S2 Ep23: Story | The trot is being popular again in Korea 한국에서 다시 트로트가 유행하고 있어요

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시즌2, 23화. 이야기편 | 한국에서 다시 트로트가 유행하고 있어요

Season 2, Episode 23 – Story | trot is being popular again in Korea

Transcript 

지금 한국의 50-80대 어른들이 다시 트로트에 빠졌어요. 요새 트로트가 정말 인기가 많기 때문에 많은 사람들이 트로트와 관련된 TV 프로그램들을 보고 있어요. 트로트는 서양의 음악을 동양적으로 바꾼 장르예요. 이 장르는 1960-80년대까지 한국에서 아주 유행이었어요. 그런데 그 이후로는 사람들이 별로 관심을 안 가졌었어요. 

사실 예전에는 한국의 어른들은 체면을 중요하게 생각했어요. 그래서 자신이 좋아하는 것을 다른 사람들에게 잘 안 보여줬어요. 하지만 지금 어른들은 자신의 삶을 즐기는 걸 더 좋아해요. 그래서 이제는 유튜브에서 좋아하는 가수의 영상을 보고, SNS에서 그 가수를 홍보하고, 콘서트에도 가요. 

사실 우리 어머니도 요새 트로트에 완전히 빠졌어요. 트로트 가수 “박서진”을 너무 좋아해서 저에게 박서진 영상을 SNS로 자주 공유해요. 그리고 최근에 우리 아버지랑 같이 콘서트도 갔어요. 하지만 어머니가 요새 이 가수 영상을 너무 많이 보고 매일 이 가수에 대한 이야기를 너무 많이 하고 있어요. 그래서 우리 아버지가 이 가수를 많이 질투하고 있어요. 두 분이 정말 재미있고 귀여워요. 어쨌든 우리 엄마가 큰 즐거움과 기쁨을 느껴서 저도 너무 기분이 좋아요.

 

Translation

Nowadays, Korean adults who are in their 50s through 80s have fallen into the trot again. The trot is really popular these days, and many people are watching TV shows related to trot. The trot is a genre that changed Western music into an oriental style. This genre was trendy in Korea between the 1960s and 1980s. But after that, it has died down, and people didn’t pay much attention.

Actually, in the old days, Korean adults felt that saving faces was crucial. So they didn’t show or share with others what they liked. But nowadays, Korean adults prefer to enjoy their own life. So these days, they watch videos of their favorite singers on YouTube, promote them on their social media, and even go to singer’s concerts.

In fact, my mother is completely obsessed with the trot these days. She likes trot singer Park Seo-jin so much that she often shares his videos on her social media. And recently, she went to his concert with my father. My mother has been watching too many videos of this singer and talking too much about this singer lately, which might seem excessive. As a result, my father is very jealous of this singer. The two of them are really funny and adorable. Anyways, I’m happy to see my mother in a thrilled and joyful mood.


How was it?  Were you able to understand most of the parts? Even if you didn’t, it’s totally fine because we will see the meaning together now.

All right, then, Now let’s break down some valuable expressions together. 

지금 한국의 50-80대 어른들이 다시 트로트에 빠졌어요. 요새 트로트가 정말 인기가 많기 때문에 많은 사람들이 트로트와 관련된 TV 프로그램들을 보고 있어요. 트로트는 서양의 음악을 동양적으로 바꾼 장르예요. 이 장르는 1960-80년대까지 한국에서 아주 유행이었어요. 그런데 그 이후로는 사람들이 별로 관심을 안 가졌었어요. 

In this part, let’s see in detail how to say “ones in their (some age range)” in Korean, and also what’s the difference between similar expressions 인기가 많다, 인기가 있다, 유행이다, 유명하다.

First of all, let’s see how we can say people who are in their ’50s. According to what we already know, we have to use the native number system for reading people’s age. But we exceptionally use the sino number system for this expression.

So we can say like this

  • 그 배우는 벌써 50대예요. That actor is already in his ’50s

  • 저는 20대 초에 유럽과 중동으로 배낭여행을 갔어요. I went to Europe and the Middle East on a backpacking trip in my ’20s.

  • 요즘 한국의 30대들은 결혼에 별로 관심이 없어요. Koreans who are in their 30s these days are not really interested in getting married  

Also, to say more specific age range, you can say like this

  • Early 20s / 20대 초 or초반

  • Mid 20s / 20대 중반

  • Late 20s / 20대 말 or 후반

Then, now let’s see what’s the difference among the similar meaning words associated with popularity

인기가 있다

인기가 많다

유행이다

유명하다

These expressions are actually very similar, but it’s certainly different

Let’s see 인기가 있다 first. 인기가 있다 literally means “to have popularity,” so it means “to be popular.”

And the word 인기가 많다 is “to be very popular” also for the negative expression, 인기가 없다 means “not to be popular.”

Also, 유행이다 literally means “to be a trend” so it means “to be trendy.” 

And 유명하다 is slightly different from 인기가 있다. 유명하다 means “to be famous or to be well-known.”

So the difference between 인기가 있다 and 유명하다 is 인기가 있다 is to be loved by many people while 유명하다 is many people know an object or a person. 

Let’s hear some example sentences that are used these expressions

  • 요새 BTS는 세계적으로 인기가 많아요 These days BTS is very popular worldwide

  • 요새 이 화장법이 유행이에요 These days this makeup style is trendy

  • 데이비드 베컴은 아주 유명해요 David Beckham is very popular

All right, how about that? Did you get it? Try to use these sentences to practice Korean. 

Then let’s hear the next part.

사실 예전에는 한국의 어른들은 체면을 중요하게 생각했어요. 그래서 자신이 좋아하는 것을 다른 사람들에게 잘 안 보여줬어요. 하지만 지금 어른들은 자신의 삶을 즐기는 걸 더 좋아해요. 그래서 이제는 유튜브에서 좋아하는 가수의 영상을 보고, SNS에서 그 가수를 홍보하고, 콘서트에도 가요. 

Here we could hear a new word 체면. It means (face or saving their face). To explain more about 체면, well, it’s also a part of Korean culture. As you might know, Korean society is changing very rapidly; there are huge gaps between what parts each generation values the most.

A few years ago, in Korea, older adults were considered a generation who value 체면 the most. 체면 culture is a part of old Korean society culture. In the last dynasty, 조선, it was a hierarchical society as well as a male-dominated society. In 조선 society, people who were good at hiding their emotions or desires were considered more sophisticated. So to maintain the class or even to look more sophisticated, they had to follow this trend. And even though Korean society has changed significantly after Japanese colonization and the Korean war, some older cultures remained. And this was one of those. 

As a result, sometimes younger Korean people cannot understand when older adults sacrifice themselves or even their family to maintain their 체면(face or saving their face). Therefore younger people usually used to have this idea that older people are often boring, too serious, or don’t know how to enjoy their lives well. 

But nowadays, Koreans in their 50-80s, called baby boomers, have independent economic power and want to enjoy their lives after retirement. they tend to express themselves more healthily and directly.

As a result, many sociologists think that this trot trend results from their desires, and younger generations in their 20-30’s like this trend and support them. Also, some more youthful generations are influenced by older generations and begin to like trot music, which was usually considered an old fashion genre. 

So now that we know what 체면 is. You might understand this part a lot better. 

All right, then now let’s hear the last part together. 

사실 우리 어머니도 요새 트로트에 완전히 빠졌어요. 트로트 가수 “박서진”을 너무 좋아해서 저에게 박서진 영상을 SNS로 자주 공유해요. 그리고 최근에 우리 아버지랑 같이 콘서트도 갔어요. 하지만 어머니가 요새 이 가수 영상을 너무 많이 보고 매일 이 가수에 대한 이야기를 너무 많이 하고 있어요. 그래서 우리 아버지가 이 가수를 많이 질투하고 있어요. 두 분이 정말 재미있고 귀여워요. 어쨌든 우리 엄마가 큰 즐거움과 기쁨을 느껴서 저도 너무 기분이 좋아요.

Haha, It’s entertaining, right? It’s my parent’s story. My mom loves the singer, 박서진. She always watches the video clips and uses social media to see the news about him. So my dad is really jealous of him. Sometimes when I talk to him, he always complains about her. But I kind of like it. I want to support her in enjoying her life and expressing what she likes freely, although my dad is annoyed. Haha

And this part to connect sentences smoothly, I use the word 어쨌든, which means anyways in Korean. 

By the way, do you know that in Korean, there are so many words that mean “anyway”? 

Before the Korean government started standardizing Korean words, people already used many words meaning “anyway.” That’s why there are so many, and there’s not much difference among these.

So let’s see these words now

So first of all, 

  • 어쨌든, 어쨌든지

  • 여하튼, 하여튼, 아무튼, 여하간, 하여간

These words can replace one another.

There is not much difference between these. The word that a person uses more commonly depends on people’s preference; it can be different. 

All right, then which word do you like more?

Just let me know what word sounds more attractive to you.