In England we used to have old English in the style of
writers such as Shakespeare and through the years, this
English slowly developed into the British English of today.
Somewhere in between, the Americans came along and changed
the spelling, dropped some of the clear pronunciation,
added on a slurry ‘r’ sound and changed some
of the grammar to create a bastardised version of English
called ‘American English’. In Korea, the Korean
people have taken some American English, some British
English and created Korean English, a mix of the two,
although based more on American English. There are now
many weird and wonderfully ‘Konglish’ expressions,
as you will see. When I first arrived in Seoul and started
teaching, I was careful to say ‘Korean English’
rather than ‘Konglish’. I feared that the
word ‘Konglish’ was a derogatory word, but
it was when I used the expression ‘Korean English’,
that people were amused and surprised. I have realised
since, that Konglish is an affectionately used term to
simply express the Korean version of English.
Before
going any further, let me just say, I realise it is real
difficult to learn a second language and I am not being
critical, but simply trying to point out the interesting
and funny side of Konglish. I am sure that if I learn
more Korean, I will make far greater mistakes. With that
said, let us continue.
Common Mistakes in Korean English -The
following are common mistakes in Konglish, which you will
hear often.
Meeting and meeting in Korean English
The word ‘meeting’ is misused in Korean
English, time and time again. In English a meeting (noun)
would usually refer to something involving business, i.e.
used in the context of a business meeting. An example
of this is “I have a meeting with my friends”.
When talking about friends we would usually use the verb,
i.e. “I am meeting my friends later”. In Konglish,
it was common to hear the noun version used, when referring
to friends and this sounds a little awkward sometimes.
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