매튜의 한국어 연습 블로그

What's so funny? The difference between these two little jokers is no laughing matter.

농담 (弄談)
kidding, joking (through speech)

장난
playing, teasing (through action)

The English explanation sounds a bit off but stay with me. 농담 is easy to define because it has the 말씀 담 (談) in it's name. You know off the bat that it's something to do with speaking. The preceding character is 희롱 농 (弄) which is like a taunt, mock or jeer. You may have seen this in 성희롱 (性戱弄) which means "sexual harassment".

장난 is a bit different. This natively Korean expression is more encompassing. It can be an action speech or a sticked out tongue (메롱) given to some kid onthe subway giving you the stink eye. Whatever it is, it's a joke. You can also see this in 장난감 which is a "toy" or also my personal favorite but not so common 붓장난 which can be interpreted as "hack writing". The idea is that someone's writing is so bad that it must be a joke.


Examples:

장난 아냐! 사실이야.
I'm not kidding! I'm telling the truth.

어렸을때 그 곰 인형은 제일 좋아하는 장난감이었어요.
That teddy bear was my favorite plaything as a kid.

그것도 농담이라고 해요?
You call that a joke?

농담할 기분이 아니에요.
I'm not in the mood for jokes.

이제 농담은 그만 해야겠군요.
I seems I should stop joking now, yeah?

농담은 집어치우고 진짜 이유를 말해 봐요.
All joking aside, what's the real story?