Making Out in Korean. Peter Constantine

      Introduction

      Making Out in Korean introduces a colloquial form of spoken Korean, that you would not learn in any formal language course. It gives you an edge when maneuvering through the ins and outs of everyday life in Korean.

      Unlike English, Korean has several speech levels that are formally codified. Age, social standing or the degree of intimacy you have with the person being addressed determines the level of politeness you should adopt. The different speech levels are marked by the verb endings placed at the end of sentences. Needless to say, you are required to use the polite form with strangers, your seniors and to those of a higher social status. However, as your relationship with them develops, a more relaxed and casual form of the language may be adopted.

      Making Out in Korean presents the intimate and colloquial speech level of Korean that is often used among very close friends, including couples. This book contains “street-Korean” in addition to derogatory and vulgar expressions to enrich your spoken Korean!

      Apart from the Curses and Insults section, any words requiring caution are marked and coupled with explanations to avoid misuse. Although most of this phrase book adopts an intimate and colloquial style of speech, selected expressions are presented in the polite (informal) form, when necessary, and are marked in brackets. The polite (informal) form of Korean is achieved by attaching -yo at the end of intimate speech forms, which usually end in -a or -eo.

      Care should be taken not to jump the gun before a relationship has matured. Using an informal or vulgar speech level in the wrong social context would be considered extremely insulting to a Korean person. To be on the safe side, refrain from adopting such levels of speech until the other party initiates it or both parties have reached a mutual agreement to do so.

      BASIC GRAMMAR

      The Korean language follows the word order of Subject-Object-Verb as opposed to the word order (Subject-Verb-Object) of English. Verbs are placed at the end of sentences, a position that reflects its importance in Korean grammar.

      I am going to school.

      hak-kyo ga. (Statement)

      hahk-kkyo gah.

      학교 가.

      Literally means “School go.”

      Another salient feature of spoken Korean is that any element of the sentence may be omitted except the verb as long as you can clearly gather from the context what is being talked about. As a result, a single verb can be a complete sentence in Korean as indicated by the third example below.

      Go to school!

      hak-kyo ga! (Command)

      hahk-kkyo gah!

      학교 가.

      Literally means “School go.”

      Let’s go to school.