Korean shopping list by Anoop Sarkar

Introduction

The Korean script is called Han-geul (한글). We will be using an English romanization of Han-geul to represent the Korean pronunciations which uses special symbols like eu where a simple mapping to English sounds is not possible¹. Details of the romanization are not important to solve this problem.

The Problem

Su-jin (수진) has written down a shopping list for Daisy (대이지), but Su-jin decides to test Daisy’s command of Han-geul by giving her the pronunciations but not the Han-geul equivalents which Su-jin has provided to Daisy as an unordered list:

• 소주
• 밥
• 갈비
• 소시지
• 후추
• 바나나
• 간장
• 오이
• 쌈장

Hangeul	Pronunciation	English
…	ba-na-na	banana
…	so-si-ji	sausage
…	bab	rice
…	o-i	cucumber
…	so-ju	soju (an alcoholic beverage)
…	ssam-jang	bean paste
…	hu-chu	pepper
…	gal-bi	short ribs
…	gan-jang	soy sauce

The Questions

1. Provide the Han-geul equivalents for Daisy’s shopping list so that she can match the Korean on the packaging to order the right items.

2. Daisy wants to buy some additional items at the grocery store but needs to pronounce them correctly to order them. Fill in the following table which is missing the pronunciations and also provide any missing English equivalents.

   Hangeul	Pronunciation	English
   소금	…	salt
   감자	…	potato
   비빔밥	…	stirred-up rice
   소고기	…	beef
   두부	…	tofu
   고추장	…	red pepper paste
   김치	…	kimchi
   오렌지 주스	…	…
   그린 라이스	…	…