Do You Text in Korean? Here’s How to Make Your Texts Friendlier – Seoulistic

Do You Text in Korean? Here’s How to Make Your Texts Friendlier

If you’re living in Korea, texting in Korean will become a part of daily life. Make sure you do as the Koreans do and make your texts friendly and cute so you don’t seem like jerk. Here’s a few simple ways you can make sure your texts seem nicer ๐Ÿ™‚

 

Add a Tilde (~)

If youโ€™re an English texter, you probably donโ€™t have much use for the tilde (the squiggly line next to the number 1 on keyboards). But if youโ€™re going to text in Korean, youโ€™ll find yourself using this in no time as it adds a tiny bit of friendliness to any statement you make. It essentially represents stretching of the vowels (think ์ž–์•„-jana). Watch and learn:

๋ฏธ์›Œ (miweo) โ€“ I donโ€™t like you.
(Potential reaction: Damn! Why you gotta hate yo!)
๋ฏธ์›Œ~ (miweo~) โ€“ I donโ€™t like you~
(Potential reaction: Awwโ€ฆ why you gotta be like that?)

Tip: The more tildes you add, the more youโ€™re stretching (and making things nicer)โ€ฆ kinda~~~~~~ (see? :))

 

Add ใ…Ž or ใ…‹ to the End of Anything

ใ…Ž and ใ…‹ are the equivalent to โ€œhahaโ€ in English. Theyโ€™re the sounds people make when they laugh. So even if youโ€™re not laughing at anything, just sticking it in there will make your texts seem lighter in nature. See what a few simple ใ…Ž or ใ…‹ can do to a sentence:

์‹๋ฌผ์ด ์ฃฝ์—ˆ์–ด (shikmuli jukeosseo) โ€“ โ€œthe plant is deadโ€
(Geez, you donโ€™t beat around the bush do you?)
์‹๋ฌผ์ด ์ฃฝ์—ˆ์–ด ใ…‹ใ…‹ใ…‹ (shikmuli jukeosseo) โ€“ โ€œthe plant is dead hahahaโ€
(haha, dead plants are funny!)

 

Add an Emoticon to the End of your Statements

Have you checked out Seoulistic.comโ€™s list of Korean emoticons? Itโ€™s crazy helpful. But for this, if you donโ€™t want to express any specific emotion via text and just want to make yourself seem friendlier, use the most generic Korean emoticon: ^^. Even a sad face, the most common being ใ…œใ…œ, is well appreciated by Korean texters. Watch people love you more when you use emoticons:

์˜ค๋น  ์ทจ์†Œํ•ด์„œ ๋ฏธ์•ˆํ•ด (oppa cwisohaeseo mianhae) โ€“ Sorry for canceling.
(Potential reaction: Whateverโ€ฆ)
์˜ค๋น  ์ทจ์†Œํ•ด์„œ ๋ฏธ์•ˆํ•ด ใ…œใ…œ (oppa cwisohaeseo mianhae) โ€“ Sorry for canceling ๐Ÿ™
(Potential reaction: awwโ€ฆ sheโ€™s being genuine!)
์˜ค๋น  ์ทจ์†Œํ•ด์„œ ๋ฏธ์•ˆํ•ด ^^ (oppa cwisohaeseo mianhae) โ€“ Sorry for canceling ๐Ÿ™‚
(Potential reaction: oh, itโ€™s all good baby girl!)




Combo it up for Ultra Friendliness

Combine these and get the ultimate friendly text:

๋ˆ ๋งŽ์ด ์žƒ์—ˆ์–ด (don manhi ilheosseo) โ€“ I lost a lot of money
(dang that sucks)
ใ…‹ใ…‹ใ…‹ ๋ˆ ๋งŽ์ด ์žƒ์—ˆ์–ด~ ^^ (don manhi ilheosseo) โ€“ haha, I lost a lot of money~ ๐Ÿ™‚
(Oh, you did? Awesome!)


 

Optional: Text like a Female Student

The cutest texters in Korea are female students. They like to add these cute little sounds that are sometimes used in real life, but mostly used in the world of texting. While there are too many to list, here are some common examples:

๋„ค (ne-yes) -> ๋„ต
๋ฐ”๋น ? (bappa?-busy?) -> ๋ฐ”๋นต? (you can add ใ…‡ to end many words)
์•„๋‹ˆ์•ผ (aniya-no) -> ์•„๋‹ˆ์–Œ

Tip: Not recommended for guys, unless texting like a Korean high school girl is your thang.

Have any other tips on making your texts seem friendlier in Korea? Share in the comments!

Keith
Keith
Keith Kim is a Korean-American who has been living in Korea for almost a decade. Being in a unique position as both a Korean and a non-Korean, he's put all his experience and knowledge for surviving in Korea in Survival Korean . Read it to learn how you can survive in Korea. Follow him on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

14 Comments

  1. Yuna says:

    Do college girls also text “like a female student”? I’m 21. When does it become immature? Or does it depend whether you’re texting with a guy or girl? Thanks.

  2. Danae says:

    Isn’t it a bit cheesy sometimes?

  3. Keith says:

    @Yuna – I’ve seen a 30 year old do it. I thought it was immature for her… but everyone has their own way of texting ๐Ÿ™‚ But plenty of college students do it all the time ๐Ÿ™‚

  4. Younghyun says:

    like a female student text is used many women in korea not girls. my mother use it and my sister use it and my female friends use it! and also i think guys use it in text with their girl friends(but actually not wife and not friends).
    if yuna use this “like a female student”, it’s not abnormal. don’t worry and use it!

  5. Hansen says:

    Hahaha~ thx Keith! now i know why my korean teacher text like that ๐Ÿ˜€

  6. eiko says:

    I briefly knew a girl from Korea and the first time i got a text from her, my reaction was: “What’s wrong with her keyboard?” XD

  7. miiko says:

    ใ…‹ใ…‹ใ…‹ very weird ^^

  8. eogi says:

    i mean is that necessary ใ…‹ใ…‹ใ…‹ใ…‹

  9. KP says:

    Thanks! My adult female students have started texting me and this will come in handy when decoding and texting them back!

  10. charlese says:

    OM G~~~~ ๊ฐ์‚ฌํ•ฉ๋‹ˆ๋‹ค ์˜ค๋น ~~~~~^-^ Thank chuuu~~~ so much for this ^-^ because I recently made a friend from Korea and I used this style of texting and everything u say is TRUE~~~ ใ…‹ใ…‹ใ…‹ because he used some if the same symbols u were talking about^^

  11. Tina says:

    I want to have korean friends before I go to Korea

  12. rez says:

    more knowledge… i want to know what is the meaning of this (์˜ค๋น ~

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