Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Hi, everyone! I’m Jaehwi. Welcome back to Top Words. In this video, we’ll be talking about top 10 must-know vocabulary for the restaurant. Let’s begin!
1. 종업원 (jongeobwon) “waiter”
You can say “웨이터 (weiteo)” which means “waiter” in Korean, but it sounds more formal and polite, if you just say 종업원 (jongeobwon) which means something like a “staff” in Korean.
You can say… 종업원에게 메뉴 달라고 할게. (Jongeobwonege menyu dallago halge.) “I’ll ask the waiter for the menu.”
2. 이모 (imo) “waitress”
Do not use this word if you are in a very nice restaurant because this word can be used only in a casual restaurant and only in the case that the staff is older than you or in 30s to 40s because that literally means “aunt” so you call the waitress by saying, “Hey, aunt. Excuse me, aunt.” literally. It’s kind of the way to show how friendly you think the staff is. So many people use it like 이모 (imo) or you can also say 아주머니 (ajumeoni) which means something like “old lady”.
If you’re having a meal at a street vendor which is kind of very casual, you can just raise your hard or just say… 이모, 여기 김치 좀 주세요. (Imo, yeogi gimchi jom juseyo.) “Waitress, bring me some kimchi please.”
It’s kind of very friendly way to ask something so you can use that, but never use this word in a formal restaurant.
3. 메뉴 (menyu) “menu”
So it’s following the same pronunciation like in Korean, we also say 메뉴 (menyu) or we also have the word 메뉴판(menyupan) which is kind of the “menu plate” literally. So you can use either 메뉴 (menyu) or 메뉴판 (menyupan).
For example in a sentence, we can say… 오늘의 메뉴 먹어 볼까? (Oneurui menyu meogeo bolkka?) “Shall we try today's menu?”
4. 주문 (jumun) “order”
This is a noun that you can use to mean an order.
When you take a seat at a restaurant, the waitress or waiter would ask you… 주문하시겠어요? (Jumunhasigesseoyo?) “Are you ready to order?”.
5. 물 (mul) “water”
The good thing about Korean restaurants is that like you can have a big bottle of water on the table so you don’t have to ask for water for many cases. But at some restaurants, they have some machine that you can get water and they have some sign saying… 물은 셀프입니다. (Mureun selpeuimnida.) which means that you have to bring your water by yourself. So make sure what kind of restaurant it is like if you can find a water bottle on the table that you can just use it, you don’t have to pay for that. If you cannot find it, see if they have the kind of machine with the sign saying…물은 셀프입니다. (Mureun selpeuimnida.). In that case, you have to go to the machine and get your water instead of asking someone to bring you water.
If you cannot see that kind of sign, you can just say… 여기 물 좀 주세요. (Yeogi mul jom juseyo.) “Give me water, please.”
6. 후식 (husik) “dessert”
후 (hu) means after and 식 (sik) means things to eat so it’s something like things to eat after you have a meal.
So you can say… 후식은 뭐 먹을까? (Husigeun mwo meogeulkka?) “What shall we have for dessert?”
7. 주방장 (jubangjang) “chef”
So 주방 (jubang) means “kitchen” and 장 (jang) means “the leader of something” so something like, you know, 회장 (hoejang) means “the leader of the company” so it becomes some CEO or like boss of the company. 주방장 (jubangjang), this word, has the kind of same format; 주방 (jubang) “kitchen”, 장 (jang) “leader” so it means the leader of the kitchen which means chef.
In a sentence we can say… 주방장 특별 요리입니다. (Jubangjang teukbyeol yoriimnida.) “This is the chef's special.”
8. 패스트 푸드 (paeseuteu pudeu) “fast food”
Following the English word, we say 패스트 푸드 (paeseuteu pudeu) to mean “fast food” so it means the same like any chain restaurants that you can get your meal within five minutes. We can say 패스트 푸드점 (paeseuteu pudeujeom) “a fast food store”.
So for example in a sentence we can say… 패스트 푸드는 몸에 안 좋아요. (Paeseuteu pudeuneun mome an joayo.) “Fast food is not good for your body.”
9. 식당 (sikdang) “restaurant”
식당 (sikdang) can be used to mean “restaurants” in general, but for some restaurants that is a little bit more expensive than others, people prefer to say 레스토랑 (reseutorang), restaurant, which means restaurant, 레스토랑 (reseutorang). So when you hear 레스토랑 (reseutorang), it means something like a little bit luxurious like expensive restaurant. When someone says 식당 (sikdang), it means something like, you know, a restaurant with a reasonable price.
In a sentence, we can say… 이 식당 어때? (I sikdang eottae?) “How is this restaurant?”
10. 계산서 (gyesanseo) “bill”
In Korea in general like it’s kind of common to pay the bill at the exit of the restaurant. You can see some bill on the table. You just bring it to the counter next to the entrance and just pay there.
In some good restaurants, you can raise your hand and say… 계산서 좀 갖다 주세요 (Gyesanseo jom gatda juseyo) or 계산서 갖다 주실래요? (Gyesanseo gatda jusillaeyo?) which means “Could you bring me the bill, please?”
In many cases, you just see 계산서 (gyesanseo) the “bill” on your table. You just have to bring it to the counter and just pay there by cash or credit card. In Korea, you might notice that like it’s very common to pay something by a credit card. Usually, you don’t have to ask like 신용카드 돼요? (Sinyongkadeu dwaeyo?) “Can I pay by a credit card?” because almost 99.9% of Korean restaurants accept credit cards.
Okay that’s all top 10 must-know vocabulary for the restaurant in Korean. Make sure to subscribe and I’ll see you in the next video. 다음 시간에 뵙겠습니다. (Daeum sigane boepgetsseumnida.) 안녕히 계세요. (Annyeonghi gyeseyo.)

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