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시즌2, 6화. 대화편 | 수고하셨습니다.
Season 2, Episode 6 – Dialogue | 수고하셨습니다 (You did a great job) / Unique Expression only in Korean
V: 이제 보고서 발표일까지 몇 일 안 남았어요. 크리스는 맡은 부분 얼마나 했어요?
V: There are only a few days left until the presentation day. How much did you complete the part you are assigned to, Chris?
C: 저는 거의 다 했어요. 오늘 바네사 씨한테 파일 보낼게요.
C: I’m almost done. I’ll send the file to you later today.
V: 오, 정말요? 고마워요. 크리스, 정말 수고했어요. 그럼 수민 씨는 맡은 부분 얼마나 했어요?
V: Oh, really? Thank you, Chris; you did a great job. What about you, Sumin? How far have you done?
S: 음.. 저는 어제 바빠서 거의 못 했어요. 오늘 안에 못 끝낼 것 같아요.
S: Well… I barely worked on it as I was busy yesterday. I don’t think I will be able to finish it today.
V: 네? 뭐라고요? 하… 그럼 어떡하지?
V: Yes? I beg your pardon? Ugh, So what do we do?
C: 바네사, 제가 오늘 수민 씨를 도와줄게요. 걱정하지 마세요.
C: Vanessa, I’ll help Sumin today. Do not worry.
V: 정말요? 크리스 진짜 고마워요. 그럼 수민 씨 부분을 부탁할게요. 저는 그 동안 발표 연습을 하고 있을게요.
V: Really? Chris, thank you so much. Then, I’ll ask you to complete Sumin’s part. In the meantime, I’ll be practice our presentation.
C: 네. 알겠어요.
C: Yes. I got it.
V: 다들 힘내요.
V: Everyone, cheer up.
Okay, We heard a dialogue between Chris, Vanessa, and Sumin about working on their presentation report.
In this dialogue, we can learn many expressions that only exist in the Korean language. Then now, shall we break down the conversation together?
V: 이제 보고서 발표일까지 몇 일 안 남았어요. 크리스는 맡은 부분 얼마나 했어요?
Okay, It seems like they are preparing a report presentation, right? Vanessa is the leader of the group, and she is checking in team members on the status of the research. That’s why she opened the conversation as “이제 보고서 발표일까지 몇 일 안 남았어요.” This is a great expression to apply for actual situations. It means we only have a few days to go! If you want to state that someone has limited time to the due date of a project or an occasion and so on, you can use this expression to warn the other.
For example, we only have few hours left 우리 이제 몇 시간 안 남았어요, or you only have few weeks left to prepare the test 당신 이제 시험까지 몇 주 안 남았어요.
Also if you want to emphasize the nuance of urgentness, you can add the word “밖에” meaning “only” like “우리 이제 몇 시간밖에 안 남았어요”, “당신 이제 시험까지 몇 주밖에 안 남았어요”.
To be correct grammatically, it should be like “몇 일 남았어요 few days left.” But to emphasize the nuance that the subject needs to hurry, people usually put the word 안 which means “not” and say 몇 일 안 남았어요 You have not few days left.”
All right, that was an excellent expression to use in actual situations.
Then now, let’s hear the next part
C: 저는 거의 다 했어요. 오늘 바네사 씨한테 파일 보낼게요.
V: 오, 정말요? 고마워요. 크리스, 정말 수고했어요. 그럼 수민 씨는 맡은 부분 얼마나 했어요?
S: 음.. 저는 어제 바빠서 거의 못 했어요. 오늘 안에 못 끝낼 것 같아요.
To answer Vanessa’s question, Chris replied, 저는 거의 다 했어요. So how much do you think that he has completed? Yes, he said 거의 다 that means almost all of it.
On the other hand, to the same question, Sumin replied that 저는 거의 못 했어요. So how much she finished her part? First of all, let’s see the literal translation “I couldn’t do most of it” Guess what would this mean? Yes. That means she barely completed her part.
So she uses the word 못 so nuance-wise; the expression means that she couldn’t finish it unintentionally or has a good reason why she couldn’t finish it. Well, we can see that this is a typical excuse line.
Okay, shall we see the expression describing how much a project of work is finished? First of all, 거의 다, as I said earlier, it means “mostly” like 80-90% is done, 반 or 절반. 반 means a half and 절반 an exact half. So it’s like 50%, 조금 means a little which is like 20-30%, and lastly 거의 못 or 거의 안. That means barely done, So it should be like 5-10% almost nothing. So we can know how much the project or a job is done from these expressions in Korean.
And next, so after Chris said that 저는 거의 다 했어요. 오늘 바네사 씨한테 파일 보낼게요. I’m almost done with it. I will send the file to you today, Vanessa replied 고마워요. 크리스, 정말 수고했어요. The expression 수고했어요 is an expression that only exists in Korean. There’s no direct translation in English. It means that I see or I know what and how much you’ve done for this. It’s an expression to kindly show your acknowledgment of what the other’s done for work, or a project, or a goal. The literal translation of the verb 수고하다 is putting a lot of effort and labor to do work. So the literal meaning of the expression of 수고했어요 is you put a lot of effort and labor to do this.
The literal translation is connected to the actual meaning, right? So this expression is used when you want to give positive recognition or praise or encouragement to others.
We also use this expression to team members when you are about to leave work after the part of your work is done. In that case, it conveys the meaning that I’ve seen each one of you put a lot of effort and labor to accomplish our work. I appreciate it and admire you.
As a similar expression, 고생하셨습니다 is also used. So try to remember these two expressions and observe the situation where Korean people use the expressions from Korean dramas or movies or shows.
All right, I’m pretty sure that you guys understood this part.
Then shall we listen to the next part?
V: 네? 뭐라고요? 하… 그럼 어떡하지?
C: 바네사, 제가 오늘 수민 씨를 도와줄게요. 걱정마세요.
V: 정말요? 크리스 진짜 고마워요. 그럼 수민 씨 부분을 부탁할게요. 저는 그 동안 발표 연습을 하고 있을게요.
Yes, as we all expected, Vanessa got a little bit upset, she replied with 네? 뭐라고요? What? Pardon? and goes on to say 그럼 어떡하지? What should we do?
I know that you probably hear this expression if you are a fan of Korean drama.
I’ve been asked the difference between 어떡하지 and 어떡해 many times. So let me explain the difference between them now. Basically, meaning-wise, it’s the same. But there’s a slight difference nuance-wise. 어떡하지 is only when you talk to yourself. So you can use this when you don’t want to get the counterpart involved in the problem. 어떡해, on the other hand, you can use this when you talk to yourself as well as when you want the other person to get involved in solving the issue, if you say this to the person with the meaning that “What should I do? Give me the solution.”
Well, but the difference between these is not significant, so sometimes it’s used mixing up.
Okay, and let’s see the following expression now. So after that, Chris kindly offers help to finish Sumin’s part. So Vanessa was relieved and said 크리스 진짜 고마워요. Thank you, Chris. 그럼 수민씨 부분을 부탁할게요. The expression 부탁할게요 also doesn’t have a direct translation in English. It means “I kindly ask/request you to do this for me or us.” The word 부탁 has the meaning “kindly asking or requesting,” so it’s a pretty polite and kind expression to use. This is also a very Korean-style expression, so if you use this expression, it would sound much natural.
All right. Then now, let’s hear the last part.
C: 네. 알겠어요.
V: 다들 힘내요.
Great. Fortunately, they all compromised with each other peacefully. So to wrap up the meeting in a positive atmosphere, Vanessa said 다들 힘내요!. Well, this one doesn’t have a literal translation either. It’s usually translated as cheer up or go for it. And when Korean use this expression, we want to convey the meaning that we want to encourage or console others. You might understand the real meaning if you know the literal meaning. The verb 힘내다 means “to make one’s energy” So 힘내요 is usually in an imperative tense, so it means like “Please make your energy.” So it’s an expression to use when you want to say that you hope the other person makes some energy to move forward or handle the situation well.
So as they all agree with that, they end the meeting while saying 힘내요 to other members.
Fortunately, it’s a happy ending.
Excellent!
