마음
Saturday, October 4th, 2008Hi. 현우예요. How was your week, everyone? 일주일 동안 잘 지냈어요? I want to talk a little bit about the word ‘마음’ in this blog post today.
If you like listening to Korean pop songs, 마음 is like one of the top ten frequently appearing words in the lyrics - which is more than natural because most of the songs are basically talking about 마음.
마음 is a very interesting word - it can not only be translated in many ways into English, but it also has a lot of meanings even in Korean. So for all the phrasal verb lovers out there, I’ll go through some of the most common expressions that contain the word “마음” in them that cannot easily be translated into English word by word.
마음 can be mind, heart, feeling, emotion, or even interest. If you eat your 마음 (마음을 먹다), you ‘make up your mind’. And after you’ve made up your mind (마음을 먹은 후에) if your 마음 is changed(마음이 바뀌다), you have a second thought. And while you’re still debating what to choose among many options, if something ‘enters your 마음’ (마음에 들다), you like it. But if you misplace and lose what you found likeable (마음에 든 것을 잃어버리면), your ‘마음 is not good’ (마음이 안 좋다), and that means you’re feeling sad and depressed, and your ‘마음 isn’t comfortable’ (마음이 안 편하다) - you’re worried and not relieved. But when you find the thing again, your ‘마음 is put down’ (마음이 놓이다) and that means you’re relieved from the worry.
Of course everybody has 마음, but if ‘you have your 마음 in a particular person’ (마음이 있다), you are interested and like that person as a possible date, but sometimes when you are really nervous, you say things that ‘are not in your 마음’ (마음에 없는 말을 하다) - and that means you end up saying things that you didn’t really mean. Your friends tell you to let bygones be bygones, but you still ‘can’t grab your 마음’ (마음을 못 잡다) and that means you’re still very anxious about it and can’t pull yourself together.
Like this, 마음 has a lot of meanings and phrasal verbs related to it (like in English the word ‘heart’ does) and I’m sure there are more. I’ve recently started listening to more K-pop songs and I’ve realized once again how often I hear the word 마음 
all in different contexts. So I hope this short blog post will be of some help and ‘enter your 마음’ ^^
And a bonus: when someone bugs you about your decision, the way you’re dressed, or whatever, and you want to say “I make my choices. It’s none of your business”, you can say “내 마음이야!” : )
Posted by Hyunwoo in Words with Many Faces |
October 4th, 2008 at 2:21 am
I had no idea that 마음 had so many different sayings with it :O
“내 마음이야!” 제일 좋아하는 ‘마음’이예요! “마음을 먹다” 우스운이예요 XD
October 4th, 2008 at 3:50 am
Wow, great post, 현우! One easy potential “mistranslation” I see concerns 마음을 먹다.” There’s a phrase in English which I don’t totally understand, but one I hear frequently, which is “eat your heart out.”
Example context: A Madonna impersonator, in between singing and dancing like the Material Girl, says “Madonna, eat your heart out!” If I understand it correctly, it means “Hey Madonna, don’t you wish you were as talented as me?
” After all these years, that’s my understanding. If I’m wrong about all this, BTW, could someone please come and finally correct me?
That last one, Taliana, has prompted me to hear/read the phrase “마음 대로 하면, 안 돼.” “It’s not all right just to do whatever you want.”
October 4th, 2008 at 4:20 am
Your example pretty much perfect, Daniel! It’s mostly about the person who has to eat their heart being jealous or vexed for whatever reason.
And I just remembered why “내 마음이야” sounds so familiar to me XD It was the concept for 신혜성’s recent comeback and a change in musical style for his latest album Live and Let Live Side 1. The concept of it, in the teasers/trailers and stuff, was 신혜성 doing things that didn’t suit his previous image (playing the drums, etc) and saying “신경쓰지마, 내 마음이야”. I’ve seen a few places write it as “신경쓰지마, 내 맘이야” though … is there a difference between these?
( one of the teasers I’m on about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qLKjAv7QQw )
October 4th, 2008 at 11:13 am
내 마음이야 has two meanings in general.
One is when someone gives a gift or something to 마음에 드는 사람(likable person), he/she could say “(이것이) 내 마음이야. (This is my heart)”.
In this case, people usually say it exactly and carefully.
Another case is that you’ve mentioned about.
신경쓰지 마, 내 마음이야. (Mind your own business, that’s all I want.)
마음대로 해. (Do as your will.)
And they tend to say quickly as 맘 for 마음 in this case.
Of course in colloquial situations.
October 5th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Manyakumi, thanks for the explanation!