1. Korean Proverb: 김치국부터 마시지 말라
Pronunciation: Kimchi-guk-buteo ma-si-ji mal-ra
Literal meaning: Don’t drink the Kimchi soup first
Situation: You can say this when someone gets ahead of him or herself when planning for a project of future. It’s like when you eat a Kimchi based dish, you won’t drink the kimchi sauce first right?
2. Korean Proverb: 공자 앞에서 문자 쓴다
Pronunciation: Gong-ja app-eh-seo mun-ja sseun-da
Literal meaning: Writing chinese characters in front of Confucius
Situation: When a foreigner visits Seoul for the first time and tells a tour guide where the best places are. Use this to point out someone who tries to teach a expert and area of their expertise…a.k.a the annoying one in class who tries to prove the teacher wrong all the time.
Confucius
source: biography.com
3. Korean Proverb: 그림의 떡.
Pronunciation: Crim-ue ddeok
Literal meaning: A picture of a rice cake.
Situation: You might have noticed the intense love the Koreans have for rice cakes by now. They love it so much that when they see a picture or a painting of it their eyes will light up and feel the growl in their tummies, but sadly they cannot get hold of it because it is only a picture after all. The meaning is similar to this~ it is to describe a desire that you cannot have, so you should better forget about it ^^
4. Korean Proverb: 고생 끝에 낙이 온다.
Pronunciation: Go-saeng Ggeut-eh naki eun-da
Literal meaning: At the end of hardship comes happiness.
When to use: Studying for your exams? Stressed about a business project? Use these wise words to encourage and to not give up. With hard work there is always success. Fighting!
5. Korean Proverb: 원숭이도 나무에서 떨어진다
Pronunciation: Weon-sungi-do namu-eh-seo ddeoleo-jinda
Literal meaning: Even monkeys fall from trees.
Situation: Humans aren’t perfect. Neither are experts on their designated areas of expertise. So if you are a mathematician and you solved a problem incorrectly, it doesn’t matter. Even experts make...