New Korean books, new motivation

I haven’t been updating the blog for a while, but don’t take this as a sign that I haven’t been studying Korean. In fact, I’m probably studying harder than ever. I recently received books 9 and 10 in the Integrated Korean series. Being the “high advanced” level, they complete the whole series. There are 10 lessons in each book and I’ve made a plan to go through all of them before leaving for Korea in about six weeks. I’m super motivated to finish these books (among others) before leaving, as I feel that if I manage to do so, I will definitely have done all that I possibly can in order to prepare for my one-year stay in Seoul. While I wasn’t impressed with the advanced level of the Integrated Korean series, I really enjoy the high advanced one. For some strange reason it seems much more interesting and way less demanding. It may just be me improving, but these books somehow seem easier than the previous ones. I’ve already read through the first five chapters and I’m happy to feel progress. I’ve also discovered that I’m reading Korean news articles a lot faster these days. With my vocabulary expanding every day, it gradually becomes easier to quickly browse through an article and understand the gist of it.

This experience has made me reflect on my Korean learning curve. At the intermediate stage I was complaining that one or two extra hours studying Korean did not bring as much extra value as it did at the beginning stage. However, here at the advanced stage I feel that with my increased reading speed, two hours spent reading Korean gives me much more Korean exposure than it used to. Simply because I can manage to read much more in two hours now, than I could six months ago. The learning curve is once more upward sloping following a wide plateau! Yay!

When I’m not buried in my Korean books and listening to Korean podcasts and music (and working, of course), I’ve recently started watching my very first Korean historical drama. (At least the first one, which I have every intention of watching through the last episode.) After having read the Tale of Chunhyang, I felt I was ready for more “old Korean”, so I started browsing DramaFever for a historical drama. I stumbled across 공주의 남자 “The Princess’s man” from 2011, and I’m now halfway through and loving it so far. I obviously find it slightly frustrating to feel that my listening skills have regressed to the level I was at a year ago, because the language is so different from modern Korean. Nonethelsess, I’m picking up a lot of old words and expressions, and I understand more and more for every episode. Awesome.

On a completely different note, one of my favorite Korean boy bands, EXO, released their newest album, EXACT, this week. The lead song “Monster” is a dark, slightly creepy, and intense song, which is remarkably similar to previous hits like “Overdose”. Nonetheless, I have listened to it several times over the past week and thought I’d share it here on the blog. (Mom, you don’t have to like this one!) J As per usual I’ve added the lyrics in case anyone feels like singing along, or if you want to know if what you  thought you heard was really what they were singing(!) Enjoy!

She got me gone crazy
왜 심장이 뛰니

넌 아름다워 나의 Goddess
닫혀있지 Yeah yeah
두드릴 테니 날 들여보낼래?
감춰진 스릴을 줄게

눈동자의 호기심에 이미 넌 빠져들었고
Don’t be afraid,
Love is the way,
Shawty I got it.
You can call me monster

I’m creeping in your heart babe
뒤집고 무너트리고 삼켜
그래 널 훔쳐 탐닉해
널 망쳐 놓을거야

네 맘속에 각인된 채
죽어도 영원히 살래
Come here girl,
You call me monster
네 맘으로 들어갈게

She got me gone crazy
왜 심장이 뛰니

내가 좀 성격이 급해
그닥 온순하지 못해
널 미워했어 하지만 너를 원해
That’s right, my type
가슴은 거짓말 안 해

시작됐어 내 안에서
위험한 신호를 보내
Don’t be afraid,
Love is the way,
Shawty I got it.
You can call me monster

I’m creeping in your heart babe
뒤집고 무너트리고 삼켜
그래 널 훔쳐 탐닉해
널 망쳐 놓을거야

네 맘속에 각인된 채
죽어도 영원히 살래
Come here girl,
You call me monster
네 맘으로 들어갈게

전율이 와 네 삶을 다 뒤집어 버리는게
I’m sorry you make me so crazy, you know you do

모두 날 두려워해 so I’m untouchable man
근데 네 진심은 왜 결국에 날 거부 못해
숨어서 훔쳐보다가 깜짝 놀라지 (Who?)
네겐 안티노미 같은 난 네 존재의 일부 (How we do?)

날 그대로 받아들여
너의 두려운 걱정은 접어두렴
네가 견딜만한 고통을 누려
더 깊이 빠져들어

널 맘대로 가지고 놀아 내 손에서 맘껏 놀아
도망가지마 넌 영원히 맴돌아
You can call me monster.

I’m creeping in your heart babe
뒤집고 무너트리고 삼켜
그래 널 훔쳐 탐닉해
널 망쳐 놓을거야

네 맘속에 각인된 채
죽어도 영원히 살래
Come here girl,
You call me monster
네 맘으로 들어갈게

Creeping, creeping, creeping
Creeping, creeping, creeping
You. Creeping