Learn how to buy a phone card
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| In today’s lesson, we will go over phrases concerning telephone usage in Korea. We will go over renting cell phones in another lesson. So today, we will focus on using public payphones. Korea is one of the most techno savvy nations in the world. Everyone and his dog has a cell phone and because of this, public telephones are hard to come by. Korea has gradually started taking away public phones as they are hardly used in Korea but if you are lucky enough to find one, here is how you work them. |
| There are two kinds of public phones in Korea. One will accept coins. These are fairly easy to operate as all you do is insert coins and dial the number. Your unused change will be returned to you at the end of your call. These phones can be identified by their color. These phones are silver. Other public phones will not accept change and only accept prepaid telephone cards. These can be identified by their color as well. These are silver and red. They won’t have a coin slot, only a slot for a card. They aren’t much of a challenge either as all you have to do is, enter the card into the slot and dial the number. |
| The only challenge you may have is getting one of these prepaid cards. These cards are typically sold in convenience stores and newsstands. In today’s lesson, we are going to go over how to ask for one of these public telephone cards. We can walk in and say 공중전화 카드 주세요 (gongjungjeonhwa kadeu juseyo). One time slowly it’s 공중전화 카드 주세요 (gongjungjeonhwa kadeu juseyo). And by syllable, it’s 공-중-전-화 카-드 주-세-요 (gong-jung-jeon-hwa ka-deu ju-se-yo). The first part of the phrase is 공중 (gongjung). This means public. One time slowly, it’s 공중 (gongjung). What comes after that is 전화 (jeonhwa). This means phone. One time slowly, it’s 전화 (jeonhwa). What’s after that is 카드 (kadeu) which as you may have guessed means card. One time slowly, it’s 카드 (kadeu). And lastly is the oh so important 주세요 (juseyo) or give or please. One more time, it’s 주세요 (juseyo). |
| Altogether the phrase we have here literally means public telephone card please. Wow, no translation needed today hah! Public telephone card please. The reason we specify that we want a public phone card is because it can be confused with an international calling card. If you want to ask for an international calling card, we can say 국제 전화 카드 주세요 (gukje jeonhwa kadeu juseyo). One more time slowly, it’s 국제 전화 카드 주세요 (gukje jewonhwa kadeu juseyo). And by syllable, 국-제 전-화 카-드 주-세-요 (guk-je jeon-hwa ka-deu ju-se-yo). This phrase is nearly identical to the phrase we covered in the lesson. The only difference is in the beginning. We replace 공중 (gongjung) which means public with 국제 (gukje) which means international. One more time, this is 국제 전화 카드 주세요 (gukje jeonhwa kadeu juseyo). |
| This literally means international phone card please. An international phone card please. Now, most public telephone cards that are sold are typically sold at two prices, one being 3500 Won, the other at 5000 Won. Let’s go over how to ask for these. To ask for 3500 Won card, we can say 삼천오백 원짜리 주세요 (samcheonobaek wonjjari juseyo). One time slowly, it’s 삼천오백 원짜리 주세요 (samcheonobaek wonjjari juseyo). And by syllable, 삼-천-오-백 원-짜-리 주-세-요 (sam-cheon-o-baek won-jja-ri ju-se-yo). The first part of the phrase is 삼천오백 원 (samcheonobaek won). This means 3500 Won. One more time slowly, it’s 삼천오백 원 (samcheonobaek won). What comes after that is 짜리 (jjari). This means something like a thing that’s worth. This is a little difficult to translate but that’s as close as I could get. One more time slowly, it’s 짜리 (jjari). Together with 3500 Won, it’s 삼천오백 원짜리 (samcheonobaek wonjjari) And lastly, we have 주세요 (juseyo) which once again means please. |
| Altogether, the phrase we have here is 3500 Won a thing that’s worth please. This can be translated as a 3500 Won card please. If we wanted a 5000 Won card, we can simply replace 3500 Won for 5000 Won. 5000 Won in Korean is 오천 원 (ocheon won). One more time slowly, it’s 오천 원 (ocheon won). The phrase we would now have is 오천 원짜리 주세요 (ocheon wonjjari juseyo). One more time slowly, it’s 오천 원짜리 주세요 (ocheon wonjjari juseyo). Once again, this literally means 5000 Won, a thing that’s worth please or a 5000 Won card please. |
| Okay. To close our today’s lesson, we’d like for you to practice what you’ve learned. I will provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud. You will have a few seconds before I give you the answer. So 화이팅 (hwaiting)! |
| A public telephone card please - 공중전화 카드 주세요 (gongjungjeonhwa kadeu juseyo). |
| An international phone card please - 국제 전화 카드 주세요 (gukje jeonhwa kadeu juseyo). |
| A 3500 Won card please - 삼천오백 원짜리 주세요 (samcheonobaek wonjjari juseyo). |
| A 5000 Won card please - 오천 원짜리 주세요 (ocheon wonjjari juseyo). |
| All right, that’s going to do it for today. |
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