LITMIR.BIZ

      Cast of Characters

      The Murphy Family:

      Christopher Murphy, a middle-aged British businessman in charge of the Seoul office of a Yorkshire textiles firm; Eunice, his Australian wife who teaches piano at an International School in Seoul; Eric and Sandy, their twenty-one-year old twins, both attending the International Division at Korea University.

      The Kim Family:

      Mr. Ch’ang-gi Kim, Chris Murphy’s Korean teacher, a middle-aged Korean; his wife, a full-time housewife active in their local church; Chin-yŏng, their twenty-one- year-old daughter, and Chin-sŏp, their twenty-year-old son, both attending Korea University.

      Others:

      Miss Lee, Christopher Murphy’s secretary, a woman in her mid-twenties.

      할머니 (halmŏni), the “grandmother” living across the hall from the Murphys.

      Mr. Kang, a middle-aged man who is a long-time business associate of Chris Murphy and senior employee of Han’guk Sǒmyu, a Korean textiles firm based in Pusan.

      Mr. Nam, another business associate of Chris Murphy.

      Yŏngch’ŏl, a friend of Eric’s from Korea University.

      Sŏngman, a friend of Sandy’s from Korea University.

      Miss Kwak, a waitress befriended by Eric.

      송 선생님 (Song sŏnsaeng-nim), Eric and Sandy’s Korean teacher at Korea University.

      Yuko, a Japanese friend Sandy has met at Korea University.

      보희 (Pohŭi) and 경숙 (Kyŏngsuk), two of Chin-yŏng’s high school friends from Inch’ŏn.

      The list above is given to clarify the gender, age, status and interrelationships of the various characters in the book, since this affects the style of Korean that they use in addressing each other.

Lesson 16

      늦어서 죄송합니다.

      In this lesson we see Eric apologizing to his Korean teacher for being late to class and explaining the circumstances behind his tardiness. The lesson introduces ways to combine two or more sentences with -고 meaning and or and then, and the important ending in infinitive -아 ~ -어 plus 서 for causes and sequences. The lesson also introduces two ways to say about, and the new explanatory ending in -거든요.

      Korean Dialogues

      Dialogue 1

      Eric has arrived late to his Korean class and is about to apologize to his teacher, Mr. Song, a graduate student at Korea University.