Communication Breakdown in Conversation: Pronunciation, Phonological Reception, Vocabulary... or a little bit of everything?

Alternate title: Dan overthinks a misunderstanding

As part of my ongoing efforts to at least retain, if not develop, my Korean abilities, I have been attending the Korean Conversation Table at my university (also, my wife helps put these on, so I kind of have to go- which is a good thing!).

I usually get grouped with a native speaker or two and some undergraduates who have finished all the Korean coursework and spent some time abroad, so we get some good conversation going on a range of topics. Generally, communication is doable, if a bit laborious at times, but occasionally someone experiences a breakdown, small or large.

At the most recent meeting, I experienced a major breakdown, but it was due to a really small bit that, once I realized my error, made me want to smack myself on the forehead. Another learner was talking about an internship she applied for, and she was worried that the working hours would be long- a topic I could generally follow along. In trying to explain her concerns about long working hours, she was talking about keeping a 9-5 schedule. In Korean, she was using the word 퇴근 (/twɛ.gɯn/), meaning "leaving work time", repeatedly (which makes sense). But for some reason, I kept hearing what I thought was something like 제근 (/dʑɛ.gɯn/)- a word that doesn't exist. It's worth mentioning that I think her pronunciation is quite clear (moreso than my own!), so I don't really know what was going on with my perception. I keyed on to the 근 morpheme, which I recognized as "work" and it was something that made sense given the context, so I started to think that "제근" was something like "regular work" (제 can mean something like "system" or "correct").

After sitting and listening, and spinning the gears in my head over what this word I thought I was hearing could mean, eventually I had to ask some clarification questions.  This helped me understand that she was actually saying 퇴근, a word I knew which makes total sense in this context (hence the smacking myself on the forehead). To indicate that I knew what she meant in relation to the topic, I offered the word 야근, which means "overtime"- a word that maybe I was expecting, given the topic, but she was unfamiliar with.

Meanwhile, the native speaker in the group naturally had no trouble following and helping both of us.