Day 135: Why Seoul's Birth Rate Is Lowest

Dialogue

♪ Audio recordings are on the way. For now, each lesson is the dialogue with its English translation.

Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day

1. 1

   C 초안 잘 읽었어요. 주제가 '서울의 출산율은 왜 전국에서 가장 낮은가'죠?

   Choan jal ilgeosseoyo. Jujega 'Seourui chulsanyureun wae jeongugeseo gajang najeunga'jyo?

   I've read your draft. The topic is 'Why is Seoul's birth rate the lowest in the country?', right?

   Line 1
2. 2

   A 네. 저는 가장 큰 원인이 주거비라고 봤습니다. 서울 집값이 제일 비싸니까요.

   Ne. Jeoneun gajang keun wonini jugeobirago bwatseumnida. Seoul jipgapsi jeil bissanikkayo.

   Yes. My view is that the main cause is housing costs, since Seoul has the most expensive housing.

   Line 2
3. 3

   B 사실 저는 생각이 좀 달라서 서론에 두 가지를 다 넣었어요. 저는 긴 근무 시간이 더 크다고 봐요.

   Sasil jeoneun saenggagi jom dallaseo seorone du gajireul da neoeosseoyo. Jeoneun gin geunmu sigani deo keudago bwayo.

   Actually, I see it a bit differently, so we put both in the introduction. I think long working hours matter more.

   Line 3
4. 4

   C 두 사람 의견이 갈렸네요. 좋아요. 근데 먼저 자료부터 봅시다. 통계청 그래프에서 서울이 영 점 오팔이죠?

   Du saram uigyeoni gallyeonneyo. Joayo. Geunde meonjeo jaryobuteo bopsida. Tonggyecheong geuraepeueseo Seouri yeong jeom oparijyo?

   So you two disagree. Good. But let's look at the data first. On the Statistics Korea graph, Seoul is 0.58, right?

   Line 4
5. 5

   A 네, 전국 평균이 영 점 칠오니까 훨씬 낮아요.

   Ne, jeonguk pyeonggyuni yeong jeom chironikka hwolssin najayo.

   Yes, the national average is 0.75, so it's much lower.

   Line 5
6. 6

   C 이 수치만 보면 서울 사람들이 아이를 안 낳는다고 결론 내리기가 쉬워요. 그런데 합계 출산율은 미혼 여성까지 다 포함해서 계산해요. 서울에 어떤 연령층이 많죠?

   I suchiman bomyeon Seoul saramdeuri aireul an nanneundago gyeollon naerigiga swiwoyo. Geureonde hapgye chulsanyureun mihon yeoseongkkaji da pohamhaeseo gyesanhaeyo. Seoure eotteon yeollyeongcheungi manchyo?

   Looking at this number alone, it's easy to conclude that people in Seoul don't have children. But the total fertility rate is calculated over all women, including unmarried ones. Which age group is most common in Seoul?

   Line 6
7. 7

   B 아, 대학이랑 직장 때문에 결혼 안 한 이십 대가 많이 몰려 있어요.

   A, daehagirang jikjang ttaemune gyeolhon an han isip daega mani mollyeo isseoyo.

   Oh, lots of unmarried people in their twenties are concentrated here because of universities and jobs.

   Line 7
8. 8

   C 그렇죠. 결혼하고 아이가 생기면 경기도로 이사 가는 부부도 많고요. 그러면 서울 숫자는 더 낮게 나오겠죠?

   Geureochyo. Gyeolhonhago aiga saenggimyeon Gyeonggidoro isa ganeun bubudo mankoyo. Geureomyeon Seoul sutjaneun deo natge naogetjyo?

   Exactly. And many couples move to Gyeonggi once they marry and have kids. Then Seoul's figure would come out even lower, wouldn't it?

   Line 8
9. 9

   A 그럼 서울 출산율이 낮은 건 살기 힘들어서가 아니라 통계 때문이에요?

   Geureom Seoul chulsanyuri najeun geon salgi himdeureoseoga anira tonggye ttaemunieyo?

   So Seoul's birth rate is low not because life there is hard, but because of the statistics?

   Line 9
10. 10

    C 둘 다일 수 있어요. 그걸 구별하려면 자료를 더 쪼개 봐야 해요. 예를 들면 결혼한 부부만 놓고 비교해 보는 거죠.

    Dul dail su isseoyo. Geugeol gubyeolharyeomyeon jaryoreul deo jjogae bwaya haeyo. Yereul deulmyeon gyeolhonhan bubuman noko bigyohae boneun geojyo.

    It could be both. To tell them apart, you need to break the data down further. For example, by comparing only married couples.

    Line 10
11. 11

    B 그건 생각 못 했네. 우리 합계 출산율 하나만 보고 너무 쉽게 원인을 정해 버렸어.

    Geugeon saenggak mot haenne. Uri hapgye chulsanyul hanaman bogo neomu swipge wonineul jeonghae beoryeosseo.

    I didn't think of that. We settled on a cause way too quickly, just from the total fertility rate.

    Line 11
12. 12

    A 그래도 집값 때문에 경기도로 나가는 거면, 결국 주거 문제 아니야?

    Geuraedo jipgap ttaemune Gyeonggidoro naganeun geomyeon, gyeolguk jugeo munje aniya?

    But if people move to Gyeonggi because of house prices, isn't it a housing problem after all?

    Line 12
13. 13

    B 반대로 경기도로 나가면 출퇴근이 왕복 세 시간이야. 그러면 근무 시간 문제랑도 연결되고.

    Bandaero Gyeonggidoro nagamyeon chultoegeuni wangbok se siganiya. Geureomyeon geunmu sigan munjerangdo yeongyeoldoego.

    On the other hand, if you move to Gyeonggi, the commute is three hours a day. So it ties into the working-hours problem too.

    Line 13
14. 14

    C 좋아요, 방금 두 사람이 한 게 바로 논문에서 할 일이에요. 원인 하나를 고르기보다 어떻게 연결되는지 보여 주는 거요.

    Joayo, banggeum du sarami han ge baro nonmuneseo hal irieyo. Wonin hanareul goreugiboda eotteoke yeongyeoldoeneunji boyeo juneun geoyo.

    Good. What you two just did is exactly what the paper should do. Rather than picking one cause, show how they connect.

    Line 14
15. 15

    A 교수님, 그럼 주거랑 근무 시간 중에 뭐가 더 큰지는 어떻게 비교해요?

    Gyosunim, geureom jugeorang geunmu sigan junge mwoga deo keunjineun eotteoke bigyohaeyo?

    Professor, then how do we compare whether housing or working hours matters more?

    Line 15
16. 16

    C 구마다 전셋값이랑 출퇴근 시간을 모아서 출산율이랑 같이 분석해 보세요. 통계청 자료면 충분해요.

    Gumada jeonsetgapsirang chultoegeun siganeul moaseo chulsanyurirang gachi bunseokae boseyo. Tonggyecheong jaryomyeon chungbunhaeyo.

    Collect jeonse prices and commute times for each district and analyse them together with birth rates. Statistics Korea data will be enough.

    Line 16
17. 17

    B 그동안 밤마다 도서관에서 기사만 뒤지곤 했는데, 이번엔 방법부터 제대로 세워야겠어요.

    Geudongan bammada doseogwaneseo gisaman dwijigon haenneunde, ibeonen bangbeopbuteo jedaero sewoyagesseoyo.

    Until now we used to spend every night in the library digging through news articles, but this time we need to set up our method properly first.

    Line 17
18. 18

    C 네. 그리고 결론에서 '서울 사람들은 아이를 싫어한다' 같은 말은 조심하세요. 통계는 사람 마음까지 보여 주지는 않아요.

    Ne. Geurigo gyeolloneseo 'seoul saramdeureun aireul sireohanda' gateun mareun josimhaseyo. Tonggyeneun saram maeumkkaji boyeo jujineun anayo.

    Yes. And be careful with conclusions like 'Seoulites don't like children.' Statistics don't show what's in people's hearts.

    Line 18
19. 19

    A 네, 명심하겠습니다. 다음 주까지 고쳐 오겠습니다.

    Ne, myeongsimhagetseumnida. Daeum jukkaji gochyeo ogetseumnida.

    Yes, we'll keep that in mind. We'll bring you a revised version by next week.

    Line 19
20. 20

    B 우리 제목부터 바꿔야겠어. '왜 가장 낮은가' 말고 '정말 가장 낮은가'로.

    Uri jemokbuteo bakkwoyagesseo. 'Wae gajang najeunga' malgo 'jeongmal gajang najeunga'ro.

    We'd better change our title first. Not 'Why is it the lowest?' but 'Is it really the lowest?'

    Line 20