Teaching Loanwords: Bank on Them or Discount Them

By Dr. David Shaffer.

I dislike the word Konglish. This allusive coinage (Korean + English) is a difficult animal to corral. It has so many different meanings to so many different people (e.g., Koreanized pronunciation of English, common English grammar errors made by Korean learners, using the wrong English word for the intended meaning, misspelling of English words (e.g., grammer, lissen), and punctuation (e.g., Title : ). On top of all this, English words that have been borrowed into the Korean language are often referred to as Konglish. In addition to not easily being able to pin down exactly what a speaker is actually referring to when they use Konglish (which often is because they themselves have not formed a precise definition), I dislike the word because of its negative connotation: “English used incorrectly.” Here is one internet example: Konglish is “a disparaging term for various varieties of Korean English having distinctive lexis, syntax, and phonology.”1

Negative connotations in a society that values anything less than perfection as bad can be a harmful thing – that applies particularly to language learning. If you teach English to Koreans, you are acutely aware that students are very hesitant to speak English for fear of making mistakes. But as any language teacher knows, making mistakes is part of the language learning process – actually, a very positive part of the process because learning occurs as a result of mistake making.

When learners are using English, mistakes are certain to occur. So, I can see how the term Konglish can be applied to such mistakes, especially when the mistakes are influenced by their mother tongue, Korean. However, when a Korean is speaking Korean and using some words originally borrowed from another language (loanwords; aka borrowed words, borrowings, loans, cognates), these words are to be thought of as Korean: They have been adopted into the Korean language. They may have been “Koreanized” in one or more ways (pronunciation, orthography, syntax, and/or meaning), but they are to be considered Korean once a majority of the Korean-speaking community accepts them as such and freely uses them in speech and writing. Yes, they are loanwords, but they have been incorporated into Korean. One must realize that approximately 60 percent of the Korean lexicon is composed of loanwords from Chinese (yes; goggle it), but no one has a disparaging term for them. Therefore, I cannot support statements about English-to-Korean (E-to-K) loanwords that label them as Konglish. I am referring to statements such as “words [that] have been modified in various forms, such as reducing the long word to Korean and making it easier to use, and now they have become Konglish”2 and such as “[Konglish includes] words in Korean that have been directly borrowed from English.3

The belittling of E-to-K loanwords has consequences. Because Korean educators consider recent loanwords to be a blemish on the “purity” of Korean, they are largely not treated in English coursebooks or in EFL classrooms. Likewise, because many native-speaking English teachers consider these same loanwords to be corruptions of English, they also do not introduce loanwords into their EFL lessons. As one EFL teacher states on the internet, “I typically do not list these borrowed words in the vocabulary of lessons.”4

Disregarding E-to-K loanwords in the EFL classroom is actually depriving students of a valuable resource. Many E-to-K loanwords are already known by students in their native Korean. What the students may not know is that these words are also used in English. Making students aware of this, and of these loanwords’ English pronunciation and meaning, is a fast way to increase students’ English vocabulary. The learning curve for E-to-K loanwords is not nearly as steep as it can be for other English words. This is because the student has already built up numerous associations with a loanword since it is used in Korean – semantic and phonetic associations. And on top of this, many of the E-to-K loanwords are among the most frequently used words in English. So rather than discounting E-to-K loanwords in the Korean EFL classroom, we should bank on them to increase the pool of vocabulary items that students have at their linguistic disposal. This is an especially useful concept in the teaching of young learners. Indeed, back in 1994, the Korean Ministry of Education had already found that there were approximately 3,000 frequently used E-to-K loanwords,5 and since then, they have been rapidly increasing. Some examples applicable to young learners and up are bus, car, truck, tigers, bears, lions, ice cream, coffee, book, news, seminar, report, computer, cellphone, telephone, television, and internet. Approximately 10 percent of Korean vocabulary items are thought to have come from English.6 A quick scan of my Korean dictionary confirms that 10 percent is a conservative estimate.7

One important point to keep in mind when dealing with loanwords is that words often do not travel from the donor language 100 percent intact. There is often some sort of change that takes place. For example, one study showed that only about 60 percent of E-to-K loanwords carry their most common English meaning.8 Teachers should be aware of these changes (minute or massive) that loanwords undergo on their journey from English to Korean in order to make their English learners aware of these differences. The next section classifies the different types of E-to-K loanwords and gives examples of each.9

Categorization by Structure
— Preservation of Form
By far the largest number of E-to-K loanwords are nouns, and many of them have their structure preserved, save for adjustments necessary to conform to the Korean phonological system.

K. keompyuteo (검퓨터), E. computer
K. seipeu (세이프), E. safe
K. keopi (커피), E. coffee
K. model (모델), E. model
K. hotel (호텔), E. hotel
K. sopa (소파), E. sofa

— Loanword+Bound Morpheme
Another characteristic of loanwords is that they may combine with Korean bound morphemes, sometimes remaining the same part of speech but occasionally changing to another part of speech.

K. taening-hada (태닝하다), E. tan (v.)
K. paking-hada (파킹하다), E. park (v.)
K. sain-hada (사인하다), E. sign (v.)
K. kipeu-hada (키프하다), E. keep (v.)
K. seumateu-han (스마트한), E. smart (adj.)
K. dainamik-hage (다이나믹하게), E. dynamically (adv.)

— Truncations
Korean favors words of few syllables. So, when a many-syllabled English term is borrowed, it is often the case that its latter syllables are deleted.

K. eeokeon (에어컨), E. air conditioner
K. syupeo (슈퍼), E. supermarket
K. noteu (노트), E. notebook
K. waiteu (와이트), E. white-out
K. seukin (스킨), E. skin lotion
K. naiteu (나이트), E. nightclub

— Initialisms
Another method that Korean uses to shorten loanwords is to transform them into a form of initialism, often using the initial letter of the first and a subsequent syllable of a word or term. Teachers must be careful to point out that these are not used in English.

K. IC, E. interchange
K. CC, E. country club
K. D/C, E. discount
K. B/D, E. building
K. A/S, E. after-sales service
K. R/C, E. reading comprehension

— Fabrications
Still another class of borrowings in Korean that are not directly from English words or terms, but have their origins in English are fabrications, that is, Korean words created from aspects of English.

K. openka (오펜카), E. open + car = convertible
K. selleorimaen (셀러리맨), E. salary + man = office worker
K. seukinsip (스킨십), E. skin + -ship = relationship involving skin contact
K. keureop-hwaldong (크럽활동), E. club activities
K. jumin-senteo (주민센터), E. community center
K. reoning-hwa (러닝화), E. running shoes

Categorization by Meaning
In addition to structural changes, loanwords may have a number of changes in meaning that accompany the loanword’s journey from English into Korean. There may be semantic preservation, in which the English meaning is preserved; semantic narrowing, in which the loanword’s meaning is more restricted; semantic widening, in which the loanword’s meaning is extended; and semantic transfer, in which the meaning has noticeably been shifted. But remember that in 60 percent of the cases, the most common meaning of the English word is preserved in the Korean loanword.

— Semantic Preservation

K. beoseu (버스) = E. bus
K. maketing (마케팅) = E. marketing
K. piano (피아노) = E. piano
K. radio (라디오) = E. radio
K. banana (바나나) = E. banana
K. golpeu (골프) = E. golf

— Semantic Narrowing

K. miting (미팅; fr. E. meeting) = group blind date
K. chyuri (츄리; fr. E. tree) = Christmas tree

— Semantic Widening

K. sopa (fr. E. sofa) = sofa or stuffed armchair.
K. seobiseu (fr. E. service) = any item provided to the customer free of charge

— Semantic Transfer

K. hipeu (히프; fr. E. hip) = buttocks
K. keonning (컨닝; fr. E. cunning) = test cheating

In a random sample of 111 E-to-K loanwords, it was found that 67 percent exhibited semantic preservation and 25 percent semantic narrowing, with only 4 percent manifesting semantic widening, and 4 percent semantic transfer when comparing the main meaning of each word of the pair.10

Summing Up
As language teachers, we need to not think of E-to-K loanwords as black sheep and ignore them in our lessons, but instead embrace them to increase our students’ vocabulary in a rather expedient manner. The majority of these loanwords preserve their English meaning and form, but a sizeable minority do not. It is incumbent on the language teacher to make students aware of these differences, and absence of differences. We should also remember that though these loanwords may have some differences from the English words from which they are derived, they do have some or many samenesses that the students already have knowledge of by knowing the Korean loanword. And it is these associations that students have before the classroom teaching occurs that make E-to-K loanwords easier to learn than other English vocabulary for which they have no previous associations. The more associations one has with a language item (especially associations that vary in type), the more easily they will be able to retain it. This actually applies to everything we learn, but especially to E-to-K loanwords. So, think of E-to-K loanwords as easily accessible language learning items rather than as artifacts that represent a negative aspect of the Korean-English interface. And employ them to enrich your students’ vocabulary.

Footnotes

[1] Definitions.net. (n.d.). Konglish. Retrieved March 1, 2021, from https://www.definitions.net/definition/KONGLISH
[2] mickykim. (2019, December 28). What is Konglish. Joinus World. https://www.joinusworld.org/qa/3139-what-is-konglish/
[3] How to Study Korean. (n.d.). Lesson 134: Ultimate Konglish guide. https://www.howtostudykorean.com/unit-6/lessons-134-141/lesson-134/
[4] Same as 3 above.
[5] Cho, I. (2001). Recognition of English loanwords by learners of Korean. The Korean Language in America, 6, 69–74. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42922771
[6] Fullerton, C. (2009). Origins of Konglish. The Korea Times. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2019/09/162_57881.html
[7] Gugeo silyong sajeon [Korean practical dictionary], rev. ed. (2000). Kyohak-sa.
[8] Shaffer, D. (2010, May). English-to-Korean loanwords: Categorization and classroom instruction. In KOTESOL National Conference Proceedings (pp. 47–57). Daegu, Korea.
[9] Following Shaffer, D. (2010). See 8 above.
[10] Shaffer, D. (2010). See 8 above.

The Author
David Shaffer is an educator with many years of experience in the field of English education in Korea. During that time, he has taught and researched loanwords with his students. As vice-president of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Chapter of KOTESOL, Dr. Shaffer invites you to participate in the chapter’s teacher development workshops (now online) and in KOTESOL activities in general. He is also a past president of KOTESOL and is currently the chairman of the board at the Gwangju International Center, as well as editor-in-chief of the the Gwangju News.