Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Hopefully, during your trip to Korea, you will make many friends and meet lots of interesting people. In preparation for this, we are going to learn how to introduce ourselves as there is no impression like the first. Now, in Korean, there is a phrase that is used when you meet someone for the first time. This phrase is 처음 뵙겠습니다 (cheoeum boepgetsseumnida) which is generally used much like the English, how do you do. I will get to the usage in a little bit but first, the phrase slowly, 처음 뵙겠습니다 (cheoeum boepgetsseumnida). Let’s break it down by syllable, 처-음 뵙-겠-습-니-다 (cheo-eum boep-get-sseum-ni-da). The first word 처음 (cheoeum) means first. Let’s hear this word one more time, 처음 (cheoeum).
This is followed by 뵙겠습니다 (boepgetsseumnida) which in Korean is the honorific form of the word meet. One time slowly, it’s 뵙겠습니다 (boepgetsseumnida). So altogether, we have 처음 뵙겠습니다 (cheoeum boepgetsseumnida) Literally this means first meet, translated it’s like I am meeting you for the first time. This phrase, I am meeting you for the first time is used as a buffer before telling someone your name. This phrase is followed by, my name is Keith. Culturally speaking, if you go up to a person and say, hi, my name is Keith, people won’t look at you as being friendly but they will see you as being brash.
So before you tell people your name, you can say 안녕하세요. 처음 뵙겠습니다 (annyeonghaseyo. cheoeum boepgetsseumnida). This softens the initial contact with someone and paves the way for you to introduce yourself. The way we introduce our self is 저는 키쓰입니다 (jeoneun kisseuimnida) which in English as you can guess means, I am Keith. One time slowly, it’s 저는 키쓰입니다 (jeoneun kisseuimnida). And now by syllable, 저-는 키-쓰-입-니-다 (jeo-neun ki-sseu-im-ni-da). The first word 저 (jeo) is the honorific form of the word I. Immediately following 저 (jeo) is 는 (neun), the topic marker. These two are spoken together. Let’s hear these words together one more time, 저는 (jeoneun). This is followed by your name, in my case Keith. Lastly we have 입니다 (imnida) which in English is, I am. The most respectful form of the word, one time by syllable, it’s 입-니-다 (im-ni-da). Altogether we have 저는 키쓰입니다 (jeoneun kisseuimnida). Literally this means I Keith am or I am Keith.
Okay. To close our today’s lesson, we’d like for you to practice what you’ve learned. I will provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud. You will have a few seconds before I give you the answer. So 화이팅 (hwaiting)!
How do you do - 처음 뵙겠습니다 (cheoeum boepgetsseumnida).
I am Keith - 저는 키쓰입니다 (jeoneun kisseuimnida).
All right, that’s going to do it for today.

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