One topic that interested me about my target culture was the different South Korean dialects. Dialects are known as 사투리 (saturi) in Korean. I do need special vocabulary and linguistic knowledge to engage in this topic because dialects have a different pronunciation, grammar, and a set of vocabulary that is different from the common language. I have not included objectives in my learning plan to engage in the dialect topic, but I will add them in my learning plan now. I hope to research the Gangwon and Gyeongsang dialect because that’s where my dad grew up, and a majority of my family is in that area. There are six main dialects in South Korea: Gyeonggi dialect, Gangwon dialect, Chungcheong dialect, Gyeongsang dialect, Jeolla dialect, and Jeju dialect.
Gyeonggi dialect is mainly concentrated in Seoul and Incheon, and it’s the standard language you learn when learning Korean. Everyone in Korea understands the Gyeonggi dialect because of how common it is in the media. A unique feature of the Gyeonggi dialect is they change the ㅗ sound to ㅜ. For example, 가고 싶다 (gago sipda) or “I want to go” would be pronounced as 가구 싶다 (gagu sipda).
Gangwon dialect is spoken in Gangwon which is in the Northeast area of South Korea. One main characteristic of this dialect is the use of various words such as, -나, -노, -고, -가 at the end of a question. For example, when someone with a Gangwon dialect would say 어데 가노 (eode gano) or “where are you going” rather than 어디가 (eodiga). My dad was born in Gangwon-do, so I hope to learn more about this dialect, out of the six.
Chungcheong dialect is used in many different areas, especially near Seoul. One common way to end a sentence is to end it with 야 (ya). However, in Chungcheong dialect, you change the ending from 야 (ya) to 여 (yeo). 이름이 뭐야 (yileumyi mowya) or “what’s your name” is changed to 이름이 뭐여 (yileumyi mowyeo).
Gyeongsang dialect is commonly used in the southern region of South Korea. One well-known city who uses this dialect is Busan. One common characteristic is changing interrogative sentences that generally end with -니 change to -나, -냐, -노, -고, or -가. They also change the ending of interrogative sentences. My dad always texts us “뭐묵냐" which means “what did you eat” when people generally say it as “뭐 먹었니?”
Jeolla dialect is generally spoken in the Southwestern region of Korean. They are known to put more emphasis on vowel sounds than standard Korean. They pronounce the “ㅣ” (yi) as “ㅡ" (eu) and “ㅔ” (e) as “ㅣ" (i). An example would be 아닌데 (anindae) is changed to 아닌디 (anindi)
Lastly, the Jeju dialect is spoken only on Jeju Island, and it’s one of the hardest dialects to understand because they have their own language. In standard Korean, you welcome someone by saying “어서 오십시오.” However, in Jeju Island, you would say 혼저 옵서 (honjeo opseo).There are different formal and informal endings to a question in Jeju dialect, and there are different names to call your family members as well.
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