Letter 1

Some of my Korean friends were interested in my recent attempt to study Hangul by writing short letters (e-mail, actually) to a penpal. This person makes corrections to my letter and sends it back to me for study. I will not name this person. In Korea, when I have asked a grammar or spelling questions to my friends, I have seen them almost come to a fight over the answer. One particularly rough argument was whether the spelling of the future tense was -을거예요 or -을거에요. After listening to many discussions, I have convinced myself that the correct spelling is 예요, but apparently many Koreans spell it the other way, and both groups strongly believe that they are right.

Anyway, to avoid embarassment to my penpal / teacher, I will not give the name. I'll publish my letters as I write them, about 2 or 3 per week. Some of my Korean friends have also complained about too much English words on my blog, so this should make them happy. Although the Korean probably uses the same language skill as a 2 year old baby. For my English speaking friends, this letter describes one day my colleague John and I went to the nearby Korean restaurant for lunch.

So, at the risk of embarassing myself, here is my first Korean letter. My writing is first, and the correction is below in red. (EDIT: I added the rough English equivalent in BLUE, for my English speaking friends and family)

_______(아/야) ~ 크리스 입니다.
_______씨, 크리스입니다.
Dear ______, This is Chris.

지난주, 저와 전가 한식 첨심밥 같이 갔었어요.
지난주, 저와 죤은 한식 점심밥을 먹으러 같이 갔었어요.
Last week, John and I ate went to lunch together and ate Korean food.

나가 뷔패 있고 닭구이 먹었어요.
난 뷔페를 이용하며 , 닭구이를 먹었어요.
I ate from grilled chicken from the buffet.

전이 뷔패 없고 만두국 먹었어요.
죤은 뷔페를 이용하지 않았고, 만두국을 먹었어요.
John didn't have the buffet, he had dumpling soup.

당연히 반찬 많아요.
당연히 반찬도 많았어요.
Of course we had Korean side dishes, also.

예컨대, 유리가 김치를과 만두를과 깍두기를과 밥을과 먹었어요.
예를 들면, 우리는 김치와 만두, 깍두기 그리고 밥을 먹었어요 .
For example, we ate kimchi, won-tons, radish kimchi and rice.

첨심밥 뒤에, 난 아줌마를 말하셨어요:
점심식 사 후에 난 아줌마에게 말했어요:
After lunch, I said to the waitress:

“요즘에, 난 특한식을 먹을수있어요. 이를테면 산낙지와 생 간과 산새우와 …”
“요즘, 저는 특한식을 먹을 수 있어요 . 이를테면 산낙지와 생간과 산새우...등등( and so on) "
"These days, I can eat special Korean foods. For example, raw octopus, liver, and shrimp."

아줌마 너무 놀란 이었어요!
아줌마는 너무 놀 랐어요!
The waitress was surprised!

이번주 뽁음김치 요리하고싶어요.
이번주 볶음 김치 요리하고 싶어요.
This week I want to make some fried kimchi.

이주말, 김치를 샀었기 때문에요.
이번 주말에 김치를 샀기 때문이에요.
So this weekend I bought some kimchi.

끝.
The End.

VOCABULARY

OF COURSE 물론 or 당연히
FOR EXAMPLE 예 컨대 or 이를테면 예를 들면
AFTER 뒤에 후에
WEEKEND 주말
LAST WEEK 지난주
THIS WEEK 이번 주
SURPRISE 놀란
THE END 끝

EDIT: There was a subtle hint in the salutation of the letter to the identity of my penpal, which I have just removed by changing it to (아/야).