HSC Korean in Context (NSW) cheat sheet

Korean kinship terms encode relative age and side of family: 오빠/형 (older brother, speaker female/male), 누나/언니 (older sister, speaker male/female), 삼촌 (uncle) versus 외삼촌 (maternal uncle).

Honorific suffix -님 attaches to titles (선생님, 부모님) but not to plain kin nouns like 아버지 or 어머니 when referring to one's own family in humble speech.

Age hierarchy is marked by 호칭 (address terms): a speaker uses 이름 + 씨 to a social equal, but 형/누나/선배 to an older or senior addressee; using a name alone to an elder is a face-threatening error.

Self-introduction register: 자기소개 in formal settings uses 저는 ...입니다/이에요; casual peer settings allow 나는 ...이야/야. Mixing 저 with 이야 is a register error.

Family structure vocabulary: 핵가족 (nuclear), 대가족 (extended), 맞벌이 부부 (dual-income couple), 한부모 가정 (single-parent family), 다문화 가정 (multicultural family).

Humble verbs for one's own family: 드시다 becomes 잡수시다/드시다 for elders but 진지 드세요 is honorific toward the elder; use 드리다 when giving to an elder, 받다 when receiving.

Korean has no grammatical gender; gender appears through lexical choice (그/그녀 in writing only) and through kin terms, so translations must supply gender from context.

Polite refusal and agreement formulas: 괜찮아요 (declining), 사양하겠습니다 (formal decline), 좋을 것 같아요 (soft agreement) - direct 아니요 alone can read as blunt.

한글 was promulgated in 1446 under King Sejong; the original text is 훈민정음, and Hunminjeongeum Haerye (1446) explains the letter shapes.

Korean consonants are classified by articulation organ in Hunminjeongeum: 아음 (velar ㄱ), 설음 (lingual ㄴ), 순음 (labial ㅁ), 치음 (dental ㅅ), 후음 (glottal ㅇ).

Intangible heritage is designated by UNESCO; examples include 종묘제례악 (2001), 판소리 (2003), 강강술래 (2009), 김장 (2013), 씨름 (2018).

Korean holidays follow the lunar calendar for 설날 (1st day, 1st lunar month) and 추석 (15th day, 8th lunar month); 삼일절, 광복절, 개천절, 한글날 follow the solar calendar.

Community institutions: 경로당 (senior centre), 향교 (Confucian academy), 종친회 (clan association), 두레 (traditional cooperative labour group), 품앗이 (reciprocal labour exchange).

Food heritage terms carry regional identity: 김치 varieties differ by province (전라도 갓김치, 평안도 백김치); 떡국 is eaten at 설날 and 송편 at 추석.

Hanbok components: 저고리 (top), 치마 (skirt, women), 바지 (trousers, men), 두루마기 (overcoat), 배래 and 깃 (sleeve and collar) are named parts.

Cultural respect rules: two hands when giving/receiving, pouring for elders with the other hand supporting the wrist or sleeve, and turning away when drinking in front of an elder.

Korean school ladder: 초등학교 6 years, 중학교 3 years, 고등학교 3 years, then 대학교 (4 years) or 전문대학 (2-3 years).

High school tracks: 일반계고 (academic), 특성화고 (vocational), 특목고 (special-purpose, e.g. 외국어고, 과학고), 자율고.

University admission in Korea uses 수시 (rolling, with 학생부 종합/교과 and 논술) and 정시 (regular, centred on 수능 scores).

수능 has five areas: 국어, 수학, 영어, 한국사 (compulsory), 탐구 (사회/과학), plus 제2외국어/한문 as optional.

Work vocabulary: 정규직 (permanent), 비정규직/계약직 (contract), 인턴 (intern), 신입 사원 (new hire), 경력직 (experienced hire), 연봉 (annual salary).

Cover-letter (자기소개서) structure in Korean hiring: 성장 과정, 성격의 장단점, 지원 동기, 입사 후 포부.

Hierarchy at work: 사원 → 대리 → 과장 → 차장 → 부장 → 임원; address seniors as 선배님 or 직함 + 님, not by first name.

Future-path expressions: 진로를 정하다 (decide a career path), 유학을 가다 (study abroad), 자격증을 취득하다 (obtain a certificate), 아르바이트를 하다 (work part-time).

Korea's low birth rate (세계 최저 수준의 출산율) drives policy terms: 저출산, 고령화, 생산가능인구 감소, 청년 실업.

Aging society thresholds: 고령화사회 (65+ over 7%), 고령사회 (14%), 초고령사회 (20%) of the population.

Multicultural shift vocabulary: 다문화 가정, 이주 노동자, 결혼 이민자, 새터민 (North Korean defectors), 재외동포.

Digital issues: 사이버 폭력 (cyberbullying), 악성 댓글 (malicious comments), 개인정보 유출 (data leak), 가짜 뉴스 (fake news), 딥페이크.

Environmental terms: 미세먼지 (fine dust), 탄소 중립 (carbon neutrality), 재활용 (recycling), 기후 위기 (climate crisis), 일회용품 규제.

Gender and workplace debate vocabulary: 경력 단절 (career break), 육아 휴직 (parental leave), 유리천장 (glass ceiling), 워라밸 (work-life balance).

Education pressure issues: 사교육비 (private tutoring costs), 입시 경쟁 (exam competition), 학원 (cram school), 교육 격차 (education gap).

Argument language for social issues: 찬성/반대 입장, 근거를 제시하다 (give grounds), 반면에 (whereas), 따라서 (therefore), 우려가 제기되다 (concerns are raised).

Korean has three sentence-final registers to identify in listening: 해요체 (polite informal), 합니다체 (formal polite), 해체/반말 (intimate).

Sound changes to decode: 연음 (linking), 비음화 (ㄱ/ㄷ/ㅂ → ㅇ/ㄴ/ㅁ before ㄴ/ㅁ, e.g. 국물 [궁물]), 유음화 (ㄴ+ㄹ → ㄹㄹ, 신라 [실라]), 경음화 (학교 [학꾜]).

Contractions in fast speech: 것이 → 게, 나는 → 난, 무엇을 → 뭘, 어떻게 → 어떡해, 그렇다면 → 그럼.

Discourse markers signal structure: 그래서 (result), 그런데 (contrast/topic shift), 그러니까 (restatement), 일단 (first), 결국 (in the end).

Numbers: native Korean numbers for counters (한 개, 두 명, 세 시) and Sino-Korean for dates, money, phone numbers (이천 이십이 년, 삼천 원).

Honorific listening cues: -시- infix, 께서 (subject honorific), -습니다/ㅂ니다 (formal), -세요 (request/imperative polite).

Note-taking strategy: record numbers, names, times, places first; then capture the speaker's stance (찬성/반대) and the reason marker (왜냐하면, -기 때문에).

Response tasks often require choosing the correct reaction: invitations (같이 갈래요?), offers (도와 드릴까요?), apologies (늦어서 죄송합니다) each demand a matched formula.

Text-type markers: 신문 기사 uses headline + lead (리드문) answering who/what/when/where/why; 논설문 states 주장 then 근거; 안내문 uses bullet lists and -하시기 바랍니다.

Cohesive devices to track: 지시어 (이것, 그것, 그, 이러한) refer back to a previous noun phrase; 연결어미 (-지만, -므로, -는데, -면서) mark logical relations.

Passage structure questions ask for 주제 (topic), 요지 (main point), 목적 (purpose), and 필자의 태도 (writer's attitude); each maps to different cue words.

Inference items: choose the option supported by the text, not by general knowledge; eliminate options with absolute words (반드시, 절대로) unless the text states them.

Vocabulary in context: 한자어 words (환경, 경제, 사회) recur; use the surrounding clause and 한자 meaning to infer unfamiliar terms.

Summary/blank-filling items require matching grammatical form as well as meaning: a blank after -기 때문에 needs a cause clause, after -더라도 a concessive clause.

Statistics in Korean text use counters and units: 명 (people), 가구 (households), 퍼센트/%, 원 (won), 배 (times); check whether the figure is 증가 (rise) or 감소 (fall).

Ordering sentences requires pronoun and connector tracking: 먼저/우선, 다음으로, 마지막으로, 그리고, 그러나 signal sequence and contrast.

Korean paragraph order is indirect: background/context first, then the main claim, then supporting evidence, then conclusion - unlike English thesis-first essays.

Sentence endings by genre: 보고서/논설문 use -ㄴ다/는다 (plain declarative); 편지 uses -습니다/해요; 일기 uses 반말 past -았다/었다.

Spelling rules to apply: 띄어쓰기 separates particles from nouns but keeps auxiliary verbs attached in some cases; 한글 맞춤법 governs both.

Common written errors: confusing -데 (background) with -대 (reported speech), -로서 (capacity) with -로써 (means), and 안 (negation) with 않 (verb 않다).

Formal essay connectors: 첫째/둘째, 또한, 따라서, 그러나, 예를 들어, 반면에, 결론적으로.

Reported speech forms: -다고 하다 (statement), -냐고 하다 (question), -자고 하다 (suggestion), -라고 하다 (imperative).

Honorific consistency: once a formal addressee is established, keep -습니다/ㅂ니다 throughout; do not switch mid-text to 해요체.

Editing checklist: subject-verb agreement in honorifics (-시- present when the subject is honoured), tense consistency, and correct counter + number order (세 명, not 명 세).