More than nine out of ten Koreans believe excessive honorific expressions such as "말씀이 계시겠습니다" (using object-elevating speech for inanimate subjects) should be corrected, a new survey shows.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the National Institute of Korean Language released the results of a public survey on "Public Language in Need of Improvement" on Monday.
An advisory committee comprising media, academic, and civic group representatives selected 30 expressions requiring correction. The survey was then conducted among 3,000 respondents aged 14 to 79 nationwide from December 24 to 30 last year.
Excessive honorific expressions topped the list of items needing reform. Some 93.3% of respondents said such expressions "should be changed."
The Ministry explained that the honorific prefix "-시-" (si), which elevates the sentence's subject, is unnecessary when the subject is an object rather than a person. For example, "말씀이 계시겠습니다" should be "말씀이 있겠습니다" (There will be an announcement), and "커피 나오셨습니다" should be "커피 나왔습니다" (Your coffee is ready).
The misuse of "되" and "돼" (grammatical variants of "to become") also drew high concern, with 90.2% calling for improvement.
Respondents also flagged discriminatory expressions such as "맘충" and "급식충" (derogatory terms for mothers and students, respectively) at 87.1%, and "장애를 앓다" (suffering from a disability) at 78.7%. Common grammatical errors including "염두하다" (74.8%) and "알아맞추다" (71.2%) were also cited.
The Ministry and the Institute plan to launch a public awareness campaign based on the survey results. The initiative will include a "Plain Korean Pledge" campaign featuring prominent cultural figures and the production of short-form videos promoting proper Korean usage.