By Park Ji-won
Romanized Korean can be found on the internet these days sprinkled throughout comments from adoring international fans of K-pop, inspired by the Korean lyrics from their favorite songs. For fans it's a way to communicate directly with their idols via such short and sweet cultural references.
But considering that the Korean language is not widely used outside Korea, non-Koreans' use of it in their online musings, albeit imperfect, is a point of interest for Koreans as it is a kind of validation of the country's soft power that has spread via K-pop and the nation's juggernaut entertainment industry.
For K-pop fans, using simple and common Korean words in English is a novelty. Along with the ultra-common "oppa," (a simultaneously innocent and intimate girlish address to a boy or man who is older than the speaker ? often translated as "older brother") words like "daebak" (an exclamation meaning "awesome!" or "jackpot!") and phrases like "saranghae" (I love you) are some of the most commonly us