[KapanLagi Cerita Korea Ep 2] 'Jogeumman Juseyo', Learning Korean Language to Reject Bullseye Eggs while Studying in the Land of Ginseng

Kapanlagi.com - The lunch queue was so long that day. “If today's menu is delicious, it must be meat,” said my senior in front of me.I just nodded, after all, I was accepted just a week ago.While holding a metal tray, I looked at the contents of the third buffet bowl.

Indeed, it was meat, the broth was red.As I was about to take the meat, someone shouted behind me.The canteen staff, wearing a white uniform and a pink apron, came running with a bowl.She pointed at the red broth and scolded while shaking her head. “Jigogi, jigogi,” what is this lady saying.Then she transferred a stack of bullseye eggs from the bowl she was carrying to my tray. I was silent. It's not usual for me to eat more than two eggs, but I don't know how to say it.

In my school, foreign students are required to take four hours of Korean language classes every week. It's my favorite subject because I can talk endlessly and ask anything without being told to be quiet by Teacher Kim.seonsaengnim. Out of the eight people in my class, I envy Thao. Thao is the second youngest student in my year, after me. He is kind, speaks softly, has big round eyes, and fair skin. He's the ideal son-in-law for Korean mothers, and he has been asked to meet their children a few times. "I'll ask my mother's permission in Vietnam first," he always replies.

What makes me jealous is his fluency in writing Hangeul. I tried throwing that word again, this time complete with Yoona's mocking tone. "Jotanda!" I shouted. Laughter burst from beside me. Surprised, I looked to the side. Donghyeon was laughing while holding his stomach, his messy hair swaying. "

"Where did you hear that?" he asked. Ah, I felt satisfied, my joke was accepted. It's not enough to just know the word, you must also know how to use it. The pride from my small success makes me want to become skilled at joking in Korean. Jotanda became my favorite word.

The lunch queue was long. Thao stepped forward, her hands busy grabbing kimchi from the second buffet bowl. She looked happy. My Korean language test score earlier was 80, the second highest in the class. The highest was 95. My score. "

The third bowl was filled with red soup meat. I glanced behind me and saw the cafeteria lady coming out of the kitchen with a bowl of fried eggs. I point to the meat, "Dwaeji gogi?" the mother nods. With a smile, I offer my metal tray and say, "Jogeumman juseyo." She laughs, and four eggs are placed on my tray. I finish all four. Not as much as before, I think, remembering the pages of hangeul-filled notebooks and the browser history filled with variety shows. Long and heavy is my effort to become fluent in Korean, but every moment is enjoyable.

Written by: Irfan Rulianto (Instagram: @irfan_ruli)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His notebook pages are full, even though I can't read what's written. My pages are also almost full, filled with 'ga,' 'na,' and 'da,' repeated over and over. My name is not yet fluent, but the important thing is to have determination in learning the language. I keep writing, 'ga,' 'na,' 'da,' believing that my writing will be better than Thao's. Oh, there's a letter that's upside down. While erasing it, I raise my hand.

"Seonsaengnim, how do you say pork in Korean?" I ask. I always do this to Teacher Kim.seonsaengnim, ask anything. Take the opportunity, while there is someone who is proficient in the language, you must ask as much as possible, no matter how far from the topic of the class that day.

“Dwaeji is pig, gogi is meat. So dwaeji gogi,” he answered. It sounds familiar to me. I imitate, dwaeji gogi, dwaeji gogi, until my voice resembles seonsaengnim. I can use it at the cafeteria later.

The menu at my school cafeteria is like a calendar, special food appears once a month. This afternoon is the turn of red soup meat. I stand waiting in front of the meat, and it's true, the cafeteria lady comes again with her bowl of eggs. She points while shaking her head. “Dwaeji gogi! Dwaeji gogi!” she shouted. Oh, it turns out this is what she shouted a month ago. She puts a pile of eggs from her bowl onto my tray. So many. I sit in the chair next to Thao. I move my eggs next to the red soup meat on her tray, leaving two on mine. I still don't know how to refuse my mother's eggs. I have to push myself to learn.

Searching for something in the textbook is sometimes boring, especially when it's filled with foreign letters. How many pages do I have to flip to find just one new term? My eyes are tired from reading hangeul one by one. Luckily for me, the internet in my school dormitory is fast. Perfect for streaming variety shows on YouTube. Instead of opening the textbook, I open the Soshi Subs channel page, a place to watch all SNSD videos complete with English subtitles.

I prepare a glass of iced tea next to my laptop, with the note app open on my phone. To take note of new terms, usually one episode gets five or six, enough for questions to ask Kim seonsaengnim in class. Tonight I'm watching Intimate Note SNSD, after watching the last episode of Hello Baby yesterday. Yoona wears a mirror costume, while Sunny becomes a queen.

"Mirror, mirror, who is the fairest of them all?" Sunny asks. She caresses her left cheek as if she's primping in front of this 'mirror'.

"Of course, Your Majesty is the most beautiful," Yoona's answer makes Sunny smile happily. Yeowang-Nim, she said, Your Majesty. I note it on my phone.

Suddenly, Yoona chatters with a mocking voice, "I know!" and everyone bursts into laughter. I look at my laptop again, towards the subtitles at the bottom of the screen. "She's really happy," that's what it says. Apparently, this is a joke that I have never heard before. Indeed, Youtube is my powerful weapon for learning Korean language; this was never taught in class, jotanda, jotanda.

With the intention to show off, the next day I mentioned this word in class, after Kim seonsaengnim praised Thao's perfect pronunciation. Hah, he looked happy. “Jotanda!” I shouted, while pointing at Thao who was smiling. No reaction, no laughter. Thao looked at me, confused expression on his face. Ah, it shouldn't have been like this. But it's not like me to be embarrassed, so what, it's normal to make mistakes. Intending to change the topic, I raised my hand again. 

“Seonsaengnim, how can I ask for a little bit?” I asked. My notebook was open, pencil tip at the bottom line of the page. The cafeteria dilemma ended, I thought excitedly.

“Jogeumman juseyo”, he answered. “Juseyo means please give, jogeumman a little bit.” continued seonsaengnim. I wrote it down immediately. No need to write examples, hangeul is no longer a problem for me now.

Although I can ask local students about terms like that, not many hang out with us, foreigners. “Not confident in speaking English,” Donghyeon said. Donghyeon is my classmate, he is from Busan. He has been close to me since I could only say gamsahamnida, even though his English is stuttering. I often help him learn English, and in return, I learn many Korean words from him. 

“Kim Jeong Eun, not Jong Un,” he explained.

Every Friday night, Donghyeon comes to my room. Understandably, besides our hobby of teaching each other languages, we also both enjoy gossiping. My roommate sits on her bed, with a black laptop on her lap. I sit on the floor, chatting with Donghyeon. He tells me about the biology teacher whose long black robe is exactly like Professor Snape's. His hair is also exactly the same, shoulder-length black waves," he says while pushing up his round Harry Potter glasses that slipped down his nose. Suddenly, my roommate turns her laptop towards me. Her latest selfie on Facebook, with a background of yellow-orange autumn leaves. She's definitely showing off her likes again. She looks at Donghyeon, her eyes sparkling and a smug expression on her face. "Just one day and it already has sixty likes," Ah, my predictable friend. "Wow, that's cool," she looks really happy to hear Donghyeon's simple praise. I remember what happened in the Korean language class two weeks ago.

1. Korean Language Class for Foreign Students in My High School

Atmosphere of Korean language class during high school © Personal Document of Irfan Rulianto

In my school, foreign students are required to take four hours of Korean language classes every week. It's my favorite subject because I can talk endlessly and ask anything without being told to be quiet by Teacher Kim. Among the eight people in my class, I envy Thao. Thao is the second youngest student in my grade, after me. He is kind, speaks softly, has big round eyes, and fair skin. He is the ideal son-in-law for Korean mothers, and they have asked to meet him several times. "I need to ask my mother in Vietnam for permission," he always answers them.

What makes me envious is his fluency in writing hangeul. His notebooks are filled with pages, even though I can't read what is written. My page is almost full, filled with 'ga', 'na', and 'da', repeated over and over.I keep writing, confident that it will be better than Thao's writing.Ah, there's a letter upside down.While erasing it, I raise my hand. 

"Teacher, what is pork in Korean?" I ask. 

"Dwaeji is pig, gogi is meat.So dwaeji gogi," he answers.I imitate, dwaeji gogi, dwaeji gogi.It can be used in this cafeteria.

The menu of my school cafeteria is like a calendar, special food appears once a month. This afternoon it's the turn of red soup meat.I stand waiting in front of the meat, and sure enough, the cafeteria lady comes again with her bowl of eggs.She points at the meat while shaking her head. "Dwaeji gogi! Dwaeji gogi!" she shouts.Oh, so this is what she shouted a month ago.She puts a pile of eggs from her bowl onto my tray.So many. I walk to the dining table and sit in the chair next to Thao.I move my eggs next to the red soup meat on his tray, leaving two on mine.Next time I have to know how to refuse it.

 

2. My Learning Method to Become Fluent in Korean Language

The internet in my school dorm is fast, perfect for streaming variety shows. I prepare a cup of tea next to my laptop, with the note application open on my phone. I write down new terms to ask Kim seonsaengnim about later. Tonight, I'm watching Intimate Note SNSD, after watching the last episode of Hello Baby yesterday. Yoona is wearing a mirror costume, while Sunny becomes the queen. "Mirror, mirror, who's the fairest of them all?" Sunny asks. "Of course, it's the most beautiful Paduka Queen," Yoona answers, making Sunny smile happily. Suddenly, Yoona jokingly exclaims, "jotanda!" and everyone bursts into laughter. I see the subtitles below the screen. "She's really happy," I say. This is why Youtube is my weapon for learning Korean. We never learned this word in class, jotanda, jotanda. With the intention of showing off, I mention this word in class the next day, after Kim seonsaengnim praises Thao's pronunciation. He looks happy. "Jotanda!" I shouted, while pointing at Thao who was smiling. No reaction, no laughter. Thao looked at me, with a confused expression. Ah, it shouldn't be like this. But I'm not embarrassed, so what if I'm wrong. Change the topic, I raised my hand. "Seonsaengnim, how do I ask for just a little?" I asked. "Jogeumman juseyo," he replied. "Juseyo means please give, jogeumman means just a little," the teacher continued. I wrote it down in my book. No need to write examples, hangeul is not a problem for me now. Although I can ask local students about terms like that, not many of them hang out with us, foreigners. "Not confident in speaking English," said Donghyeon. Donghyeon is my classmate, he's from Busan. He has been close to me since I could only say gamsahamnida, even though his English is stuttering. I also learned many Korean words from him. "Kim Jeong Eun, not Jong Un," he explained. On Friday nights like this, Donghyeon often comes to my room. Understandable, we both enjoy gossiping. My roommate sits on his bed, with a black laptop on his lap. I sit on the floor, chatting with Donghyeon. He tells about a biology teacher whose long black robe is just like Professor Snape's. 

"His hair is also just like it, shoulder-length black wavy," he said while pushing up Harry Potter's round glasses that slipped on his nose. 

Suddenly my roommate turned his laptop towards me. His latest selfie on Facebook, with a background of yellow-orange falling leaves. He must be showing off his 'likes' again. He saw Donghyeon, his eyes sparkling and a proud expression. 

"It's only been a day and he already has sixty likes." Ah, this one is easy to predict. 

"Wow, cool," he looked very happy to hear Donghyeon's simple praise. 

Remembering the incident in the Korean language class two weeks ago. I tried to throw that word again, this time complete with Yoona's mocking tone. "Jotanda!" I shouted. Burst of laughter could be heard from beside me. Donghyeon laughed while holding his stomach, his messy hair swaying. 

"Where did you hear that from?" he asked. This little pride makes me want to know more jokes in Korean. Jotanda is my favorite word.

The lunch queue is long. Thao moves forward, busy taking kimchi from the second serving bowl. She looks happy. The score for the Korean language test earlier was 80, the second highest in the class. The highest score was 95. My score. 

The third bowl is filled with red meat soup, again. I look back and see the canteen lady coming out of the kitchen with a bowl of sunny-side-up eggs. I point to the meat, “Dwaeji gogi?”, the lady nods. With a smile, I extend my metal tray and say, “Jogeumman juseyo.” She laughs and puts four eggs on my tray. Not bad, not as many as before. It's useful to ask questions in class and watch YouTube every night. I finish all four.

Author: Irfan Rulianto

 

(kpl/mit)