Introducing Myself in Korean

안녕하세요.
[Annyeong-haseyo.]
Hello.

만나서 반갑습니다.
Mannaseo ban-gapsseumnida.
It's a pleasure to meet you.

저는 마리애라고 해요.
Jeoneun Marie-rago haeyo.
My name is Marie.

Phew! That was a big promise I made in the last post, and my impatience to learn all the steps along the way didn't make things any easier.

I started out with the Koreanclass 101 podcast, which is linked to their very elaborate website. The podcast in itself is "edutaining" enough, but its first shortcoming is that the first lesson covers phrases for eating rather than greeting, and also seems to assume existing knowledge of the hangul writing and phonetic system. Its second shortcoming is that it mainly promotes paid subscription to the site. This may be a great business model, but doesn't meet my requirements for universally available, free online resources. The cultural notes were worthwhile.

My next stop was the elaborate Korean course offered by the Korean Broadcasting Service. And I cheated... I simply went to Chapter 21, Introducing Oneself, and copied the phrases above. Just one problem. My name is not Bill Smith. The English Names in Korean transliteration site informed me that my name is, Marie, is written as 마리애 in Korean. By counting off syllables I replaced Bill Smith's name with my own.

But I didn't cheat completely. KBS also offers audio for each lesson, so I am learning how to say these phrases. I also put a fair bit of thought into my syllable counting procedure, although I haven't touched the Hangul writing and phonetic system yet. This tells me that the 요 syllable [o or yo?], is the polite sentence ending I also came across in the Koreanclass 101 podcast.

So in the ten-odd minutes devoted to all this, I learnt a thing or two after all. (Including the fact that introducing oneself probably came up in Chapter 1 as well...)

Now about that writing system...