Learn how to ask about professions using the Korean phrase meaning "What do you do?"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Minkyong: 안녕하세요 (Annyeonghaseyo). KoreanClass101의 지민경입니다 (ui jimingyeongimnida). |
| Keith: Hey and I am Keith. What Does Your Profession Say About You in Korea? In this lesson, what are we talking about? |
| Minkyong: In this lesson, you will learn how to ask someone what they do for a living or what someone else does for a living. |
| Keith: All right. So this conversation takes place on a blind date, hoo! |
| Minkyong: And the conversation is between two people who met each other for the first time. |
| Keith: Well, that’s what a blind date is, right? |
| Minkyong: Hmm… |
| Keith: Okay, and the speakers, because they are meeting for the first time, of course |
| Minkyong: 존댓말 (jondaenmal) |
| Keith: Yeah they will be using polite Korean. Okay, let’s listen to the conversation. |
| Minkyong: 네, 들어 봅시다. (ne, deureo bopsida.) |
| DIALOGUE |
| 남희 (namhui): 미선 씨, 어머니는 뭐 하세요? (Miseon ssi, eomeoni-neun mwo haseyo?) |
| 미선 (miseon): 엄마는 주부예요. (eomma-neun jubuyeyo.) |
| 남희 (namhui): 아... 아버지는 뭐 하세요? (a... abeoji-neun mwo haseyo?) |
| 미선 (miseon): 아빠는 회사원이에요. (appa-neun heosawon-ieyo.) |
| 남희 (namhui): 아... 오빠는 뭐 하세요? (a... oppa-neun mwo haseyo?) |
| 미선 (miseon): 오빠는 경찰이에요. (oppa-neun gyeongchal-ieyo.) |
| 남희 (namhui): 우와! 경찰이요? 언니는 뭐 하세요? (uwa! gyeongchal-iyo? eonni-neun mwo haseyo?) |
| 미선 (miseon): 언니는 간호사예요. (eonni-neun ganhosa-yeyo.) |
| 남희 (namhui): 간호사요? 우와... 저는 간호사를 정말 좋아해요. 언니 소개해 주세요. (ganhosa-yo? uwa... jeo-neun ganhosa-reul jeongmal joahaeyo. eonni sogae-hae juseyo.) |
| 미선 (miseon): 네??? (ne???) |
| Seol: 한번 더 천천히 (hanbeon deo cheoncheonhi). |
| Keith: One more time, slowly. |
| 남희 (namhui): 미선 씨, 어머니는 뭐 하세요? (Miseon ssi, eomeoni-neun mwo haseyo?) |
| 미선 (miseon): 엄마는 주부예요. (eomma-neun jubuyeyo.) |
| 남희 (namhui): 아... 아버지는 뭐 하세요? (a... abeoji-neun mwo haseyo?) |
| 미선 (miseon): 아빠는 회사원이에요. (appa-neun heosawon-ieyo.) |
| 남희 (namhui): 아... 오빠는 뭐 하세요? (a... oppa-neun mwo haseyo?) |
| 미선 (miseon): 오빠는 경찰이에요. (oppa-neun gyeongchal-ieyo.) |
| 남희 (namhui): 우와! 경찰이요? 언니는 뭐 하세요? (uwa! gyeongchal-iyo? eonni-neun mwo haseyo?) |
| 미선 (miseon): 언니는 간호사예요. (eonni-neun ganhosa-yeyo.) |
| 남희 (namhui): 간호사요? 우와... 저는 간호사를 정말 좋아해요. 언니 소개해 주세요. (ganhosa-yo? uwa... jeo-neun ganhosa-reul jeongmal joahaeyo. eonni sogae-hae juseyo.) |
| 미선 (miseon): 네??? (ne???) |
| Seol: 영어로 한 번 더 (yeongeoro han beon deo). |
| Keith: One more time, with the English. |
| 남희 (namhui): 미선 씨, 어머니는 뭐 하세요? (Miseon ssi, eomeoni-neun mwo haseyo?) |
| Keith: Miseoun, what does your mother do? |
| 미선 (miseon): 엄마는 주부예요. (eomma-neun jubuyeyo.) |
| Keith: My mom is a housewife. |
| 남희 (namhui): 아... 아버지는 뭐 하세요? (a... abeoji-neun mwo haseyo?) |
| Keith: Oh...what does your father do? |
| 미선 (miseon): 아빠는 회사원이에요 (appa-neun heosawon-ieyo.) |
| Keith: My father is a company employee. |
| 남희 (namhui): 아... 오빠는 뭐 하세요? (a... oppa-neun mwo haseyo?) |
| Keith: Oh...what does your brother do? |
| 미선 (miseon): 오빠는 경찰이에요. (oppa-neun gyeongchal-ieyo.) |
| Keith: My brother is a police officer. |
| 남희 (namhui): 우와! 경찰이요? 언니는 뭐 하세요? (uwa! gyeongchal-iyo? eonni-neun mwo haseyo?) |
| Keith: Wow. He's a policeman? What about your sister? |
| 미선 (miseon): 언니는 간호사예요. (eonni-neun ganhosa-yeyo.) |
| Keith: My sister is a nurse. |
| 남희 (namhui): 간호사요? 우와... 저는 간호사를 정말 좋아해요. 언니 소개해 주세요. (ganhosa-yo? uwa... jeo-neun ganhosa-reul jeongmal joahaeyo. eonni sogae-hae juseyo.) |
| Keith: A nurse? Wow...I really like nurses. Please introduce her to me. |
| 미선 (miseon): 네??? (ne???) |
| Keith: What? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Minkyong: Wow! Miseoun has a very enviable family, at least in Korea it is. |
| Keith: Why in Korea? |
| Minkyong: Because when I was in kindergarten, every girl wanted to be a nurse and every boy wanted to be a police officer. |
| Keith: When I grew up in America, I remember all the little girls around me, they all wanted to be teachers and the boys, they all wanted to be policemen or firemen. Is that the same in Korea? |
| Minkyong: It’s similar right, nurse, teacher, policeman, fireman. |
| Keith: Does anyone actually grew up saying, I want to become a shaman. |
| Minkyong: What! What! That’s what you wanted to be when you are a boy? |
| Keith: No, well I didn’t want to be a shaman but I found it interesting. I think that’s a very unique job in Korea. I am sure a lot of other countries have this but in Korea, you will find a lot of shamans walk in the streets every day. |
| Minkyong: Yeah but I never met one so I don’t know. |
| Keith: Really? Every time I walk down the street in Korea, I get stopped. It's literally like every time and they always say, well there is something wrong with you. You look like you have bad luck or something. |
| Minkyong: Oh, so they do have power? |
| Keith: Yeah maybe. Well I guess no one actually grows up saying I want to be a shaman but we just wanted to bring that up because we think that’s a very unique job in Korea. |
| Minkyong: Umm… |
| Keith: Okay. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Keith: All right, Minkyong, help us out. What’s the first word we are going to take a look at? |
| Minkyong: 주부 (jubu) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: homemaker, housewife |
| Minkyong: 주부 (jubu) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Minkyong: 주부 (jubu) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Minkyong: 회사원 (hoesawon) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: office employee, office worker |
| Minkyong: 회사원 (hoesawon) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Minkyong: 회사원 (hoesawon) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Minkyong: 경찰 (gyeongchal) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: police |
| Minkyong: 경찰 (gyeongchal) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Minkyong: 경찰 (gyeongchal) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Minkyong: 간호사 (ganhosa) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: nurse |
| Minkyong: 간호사 (ganhosa) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Minkyong: 간호사 (ganhosa) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Minkyong: 정말 (jeongmal) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: really, for real |
| Minkyong: 정말 (jeongmal) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Minkyong: 정말 (jeongmal) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Minkyong: 좋아해요 (joahaeyo). [natural native speed] |
| Keith: like |
| Minkyong: 좋아해요 (joahaeyo). [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Minkyong: 좋아해요 (joahaeyo). [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Minkyong: 소개해 주세요 (sogaehae juseyo) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Please introduce me. |
| Minkyong: 소개해 주세요 (sogaehae juseyo) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Minkyong: 소개해 주세요 (sogaehae juseyo) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Keith: Okay. Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases. What’s the first word we are going to take a look at? |
| Minkyong: 주부 (jubu). |
| Keith: A homemaker, a housewife and Miseoun’s mother is a homemaker, a housewife. How about her father? |
| Minkyong: 회사원 (hoesawon). Her father is an office worker and 회사원 (hoesawon) literally means a company employee. If you ask your Korean friends what their fathers do, most of them will tell you that they are 회사원 (hoesawon) because Korean people do not go into details when talking about jobs at first. |
| Keith: Yeah, and actually that word is all inclusive. It can mean the head of the company, it could also mean the middle of the company, the bottom rung. It’s everything that involves a company. If you work there, you are a |
| Minkyong: 회사원 (hoesawon). |
| Keith: But her brother is actually not a 회사원 (hoesawon), right? What does he do? |
| Minkyong: He is a 경찰 (gyeongchal). |
| Keith: A police officer and how about his sister? |
| Minkyong: 간호사 (ganhosa). |
| Keith: A nurse and we have a lot of words from many different professions. How do we say my sister is a nurse? |
| Minkyong: 언니는 간호사예요 (eonnineun ganhosayeyo). |
| Keith: Yeah, that’s right. After the profession or what you do, you can just add 이다 (ida) the verb to be after the profession. |
| Minkyong: 경찰이에요. (gyeongcharieyo.) |
| Keith: I am a policeman. |
| Minkyong: 회사원이에요 (hoesawonieyo). |
| Keith: I am a company employee. |
| Minkyong: 주부예요 (jubuyeyo). |
| Keith: I am a homemaker, I am a housewife. Okay, how about our last phrase, what do we have? |
| Minkyong: 소개해 주세요 (sogaehae juseyo). |
| Keith: Please introduce me and can we have a sample sentence with that? |
| Minkyong: For example, when I am sick and I don’t know any doctors, I could ask somebody 병원 소개해 주세요 (byeongwon sogaehae juseyo). |
| Keith: Please introduce me to a hospital. Okay, how did it come out in this dialogue? |
| Minkyong: 언니 소개해 주세요 (eonni sogaehae juseyo). |
| Keith: Please introduce your sister to me. Okay, how about we move on to the focus of this lesson and 레슨 포커스를 소개해 주세요. (reseun pokeoseureul sogaehae juseyo.) |
| Minkyong: 네 (ne). |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Minkyong: This lesson's focus is how to ask 'what do you do for a living' 뭐 하세요? (mwo haseyo?) |
| Keith: 뭐 하세요? (mwo haseyo?) And that literally means "what are you doing?" or "what do you do?" and this can be used to ask what a third person does for a living, too, instead of directly the person you are talking to another person outside the conversation. |
| Minkyong: And 뭐 (mwo) means "what" and 하세요 (haseyo) is a way of saying that someone does something. |
| Keith: Yeah. So literally we have what do – what do, what do you do and you can use 뭐 하세요 (mwo haseyo) to ask about someone’s profession especially when you are starting to get to know someone more about a new person or his or her family, you can put a person’s name or title before this expression to show whom you are referring to, who you are asking does what. |
| Minkyong: For example, 아버지는 뭐 하세요? (abeojineun mwo haseyo?) |
| Keith: What does your father do? |
| So what do we have once again, what’s our first part? |
| Minkyong: 아버지 (abeoji) |
| Keith: Father and that last phrase that we just went over is |
| Minkyong: 뭐 하세요? (mwo haseyo?) |
| Keith: What do? What does your father do? |
| Minkyong: and you can answer 아버지는 회사원이에요 (abeojineun hoesawonieyo). |
| Keith: My father is an office worker, or he works for a company. Basically he works for a company. Okay, can we go over how to say some family members, some titles for family members? |
| Minkyong: First of all, 엄마(eomma), 아빠 (appa) |
| Keith: Mom and dad. |
| Minkyong: And if you want to say mother, father, more politely. it's 어머니 (eomeoni), 아버지 (abeoji). |
| Keith: Ok, how about grandmother and grandfather? |
| Minkyong: 할머니 (halmeoni), 할아버지 (harabeoji). |
| Keith: Okay. Now you can check the lesson notes for more words for family names if you are curious about family names and actually, there is a lot of titles for Korean families. |
| Minkyong: 네, 맞아요 (ne, majayo). |
| Keith: So it would be good to check out this lesson’s lesson notes. All right, now let’s go over some professions. |
| Minkyong: 학생 (haksaeng). |
| Keith: A student and that’s what you are, right? |
| Minkyong: 네, 학생이에요. (ne, haksaengieyo.) |
| Keith: But you are also this too. |
| Minkyong: 선생님 (seonsaengnim). |
| Keith: A teacher, a Korean teacher right working here at KoreanClass101? |
| Minkyong: 네, 선생님이에요. (ne, seonsaengnimieyo.) |
| Keith: Are you our next profession as well? |
| Minkyong: 요리사 (yorisa). |
| Keith: A cook. |
| Minkyong: No, not this one, not this one…. |
| Keith: Not at all….I thought you were multitalented. Well actually Minkyong, you are looking for a profession right now, you are looking for a career. I mean you know right now 지금은 아르바이트지 (jigeumeun areubaiteuji), “it’s a part time job,” right? |
| Minkyong: 네, 맞아요 (ne, majayo). |
| Keith: So what’s your future profession? |
| Minkyong: 음… 회사원? (eum..haksaeng?) |
| Keith: A company worker, company employee. Well I think that’s about 90% of the Korean population anyway. |
| Minkyong: Yeah. |
| Keith: Following soon. |
Outro |
| Keith: All right, well that’s going to do it for this lesson.all right well, hope everyone listens into our next series. |
| Minkyong: 네, 다음 주에 뵐게요. (ne, daeum jue boelgeyo.) |
| Keith: Yeah. See you everyone next week, bye-bye. |
| Minkyong: Bye. |
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