Another translation error: Korean 3, Level 23 for UK
우리는 내일 밤에 춤추러 갈 거예요 is translated as “we’re going to go for a run tomorrow night” instead of “dance”
US version is correct.
1 Like
Here’s another translation error: Korean 3, Level 29 for UK
당신의 열쇠는 소파 아래에 있어요 is translated as “behind the sofa” instead of “under the sofa”
US version is correct.
Hi,
Thank you for pointing this all out.
It is usually helpful.
I’ve fixed the issues now.
I hope there are no more issues but if you find new ones, please let me know!
도와주셔서 감사드려요! 한국어 공부 열심히 하세요~! 감사합니다.
Best,
Na Young
At Korean 5 Level 5
Instrument is translated to “기구”, and I assume it is supposed to be musical instrument. SO shouldn’t it really be “악기” then?
Hey
Thanks for pointing this out.
I adjusted the order of the word.
Thank you!
Best,
Na Young
I think it’s definitely a bad idea to teach using 나 with 요 endings. Teachers in real language academies at universities in Korea will take points off for doing that. While it’s true that sometimes people do this, and it can be OK; it’s perhaps not the right way to learn. (Knowing the nuance of when it’s ok is very difficult. It’s always better to be polite when in doubt.)
If you look at many text books they don’t even let students use 반말 until mid to higher levels. They always try to err on the side of being polite and safe. Keep in mind these are programs that have been running for years with hundreds or thousands of students each year so they probably have some experience.
This along with the frequent use of 당신 which can offend people if not used carefully is why I don’t use these courses.
1 Like
Korean 6. The lady sounds like she is not saying 잡다.
General feedback. Half the time when the flash card says it’s memrise wants 이것은. Half the time it wants 그것은. There is no context in these flash cards. This makes things frustrating. Also if memrise is going for 저것, please say that over there.
There are a lot of homonyms in both Korean and English. Please look through your cards with an eye for this. One Korean level says opinion means 의견. Another level has 견해. You just have to remember which level you are in. This is not the best. An English example where homonyms are an issue is second. It can mean second place and it can be a measurement of time. The word by itself is not enough information when you are in review mode.
Sometimes words are given in parenthesis, but you want them typed. 몇 사람 is an example of this. In those cases, the words shouldn’t be in parenthesis.
Sometimes there is either too much Chinese or too much Konglish in these cards. 포도주 means wine. My husband says there is a non English word for 비자, Visa. Sometimes Korean should be chosen over Konglish. Also I have never heard a Korean say that their stomach hurts in Chinese. 배가 아파 sounds normal to me. 위통이 있어요 does not.
Also for us Americans, please include American in parenthesis for things like trainers, starter, and underwear.
I know that I have pointed a lot of things out, but these cards have helped me. So, Thank you.
2 Likes
Hi,
The Korean dictionary definition of 나 is the first person pronoun and it can be used between people on equal footing generally (e.g. around the same age or older). 저 is not a formal word(존댓말), but it is actually honorific language (겸양어).
In real-life situations, 나 with 요ending sentence is no problem. E.g. 나는 선생님이에요. (I am a teacher). If you want to use honorific language it can be changed to “저는 선생님이에요” and has the same meaning. I agree that in Korean 반말 and 존댓말 are very confusing, but we wouldn’t teach wrong Korean. You mentioned ‘당신’ is also a tricky word, and so we were sure to make certain that we used it properly. Koreans like to skip calling “You”, “She” or “He” - We like to call names directly or use different appellations like “오빠, 언니 etc.”. Without 당신 in this sentence, it would not have been clear who the sentence was referring to, and therefore we decided to include the word 당신 for extra clarity. In this case, using 너 would have been incorrect as it is never normally used with 요.
I hope this is helpful for you to understand Korean on a deeper level.
Have a nice day
Best,
Na Young
Hi,
Thank you for pointing this out.
- 잡다: I double checked it but it sounds like “잡다”.
- 이것=this; this one
You can learn with 이것은 as this. I found one item (“It’s an order”) translated as 그것. it is fixed now!
저것=that; that one
그것=it; that
Addition, 저것 means not “over there”. I think you are confusing it with 저 곳
- Chinese and Konglish
I think it is not an issue. for example, 포도주, 와인 both mean wine and both are used in everyday life in Korea.
- We offer British English and US English, so when you select a course, you can chose US English.
I hope my reply is helpful.
Have a nice day 한국어 공부 화이팅하세요!
Best
Na Young
Hi
Please take the parenthesis out of the 몇 사람 card.
The 이것, 그것 issues are throughout all 6 levels that I have studied. Example:
It’s 5000 won is 그것은 오천원이에요. Please check the It’s through the Korean
course levels. We can’t see what is being pointed to or referred to in
these cards. All we have is the sentence in the flashcard. So, we can’t
tell if It’s is referring to something right here or something
hypothetical.
I know you know all this, but here is a flashcard example and my take on
it.: For *that *memrise wants 저것. For there memrise wants 거기. 저 is for
something at a distance. 거 is for something closer, something hypothetical,
or something you can’t see. Korean has three words. 이, 거, 저. English only
has two. So care should be made to indicate which of the words Memrise is
going for.
English speakers have no problem learning Konglish. Learning the more
traditional words increases our vocabulary. Please consider this when
making cards and see if there are regular words rather than the newer
Konglish words.
It is not clear when you sign up for a course which is which. Those are the
only real problem words. Starter was the worst for me. I had no idea what
it meant. The fact that the word was Konglish didn’t help. If you add
translations for the Americans for those few cards, you really wouldn’t
need two series of courses.
Lastly, my listening comprehension and reading is fairly good. My spoken
grammar is abysmal. The puzzle sentence questions help me. Memrise has
stopped given me puzzle sentence questions for mastered sentences. Can
Memrise bring those back or allow us to select puzzle sentence mode?
Thanks
Hi,
I have deleted the bracket related to 몇 사람.
I still think that 이것 works for the intended purpose of the course, but yes I agree that 그것 and 저것 do not always come through clearly in the courses.
Consequently, me and the English Specialist @Rob_Paterson will look through them together to see if changes need to be made.
I think the sentence you referred to is fine. “그것은 오천원이에요” (it’s 5000 won) There is a case to be made to delete “그것", but having taught Korean to students for several years, the deletion would create other issues for students, like making the meaning seem more ambiguous.
About Konglish, I will consider your opinion to develop our Korean course later. I am aware of some the points you mentioned and will see what adjustments to make.
Thank you for the feedback.
Best,
Na Young
Hi
One other topic that I have been thinking about is this.
In English, we use pronouns a lot. We use I, you, him, her, etc. all the
time.
I believe that in Korean, when pronouns are not dropped, titles and names
are used more often. So where you would say You in English, in Korean you
would use, 아저씨, 김서방씨, 할머니, etc…
I think that it would be better to train learners to use titles rather than
pronouns; especially, when it comes to the word 당신 which has its own
issues. My understanding of that word is that it should be used with your
spouse, when you are fighting, and when you have no idea who you are
talking to, a song or a book.
Please understand, that my spoken Korean is poor. I speak 반말 at home and
live in an area with few other Koreans.
1 Like
Hi,
Yes, I agree with your point of view. In Korean, the ways that we refer to people are more complicated than in English.
With the aim of learning in mind, I decided to go with what we currently have in the courses, as this is the most easily understandable version for learners to grasp. Having taught Korean for years to international students, I have found that this approach is the most useful in my experience due to the fact that it is closer to the structures used in most other languages and therefore allows learners to make better comparisons to their native languages and begin to develop a good superficial understanding of the Korean language before learning that Koreans are more likely to simply use a person’s name or job title, etc. instead of “he or she”. Furthermore, if we were to substitute names or job titles into the phrases and sentences learnt in our courses, that would mean learners being forced to needlessly learn and revise names, which would not be the most beneficial use of their time. I will, however, be sure to keep your ideas in mind as we continue to develop the Korean courses further.
Thank you for sharing your ideas!
I hope you keep learning Korean!
항상 화이팅하세요~!! 감사합니다.
Best,
Na Young
Hi, course creators,
I’m taking Korean course for Japanese.
I found strange(or unnatural) translations in course 2. Japanese and Korean words has similar meanings, so I think that you should not translate them same as English.Please confirm as below.
◇strange or unnatural
・전혀 いくらか; 少しも → 全然、全く is natural
・매장 お店→売場 /（가게 = お店 )
・부인 妻→夫人 / (아내 = 妻) *妻 and 夫人 may same word in English but not same in Japanese and Korean. 부인 is another person’s wife.
・성인 大人→成人 / *성인 and 成人 mean the person who is legally over 19 years old. 어른 and 大人 is an adult.
・가능 可能性→可能 / *可能性 is 가능성
・불가능 不可能性 →不可能 / *There’s no such word “不可能性” in Japanese.
◇mistake
・점퍼 セーター→ジャンパー / *this is same word and same pronounce as Ｊapanese.
・사탕 甘いもの → 飴
・너무 〜も → とても
・정각 〜時 → 定時 or ～時ちょうど / *this word isn’t use like “O’clock”. sharp or exactly
・십분 전 두시예요 → 두시 십분 전이에요 / *Is this translate “It’s ten to two” ?
・십분 전 네시에 ４時１分前に → same as above. and 십분 is 10分
・다섯시 육분이에요 ５時６分すぎ → "すぎ"is unnecessary in Japanese. we don’t say like “~past”.
Sorry for my poor English.
Thanks.
1 Like
In Korean 5 in the Politics section, it lists the 새누리당 as the Saenuri Party of Korea. But this party’s name has changed to the 자유한국당 in the past year, which can be recognized as the Liberty Party of Korea.
Hi,
Thank you for pointing this out.
Our Japanese Language Specialist @kanatsumoto and I will look into it.
Best,
Na Young
Hi,
Thank you for pointing this out.
I will remove this item from the course and I will add it to the upcoming Korean course.
Sorry for the confusion and I hope you keeping studying Korean.
행복한 하루 되시고 항상 열공하세요!
감사합니다.
Best,
Na Young
Hello @chotan
Thank you for your feedback! I have made the correction in the course. You should be able to see the changes once you log out and log in again.
For the below two, the translation is kept in some part to signify that they are nouns, and not adjectives.
Thank you for your help!
1 Like
Hello, this is my first post in Memrise! I hope I’m reporting in the correct section. I’m not sure how to contact the person who created it but I chose to post here. In the KIIP Level 2 1과 there is a typo. It says 모텔 is fashion model, but it’s supposed to be 모델 instead. How do I contact dakgalbi, the creator of this?
Hi, I’ve just started using the Korean course and I noticed that the male voice is pronouncing some letters completely differently from the female voice, and the female voice appears to be correct. For example the letter that looks like a square (I’d type it but don’t know how) is supposed to be pronounced like an “m” but the male voice is definitely not saying an m, it sounds more like a b. In scrolling through this forum, I see that I am not the only person who has brought this up. Can you please look into correcting it?