‘Konglish’ in Korea

Two Sides to a Coin

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Last week, I looked at the practice of “Konglish” (a bastardized Korean-American mix) and the unique sociocultural factors that have engendered a language that may not exist in the next generation of foreign Koreans. And because the Korean-American version is so dependent on immediate environmental and historical qualities, we have another form of “Konglish” in Korea that is wholly different. Let’s have a look today!

• Source: Organic Korean

Much less than certain generic Korean words being injected into everyday speech in the US, Korean-Koreans have to assimilate foreign words that have no native basis into their vocabulary. Words like ‘television’ and ‘wifi’ were brought to Korea during its development period rather than being developed on home soil. Evidently, it was easier to incorporate the words as-is over inventing new ones with Korean roots.

• Unfortunately, “beach” sounds awfully like “b!tch” in Korean… Source

The biggest difference between English pronunciation and Korean Konglish is the swapping of “v” for “b” and the “r” for “l” sounds. The Korean syllabic system does not contain certain sounds that are very common in the English language and this creates a awkward pseudo-translation that requires tweaking above all else. Words have to be chopped up into distinct parts and letters need to be replaced with ones in the Korean alphabet.

• Source

Here are some fun simple ones that’ll help you speak in Konglish in no time!

Victory is “bik-toh-ree”
Champion is “chem-pee-ohn”
Korea is “koh-ree-ah”
Cheese is “chee-jh”
Bitcoin is “Bee-th-koh-een”

Korean Konglish isn’t just limited to the direct transliteration of foreign words either. In true Korean fashion, the culture tends to short phrases into syllables and mash them together. As a result you head a number of phrases in Korean that have partial roots in English words but combine in a way that seems 100% Korean. Examples -

Officetel = Office + Hotel
Selca = Self + Camera (Selfie)
Webtoon = Web (internet) + Cartoon
Dica = Digital + Camera

Fun + Easy. I really enjoy Konglish, to the great dismay of business language teachers, because it keeps the limited vocabulary of any speech fresh and in ongoing collaboration with international influences. Konglish is Korean mixing with the world to grow a once provincial mode of communication.

For more on this, I found a great little slideshow lecture by Ffarzana Lee here.

Compared to our Neighbors

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The use or lack of use of Konglish might be the most distinguishing factor between North and South Korean. While the South is prone to internal influences and waves of trends, the North obviously has a ginormous filter against international intervention. Even with technologies that came from abroad, North Korea institutes new words that mostly describe what the thing does as opposed to using its invented name.

• Source

^South Koreans phonetically use the word “ice cream” in daily life while North Koreans use the translated words for “ice cracker.”

I’ll go into some of these interesting examples in another post. Do you have your own form of ‘Konglish’? What do you think about these language hybrids?