Day 78 of 160

Day 78: The Superconductor That Wasn't

Over beers after work, an office worker (A) asks his close friend (B), a physics graduate student, about the viral superconductor claim he bought shares on.

How to study this lesson 4 steps

Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense. Still learning Hangul? Tick Romanization to see how each line sounds, but read the Korean first.
Download the Anki deck below and review it every day. It has every line of today's dialogue. Review earlier decks too when Anki asks you to.
Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native Korean, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.

Dialogue

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

Hide English Romanization

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

A 야, 너 물리 전공이잖아. 그 상온 초전도체 진짜 아니야?

Ya, neo mulli jeongongijana. Geu sangon chojeondoche jinjja aniya?

Hey, you do physics. That room-temperature superconductor thing, is it not real?
B 왜, 설마 너 그거 관련 주식 샀어?

Wae, seolma neo geugeo gwallyeon jusik sasseo?

Why? Don't tell me you bought shares in it.
A ...조금. 뉴스마다 세상이 바뀐다고 하길래. 근데 오늘 주가가 반토막 났어.

...Jogeum. Nyuseumada sesangi bakkwindago hagillae. Geunde oneul jugaga bantomak nasseo.

...A few. Every news story said it would change the world. But today the share price halved.
B 역시. 아직 그 결과를 재현한 연구실이 한 군데도 없어.

Yeoksi. Ajik geu gyeolgwareul jaehyeonhan yeongusiri han gundedo eopseo.

Figures. Not a single other lab has managed to reproduce the result yet.
A 재현? 논문까지 나왔으면 끝난 거 아니야?

Jaehyeon? Nonmunkkaji nawasseumyeon kkeunnan geo aniya?

Reproduce it? If they published a paper, isn't that the end of it?
B 아니지. 논문은 시작이야. 다른 사람이 똑같이 실험했을 때 같은 결과가 나와야 인정받는 거야.

Aniji. Nonmuneun sijagiya. Dareun sarami ttokgachi silheomhaesseul ttae gateun gyeolgwaga nawaya injeongbanneun geoya.

No. The paper is just the start. It only gets accepted when other people run the same experiment and get the same result.
A 그럼 그 사람들이 거짓말한 거야? 허위 발표야?

Geureom geu saramdeuri geojinmalhan geoya? Heowi balpyoya?

So they lied? Was the whole announcement fake?
B 꼭 그렇진 않아. 실험하다 보면 불순물 때문에 비슷한 현상이 나오기도 하거든. 본인들은 진짜라고 믿었을 수도 있어.

Kkok geureochin ana. Silheomhada bomyeon bulsunmul ttaemune biseutan hyeonsangi naogido hageodeun. Bonindeureun jinjjarago mideosseul sudo isseo.

Not necessarily. In experiments, impurities can sometimes produce something that looks similar. They may really have believed it themselves.
A 근데 영상에서 돌이 공중에 떠 있었잖아. 그건 뭐야?

Geunde yeongsangeseo dori gongjunge tteo isseotjana. Geugeon mwoya?

But in the video, that rock was floating in the air. What was that?
B 반만 떠 있었지. 진짜 초전도체면 완전히 떠야 돼. 그거 보고 우리 연구실 사람들 다 고개를 갸웃했어.

Banman tteo isseotji. Jinjja chojeondochemyeon wanjeonhi tteoya dwae. Geugeo bogo uri yeongusil saramdeul da gogaereul gyautaesseo.

Only half of it was floating. A real superconductor would float completely. Everyone in our lab raised an eyebrow when they saw that.
A 너네는 처음부터 의심했어?

Neoneneun cheoeumbuteo uisimhaesseo?

So you lot were suspicious from the start?
B 당연하지. 너무 좋은 소식일수록 먼저 의심해 봐야 하는 법이야.

Dangyeonhaji. Neomu joeun sosigilsurok meonjeo uisimhae bwaya haneun beobiya.

Of course. The better the news, the more you ought to doubt it first.
A 과학자들은 원래 다 그렇게 삐딱해?

Gwahakjadeureun wollae da geureoke ppittakae?

Are all scientists that cynical?
B 삐딱한 게 아니라 그게 과학이야. 놀라운 주장에는 놀라운 증거가 필요한 법이거든.

Ppittakan ge anira geuge gwahagiya. Nollaun jujangeneun nollaun jeunggeoga piryohan beobigeodeun.

It's not cynical, it's science. Extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence.
A 너 오늘따라 말하는 게 좀 멋있는걸?

Neo oneulttara malhaneun ge jom meosinneungeol?

Wow, you sound pretty cool today.
B 멋있는 게 아니라 네가 너무 쉽게 믿은 거야. 그래서 얼마 날렸는데?

Meosinneun ge anira nega neomu swipge mideun geoya. Geuraeseo eolma nallyeonneunde?

I'm not cool; you just believed it too easily. So how much did you lose?
A 한 달 치 점심값. 그나마 조금만 사서 다행이지. 비싼 수업료 냈다고 생각할게.

Han dal chi jeomsimgap. Geunama jogeumman saseo dahaengiji. Bissan sueomnyo naetdago saenggakalge.

About a month's worth of lunch money. At least I only bought a little. I'll call it an expensive lesson.
B 그래. 다음엔 주식 사기 전에 나한테 먼저 물어봐. 대신 오늘 치킨은 네가 사고.

Geurae. Daeumen jusik sagi jeone nahante meonjeo mureobwa. Daesin oneul chikineun nega sago.

Right. Next time, ask me before you buy any shares. But tonight, the chicken's on you.

Your progress is saved in this browser only, with no sign-up. The course page and the menu show where you left off. Well done! Next up: Day 79: Life as a Councillor's Aide →

Review with Anki

Anki is a free flashcard app that shows you each sentence again just before you would forget it. How to import a deck

Day 78 deck (74 KB) All Upper-Intermediate decks (3.7 MB)

If this free course has helped you in your Korean journey, please consider supporting the project. It's a one-person effort, and even small contributions help keep it running and free for everyone.