Food in Seoul, South Korea & Korean
(cont) pg 7
Living
in Seoul, Korea book by Paul Symonds
With such a passion for food,
it was no surprise when I also heard Koreans
using some Konglish for the food industry. There are some
interesting expressions, such as the expression ‘family
restaurant’. The meaning of this
in English is most closely translates as ‘Western
style restaurant’. If a Korean
is going to the American owned restaurant Bennigan’s
or the Australian style ‘Outback Steakhouse’,
they are described in Konglish as ‘Family restaurants’,
even though Koreans also take their families to Korean
restaurants just the same for food.
Another word and one of the first words a foreigner probably
learns is the word ‘service’, when out eating
Korean food. Used in restaurants it means ‘freebie’
and you get offered service fairly 
often,
perhaps more so, as a foreigner than a Korean. Korean
people are often keen to impress and are generally very
kind and this results in ‘service’ at some
restaurants. Maybe I was just lucky, I am not sure.
The words ‘Family’ and ‘Families’
can also be very confusing at first, in conversations
with a Korean. In Konglish one can have more than one
family. The idea is that, if you are married for example,
you have your wife’s or husband’s family,
and then you have your own family i.e. your own mother,
father, sister etc. In English, one person would have
one family, with these people being your direct family.
For example, in English you would have one family consisting
of your parents, siblings, grandparents, aunties and uncles,
cousins and in-laws etc.
On introduction or in an interview, a Korean will also
often usually say something such as, “I have four
members in my family - My mother, my father, my younger
sister and myself”. This kind of expression is extremely
common in Konglish. In comparison, in English, one would
say something like, “I live with my parents and
younger sister”. ‘Members’ is used often
out of context such as for family or co-workers, rather
than members of a club or association as in English.
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