원어민이 사용하는 모든 단어는 철자와 문법에 맞는 단어일까? 아니다. 언어는 문화를 비추는 거울이라는 말이 의미하듯이, 문화가 생기고 없어짐에 따라 언어도 탄생하고 소멸하게 된다. 그렇기 때문에, 원어민도 사전에 있는 올바른 단어만을 사용하지는 않는다. 한국사회에서 자주 쓰이는 단어 중 사전에 없는 단어는 대개 신조어인 인터넷 용어이거나, 일본 식민지의 잔해인 일본어인 경우가 많다.

한국의 청소년들은 인터넷을 매우 많이 사용하는데, 그에 따른 [인터넷 용어]가 많이 등장하고 있다. 대부분의 인터넷 용어는 긴 단어를 줄인 축약형이다. 하나의 예는 „엄친아“ 와 „ 엄친딸“ 이다. 이는 각자 „엄마 친구 아들“ 과 „엄마 친구 딸“ 을 줄인 표현이다. 대부분의 한국 부모님들은 자식에게 동기를 부여하고자 할 때, 자식에게 „ 엄마 친구 딸은 이번에 의대 간다더라, 엄마 친구 아들은 삼성에 취직했데..“ 등 친구의 자녀 얘기를 들려주게 된다. 이런 이야기를 자주 듣는 자녀는 약간은 빈정상한 억양으로 „엄마친구 딸, 아들은 천재인가봐요!“ 라고 대꾸하게 된다. 이런 이유로 인터넷 상에서, 뛰어난 사람의 이야기를 접하게 되면 „이야~ 엄친딸이다!“ 또는 „당신이 그 유명한 엄친아군요.“ 라는 코멘트를 남긴다. 최근의 예는, 노스웨스턴 로스쿨에 합격한 가수 이소은이다. 얼굴도 예쁘고, 몸매도 좋으며, 노래도 잘하고, 공부까지 잘하는 그녀에게 사람들은 „당신이 그 엄친딸이군요.“ 라는 코멘트를 남겼다.

사전에 없지만 자주 사용되는 또 하나의 예는 일본어이다. 일본의 식민지 시대를 경험했던 한국 노인분들은 아직도 몇몇의 일본 어 단어를 사용하신다. 도시락을 뜻하는 „벤또“나, 이쑤시개를 뜻하는 „요지“는 노인분들이 자주 사용하시는 용어들이다. 정부는 이러한 일본어 단어들을 한국어로 순화하였고, 식민지 세대가 아닌 세대들은 더이상 이러한 단어들을 사용하지 않는다. 하지만, 그럼에도 불구하고, „돈까스“ „우동“ 등의 몇몇의 일본어 단어들은 고유명사로 한국사회에 정착되었다.

Are all the words that native speakers use grammatically correct? Are all of them in the dictionary? No. Some people say that languages are mirrors of culture and history; new terms are born and old terms disappear as culture and history change. Thus, native speakers don’t just use words found in the dictionary. In Korea, many new terms have been created due to the increase in use of the internet. Also, some Japanese vocabulary from the Japanese colonization period has found its way into the Korean dictionary.

Korean teenagers use the internet a lot, and this trend has created many new terms which are called ‘Internet terms.’ Most Internet terms are longer words formed from abbreviations of several short words. For example, “Um-Chin-A” and “Um-Chin-Ddal” form “Umma Chingoo A deul” (Mom’s friend’s son) and “Umma Chinggo Ddal” (Mom’s friend’s daughter) respectively. In Korea, some mothers compare their own to their friends’ kids in order to motivate them. They do this by saying something like “My friend’s daughter got into Medical school!”, or “My friend’s son got a job at Samsung!” Then the kids will give sarcastic responses like “it seems that all of your friends’ kids are geniuses!” For this reason, whenever an article about a person who seems perfect is posted online, people leave comments saying “you must be the Um-Chin-A (My mom’s friend’s son),” or “Oh! Here is the Um-Chin-Ddal (here is the daughter of my mom’s friend).” A recent example of “Um-Chin-Ddal” (mom’s friend’s daughter) is the famous singer, Lee So Eun. She got an acceptance letter from the prestigious Northwestern Law School in the U.S. Upon this news, people left comments saying “She has a pretty face, perfect figure, sweet voice and is intelligent! What a real Um-Chin-ddal she is!”

Aside from the Internet terms, some Japanese words also represent vocabulary used by native Koreans, even though they are not in the dictionary. Many older Koreans, who lived through the Japanese colonization period, still use Japanese words like “Bentto” (a lunch box) or “Yoji” (a toothpick). The Korean government changed these Japanese words into Korean and promoted them quite successfully. Most of the younger generation do not use those terms anymore, however some Japanese words, especially names of foods, like “Udon” or “Donkkasso”, have become ingrained within Korean society, and are still widely used nowadays.

Have you been studying Italian for many years and are still making mistakes? Don´t worry! It can’t be as bad as being a native speaker and constantly making grammar or typing errors! So here we go with the most common errors Italians make while speaking and writing! There are four common mistakes:

Wrong use of the conjunctive tense
It´s very common to hear Italians using the imperfect tense instead of the conjunctive, since almost 60% of the population used to speak in a dialect. Nowadays this is not considered to be a real error, but there are many movements trying to preserve the correct use of the Italian language. Particularly in Northern Italy, where the improper use of the imperfect tense produces outrage and lots of language lovers, schools, language experts, associations as well as picky people are literally fighting against the trend.

Verbs imparare and insegnare
Imparare means to learn and insegnare means to teach... well, in Italy there are some regions in which the word imparare is used in its original meaning but also with the meaning to learn. Is that not clear? Let´s have a look at an example: “Can´t you really play the guitar? I´ll learn you how to do it!”

Use of stress marks while writing
This error can only be seen while typing texts on the computer and it´s widely spread among Italians. As you may know, the Italian language uses both the acute accent and the grave one. Well, you can not use these accents casually. Since accents are a tiny part of a written text, it doesn’t seem to be that relevant to know how to use them, but it is an error at least as important as the next common mistake of Italian speakers…

Use of the letter “h” in front of some words
Have you ever heard an Italian speaking English? If yes, you will probably have noticed that we can´t pronounce a letter....which one? Of course the “h”! In Italian the letter “h” has only two functions: to create the sound “k” by putting it next to the letter “c” and to distinguish between words that otherwise would have been written in the same way. For instance anno (year) and hanno (they have). This is only a written distinction and you never have to pronounce the “h”. This is why one of the most common mistakes in the written language (even among adults) is either to put too many “h’s” or to not put them at all!!
Have you been living in Italy for a while and found other common mistakes Italians keep making?? Let this list grow with your contributions!

Stai imparando la lingua italiana e sei preoccupato e arrabbiato perché, nonostante i tuoi sforzi, continui a fare degli errori di grammatica? Smetti di preoccuparti perché i tuoi errori, gli errori di un non-madrelingua, non possono essere così gravi come quelli che commettono gli Italiani stessi! Qui di seguito abbiamo pensato di raccogliere i maggiori errori, gli sbagli più grossolani che gli Italiani commettono nella lingua scritta e parlata.

Uso del congiuntivo
Un dato di fatto, riportato in molti studi e ricerche, è che almeno il 60% della popolazione italiana parla ancora, del tutto o in parte, in dialetto nella vita quotidiana. Questo dato di fatto conduce a un utilizzo improprio dei modi verbali. L’esempio più famoso è il progressivo abbandono del congiuntivo in favore dell’imperfetto. Un esempio? “Che sorpresa, non sapevo che venivi pure tu!”. Data la diffusione del fenomeno, anche a livello televisivo, l’impiego dell’imperfetto al posto del congiuntivo non è più quasi considerato un errore da molti Italiani. Persistono solo alcuni esperti, amanti delle lingue e associazioni impegnate nella salvaguardia del congiuntivo.

I verbi imparare e insegnare
Come tutti saprete imparare e insegnare hanno due significati ben diversi e, se messi uno di fianco all’altro, chiunque è in grado di cogliere la differenza di questi due termini. Nelle regioni dell’Italia centro-meridionale è però in uso un impiego improprio del verbo imparare che a seconda dei casi ha la sua valenza originaria o viene usato in funzione di insegnare. È del tutto probabile, trovandovi in Umbria, sentire una frase del genere: “Non sai suonare la chitarra? Ti imparo io!”

Gli accenti sulle vocali
Scrivendo al computer, leggendo testi in lingua italiana nel web, nelle e-mail e purtroppo a volte anche in libretti e opuscoli non è raro trovare degli errori nell’utilizzo degli accenti italiani gravi e acuti. La vocale e ad esempio può essere scritta, a seconda dei casi, con l’accento acuto (quando si trova nelle parole tronche, come ad esempio perché, poiché, affinché, ecc…) o può essere accentata con un accento grave, nel qual caso forma la terza persona del verbo essere, è. Nonostante si tratti di una sottigliezza, la distinzione è fondamentale e necessaria per un corretto uso della lingua italiana almeno quanto il punto successivo è importante per non sembrare analfabeti!

L’uso della lettera h
Vi è mai capitato che un vostro amico o conoscente straniero vi abbia fatto notare che non siete assolutamente in grado di pronunciare la h sonora in inglese? Questa difficoltà, principalmente tipica dei madrelingua italiani e francesi, è del tutto comprensibile se si analizza l’uso che in lingua italiana si fa della consonante h. Essa, infatti, ha due sole funzioni, formare, insieme alla consonate c, il suono k e distinguere, nella lingua scritta, parole che oralmente vengono pronunciate esattamente alla stessa maniera (ad esempio anno, l’anno solare, e hanno, terza persona plurale del verbo avere). I bambini, così come molti adulti fanno fatica a realizzare l’enorme differenza esistente tra queste parole proprio perché la lettera h in lingua italiana è sempre muta.

Sei un madrelingua straniero che vive o ha vissuto in Italia abbastanza a lungo da essere in grado di completare o quantomeno allungare questa lista? Non aspettiamo altro che il tuo contributo!

The following article is dedicated to typical mistakes in spoken Russian language. It is really sad to realize that the majority of mistakes made in spoken Russian are not even spotted by native speakers. In the majority of cases speakers either do not use words in the right way, because they don’t know their meanings, or they use them verbosely.

I will try to shed light on two significant groups of mistakes that exist among Russian speakers. The topics up for discussion are verbosity and the meanings of words.

Word meaning misunderstanding is one of the most typical mistakes one can find among Russian speakers. Precisely, different people assign their own meanings to the same words. Russian language has a lot of words that have similar roots; but not similar meanings! Very often Russian speakers use a word assuming one meaning; however in reality the meaning of the word in context is totally different. An example of this can even include a whole sentence. Костер все больше и больше распалялся, пылал (The fire was flaming up). The mistake here is the verb Распаляться meaning ‘to warm up‘. However the right option would be to use Разгораться, i.e. to flame up.

Another typical group of mistakes that exist among Russian speakers is connected to verbosity. There are several types of verbosity, such as pleonasm and tautology. Pleonasm means the use of logically similar words. For example, the guests received memorable souvenirs. The mistake is with the word memorable, since souvenir means a memorable present. Consequently the use of ‘memorable souvenirs’ here is incorrect.

Tautology (Greek. TAUTO ‘a word’) repetition of paronymous words (words with the same root) is another very common mistake among Russian speakers. Example: Руководители предприятий настроены на деловой настрой.

Следующая статья посвещана частым речевым ошибкам наполняющие нашу повседневную жизнь. К большому сожалению, носители русского языка зачастую не понимают значений многих слов, или используют их неправильно; однако это далеко не полный список разнообразия ошибок в нашей повседневной жизни.

Я попытаюсь пролить свет на две группы ошибок встречающиеся в повседневноей жизни.Классификация речевых ошибок очень разнообразна, однако, я хотел бы сосредоточиться на непонимании слов и многословии.

Одна из самых распрастраненных речевых ошибок связана с непонимаем значения слов. Главным образом слова употребляются в несвойственных им значениях. Самый типичный пример: Костер все больше и больше распалялся, пылал. Ошибка заключается в неверном выборе слова: Распаляться - 1. Нагреться до очень высокой температуры, раскалиться. 2. (перен.) Прийти в сильное возбуждение, стать охваченным каким-либо сильным чувством. Разгораться - начинать сильно или хорошо, ровно гореть.

Очень часто слова также употребляются без учета их семантики. Пример: Благодаря пожару, вспыхнувшему от костра, сгорел большой участок леса. В современном русском языке предлог благодаря сохраняет известную смысловую связь с глаголом благодарить и употребляется обычно лишь в тех случаях, когда говорится о причинах, вызывающих желательный результат: благодаря чьей-нибудь помощи, поддержке. Ошибка возникает в связи со смысловым отвлечением предлога от исходного глагола благодарить. В этом предложении предлог благодаря следует заменить на один из следующих: из-за, в результате, вследствие.

Другая типичная группа речевых ошибок связана с многословием. Встречаются следующие виды многословия: плеоназм, тавтология, расщепление сказуемого, использование лишних слов и слова паразиты.

1. Плеоназм (от греч. pleonasmos - избыток, чрезмерность) - употребление в речи близких по смыслу и потому логически излишних слов.
Пример: Все гости получили памятные сувениры. Сувенир - подарок на память, поэтому памятные в этом предложении - лишнее слово. Разновидностью плеоназмов являются выражения типа очень огромный, очень малюсенький, очень прекрасный и т. п. Прилагательные, обозначающие признак в его предельно сильном или предельно слабом проявлении, не нуждаются в уточнении степени признака.

2. Использование лишних слов. Лишних не потому, что свойственное им лексическое значение выражено другими словами, а потому, что они просто не нужны в данном тексте.
Пример: Тогда о том, чтобы вы могли улыбнуться, 11 апреля об этом позаботится книжный магазин "Дружба".

Internet, butter, brush, bus...Japanese use all of these words when they talk in Japanese. We have a lot of words that come from other languages, especially from English. These words are written in Katakana (one of our characters).

Now these words are already a part of Japanese and we cannot explain some of them without using borrowed words. For instance, we use the word “pen” when we talk. However, how can we say “pen” in Japanese? If we really try, we might manage it, but it would take 2 lines of text to explain one simple word.

Therefore we often use English and have words known as “Japanese-English”. We have created new words from English. These “Japanese- English” words help us hugely, but there is one problem: Japanese people believe that these words are correct, but in many cases, they are incorrect from the view of English speakers. Let me introduce you to some of them.

• Auto-bi: It’s an abbreviation of an automatic bike. It means motorbike or motorcycle.

• Morning call: Can you guess its meaning? A call you receive in the morning to wake you up…. Yes, it means wake-up call. We always say it even when we receive a wake-up call in the afternoon.

• Health meter: It is the word for bathroom scales or kitchen scales. We think weight is one of the important factors to see how healthy you are.

• Gasoline stand: Most people believe that it is the right English for gas station or petrol station.

• Baby car: If you say ”baby car ” in Japan, people will surely imagine a pushchair or baby stroller. It would be surprising for Japanese to find out what baby car means in English.

• Sand bag: It is punching bag in Japanese.

• Front glass: This is a part of a car. This word means windshield or windscreen.

These are just a small selection of the weird words. A lot more Japanese-English words exist and people still don’t know that they are incorrect. If you find Japanese people using these words in your country, let them know the correct English please!

インターネット、バター、ブラシ、バス・・・・私たちが普段使っている日本語には数え切れないほど多くの外来語が混じっています。カタカナで表記されるそれらの言葉はもはや日本語の一部のようになっていて、日本語では表しきれない場合もあります。例えば、「ペン」。油性ペンをカタカナを使わず日本語で説明することができますか？「スカート」は？このように外来語は日本人にとってなくてはならないものです。

そして中には、和製英語と呼ばれる種類の外来語があります。ソフトクリーム、サインペン、スキンシップ、モーニングコール・・・・。これらは一見正しい英語のように聞こえますがそうではなく、日本人が単語を組み合わせて作ったものです。なので実際に英語圏で言っても通じないか、もしくは違う意味にとられてしまうこともあります。和製英語は日本独特の言葉なのです。

そんな和製英語の一部を紹介します。

• オートバイ…自動(オートマティック)で動くバイク(二輪車)！イメージしやすいですよね。英語ではmotorcycleまたはmotorbikeと言います。

• モーニングコール…朝かける電話だからモーニングコール。昼に起きたいときかけてもらう電話でもモーニングコール。英語ではwake-up callと言います。

• ヘルスメーター…体重計です。体重は健康をはかるひとつの目安です。健康好きの日本ならではですね。英語ではbathroom scaleもしくは scaleです。

• ガソリンスタンド…正しいように思えますが、これも実は和製英語の１つです。英語では、gas station(アメリカ英語)、petrol station(イギリス英語)と言います。

• ベビーカー…英語でベビーカーと言うと小型の自動車を意味します。赤ちゃん用のベビーカーを指したいときはbaby carriageもしくはstrollerと言ってください。

• サンドバッグ…ボクシングの練習のときに使う、あれです。これを英語圏で言うとそのままの意味の「土嚢」になってしまいます。punching bagが正しい英語の表現です。

• フロントガラス…正しくはwindshield(アメリカ英語) 、または windscreen(イギリス英語)です。

この他にもたくさんの和製英語が存在します。多くの言葉を英語から借りているのが見て取れるように、日本語にとって英語はなくてはならない存在です。あまりになじんでいるので、海外にいるときにうっかり使わないように気をつけてくださいね。