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TTMIK Culture Talk #1 – Drinking Culture in Korea

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Today, in the very first Culture Talk at TalkToMeInKorean.com, we talk about the drinking culture in Korea. Some of the topics covered in this talk are drinking manners in Korea, popular types of alcohol, general prices of alcohol in Korea, substitute driver service, etc.

This talk is entirely in English, with the exception of a few Korean words. The Korean words introduced in this talk are:
소주 [so-ju] = soju
맥주 [maek-ju] = beer
막걸리 [mak-geol-li] = makgeolli
선배 [seon-bae] = someone who entered the same school or company as you, but earlier
후배 [hu-bae] = someone who entered the same school or company as you, but later
회식 [hoe-sik] = company dinner
폭탄주 [pok-tan-ju] = boiler-maker (mixed alcohol, usually of soju and beer)
안주 [an-ju] = side dishes or food for drinking occasions
숙취 해소 음료 [suk-chwi] = hangover control beverage
대리 운전 [dae-ri un-jeon] = substitute driver service

We hope you enjoy listening to this talk!
What other topics do you want 현우 and 효진 to talk about in the future Culture Talks?




Discussion( leave a comment )

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  1. 마이카 says: April 8, 2011

    This culture talk/lesson is very useful for foreigners like me who’s currently staying here in Korea. I hope I could hear more from you guys! =)) This is really great! Now, I know how to be polite (in drinking that is) since I’ve been very rude for not doing those sort of things! Thanks a lot to all TTMIK 선생님s =)

    • jinseokjin says: April 9, 2011

      Sometimes we learn a lot from the mistakes we did. : ) Thanks for enjoying the talk and look forward the next talk.

  2. David says: April 11, 2011

    I was wondering. Do you tip in korea? In the US we give about 15% of the bill as tip… typically when its a large group it is calculated in the bill

    • jinseokjin says: April 12, 2011

      No, we don’t have tip culture. I know that the service fee is already included to the total fee.

    • Kim YR says: May 15, 2012

      We don’t tip in Korea because service fee is already included but waitresses are not getting paid more than $5 per hour .. go figure

  3. 동레이(Doris) says: April 12, 2011

    선생님들:
    안녕하세요.제가 중국 대학생입니다.동레이라고 합니다.
    저에는 술 마시기를 한번도 해 본 적이 없었지만 한국 술 문화도 좀 알아봅니다.
    한국 사람은 다 술을 마시는 걸 좋아한다고 합니다.특히 말걸리가 이제 점점 유명해집니다.그리고 제 인상중에 소주를 마셨으면 술취로 머리가 아프기 쉽죠?……
    폭탄주란 술의 이름이 너무 신기네요….폭탄이 “bomb”,맞아요? (이런 비슷한 부르는 방법을 대만에 들은 적이 있어요.——深水炸弹:이런 혼합한 술은 술성이 너무 강하니까 폭탄 같죠…. )
    선생님,제가 옛날 산 한국 스티커에 “박까스”란 음료수의 이름도 있는데,무슨 음료수인지 전혀 모르겠어요…좀 설명해 줄래요?감사합니다.^ ^

    • jinseokjin says: April 12, 2011

      “박카스” 라는 음료가 있는데, 이 음료는 피로를 회복시켜주는 약이에요. 그래서 약국에 가야지 살 수 있어요. Redbull과 비슷한 음료예요.

      한국어 정말 잘 쓰셨어요. ^^ 제가 몇 문장만 자연스럽게 고쳐 볼게요.

      저에는 술 마시기를 한번도 해 본 적이 없었지만 한국 술 문화도 좀 알아봅니다.
      > 저는 한번도 술 마신 적은 없었지만 한국 술 문화를 좀 알고 있습니다.

      말걸리
      >막걸리

      제 인상중에 소주를 마셨으면 술취로 머리가 아프기 쉽죠?
      > 제일 인상적인 건, 소주를 마시면 숙취로 머리가 아프기 쉽다는 것입니다.

    • 동레이(Doris) says: April 13, 2011

      진 선생님,들을 꼼꼼히 고쳐 주셔서 감사합니다!
      틀린 곳이 아직 많으니까 수고하셨습니다!^ ^
      이 사이트가 진짜 짱이네요~친구들한테 추천할 겁니다~

  4. 동레이(Doris) says: April 12, 2011

    선생님,다음 번의 화제가 뭘까요?너무 기대하는데요….
    한국문화에 관심이 너무 많아요~^^
    요즘 ‘찜질방’에 흥미가 있어요..양머리가 너너너너무 귀여우니까요~

    • jinseokjin says: April 12, 2011

      ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 찜질방 좋아해요? 저도 가끔 찜질방에 놀러가요.

    • 동레이(Doris) says: April 13, 2011

      예,한국 영화 에서 양머리를 쓰는 인물을 봤어요.전 원래 그곳이 목욕탕인 것을 생각했는데 인터넷으로 물어본 후에 찐질방인 걸 알았어요….^ ^
      양머리가 귀 부분을 보호하기 위해서 쓰는 것인다고 합니다.귀여워 보여요~

    • jinseokjin says: April 13, 2011

      양머리는 귀를 보호하지는 않아요. 머리에서 나는 땀을 닦거나 귀엽게 보이기 위해서 양머리를 쓴다고 생각해요.

    • 동레이(Doris) says: April 14, 2011

      아…그래요…알겠습니다~^ ^
      너무 감사합니다.^o^

  5. Anita says: May 21, 2011

    This is great. I love you guys.

    I have a question, though – what about paying? If I go drinking with my friends/sunbae/boss, do we each pay our own way? What about hwaeshik? Does the company pay?

    • jinseokjin says: May 23, 2011

      Although there is not such a rule for paying the fee but when it comes to 회식, the boss would like to pay it but when the cost is too much expensive then the other people may share the price.

      When you have meals with friend, we often share the cost and when I have meals with juniors, I often pay the whole price if it is not that expensive.

  6. Mathieu says: May 26, 2011

    Thank you ~~ One of my Korean friends told me about your website the other day because i told him i was interested in learning Korean. Its been very useful so far, and I have always thought about living abroad so these culture talks would be very useful for me to see the differences between the cultures, so when im able to visit Korea soon, i will be polite :)
    Also enjoying your other lessons. Keep it up !!
    Thanks again :)

  7. AleiZZa says: June 1, 2011

    I really love this about Korea culture, looking forward for new culture talk!!

  8. Violeta says: June 3, 2011

    Thank you for doing this culture talk, i’ve learned a lot

    I encourage you to make more culture talks because it’s really useful for people who are not korean and don’t quite understand some of the behaviour ok korean people in some situations.

    i’m looking forward to learning more =)

  9. Giselle says: August 25, 2011

    Wah! so helpful!! (^_^) next can you talk about height? It seems like a weird topic but my friends in Korea tell me that they really stand out because the are 5’8″ and up (they are both females). I am 5’7″ just a little under their height will i still stand out as being tall?

    • jinseokjin says: August 29, 2011

      Actually, it is confusing because we use “centimeter” to measure height. Do you use “inch”? Thanks for recommending good topic!

    • KYR says: May 15, 2012

      Not true Korean girls are not that tall. At 5’7″ you’re average or taller than average but not smaller. Goes the same for guys .. So don’t worry too much

  10. Grace Mercado LoveMh says: October 1, 2011

    Thanks this really helped!!!!!

  11. hazy says: October 13, 2011

    Actually, I like lots of things about Korea, but what I hate the most about Korea is the drinking culture.
    It is forbidden.

  12. nara says: November 5, 2011

    ohhh i wich i could uproad some pictures relate to this chapter.
    i can share ‘real’ drinking pictures ^^;;;
    such as 폭탄주 hahaha;; am i not allowed to comment with pics ??

  13. Talene says: November 29, 2011

    Hey guys, love this site I am learning so much, so, thank you. Will there be any more culture talks. I am planning to teach english in South Korea and would love to learn as much as I can :D

  14. Luka Genn says: January 2, 2012

    So what do recovering alcoholics (or people who just don’t like drinking) do? It doesn’t sound like there is any way for them to have their choice not to drink honored and supported (discreetly) in work situations. This is pretty disturbing.

  15. Bruce Ma says: February 14, 2012

    Really enjoy your talking. The first time I listened to it ,I had made my decision

  16. Seth says: April 22, 2012

    When can we expect the next culture talk ?

    I’ve really been looking forward to one but I’ve not seen any in a while :(

  17. Nargess says: May 18, 2012

    Hard work! Good job, :)
    I really like korean culture.pls make some other culture talks! waiting for you!

    Comsahamnida coorigoo chalheso?!

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