earticle

영어

Seasons and weather strongly influence a country’s lifestyle and culture, including its language and literary traditions. Therefore, these concepts are essential for understanding a country, and related vocabulary is crucial for second-language learners. Korean language learners are frequently exposed to weather forecasts, both in Korea and abroad (in their home countries). However, learners in Myanmar ? where only summer, winter and rainy season exist ? often struggle with Korean seasonal and weather-related vocabulary due to Korea’s four distinct seasons. This study examines previous research on seasons and weather and highlights differences in meaning and usage between the two languages, with a focus on beginner-level vocabulary. The results showed that among the season-related compound expressions in Korean, “scorching summer,” “welcoming fall” and “passing the winter” have direct equivalents in Myanmar. However, “deepening winter” does not, as the dictionary meaning of “deep” which conveys a sense of temporal depth does not exist in the Myanmar language. For other season-related compound expressions, most did not have direct equivalents. A contrastive analysis revealed that while the two languages share weather-related vocabulary, the usage of descriptive terms differs. In particular, in Korean, when forms of precipitation such as snow, rain, frost, and dew move vertically from top to bottom, they are paired with the word “fall.” Similarly, liquids such as raindrops, water droplets and water that fall vertically are used in combination with the word “drop.” However, in Myanmar, the native terms “?? ??? (hsin:thi; “to fall”) and “? ?? (kjathi; “to drop”) can be used interchangeably, making it crucial to highlight these linguistic differences through lexical semantic analysis. By addressing these differences, beginner learners in Myanmar can acquire weather-related vocabulary more accurately and avoid errors such as “rain is dropping” (???? ???????; mou:jwanei.de) due to mother tongue interference, thereby improving communication fluency. This study analyzes the linguistic differences between Korean and Myanmar and may provide useful insights for Korean language schools in Myanmar as well as for Myanmar-speaking Korean learners in Korea. However, the limitations of this study include reliance on basic dictionary meanings and dictionary usage, as well as instances where Google searches and researcher’s intuition were used for vocabulary not found in the Myanmar-Myanmar dictionary.