A Juicy Lesson in Korean: #3 - Talk Like a Pirate Day

Debbie said I should teach something that pirates would say in Korean for Talk Like a Pirate Day. The thing is, I don't know what Korean pirates sound like. Of course, there are Korean pirates. There have been for centuries, but I don't know if they had a special pirate slang and if they did, what it sounded like. (The Asian pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean 3 are obviously from Singapore/China.)


So I will use this opportunity to teach imperatives in Korean. And since this is pirates we're talking about, we will presume that they did not use the formal speech level. Instead, they would treat you like dirt. AND STOMP ON YOUR FACE!

Ahem.


A) Give me _____! - _____ 줘! [followed by utterance of very bad words probably]

_____ Jwo! = "j" almost sounds like "ch" + wo ("Whoa!")

In the blank, you can use whatever you like: food, items of clothing, anything at all. Remember that this is very informal and urgent-sounding.


B) Do _____! - _____ 해!

_____ Heh!

In the blank, you can use a gerund (an action noun). For instance, I could say to my brother, "Cleaning해!" (while shaking my fist). When you learn the Korean forms of the gerunds, you can just slip them into the formula.

Example: Cleaning = 청소 (chung-so) -----> "청소해!"
Driving = 운전 (oon-jun) -----> "운전해!"


C) Aren't you going to give me ______? - ______ 안 줘?

______ Ahn-jwo?

This is more rhetorical. It would be more accurate to translate it as, "You're not going to give this to me? How dare you?" followed by a beating (it's a pirate after all). Basically one can use this interchangeably with A). This one is slightly more threatening, because it implies consequences to a refusal.


D) Aren't you going to _____ ? - ______ 안 해?

______ Ahn-heh?

Just like B), you use a gerund in the blanks. This follows the sentence structure of C) and basic meaning.


E) Please do ______. - ______ 해줘.

______Heh-jwo.

As obvious from the "please", it is not something a pirate would say. It's an informal (almost childish) way of asking someone (who is very close like a friend or family member) to do something for you. Again, the blanks are filled by gerunds.



BONUS LESSON: "I know I am a foreigner. Sure. You can keep staring at me. Don't touch me though." as requested by Tara.

네, 저 외국인이에요. 쳐다보시는 건 괜찮은데, 만지지는 마세요.

Neh, juh weh-gook-in-ee-eh-yo.
Chuh-da-bo-see-neun gun gwen-chan-eun-deh, man-ji-ji-neun mah-seh-yo.

(Literally, "Yes, I know I'm a foreigner. You can stare at me, but please don't touch.")


Hahah! I think you're going to need a sound file or something. I'll try and figure it out.