One fringe benefit of speaking—or slowly but surely learning—Korean? You’ll be a lot better at following BTS lyrics. But luckily for all of us, four members of the iconic K-pop group recently joined Vogue to teach a little Korean 101… and trust us, we’re taking notes.
The boys know well that quirky idioms don’t always translate. As RM recalls, “At one of our US concerts in maybe 2018, one of the crew members said to me, ‘Yo, break a leg.’ It was right before we went onstage, so I was like, ‘What? Break a leg?’ Those are the kinds of nuances in language that are difficult.” Still, the band bravely soldiered on in their lesson, walking the audience through common Korean words and phrases like 가보자고, or “gabojago” (“Let’s go!”), and 치맥, or “chimaek” (the popular South Korean culinary combination of fried chicken and beer).
There are some Korean terms that don’t have a one-to-one equivalent in American English (though some of them—such as 눈치, or “nunchi,” meaning “social awareness” or “reading the air,” absolutely should!), but BTS’s patience in interpreting and contextualizing a good number of them proves that not only are they genre-defining musical artists, but pretty great teachers, too.
Director: Yohan Yoon
Editor: JY Chun
Producer: Chase Lewis
Associate Producer: Lea Donenberg
Production Assistant: Jaybe Lee
Production Coordinator: Tanía Jones
Production Manager: Kristen Helmick
Line Producer: Natasha Soto-Albors
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell
Post Production Coordinator: Holly Frew
Supervising Editor: Kameron Key
Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch
Global Entertainment Director: Sergio Kletnoy
Executive Producer: Rahel Gebreyes
Senior Director, Digital Video: Romy van den Broeke
Senior Director, Programming: Linda Gittleson
VP, Video Programming: Thespena Guatieri
Special Thanks: SECONDLIVE
