A Korean host and native English speaker break down five words Korean learners constantly mistranslate: condition, appointment, foreigner, cola, and shooting. They explain why direct translations sound unnatural to Americans, plus the story of how BTS V's mistranslation of "shooting" went viral online.
안녕하세요! 한국 사람들에, 한국 사람이는 마리시를 연화하러 드린데요? 사셔, 비국사람들에 보게죠? 오세요, 카밌나? 비국사랑의 주카드가 existible 인은 뽐은데? 가서까지 가주와 바스미다? 어때까지 하만? 원어민저마레 시시치도? 알lez-vous bien?! So what's the first word?
Condition. Condition! I hear Koreans say this word all the time— condition.
What's the... Common expression they use it?
So for example, my body condition is not good, or how's your condition today?
How's your condition? Then how would you use it?
So instead of saying my body condition is not good, I would just say, "I don't feel well." Or, "How's your condition today?" I would say, "How do you feel today?" "How are you today?" How are you today?
How are you today, Minjo? American.
But I think "How do you feel?" is a little bit more fitting here. According to the definition, "condition" is being used correctly, but it just sounds a little bit unnatural in English.
What's the second one?
Appointment. Appointment.
I think I usually say, "I have an appointment with my friend." I hear this a lot.
Yeah, so again, it's not wrong, but we use it differently in the U.S. I hear many Koreans say, "I have an appointment with my friend on Sunday," but in the U.S., we usually use the word appointment for more informal situations or for situations where you made a reservation. I have a doctor's appointment. I have a dentist appointment. I have a hair appointment at the salon or a nail appointment.
How do you say I have an appointment with my friend in USA?
You can say it a couple ways. So you could say I'm gonna meet up with my friend on Sunday. So meet up with, or I have plans I'm going to lunch with my friend on Sunday. Or you could be more specific, I'm going to dinner with my friend on Sunday. It's a little bit more formal or used for reservations.
Reservation, okay, good to know because I do say that a lot.
I hear it a lot here.
Appointment, appointment, appointment. I have appointment. Direct translation, English. Next, third one.
Foreigner.
Foreigner. As a foreigner, how do you think about this word?
We have foreign markets in the US, or foreign stores, foreign goods. But the word foreigner, when talking about a person, I never used that word until I came to Korea.
Foreigner. There's a white guy, but he has citizenship and everything and lived here for 20 years, but still people call him, "Oh, foreigner." Yeah, yeah.
And I've adjusted to it now in Korea. Like, I call myself a foreigner, but when I go back to the US, I will never use that word.
How do you say in USA?
Because the US is so diverse, I also don't think there's many situations where I've ever had to emphasize this point because people from all over the world are in the US.
The story you told me was very funny, the Australian teacher.
Oh yeah, I, I posted about this, just that I don't use this word in the US, and I got a comment from a person saying that they were teaching in Australia, but Korean people and Japanese people that were visiting Australia still referred to Australians as foreigners, even though they were the foreigners in that situation. Exactly.
They are the foreigner.
Yeah. If I'm trying to ask somebody where they're from, I would say, "Were you born and raised in New York?" If I'm in New York. So you can't just assume somebody is a foreigner based on how they look.
Okay, what's the next one?
This one's kind of a cute and funny one. Cola. So in the US, we would never order a cola. We would never say, oh, can I have a cola?
What do you say?
Coke or Pepsi. Can I have a Coke? "Can I have a Pepsi?" So Coke is only Coca-Cola. Exactly. For example, if I went to a restaurant and I said, "Oh, can I have a Coke?" Maybe they would say, "We only serve Pepsi products." Okay, what's the last one? Shooting.
Shooting.
Yes, I hear so many Koreans say, "We have a shooting at 11 o'clock." Yeah. Yeah, so I know that it's referring to like taking pictures or videos, but this is a little bit more complicated in the US, I think.
How so?
Because sometimes when people hear shooting, we think of like guns.
Oh no, shooting.
So if somebody said, we had a shooting at the beach yesterday, I think most people would think there was gun violence.
Yeah, like news.
Yeah, I think it's a little bit better in these situations to be more specific.
How do you say that?
So you could say, "There was a photo shoot at the beach yesterday," or "We filmed for YouTube at the beach yesterday." I actually saw a really funny BTS interview, and they were asked, "What's your favorite thing to do?" 'in the US' and he said 'have a shooting in the American streets.' I don't know. And all the comments were just laughing because they knew that he didn't mean it in a bad way, but it just sounds terrible.
Right, right.
What's your favorite thing to do?
I wanna shooting in America street.
So just be careful with it, and I think the best way is to be specific. I had a photo shoot, I filmed, something like that. I hope you found today's video useful. Just a reminder, these words aren't necessarily wrong, they just might sound a little bit more unnatural in the U.S., and we might say it a little bit differently in the U.S.
안녕하세요, 저는 피우는에 치계오을 해면은, 이로기부터 마리 시신은데. 어주콤도 모나민실에 가게, 아시셔스미아한의 바마에서 가지고 포게요스미다. 다면 보네도, 에러 Bundesligi Biuksaram자 모나민실에 마리시기에 토마는 conten치 카죠 물을 가게스미다. 저요, 맛있게 먹을 때 맛해요.
Good luck, ciao, à l'année, butakayo!
Thank you for watching, guys!
Thank you!
