소희
-
When “yes” means “no” in Korean
If you like watching Korean tv shows, and if you prefer to do so with subtitles, you’ll often find that the Korean word 네 (yes) is written as “no” in the subtitles. What the h… is going on!? Also, when speaking Korean, you may encounter conversations like this from time to time: A: 그럼 어제…
-
Korean unlocked
To many foreigners, learning Korean vocabulary may be an overwhelming task. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be. As most Korean learners know, the majority of all words in Korean are Hanja words. This means that most Korean words stem from a Chinese character. Now, don’t be frightened. Although you may see…
-
Same but different
When I was a child, I could easily spend 90 minutes watching a Disney movie just to rewind the tape and watch the same thing all over again. With a child’s enthusiasm I enjoyed the second viewing no less than the first. If anything, I may actually have enjoyed it more the second time because I…
-
Silence.
I much too often underestimate the power of silence. We live in a world where we’re under constant attack from breaking news, social network notifications, text messages, and emails. In fact, we can be alone all day without realizing that no one has called us or knocked at our door, as long as we can communicate…
-
My very first Korean historical drama
I’ve just finished the last episode of The Princess’s Man (공주의 남자) and I’m so happy that I stuck to this one all through the end. I’ve never allowed myself to really give in to the temptation of Korean historical dramas until now, for fear of learning anything but contemporary Korean. However, with plenty of…
-
The good or the bad Korea?
Whenever I tell people that I’m about to move to Korea for a year, it happens more often than not that I get “witty” reactions along the lines of: “Oh, to North Korea?” or “Really, are you moving to the good or the bad Korea?”. I’ve slowly learned to avoid these awkward moments by just…
-
Korea preparations
As of today there are only six weeks left before I board my Seoul-bound flight. In many ways this is the worst amount of time to have to wait for something. It’s so close that everybody around me keeps talking about it and asking me about my preparations; yet still so far away that I…
-
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…
-
Humbled by history
Yesterday my husband and I had the honor of attending the official opening of the Jutlandia Hall exhibit at the Korean Embassy in Copenhagen. The hall is a tribute to the hospital ship “Jutlandia”, which was sent as humanitarian aid by the Danish government to the war-torn Korean peninsula in 1951. Of all the great…
-
Korean inspiration
I love learning something other than just the language when I’m learning Korean. I also find that as my Korean skills continue to improve, I’m able to use Korean to learn about other things as well. A truly satisfying feeling! Among excellent resources for broadening your horizon in Korean, I highly recommend the 세바시 channel…
Sofie to Korea 