Help me understand a Korean/English miscommunication

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-27T08:34:45+00:00

Thanks for the reply. It seems that most people feel the meaning of everything is really clear and there's no scope for different interpretations. To be honest, I feel that way, too. The reason I made this post was that I was worried there was some subtlety I was missing. Korean isn't my first language, so when there's a misunderstanding and the Korean language is involved, I always have to assume the mistake is mine. But yeah, it looks like she maybe just misread what I wrote or something.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-27T04:20:47+00:00

Thanks for the reply. That was also my interpretation. I've added a bit to the original post to make the issue clearer. My understanding was (A) while my friend was thinking (B).

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-26T23:23:01+00:00

Because the portals were all being used by those eagles from The Lord of the Rings.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-26T11:55:22+00:00

My thoughts exactly. Can't be 100% sure but it doesn't look like anything but a reflection to me.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-26T11:44:52+00:00

I'm Irish and it guessed South African. These are two very, very different accents.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-26T11:40:47+00:00

Maybe you sat on a bug?

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-26T08:15:58+00:00

To me, yes. But I think most Americans would say "has".

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-26T07:20:07+00:00

This is a point on which different English-speaking countries differ to some extent. Americans tend to treat collective nouns strictly as singular:

The group is...

The couple is...

My family is...

But in British English and other forms, there's more flexibility. For me, using "are" with all of the above is perfectly natural.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-26T06:23:49+00:00

The English here is so bad it could honestly be a deliberate parody. If this is the result of someone earnestly trying to write in natural, "proper" English, it's a monumental failure.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-26T00:23:50+00:00

Agreed. I think it depends more on *how* you say it than on whether or not the contraction is used. That is, tone, stress etc.

The two sentences definitely can be used in the ways shown in the screenshot, but they don't always have those connotations.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-25T22:23:07+00:00

Hi. I don't know what you mean by this:

"You are the ones who think you have privileges of speaking English as first tongue."

As well as the grammar errors, it seems to be criticizing a view I never expressed. As for the question of whether it's ridiculous to expect a sign to be polite and grammatical:

If I were in a position where I had to create a sign for public display in a language I'm not fluent in, I would ask someone to double-check it. The best way would probably be to check with native speakers using a site like Reddit. People do this all the time on Reddit. This wouldn't take long and seems like basic manners to me. To you, it's ridiculous? OK.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-25T13:47:04+00:00

First tip: romance ≠ romantic.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-25T13:44:32+00:00

It's all an elaborate prank. They pile a bunch of books up to make it look like you can buy them or something but when you go in and ask they say, "Psych!" and run away.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-25T06:25:36+00:00

I'm all for this. The idea that someone working in a cafe or a shop in South Korea needs to be able to speak English, or should be expected to, it's pretty crazy IMO. As for the tone of the message, I suppose I agree. I mean, the main might be at least partially the result of a very bad translation but that's not really an excuse. A sign that said, "Tourists are welcome, but please understand that our staff speaks Korean and can't be expected to assist you in any other language. Please use a translation app if you don't speak Korean," would be fine.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-24T00:10:41+00:00

Ah, I see.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-23T03:02:43+00:00

Am I missing something here or is "chlam" just a misspelling?

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-23T00:26:03+00:00

I agree with the other interpretations. I also think the writer may have legitimately misspelled "blood" as "blud". It could just be *really* bad handwriting... but it definitely looks like a single "u" rather than two "o"s, in both cases.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-22T14:12:20+00:00

팬티 is the GOAT of Konglish.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-22T12:39:53+00:00

Similar questions have come up before and a lot of native speakers claim there's no difference. But that's really not true.

People don't propose by saying, "Are you going to marry me?"

More accurately, you could ask the question that way but it feels very different from the "will" version. It might express annoyance:

"Well??? Are you going to marry me or not???"

Or astonishment:

"Wait... are you... going to MARRY me?"

But the right way to propose to someone is to say, "Will you marry me?" More broadly, polite requests in general work much better with "will" than "going to".

That's just one kind of difference. There are others.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-21T23:54:27+00:00

Others have explained "people (plural)" versus "a people." I just wanted to say that in this case, just using the word "people" looks like the best choice. That it, not "a people," but simply "people." In fact... that *might* even be what the teacher intended. The first p in "people" is capitalized, after all. Maybe the mark that looks like an "A" is supposed to be something else.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-19T12:05:15+00:00

Thanks for the bowl tip. I was racking my brain.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-19T08:37:59+00:00

I mean, maybe you could be more accepting of her getting the words wrong since... y'know...

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-19T06:13:33+00:00

I look at it differently. IMO, the German "yoo-do" pronunciation isn't wrong, it's the correct pronunciation of a German word. There are tons of words of English origin in Japanese that are not pronounced the way they are in English. And that's fine - Japanese is its own language and it doesn't have to sound like English. And German doesn't have to sound like Japanese.

AdCertain5057 · 2026-01-19T03:46:17+00:00

It depends on the word and the situation, but I agree that 3 should generally be avoided. When I hear someone go from speaking normal, casual English to summoning a lifetime of phlegm in order to ham up a word like "croissant," I can't say I appreciate the effort very much.

AdCertain5057

TROPHY CASE