Natural Korean: Spelling vs Pronunciation
If you’ve been studying Korean long enough, you may be confused with the way Koreans pronounce things vs how things are actually spelled (or vice versa). Especially if you use SNS where native Koreans are present. Hopefully I’ll be able to clear up some commonly confused situations (or at least some I’ve been asked about a lot x)
You’ve probably heard natives say something along the lines of “아니구,” “히지마라구,” “싸 가지구,” “잘 먹구” etc, etc.
You might have even seen it spelled like this online. BUT the correct version is 고, it’s just common to pronounce 고 as 구. Like how Americans say “wadder” but spell it “water” or use “dat” for “that.” English speakers know the difference, but if you are a beginner in a language, it’s super important to know when to use what. If you still use beginner Korean, you will probably get corrected for using 구 because they may not think you understand how it works
바라다 means “to hope.” Technically spelled 바라요 when conjugated present polite tense. A lot of natives agree this looks weird because it is pronounced as 바래요, so we often spell it as such. Unless you are studying for the TOPIK, you’ll be fine to use either because both are technically fine. (On the exam, use 바라요 though)
Another one where they are pronounced the same, so might as well just spell it more accurately to how it’s pronounced. “네” is the equivalent to “you” while “니” is “u.” Again, you might be corrected by natives if they don’t think your Korean is at a level where it’s clear that you know the difference.
SNS/texting in Korean is just like English in that we spell everything differently than we would in like a school setting.
You may see things like 조타 for 좋다, 모해 for 뭐해, or 시러 for 싫어. Like how some people write noice for nice or wyld for wild. I know you’re thinking, but Hye-yeon!! How will we know what words are if they spell them wrong??? How can you tell??? Once you know what words are pronunciation wise, I promise it’ll be fine.
Stan SNS also tend to spell people’s names different so that a) the idols can’t see their trash and b) for terms of endearment. Monbebes, for example will use 허니 for Jooheon (주헌), 큐니 or 큔창 for Changkyun/I.M (창균), 어노 for Wonho (원호), etc.
This spelling can seem stressful, but trust me, err thang gon b aite fam.
(See what I did there? I’ll see myself out.)
A lot of Koreans will just throw the whole space bar away and everything will be in one long line. There’s no real way to help you learn this except for understanding basic grammar order (subject object verb) and knowing your vocab and particles well enough to distinguish the words
Soifyoucanreadthiseventually
As always, feel free to message me if you have any questions x
