When learning a new language, it is inevitable that you’ll come across words where you’ll think “How on earth do I pronounce that?!” It happens to everyone. You’ll even find words in your own native language that you struggle to verbalize and question if it’s actually a real word. Seriously, HOW do you pronounce “antidisestablishmentarianism”? We are curious to find out which Korean word our students find the most difficult to pronounce overall and we want you to have your say. We’ve compiled a list of the most common words and phrases that we’ve found our students struggle with in our 1:1 l ..read more

Bethanie asked: When is it appropriate to address someone as “Oppa,” “Noona,” “Hyeong” or “Eonni”? I know the terms are used towards your older brother or sister, but I also hear girl’s calling their boyfriends “Oppa” too. I’m confused! This a great question, and it’s one we get asked a lot – probably because addressing someone in Korean is 100x more complicated than addressing someone in English. If you’re a fan of K-Pop or an avid watcher of Korean dramas, you’ll more than likely have heard the terms 오빠, 형, 언니, and 누나 used frequently. If you looked up these words in a dictionary, they w ..read more

If you’re a fan of K-Pop or an avid watcher of Korean dramas, you’ll more than likely have heard the terms 오빠, 형, 언니, and 누나 used frequently. If you looked up these words in a dictionary, they would be defined as “brother” or “sister.” However, as you’ve come to know, addressing other people in the Korean language is never that straightforward. First, let’s take a look at their literal meaning. 오빠 Female's older brother 형 Male's older brother 언니 Female's older sister 누나 Male's older sister Their first use is towards birth siblings. So, if you are female and have an older ..read more

In the grammar lessons of this course you’re going to be introduced to some sentences that make use of Korean family vocabulary, such as mother, father, sister, brother etc. To get you warmed up for this, we’re going to teach you some Korean family terms. 가족 Family Unfortunately, the number of Korean kinship terms far exceeds the number of English words so there are quite a few new words to memorize! Don’t let the quantity put you off, you’re not expected to know them all straight away. Many of the words you’re about to learn will be used in future units and you can always use thi ..read more

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1. 종류 actually pronounce jong nyu 2. 꽃 3. 관리인 superintendent pronounced like gwal li een 4. 일요일 5. 지체된 delayed 6. 의학 medicine 7. 관광객 tourist 8. 쥐 – mouse. try and say it without say jew-wee 9. 최애 – Bias 10. 으스스한 – spooky 11. 주원료 – main ingredient pronounced ju wollyo 12. 뜻 – meaning 13. 어려워요 – difficult 14. 신뢰 – trust 15. 회의 – meeting, conference 16. 경찰청 – police station 17. 뇌우 – Thunderstorm 18. 쉽다 – to be easy 19. 가깝다 – to be close / near 20. 어느 – because people don’t pronounce ‘eo’ or ‘eu’ correctly The post 20 of the hardest Korean words to pronounce appeared first on Teach Me Korean ..read more

Now that you can say “thank you” in Korean, you need to learn how to appropriately reply. You may have read in textbooks or seen on old Korean dramas that using the reply 천만에요 is an acceptable phrase to use to mean “you’re welcome.” However, it is very rarely used in natural Korean conversation, if ever, and may sound a little awkward. Instead, we can use the phrase 아니에요. The literal translation of 아니에요 is “it’s not,” but when using it as “you’re welcome,” it takes on the meaning of “not at all” or “it’s nothing.” 아니에요 Polite 아닙니다 Formal 아니야 Casual By now you should have an ..read more

As you’ve been learning throughout our lessons, the Korean language has several politeness levels and therefore there are several ways of saying certain phrases. This applies to the way we thank people.   감사합니다 The most common and formal way to thank someone in Korean is to use the phrase 감사합니다. It can be used any time when you wish to show respect towards the person you’re thanking. For example, towards strangers, towards teachers, in a store, at a restaurant, during a job interview etc. 감사 means “gratitude” and 합니다 means “to do,” so therefore you are literally giving gratitude to the ..read more

Now that you know how to say goodbye in Korean, it’s time to add some more handy farewell phrases to your vocabulary. During this lesson, you’ll tackle some new expressions which you won’t find in English. First of all, we’re going to look at what you can say when you’re leaving. If you studied our previous blog lesson, you’ll know that you can use 안녕히 계세요, which literally means “stay peacefully.” However, one important thing to remember is that before you say goodbye, you need to tell someone that you’re about to leave. If you just say goodbye without an explanation you will come across as ..read more

In our first “How To Say” lesson you learned how to greet someone in Korean, but what do you say when you part ways? There are many different expressions you can use to say goodbye in Korean, and the phrase you choose will depend on the different situations you are in. By the end of this bite-sized lesson, you should know how to use them all! When saying “goodbye” to someone in the polite form 존댓말, there are two main expressions you need to choose from. The phrase you use depends on whether you are the one staying or the one that’s leaving.   안녕히 가세요 If you are staying and want to say ..read more