Have you ever wanted to write a fan letter to your favorite Korean celebrity, but don't know where to begin?

Perhaps you already know some phrases, or maybe you're skilled at Korean, but you'd like some examples and more specific grammar tips to get started. This week's video is just for you!

A lot of people have asked me for help writing letters in Korean, so today I present this new video to help you with that.

Feel free to send in your own questions and they might be featured in an upcoming video.

Tip #1 - Use Their Title

Whenever you're saying a celebrity's name in Korean, you need to add a title after it so it's polite.

A few common titles are 오빠, 누나, 언니, 형, and 동생.

Some general titles you can use are also 가수 if they're a "singer," or 배우 if they're an "actor" or "actress."

To use a title, just take the celebrity's first name and attach the title to the end. For a quick example, 철수 could become 철수 오빠, and 영희 could become 영희 누나, among other possibilities. Or if 철수 is a singer, you could also write 철수 가수, for example.

Tip #2 - Use Polite Korean

The 요 (yo) form in Korean is perfect for writing letters to celebrities.

I'd also recommend avoiding any slang. Korean slang is fine between close friends, but shouldn't be used to people you haven't even met yet.

Use proper expressions such as 안녕하세요, and avoid casual speech such as 안녕.

Another tip is to remember to use 저 to refer to yourself, and to not use 나.

An Example Letter in Korean

Let's take a look at an example fan letter and learn some grammar that you can use. The complete letter appears at the bottom of this explanation. These are only examples but they should help to get you started. Feel free to copy parts if that's what you wanted to say anyway.

You can start the letter by using their name, their title, and then 에게, which means "to."

For example, 철수 형에게. This means "To Chul-soo."

Then use 안녕하세요 as a greeting to say "hello."

You can tell them where you are from. You can do this by saying 저는, then the name of your country, 에 살고 있는, then their name and title, 팬, then your name, and then finally 이에요 if your name ends in a consonant or 예요 if your name ends in a vowel.

Here's an example: 저는 미국에 살고 있는 철수 형 팬 빌리예요. This means "I'm Billy, a fan of you, Chul-soo, and I live in America."

It would be good to tell them how you know of them.

You can say 최근에, their name and title, the subject marker (이/가), 나오는, and then say where you saw them - such as in a movie or a drama. Then attach the object marker (을/를), followed by 정말 재미있게 봤어요.

Here's an example: 최근에 철수 형이 나오는 영화를 정말 재미있게 봤어요. This means "I really enjoyed watching the recent movie that you, Chul-soo, appeared in."

Next, you'll want to say that they're your favorite actor, or singer, for example. Here's how to do that:

First say their name and title, followed by the topic marker (은/는), then 제가 제일 좋아하는, and then say 가수 if they're your favorite singer or 배우 if they're your favorite actor. Then end with 이에요 or 예요 like before.

Here's an example: 철수 형은 제가 제일 좋아하는 배우예요. This means "Chul-soo, you're my favorite actor."

If you want to ask them to have a fan meeting in your city or country, you can use this phrase.

___에서도 팬미팅을 했으면 좋겠어요. Replace the blank space with the name of your city or country.

And to say something that you're looking forward to, you can use this phrase.

___도 너무 기대돼요. You can replace the blank space with what you are looking forward to.

Here's an example: 다음 작품도 너무 기대돼요. 다음 작품 means "the next work," so this sentence means "I'm looking forward to your next work." You could use this phrase to a Korean musician. You could also use 다음 앨범 instead to mean "next album."

And here's a useful phrase you can use to end your letter.

___에게는 ___[을/를] 응원하는 팬들이 있어요.

Replace the first space with their name and title, and replace the second space with just their title.

Here's an example: 철수 형에게는 형을 응원하는 팬들이 있어요. This means "You have fans who are cheering you on, Chul-soo."

그러니까, 항상 건강하세요! This means "So take care!" You can use this phrase exactly as it is written.

And here's the entire example fan letter written in Korean, for reference. This letter was written to Chul-soo (a male Korean actor) by a younger female fan.

철수 오빠에게,

안녕하세요! 저는 미국에 살고 있는 철수 오빠 팬 키켓이에요.

최근에 철수 오빠가 나오는 드라마를 정말 재미있게 봤어요.

철수 오빠는 제가 제일 좋아하는 배우예요.

미국에서도 팬미팅을 했으면 좋겠어요.

다음 작품도 너무 기대돼요.

철수 오빠에게는 오빠를 응원하는 팬들이 있어요.

그러니까, 항상 건강하세요!

How you write your letter is up to you, but I’d recommend keeping it simple and short. Start with a quick self-introduction, say what you want to say, and finish it with a “thank you” and your name.

And this is kind of a secret, but if you add stickers, smiley faces and drawings on your letter, it increases the chances of them noticing it. But don’t tell them I told you this.

Good luck with writing your own letters! Be sure to let me know if you use any of these tips to write your own letters to your favorite Korean celebrities.

The post How to write a letter to a Korean celebrity (Q&A 13) appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.