Here in Korea, we meet lots of people. The most important part of meeting people, is telling them your name. This gets interesting when some of the letters in your name don't exist in the alphabet of the other people. The Korean language has fewer consonants and more vowels than English does. "F" does not exist, they use "p." Along with this, "p" and "b" are basically the same letter, so is "d" and "t." "G" and "k" are the same, and the best one is "r" and "l." This makes Riley's introductions hilarious. Plus, even after we know people a while, they can't remember that its "Riley" and not "Liley" or "Rirey" because to Koreans it sounds exactly the same. My name is much easier to tell people. First, I don't even bother with the "r"s, so I'm Ma-ga-et to most people, but best of all, there is a famous cookie brand here called Margaret cookie! Its even spelled correctly on the box!
As for our last name... we only use it for paperwork. Korean names are almost always on 3 syllables. The last name is one, and the first name is 2. The last name comes first in order as well. Our professor's (boss's) name is Im Man-sung in Korea, but in the US its Man-sung Yim. When I write out my whole name for people, they get amazed at the length. The paperwork here is sized for Korean names, so we get to write really really small.
Yes, you're right. Therefore still English is difficult for me. For example "corn". Some English letters have various sounds like "a" and "e".
ReplyDeleteEmma is my english nick name. My Korean name is Nayoon Chang. Chang is my family name.
If i say my name by korean order it is Chang Na-Yoon(장나윤).
Dis you start to learn Korean?
I would love to read your post. I might visit my family in Korea next year. Hopefully we can have change to meet each other in Korea.