Jason: Hey, let’s play some ping pong!
Mike: Ping pong? I’m not too good though.
Jason: Don’t worry, after some practice you’ll get the hang of it. Here, try hitting this back to me.

Mike: Just like that?
Jason: There you go, you’re getting the hang of it.
Mike: Oh nice! I’m not as bad as I thought.

Jason이 Mike에게 “Hey, let’s play some ping pong! 야, 우리 탁구 하자.” 라고 하자 Mike 가 “Ping pong? 탁구? I’m not too good though. 나 잘 못하는데.” 라고 대답합니다.

Jason이 “Don’t worry, after some practice you’ll get the hang of it. 야, 걱정하지 마. 좀 연습하면 요령이 생길 거야. Here, try hitting this back to me. 자, 공을 내 쪽으로 한번 쳐봐.”라고 하자 Mike가 “Just like that? 이렇게?” 라며 공을 칩니다.

그래서 Jason이 “There you go, you’re getting the hang of it. 잘했어! 조금만 연습하면 할 수 있을 거야.“라고 칭찬해줬습니다. Keep today’s phrase ‘get the hang of it’ in mind and let’s hear the conversation again. 그럼 다시 한번 대화를 들어볼까요?

Jason: Hey, let’s play some ping pong!
Mike: Ping pong? I’m not too good though.
Jason: Don’t worry, after some practice you’ll get the hang of it. Here, try hitting this back to me.

Mike: Just like that?
Jason: There you go, you’re getting the hang of it.
Mike: Oh nice! I’m not as bad as I thought.

오늘의 표현은 get the hang of it 입니다. This expression means that you succeed in learning how to do something after some practice. 단어 ‘hang’은 동사로 ‘매달다, 걸다’라는 뜻이지만 ‘get the hang of something’이라는 표현에서는 명사형으로 ‘요령’ 또는 ‘방법’이라는 의미입니다.

그래서 ‘get the hang of something’은 ‘어떠한 방법에 대해 알게 되다, 감을 잡다 또는 이해하게 되다.’라는 뜻으로 쓰이죠. 뭐든지 처음부터 잘하는 사람은 없습니다. 시간이 지나면서 익숙해지고 조금씩 요령을 알게 되는 건데요. 이런 상황에서 ‘get the hang of it’라는 표현을 쓸 수 있는 겁니다.

이제 예를 들어 볼까요? Let me give you some examples. “After a few weeks of driving, I think I got the hang of it.”라고 하면 “몇 주 동안 운전을 배웠더니 차를 몰 수 있을 것 같아.”라는 뜻이 됩니다.

또 다른 예를 들어 보겠습니다. “I never enjoyed public speaking because I was never good, but after some practice I think I’m getting the hang of it.”라고 하면 “난 사람들 앞에 서 말을 잘 못하기 때문에 그런 걸 싫어했는데 연습하니까 좀 요령이 생기더라고.”라는 뜻이 됩니다.

Now you know what it means to ‘get the hang of it’ right? Then we will listen to the conversation for the last time.

Jason: Hey, let’s play some ping pong!
Mike: Ping pong? I’m not too good though.
Jason: Don’t worry, after some practice you’ll get the hang of it. Here, try hitting this back to me.

Mike: Just like that?
Jason: There you go, you’re getting the hang of it.
Mike: Oh nice! I’m not as bad as I thought.

Let’s review. ‘Get the hang of it’ means to learn or become more familiar with doing something. GET THE HANG OF IT. Now try using the phrase on your own.