{"id":50446,"date":"2019-11-26T16:46:07","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T15:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gogohanguk.com\/?p=50446"},"modified":"2024-08-29T16:25:12","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T07:25:12","slug":"korean-proverbs-%ec%86%8d%eb%8b%b4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gogohanguk.com\/en\/blog\/korean-proverbs-%ec%86%8d%eb%8b%b4\/","title":{"rendered":"Korean Proverbs \uc18d\ub2f4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every country has their own proverbs and idioms. There are a wide range of Korean proverbs in the Korean language known as \uc18d\ub2f4 (sokdam). These \uc18d\ub2f4 \u00a0can give a charming insight into understanding the culture and history of Korea. What’s more, understanding \uc18d\ub2f4 can help you understand the way of thinking of the Korean people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you intend to study Korean \uc18d\ub2f4 are actually an essential part of speeding up many aspects of your study. They can express an idea or situation in a direct and simple way, that is understood immediately by most Korean people. \uc18d\ub2f4 are a very important component of the TOPIK exam<\/a> and you can always expect to see several questions related to Korean proverbs in this Korean proficiency test.<\/p>\n

That rings a bell…<\/strong><\/h2>\n

You will often find interesting similarities as well as intriguing differences in the wording of such \uc18d\ub2f4. Some Korean proverbs will be very familiar and understandable from the start.<\/p>\n

\ud638\ub791\uc774\ub3c4 \uc81c \ub9d0\ud558\uba74 \uc628\ub2e4 (horangi-do je malhamyeon onda) <\/strong>The tiger comes when you talk about it.<\/em><\/p>\n

In English idioms, this is very similar to ‘Speak of the devil’ – when you talk about something or someone it will often appear from nowhere. Rather than the devil, the ever-popular tiger<\/a> is the subject of our \uc18d\ub2f4 in this case. This Korean proverb shows the significance of the tiger historically and culturally – a symbol to be respected and feared.<\/p>\n

\uace0\ub798 \uc2f8\uc6c0\uc5d0 \uc0c8\uc6b0\ub4f1 \ud130\uc9c4\ub2e4 (golae ssaum-e saeudeung teojinda) <\/strong>Whales fight and shrimps’ backs get broken.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is similar to the notion that it is always the ‘little guy’ that gets hurt when people with power argue. Historically speaking Korea was often caught between conflicts between China and Japan and can be seen as the ‘shrimps’ in this \uc18d\ub2f4. In today’s Korean society this \uc18d\ub2f4 is often related to the workings of the government and high powered companies. When problems arise between these factions it is usually the common people and small distributors who suffer.<\/p>\n

Never thought of it like that…<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Other Korean proverbs will require a little more explanation and thought.<\/p>\n

\ub4f1\uc794\ubc11\uc774 \uc5b4\ub461\ub2e4 (deungjanmit-i eodubda)<\/strong> It’s dark directly under the lamp.<\/em><\/p>\n

This one is perhaps a little hard to decipher at first, why is it dark under the lamp? This Korean proverb is used to signify that you often can’t see what is right in front of your eyes. The obvious solution or thing you are looking for is lit up and should be easy to see, yet you can’t find it.<\/p>\n

\uac1c\ub625\ub3c4 \uc57d\uc5d0 \uc4f0\ub824\uba74 \uc5c6\ub2e4 (gaettong-do yag-e sseulyeomyeon eobsda)<\/strong>\u00a0Even when you plan to use dog poop as medicine there isn’t any.<\/em><\/p>\n

This strange and amusing \uc18d\ub2f4 certainly requires a little pondering when you first look at it! Again it is related to trying to find something. It is used in situations when things are never there when you need them.\u00a0 You need medicine but there is nothing around to use, not even dog poop!<\/p>\n

Korean proverbs related to \ub5a1 (tteok)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A very unique theme to \uc18d\ub2f4 in Korea are those with mention of \ub5a1. This is the same \ub5a1 that is known most famously as the main ingredient in \ub5a1\ubcf6\uc774 (<\/span>tteokbokki) – the popular Korean street food<\/a>. This rice-cake like food is a very important part of Korean culture and as such, they appear in many proverbs.<\/p>\n

\ub204\uc6cc\uc11c \ub5a1 \uba39\uae30 (Nu-wo-seo tteog meo-ggi)\u00a0<\/strong>Like eating tteok lying down.<\/em><\/p>\n

You wouldn’t really know unless you know, but apparently eating \ub5a1 is a very easy thing to do when lying down! Therefore this \uc18d\ub2f4 is used to signify that something is easy to do – ‘a piece of cake’.<\/p>\n

\ub0a8\uc758<\/strong>\u00a0\ub5a1\uc774<\/strong>\u00a0\ub354<\/strong>\u00a0\ucee4<\/strong>\u00a0\ubcf4\uc778\ub2e4 (nam-ui tteo-gi deo keo bo-in-da)\u00a0<\/strong>Other people’s tteok always looks bigger.<\/em><\/p>\n

Simply put, ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’. Other people’s situations\/possessions always look better than your own.<\/p>\n

These are just a small sample of the many Korean Proverbs you can expect to encounter. If this has piqued your interest, what better way to continue your Korean learning journey than studying in Korea itself. Check out the services Go! Go! Hanguk<\/a> provides to make it easy and simple to live and study in Korea!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every country has their own proverbs and idioms. There are a wide range of Korean proverbs in the Korean language known as \uc18d\ub2f4 (sokdam). These \uc18d\ub2f4 \u00a0can give a charming insight into understanding the culture and history of Korea. What’s more, understanding \uc18d\ub2f4 can help you understand the way of thinking of the Korean people. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":49365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1219,1222],"tags":[1314,1316],"class_list":["post-50446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-korean-culture","category-korean-language","tag-study-korean","tag-topik"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogohanguk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogohanguk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogohanguk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogohanguk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogohanguk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50446"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gogohanguk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55325,"href":"https:\/\/gogohanguk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50446\/revisions\/55325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogohanguk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogohanguk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogohanguk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogohanguk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}