun tteusiya?) |
| Kyejin: 그게 무슨 뜻이야? (Geuge museun tteusiya?) |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Kyejin: 안녕히 계세요 (annyeonghi gyeseyo) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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