How 반말 Works - Casual/Informal Language in Korean

As you may already be familiar with it, there are mainly two politeness levels in Korean: 반말 [ban-mal] and 존댓말 [jon-daet-mal]. There are various types and levels within 반말 and 존댓말, but very broadly, 반말 refers to casual and informal language, whereas 존댓말 refers to formal and polite language. At first, when you are strangers, you start off with 존댓말, but depending on how well you know the other person and how old you are in comparison with the other person, you might start using 반말. But due to exposure to many K-pop songs, Korean dramas and movies, where you can see a lot of 반말 sentences without much contextual clues, We find that many Korean learners seem to overuse 반말.
It is GREAT to be able to use 반말 naturally and appropriately, but at the same time, using 반말 when you are not supposed to can cause trouble or misunderstanding. So we have made this video lesson about when and with whom you can and can't speak in 반말. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments!
감사합니다!
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