Word Wednesday
English Words Pronounced in Korean - Observation Made by Me
Anyhow, let's move on to this week's Word Wednesday.
Today I've decided to talk about English words pronounced in Korean! Now, as much as I love the Korean language -- it's beautiful and I have a lot of respect for it -- I can't help but laugh whenever there are some TERRIBLE English to Korean pronunciation translations! Before I move on to specific examples, let me comment once more about the oddness of this relationship Korean and English share with each other...both languages when translated into each other are LONGER..! That did not make sense, even to me. Sorry. But let me give you an example.
홍길동 This is a classic Korean name -- it's sort of like that common example name like John Smith -- and is spelled with the traditional 3 characters. Most Korean names have 3 letters O O O.
However, when translated into English, this name becomes: Hong Gil Dong. It's pretty long, in my opinion. It's 11 letters long!
Now here is the funny part. If we take a very simple English name, say Maria Brown, and write it in Korean, we get: 마리아 브라운. The name "Maria Brown" is shorter than Hong Gil Dong yet when written in Korean, it's 6 characters long! That's 3 characters longer than a traditional Korean name!
Do you see what I'm getting to? No? Well, it's not important...it was just a random thought I had.
Either way, let's move on. Now...in Korean, there is no "f" or "ph" pronunciation. I know, it's really weird! There's only the "p", which makes words like "fried chicken" or "fighting" sound weird when translated into Korean. In Korea, fried chicken is:
프라이드 치킨 / 후라이드 치킨
The first one is : Pride Chicken and the second is: Huraid Chicken
I know, I know, it's really odd. I personally think the first one, "pride chicken", sounds better, but did you know that in Korea they use "huraid chicken" more often?
You might also notice that a lot of Koreans say "화이팅!" a lot (it's a catchphrase said to encourage others and wish them good luck). At first when I heard this, I had no idea what it meant, but then someone told me it's actually: fighting!
What.
That word in Korean is pronounced "hwaiting!" How!?
Then there is the "ir" and "v" sound. Yeah, yeah, I get it, whenever people make fun of Asian peoples' English, they exaggerate this special point. But it is true, I admit. Many Koreans struggle to make the "ir" sound. That's why whenever people say "girl", it sounds like they are saying "gul". 걸. The other option is saying "gyul", but that just sounds sassier!
And that "v" sound...Oh, that V! We Koreans say the "b"! Let's take the most common example -- level. In Korea, people say 레벨, which is pronounced: lebel. Long story short, we don't know how to pronounce "v" easily. Eh, there's a better one -- b, so why not?
In conclusion, I'm not sure why some Koreans -- I'm not saying it's the majority. I know some Koreans *ehem* who have beyond perfect pronunciation and don't struggle with this kind of thing -- can't pronounce certain letters and sounds. Perhaps it has something to do with our tongue or how we are used to speaking. Korean and English are two very different languages. While English involves a lot of tongue rolling, Korean is really choppy (not in the bad way) and simple. It's all cut off (once again, not in a bad way) and doesn't require rhythm to make the words flow! So it makes sense if someone who hasn't been exposed to these sounds (v, ir, f) has to suddenly use them! It's like me trying to learn French and Spanish -- I can't seem to pronounce the "rrrrr" as easily as other people! Overall, I'm not trying to mock Koreans and the way they speak. I'm a Korean and I would never say such things to my folkies! I think it's adorable in its own way. I just merely wanted to comment on this, as I found it fascinating (and kind of frustrating. C'mon, "huraid chicken"!?).
