KoreanClass101.com Blog

Key Money.

The Korean real estate system is tricky in and of itself, and the renting system alone is enough to pique your interest. Galbijim has a great writeup.

Instead of paying a set monthly rent, apartment owners might ask for anywhere between half to two-thirds (or more) of the value of the unit for the year - all in one lump sum. Imagine paying a full year’s worth of rent all at once. Now consider that standard rent is usually only 10-15% of the unit’s market value per month - now try the 전세 rate of 50 to 75% of that same unit’s value. Oh, and make it more than a year - typical contracts are for two to three years. Ouch. Want the key? Pay the money. Starting to see one of the many reasons why young Koreans stay at their parent’s home after age 18? Who can be expected to pony up all that cash? Scared yet? You shouldn’t be.

If you are like countless other foreigners employed as an English teacher, your employer takes care of the process for you. Have you hugged your boss recently?

Typically the system enables the tenant to live rent-free (minus utilities and maintenance fees) and the apartment owner to take the key money and invest it. The owner makes money from the investments and returns to the principal amount when you move out. Everyone’s happy.

For apartments in America, we have a refundable security deposit that usually is equal to one or two month’s rent. When one moves out, pending that there is no damage done to the apartment, the tenant receives the security deposit back in full. I imagine that it’s called a security deposit because if the tenant leaves suddenly without notice, the money ensures the apartment manager has a least some security to fix the damages and to hold over until the unit can be rented again. However, the security deposit isn’t invested by the manager like in Korea.

Some 전세 contracts also require a small monthly rent in addition to the lump sum but then again all contracts are different. Thankfully, unlike in America where when you sign on the dotted line you commit regardless to what you signed, in Korea, it is expected that the person offering the contract to clearly explain the contract until you understand. Talk is cheap? Not in Korea.

Speaking of cheap, there is an alternative that seems a bit more familiar to Westerners. 월세 is much closer to the typical rent process - a relatively small deposit up front and a monthly rent bill. Both systems are common but 월세 carries more of a social stigma. Most Koreans tend to stay at their parent’s house until married and in the meantime, live fairly conservatively (financially speaking of course). This means that these young professionals and university graduates are able to save up enough money to put down key money on their own place one day. Or outright buy the place. Below is a little chart I whipped up to represent roughly how the residents of Seoul pay for their property.

Key money is an interesting concept - like one of those “Man, why didn’t I think of that?” concepts. However, it’s a double-edged sword. On one hand, rent is taken care of for the year (or two or three) so that’s one less thing to worry about. But, it sure is a lot of money to front all at once.

But, it looks like things are changing for expats. If you are in the market and are feeling a bit overwhelmed, there are some companies that exclusively cater to expats. Also, information about the legal rights of tenants and limitations of landlords are becoming more readily available in English. For that matter, listen to this great podcast about an expatriate who had a renting problem and solved it through the Korean legal system. An informative story to say the least. Lastly, here’s another nice breakdown for anyone looking to secure their own place in Korea.

For more cultural insight, check out this lengthy but well-put together post by everyone’s favorite Kiwi. You rock James.

Thoughts?

회식

Company dinner.

Rule #1) count on 소주. Lots of it. Serious. Just look at what happens when I type “회식” into Google Image. Food and alcohol - get used to it.

This cultural event of course has a deep cultural context that should never be ignored. I encourage those seeking to understand the Korean mindset to venture into the past. Either way, in the present, soju is plentiful, cheap, and widely available.

Soju has been around for a while and there’s no sign of it stopping - however it is getting weaker in alcohol content as the years pass. Soju is typically drunk at such company diners but certainly other spirits are involved, too. However, I get the impression that beer is not exactly a masculine choice for alcohol. I’ve been told that although drinking beer is perfectly acceptable, it’s typically drunk by Korean women because of its lower alcohol content. That’s too bad, too - I’m probably one of the only foreigners that actually likes Korean beer. Sorry America.

Korean people don’t just hang around their boss to drink and eat just because they have nothing better to do. Quite the opposite. Any expatriate can tell you that there are plenty of times the last thing on their mind is hanging with their coworkers with the expressed intent to get drunk and eat food that they might not exactly dig. Oh and go singing.

Rule #2) There will be fun and games in addition to food. If it’s a great night out, then you’ll still be on the third or fourth 차 or place by the time everyone is ready to go home.

What I’m trying to say is that 회식 is one facet of Korean drinking culture (which we looked at a while back). Even though you are considered a guest in the country there are a set of courtesy rules that are expected to be followed. However, as with most things Korea-related, foreigners are allowed to pull the “Foreigner” card at times and politely refuse a drink or two in favor of keeping your wits (for reasons that you are allowed not to explain - be it religious, philosophical, etc). However, it is generally still expected to attend at least the first and second place that the company visits for the night - at the end of the second place (be it a 노래방 or a bar) you can politely excuse yourself with little to be sorry about - you came, didn’t you?

People who refuse or make excuses or otherwise weasel out of these company dinners are not cruising for a bruising per se but they definitely are putting on a subtle “Does Not Play Well With Others” shirt on. Again, as a foreigner, you can weasel out but I would recommend that in order to maintain a well-oiled work environment, plan on going out with your boss and coworkers. Remember, Korean business hours do not function the same way as in America - a 회식 is considered to be an extension of normal working hours.

Of course, as with all things in life, too much of anything is a bad thing. I’m certainly an advocate for moderation in anything that has the potential to be habit forming - to include food, alcohol, or 이효리 music videos. yowza.

Having said that, drinking with your coworkers is one of many ways to improve your relationships with your coworkers and will make or break the ideal working environment. In a group-centered society like Korea, you don’t want to be “that guy” who doesn’t want to get to know his or her coworkers.

A nice summary of a typical 회식 can be found here. But don’t take my word for it: here’s another first-hand rundown. And for good measure, here’s another. Just for you.

Thoughts?

Welcome to the KoreanClass101.com blog, Feature Spotlight. Here we would like to periodically introduce some well known features as well as some not so well known features here at KoreanClass101.com. We want to make sure everyone knows about all the great features that you can use to master Korean in just minutes a day.

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Korea Train Express.

Public transportation at a cool 186mph. Not bad. Thanks France. The official KTX website has some sweet animations (best viewed in IE - sorry world). It’s an experience for sure. Kudos to 현우 for providing an overview. Also here. And here. He’s awesome.

Since 2005, daily commuters totaled a little more than 100,000. There were 450,000 more commuters in the second half of 2008 than of the first half due to rising oil prices (and thus higher ticket prices). The Korean government says there were about 38 million total passengers on the bullet train in 2008, a 1.9% increase from 2007. Apparently a lot of people like their speed.

Now, not to freak out anyone, but some people think we should take things a bit slower if the KTX is to stay in current safe operation. Ouch. Read the blueprints next time, guys. However, it’s nice to hear that a steady flow of construction is yielding improvements to the existing system. Always nice to hear of Busan getting some KTX love. This is here and now. Current technology is awesome but I can only imagine what the future holds.

But sometimes it begs the question: Why need the speed? I mean, remember that Korea is not exactly a huge country in terms of land mass. I suppose with the sheer amount of travelers it makes the difference between a five hour trip and a three hour trip - well worth the higher fee versus a traditional train or bus.

My question to you all is this: Am I the only one that feels my soul trying to catch up with my body? Needless to say it makes me a little queasy. I feel like I’m battling the Phantom Train all over again - like I must not let the train beat me. But then, why do I feel fine on an airplane that easily exceeds 550 mph?

Thoughts?

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Hi Hyunwoo here. I hope everybody is having a wonderful day and enjoying your Korean studies. Some might think there’s enough variety to the list of categories on this blog already, but I’ve just added one more category to it. And as you can see, it’s about how to translate certain words or phrases between English and Korean - sometimes from English to Korean, and other times, the other way around.

I’d like to start with a very basic word describing a very important behavior, which, however, is not translated very correctly all the time.

It’s  ‘to eat.’

What’s the Korean word for it? It’s very easy. 먹다.

But the thing is, when you use it in a sentence, you always need an object noun. So for example, if you want to say “I’m eating pizza.” you can say 피자 먹고 있어요. (I’ll write all the Korean sentences in the standard polite level) and if you want to say “I’m eating lunch.” you can say 점심 먹고 있어요.

But what if you want to say,

“I’m eating.”

or

“Don’t talk while you’re eating.”

or

“I eat slowly.”

how would you translate these sentences into Korean?

Most people would go,

저는 먹고 있어요.

먹을 때 이야기하지 마세요.

저는 천천히 먹어요.

While these sentences above are all correct grammatically, they are all missing something. When Korean people use the verb 먹다, they always like to add a noun - an object.  So it’s always “something + 을/를” 먹다. So the sentences above would become more natural by changing them to:

저는 밥(을) 먹고 있어요.

밥  먹을 때 이야기하지 마세요. or 음식 먹을 때 이야기 하지 마세요.

저는 밥을 천천히 먹어요. or 저는 음식을 천천히 먹어요.

So please remember not to use the verb ‘to eat’ on its own in a sentence in most cases, and add 음식, 밥, 점심, 저녁, 아침 or any other noun for food when you use the verb 먹다. And when you want to ask your friend “Have you eaten?” don’t ask “먹었어?” but please ask “밥 먹었어?”

Thanks for reading!