Turning One Word Into Many-When Several Korean Words Translate the Same

"Good luck with the 4-5 Korean words that mean 1 English word!" I'm told that's exactly what a Korean speaker remarked upon realizing I am learning his native language. I hadn't really considered it a burden at all like he thought it would be for me-in fact, it's one of my favorite aspects of the language! I wish I knew more words like this, and I'll definitely make another post later when I learn more, but for now I've thought up two different types of these multi-translation words.

SUN

Koreans have two separate words for sun, 태양 and 해.

• 태양 (tae yang) is actually derived from Chinese. Because of Korea and China's history, there are actually many Korean words like this. There is even an entire number system used in Korean that is taken from Chinese! As with other Chinese-derived words, 태양 is more formal and is used in academic writing to refer to our sun. 

• 해 (hae) is a more casual, colloquial term for sun. It's a native word, so it's used more often. What more, my understanding is that it can be used to refer to any sun, not just our own. So if you're reading a sci-fi novel that talks about a fictional world and its sun, 해 is going to be the word used.

Another interesting thing to note is that while 태양 is mostly used in just scientific writing, it can be used in a more poetic context as well. I have seen 태양 used in Korean song lyrics many times to  evoke a more longing, mysterious, poetic tone than the casual 해 can deliver. It's old Korean, so it'd be a bit like using a very old English word. 

HEART

There are actually 3 Korean words I have seen translated into heart: 가슴, 심장, and 마음.

• 가슴 (ga seum) is the weirdest translation of the three in my opinion. Sometimes, it occurs due to mistranslation, but it can still technically be used to mean 'heart.' However, it literally means 'chest' and is normally used to mean just that.

• 심장 (sim jang) is also a very literal, physical word. It is used to signify your actual beating heart.

• 마음 (ma eum), on the other hand, is a different sort of word not reflected well in English. 마음 is the emotional, figurative side of the heart. It's definitely used in more poetic contexts than the other two translations.

So when we analyze the more commonly used latter two words (심장 and 마음), in the context of a real phrase, we can see the difference between them quite well. Adding the word '아파,' signifies pain, and adding it after each word would result in essentially the same translation, 'my heart hurts.' But there are different kinds of pain that using each word would notate.

심장 아파 is a physical pain. It would be used in medical contexts to denote actual pain in someone's heart.

마음 아파 is more like our word for heartbreak. Your heart hurts on a more emotional or spiritual level when you use this phrase.

As you can see from how much I've written today, this concept of one English word branching out into several new Korean words is one of my favorite things to talk about. So while I appreciate the bids of good luck for this concept, it's not a burden. I love it! I love finding new ways to express feelings we might not have the right words for in English.