You might have learned that the Korean word
for dog is 개, but it’s not that simple! There are actually many different words that
people use to talk about dogs! In this video, I’m going to teach you these
words and some other vocabulary related to having a pet in Korea! While it is correct that the Korean word for
dog is 개, it’s often avoided by dog-owners because it can sound a little bit harsh. 개 is commonly used as an insult in Korean,
so many people don’t like to use it when talking about the
ir furry best friend. The most common alternative is 강아지,
which means “puppy”, but “반려견" or “companion dog” is increasingly common
as well. In the past, 애완견 “pet dog” and 애완동물
“pet animal” were commonly used, and you will still see these words on some pet shop
signs, but many people now feel that they reflect older attitudes towards dogs. Until quite recently, dogs were seen as property
and even raised for food, but awareness of animal welfare has improved massively among
the younger generation
of Koreans. You might also hear dogs called 멍멍이
or 댕댕이. 멍멍이 comes from the sound that dogs make in Korean, “멍멍”, and
댕댕 is basically just a cute sound that can be used in various situations. Both of these words are very informal. You will often hear small children say them. 품종견 and 순종견 both mean pure-breed
or pedigree dog. The most popular breeds in Korea are mostly
small dogs such as Pomeranians, Malteses and Poodles. When it comes to mixed-breeds, people use
various words. These can be fairly
neutral like 믹스견
- “mixed-dog”, derogatory - like 잡종견 - “mongrel” or 똥개 - which literally
means “poop dog”. 시고르자브종 is an attempt to make mixed-dogs
sound like a fancy breed. It’s derived from 시골 - “countryside”
and 잡종 “mongrel” - but is much more affectionate. Because of the demand for pure-breeds, many
mixed-dogs end up as 떠돌이 개 - “stray dogs”. Indy used to be a 떠돌이 개, but now since
I adopted her, we can call her a 유기견 or “rescue dog”. The Korean verb “to adopt” is 입양하다.
유기견을 입양하다. I feel I sho
uld mention something about cats
since I talked a lot about dogs. I’m kind of a dog person, but I like cats
too. The Korean word for cat is 고양이. We call pure breed cats 품종묘 and we call
stray cats 길고양이 or “street cats”. One kind of funny thing is that while the
regular word for a pet owner is 보호자 - which literally means “guardian” or
“protector”, we often call cat owners 냥이집사 - “cat servant”. If you have a cat, maybe you can understand
why. Another slang word that is used for cats that
have a mor
e dog-like personality is 개냥이 which is a combination of 개 and 고양이. It’s time to try listening to what I said
at the beginning of the video again. This time I’ve included subtitles, but see
if you can pick out the vocabulary we learned today. Hello. I’m a pet owner who is raising a puppy. The dog who lives in our house is called Indy. Indy isn’t a pure-breed dog, she’s a mixed breed, so we can call her a “shi-go-leu-ja-beu-jong” (affectionate slang word for a rural mixed breed). I adopted Indy wh
en she was about 2-4 months old. As she’s a rescue dog, I don't know exactly how old she is. Thank you for watching my video, see you soon!
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