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Konglish 101 Trivia Quiz

Welcome to Korea! If you don't speak the language, you'll find yourself picking up Konglish -- English words used in the Korean way. Can you understand the locals, and make yourself understood?

A multiple-choice quiz by ubermom. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
ubermom

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
203,597

Updated
Nov 18 24

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
637

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. You want to swap, exchange, switch something with something else. How do Koreans express this in Konglish? Hint

Switch-ee

Swap-swap

Trade-ee

Change-ee

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. What's the Konglish way to express that two things are the same, or close enough to the same to fit the situation? Hint

Same-same

Same-ee

Good-good

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. A Korean asks if you want "tissue". You're thinking Kleenex. But you might be a bit taken aback at what you're given. What is it? Hint

Meat

Aluminum foil

Cashews

Toilet paper

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. You walk out of the store with your arms full of packages. Somebody looks at you quizically and suggests, "Tek-see?" What is it that they think you might want? Hint

Help carrying your packages

A taxi

Delivery service

A bus

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. You might get confused by the Korean use of this English verb. They use it as a general cheer, the equivalent of, "Go, team!" or "Rah, rah!" Hint

Winning!

Fighting!

Scoring!

Playing!

NEXT>

Question 6 of 10

6. How might a Korean tell you that something was ordinary, bland, or unexciting? Hint

So-so

Boring

Bland-ee

Blah

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. You go into a fast food restaurant to order a meal. What slightly modified English word is used in Konglish for those familiar pre-determined meals that can be ordered by the number? Hint

Meal-uh

Menu-uh

Combo-uh

Set-uh

8. You might run into some confusion when you encounter a Korean using the word "apartment". That's because Koreans don't mean the same things as native speakers do when they use this word. When a Korean refers to an "apartment", what does he or she mean? Hint

Bedroom

Home

Office suite

The entire apartment building

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. What about a simple t-shirt? If a Korean refers to a t-shirt, does he mean the same thing a native English speaker means by "t-shirt"?

Yes

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Question 10 of 10

10. There's another way that Koreans' use of English can cause confusion and frustration to for English-speaking foreigners. What is it? Hint

Brochures and magazines may have English on the outside, but inside they're entirely in Korean.

Both

Stores, shops, and churches may have signs in English on the outside, but nobody inside speaks English.

Neither

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. You want to swap, exchange, switch something with something else. How do Koreans express this in Konglish?

Answer: Change-ee

Once I returned to the sleeping room in a Korean mountain cabin, only to find my stuff gone! But somebody noticed the look of panic on my face. "Oh! Change-ee!" My stuff wasn't stolen; somebody had just switched places with me. You can use this term to exchange something in a store or to switch places with someone. "Change-ee" is pronounced just like the English word "change" with a long E sound tacked onto the end.

2. What's the Konglish way to express that two things are the same, or close enough to the same to fit the situation?

Answer: Same-same

"Same-same" is pronounced like the English word "same" said twice in rapid succession. It's often accompanied by holding the index fingers up and tapping them together lenthwise with each "same".

3. A Korean asks if you want "tissue". You're thinking Kleenex. But you might be a bit taken aback at what you're given. What is it?

Answer: Toilet paper

Westerners are astonished at the ubiquitousness of toilet paper in Korea. Many water coolers have a roll of toilet paper hanging on a toilet-paper dispenser mounted on a nearby wall. Toilet paper sits on the tables at cheap restaurants. Rolls of toilet paper adorn desks in offices. One ad on the subway features an unhappy office worker, arms laden with toilet paper. But it's not an ad for a cure for diarrhea; it's for cold medicine. Koreans use toilet paper as a catch-all disposable paper product: kleenex, paper napkin, paper towel. It's common in those few Korean public restrooms that provide toilet paper for folks to return to the stalls for more toilet paper to dry their hands with. It's the word "tissue" that makes all the difference!

Once Koreans who are studying English learn "toilet paper," they develop the usual Western idea that this stuff belongs only in the bathroom. What a powerful thing a name is!

4. You walk out of the store with your arms full of packages. Somebody looks at you quizically and suggests, "Tek-see?" What is it that they think you might want?

Answer: A taxi

"Tek-see" is taxi. It's even spelled that way in English on the light on top of the taxi!

5. You might get confused by the Korean use of this English verb. They use it as a general cheer, the equivalent of, "Go, team!" or "Rah, rah!"

Answer: Fighting!

A child might be telling you about his day, saying, "At school, we take test. Fighting!" You think that a fight broke out, but all he wants to tell you is that he thinks he did well because he approached it with a confident, competitive spirit! Koreans will also chant "Fighting!" at sporting events.

6. How might a Korean tell you that something was ordinary, bland, or unexciting?

Answer: So-so

Sometimes to stress the ordinariness, they'll tell you, "Very very so-so." Foreigners pick this one up quickly.

7. You go into a fast food restaurant to order a meal. What slightly modified English word is used in Konglish for those familiar pre-determined meals that can be ordered by the number?

Answer: Set-uh

If you order a burger or sandwich, you'll often be asked if you want the set. Like in Western fast-food deals, it usually includes fries and a drink. (The default drink is whichever cola the place carries.) But even places that serve only Korean food will have "sets".

Answer: The entire apartment building

It's hard to describe the subtle confusion that develops between native English speakers and the Koreans until it dawns on one of them that they're not using the word "apartment" to mean the same thing!

9. What about a simple t-shirt? If a Korean refers to a t-shirt, does he mean the same thing a native English speaker means by "t-shirt"?

Answer: No

In Konglish, "t-shirt" tends to refer to just about any casual shirt. In particular, it often is used to describe a polo shirt!

10. There's another way that Koreans' use of English can cause confusion and frustration to for English-speaking foreigners. What is it?

Answer: Both

It's considered fashionable to use English in signs and on the covers of brochures and magazines, the way it was once fashionable in the US to give products French names.

Source: Author ubermom

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