Korean for Dummies (40 page)

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Fun & Games

Please write down the following transports in Korean. (See Appendix C for the answers).

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

A. ________________

B. ________________

C. ________________

D. ________________

E. ________________

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In This Chapter

Picking the right time for travel

Choosing a destination

Packing for the trip

Dealing with the travel agency

So you’ve decided to go to Korea. What should you bring? Will you be

going for business, or pleasure? Is there a certain site you have to see, or a certain festival you have to attend? Careful planning and knowing exactly what you want out of your vacation will go a long way in maximizing your time and money during your trip. This chapter guides you through picking out what time of the year you may want to travel, where you may want to go to see what sites, what you may need to bring, and how to deal with the people that you may encounter. Got your passport and toothbrush ready?

Picking a Good Time for Travel

You obviously wouldn’t want to take a trip to Korea in the middle of the winter time if you’re interested in playing golf. Likewise, you wouldn’t want to plan a trip to Korea in the middle of the summer if you’re interested in skiing.

The following sections show you not only what times might be good for

travel, but also how to communicate your travel dates to someone else, by examining how to name days and months in Korean.

Checking out the seasons

Korea does have four very distinct seasons, so what ever type of weather you fancy, you can find it in Korea:

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From March to May, you can see a beautiful
bom
(
bom;
spring) with rare flowers in bloom, and trees burst into leafy splendor.

During the hot and humid
yeoreum
(
yuhreum;
summer), the vegetation is lush and you’ll see many people escape the summer heat by going to

the beaches.

Monsoon rains begin usually in late June and last until mid-July, and August is hot and humid.

gaeul
(
ga-eul;
fall) begins as September brings in the cool continental winds and dry weather.

October, when the leaves turn color, the whole countryside turns a vivid orange, red, and yellow.

The winter is cold and generally dry with occasional snow. During the
gyeoul
(
gyuh-ool;
winter) months, three or four days of cold weather are often followed by a few warm days.

Naming months and counting days

If you want to ask someone when they’re planning a trip to Korea, you can ask them,
“eonje hanguge gasilkkeoeyo?”
(
un-jae han-goo-gae ga-shil-kkuh-ae-yo?
), which is translated as, “When will you be going to Korea?” If someone asks you that very question, you can answer,
“ne, siwol isibsamilnal
tteonaseo siwol samsibilnal olkkeoeyo”
(
ne, shi-wol ee-ship-sam-il-nal ttuh-na-suh shi-wol sam-ship-il-nal ol-kkuh-ae-yo
). You just told that person, “Yes, I will be leaving on the 23rd of October and I will be back on the 30th of October.”

You have to substitute the days and months to tell someone when you’re really planning on leaving and returning. To do that, you have to be able to name the days and months in Korean (see Table 15-1).

Conveniently enough, you don’t have to remember separate names for all the months. If you can count up to twelve, just add the suffix
wol
(
wol;
month) behind the number and you have the corresponding month. For example,
samwol
(
sam-wol
) means the third month, which is the month of March.

Similarly, if you just attach the suffix
–il
(
il;
day) to a number, you have the date. For example,
siboil
(
ship-o-il
) is the fifteenth. You may notice that the Korean word for “day” and the number “one” is the same (
il
). So the first day of the month becomes
ilil
(pronounced,
ee-ril
). The reason for the difference in pronunciation is because Koreans use the same consonant for the letters “r” and “l”, and the pronunciation of that consonant changes depending on the position of that consonant. In general, the same consonant is pronounced as ‘r’ when it appears at the beginning and ‘l’ at the end. Chapter 7 has a table 21_037188-ch15.qxp 6/24/08 11:15 PM Page 249

that lists all the months in the year, days of the week and time relative to now. In case you don’t feel like going back to that chapter, I have reproduced it for you here.

Table 15-1

Months of the Year and Other Pertinent

Travel-Planning Terms

Korean Word

Pronunciation

Translation

irwol

ee-rwol

January

iwol

ee-wol

February

samwol

sam-wol

March

sawol

sa-wol

April

owol

o-wol

May

yuwol

yoo-wol

June

chirwol

chee-rwol

July

parwol

pa-rwol

August

guwol

goo-wol

September

siwol

shi-wol

October

sibirwol

ship-ee-rwol

November

sibiwol

ship-ee-wol

December

ibeondal

ee-bun

This month

daeumdal

da-eum-dal

Next month

jeobeondal

juh-bun-dal

Last month

saengil

saengil

Birthday

seollal

suhl-nal

New Year’s day

woryoil

wo-ryo-il

Monday

hwayoil

hwa-yo-il

Tuesday

suyoil

soo-yo-il

Wednesday

mogyoil

mo-gyo-il

Thursday

(continued)

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Table 15-1 (continued)

Korean Word

Pronunciation

Translation

geumyoil

geum-yo-il

Friday

toyoil

to-yo-il

Saturday

iryoil

ee-ryo-il

Sunday

hansi

han-shi

1:00

dusi

doo-shi

2:00

sesi

sae-shi

3:00

nesi

nae-shi

4:00

daseotsi

da-suh-shi

5:00

yeoseotsi

yuh-suh-shi

6:00

ilgopsi

il-gop-shi

7:00

yeodeolsi

yuh-dul-shi

8:00

ahopsi

a-hop-shi

9:00

yeolsi

yuhl-shi

10:00

yeolhansi

yuhl-han-shi

11:00

yeoldusi

yuhl-doo-shi

12:00

ojeon

o-juhn

Before noon, am.

ohu

o-hoo

After noon, pm.

Talkin’ the Talk

Jim is planning a trip to Korea. Heather is asking him about the

trip.

Heather:

jimssi, annyeonghaseyo?

jim-sshi, a-nyoung-ha-sae-yo?

Jim, have you been well?

Jim:

heatherssi! bangawoyo!

heather sshi! ban-ga-wo-yo!

Heather! Glad to see you!

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Heather

hanguk gasindago deureosseoyo. eonje gaseyo?

han-goog ga-shin-da-go deu-ruh-ssuh-yo. un-jae ga-

sae-yo?

I heard you were going to Korea. When are you

going?

Jim:

ne. daeumju suyoire tteonaseo iljuil jeongdo

iseulkkeoeyo.

ne. da-eum-joo soo-yo-ee-rae ttuh-na-suh il-joo-il

jung-do ee-sseul-kkuh-ae-yo.

Yes. I leave next Wednesday and plan on staying for a

week or so.

Heather:

daeumju suyoirimyeon guwol isib pparirineyo.

hanguk gaeul punggyeongi cham meositdago deure-

oseoyo. jaemi itgetneyo.

da-eum-joo soo-yo-ee-ree-myun goo-wol ee-ship ppa-

ril-ee-nae-yo. han-goog ga-eul poong-gyoung-ee

cham muh-shi-da-go deu-ruh-ssuh-yo. jae-mee ee-

get-nae-yo.

Next Wednesday is the September twenty-eighth. I

heard that the fall scenery in Korea is very beautiful.

It sounds like fun.

Jim:

ne. hanguge gabogo sipeunji oraedoeseoyo. sajin

mani jjigeo olkkeyo.

ne. han-goo-gae ga-bo-go shi-peun-jee o-rae-dwe-

ssuh-yo. sa-jin ma-ni jjee-guh ol-kkae-yo.

Yes. I’ve wanted to go and see Korea for a long time

now. I’ll bring back lots of pictures.

Heather:

jeo ginyeompum hanaman gatda jusillaeyo?

juh gee-nyum-poom ha-na-man gat-da joo-shil-

lae-yo?

Will you bring me a souvenir?

Jim:

mullonijyo!

mool-lo-nee-jyo!

Of course!

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Words to Know

banggawoyo

ban-ga-wo-yo

Glad to see you

bidio

bee-dee-o

Video

daeumdal

da-eum-dal

Next month

daeumju

da-eum-joo

Next week

eonje gaseyo

un-jae ga-sae-yo

When are you leaving?

ginyeompum

gee-nyum-poom

Souvenir

mullonijyo

mool-lo-nee-jyo

Of course

punggyeong

poong-gyung

Scenery

sajin

sa-jin

Photo

seonmul

suhn-mool

Present

tteonaseo

ttuh-na-suh

Leaving

Korean holidays

Koreans officially follow the Gregorian calendar, though some holidays are observed on the lunar calendar of that year. On official holidays, offices and banks are closed, but palaces, museums, most restaurants, department stores, and amusement facilities are open.
seollal
(
suhl-nal;
New Year’s day) and
chuseok
(
choo-suhk;
Korean harvest festival) are the most important traditional holidays for Koreans. Millions of people visit their
gohyang
(
gohyang;
hometown, one’s place of origin) to celebrate with their families during these periods. On
seollal
, Koreans hold a memorial service for their ancestors and perform
sebae
(
sae-bae;
a formal bow of respect to their elders) as a New Year’s greeting. Table 15-2 lists Korean holidays.

On these holidays you never know if it’s a good time to visit — it depends on how you feel about crowds. Although everyone visits their families, department stores and other businesses might be crowded. Of course, all the transport systems will be totally full and in total mess.

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Table 15-2

Korean Holidays

Holiday

Date

Description

New Year’s Day

January 1

The first day of the new year is recognized and celebrated.

Seollal, Lunar New

January 28 to 30

Lunar New Year’s Day (
Seollal
) is one

Year’s Day

(changes year

of the most important traditional days

to year)

of the year, still more recognized than

January 1st. Most businesses are

closed, and people take off several

days to visit their hometowns to be

with family.

Independence

March 1

This day commemorates the

Movement Day

Declaration of Independence

proclaimed on March 1st, 1919, while

under Japanese colonization. A reading of the declaration takes place in a

special ceremony at Tapgol Park in

Seoul, where the document was first

read to the public.

Buddha’s Birthday

May 5

It falls on the 8th day on the 4th lunar

(changes year

month. Elaborate, solemn rituals are

to year)

held at many Buddhist temples

across the county and lanterns are

hung in the temple courtyards. On the

Sunday evening before Buddha’s

birthday, these lanterns are lit and

carried in parades.

Children’s Day

May 5

On this day, parents dress up the little

ones and take them to children’s

parks, amusement parks, zoos or the