Learning Korean (from a Korean)

So if you don’t know, I want to start off by saying that I’m Korean. I was born in Korea, then moved to Canada when I was one. However, despite what most people think when they hear that, I can speak fluent Korean (though I can't pronounce the ‘ㄹ’ or rieul pronunciation perfectly). I can also read and write Korean (though of course my grammar and spelling’s not perfect haha, the perks of living in Canada for your whole life but having a Korean community that you can speak and listen to Korean with).

And I’ve been reading a lot of fanfics that use Korean in them and I’ve got to say that a lot of it is awful. It makes me cringe-if you're going to use a language that you are not fluent in, then get the basics down at least, or don't use it at all.

Moving on. The first lesson is on the honourifixes and suffixes that people use after someone's name.

Some people think adding ‘ie’ (이) (ex. Baekhyunnie (백현이)) makes it a nickname, but let me just say it’s not. That’s totally incorrect.

If you’re talking to someone, or calling their name, you add ‘ah’ (아) or ‘yah’ (야) behind it, which has been used (though sometimes incorrectly). For a name that ends with a consonant, like Chanyeol, you add ‘ah’ after (ex. Chanyeol-ah! (찬열아!)). If the name ends with a vowel, like Tao, you add ‘yah’ after (ex. Tao-yah! (타오야!)), the ‘y’ being added to make a consonant sound where there would originally be none.

If you are talking about someone, you add the ‘ie,’ and this isn’t even for all cases. If the name ends with a consonant, that’s when you add the ‘ie’ (ex. Chanyeollie, Baekhyunnie, etc. (찬열이, 백현이)). If the name ends with a vowel, like Youngjae, you just skip the ‘ie.’ The ‘ie’ is essentially just to add a vowel where there would originally be none.

I would like to emphasize that if you use these, it is informal-you use it to your friends (meaning people your age-and if you are really close, people older than you as well (like how Jongin calls Kyungsoo his name without honourifics, and how Kyungsoo calls all the '92 liners their names without honourifics)), and people younger than you. Of course, when you first meet someone you will probably not speak to them like this, even if they are younger than you. That is just rude (unless of course if you’re kids). For example, you would not call your elder ‘Minseok-ah!’

However, I would like to say that these rules do not apply in all cases. The 'ah' / 'yah' may be used in other contexts, sometimes, as well as the 'ie'. It would get way too detailed so I'm just going to leave it at that.