Korean English errors
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The following is a summary of typical writing errors by Korean learners of English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL).
Contents
1 Lexical errors
1.1 English-Korean lexemes
Some errors arise from English loanwords into Korean, with altered meanings. For more, see the article on Konglish (vocabulary issues). Examples include:
| Korean | English source | Korean meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 화이팅 | "fighting" | a cheer or expression of encouragement |
| 멀티탭 | multi + tab | a powerstrip |
| 스킨십 | skin + ship | affectionate touch |
| 핸들 | handle | steering wheel |
1.2 English countable nouns
Some nouns in English differ in countability or their status as singular nouns. The following nouns, for example, have singular collective meanings, and are not used as plurals, at least not with the meaning that Korean students may intend.
| English noun | meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| faculty | a group of teachers / professors at a school / institution | (not 'faculties') |
| staff | a group of people working in an office | (not 'staffs') |
| alphabet | a set of characters or letters that form a writing system, e.g., the Latin alphabet | cf. 'letters' = characters of an alphabet |
| vocabulary | the set of all words in a language, e.g., English vocabulary | cf. 'words' or 'lexical items' |
Some nouns are more abstract in English and are used as singular nouns, not as plural nouns.
- evidence (not 'evidences')
1.3 Other content words
Some verbs differ in meaning or use between Korean and English, leading to errors in English usage. Examples include:
- Proceed: In English, this is intransitive only (차동사). The transitive (타동사) equivalent in English is conduct.
- Mention: This means to briefly talk about something, without going into detail. It is not the same as discuss, and is in fact quite different, as discuss means to go into a detailed explanation or description.
