소희
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When bad things happen, good things are bound to follow
A few weeks ago, I helped my LP apply for a scholarship at his home university. This was my first time writing an official recommendation letter in Korean, which was an extremely educational experience. In fact is was my first time writing a letter in Korean! Although I thought it was an awesome letter of recommendation,…
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Who knew I liked EXO?
While I definitely enjoy listening to Korean music, my main inspiration usually comes from drama soundtracks. I was recently advised to try listening to the new band iKON but I must admit they are not really my cup of tea. BTW, how awesome would it be if there was a Korean idiomatic expression along the…
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Korean Monday blues
The main picture says it all. It’s Monday! It also happens to be the last Monday before I leave for Korea (which will be exactly one week from today), and needless to say I’m super excited to be going. In fact the weekend cannot roll around quickly enough so I can start packing (very lightly…
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A useful little Korean word
Today I’ll introduce you to a neat little Korean word, which recently came up in conversation with my LP. Drumroll….. 체질! 체질 means something along the lines of “physical composition”, and you can use this versatile word for providing reasons for personal behavior in a variety of situations: For not drinking: 나는 술을 잘 안 먹는 체질이다 (I’m…
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Press conference for upcoming drama Saimdang
Recently Song Seung Heon and Lee Young Ae appeared alongside each other at a press conference in Seoul promoting their upcoming historical drama “Saimdang”, with Lee playing the title role and Song being her fictional love interest. They also released a few more stills from the drama to keep us on the edge of our…
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A guide to proper use of Korean honorifics
I thought I had this down. Although I don’t use honorifics that much as I’m still mostly used to using the standard polite language I know how to use them and when to use them. …Or so I thought! When I was telling my language partner of my childhood Christmas which I used to spend in my…
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A Korean culture lesson
Last Friday turned into one of the longest language exchanges I have ever had. While my head was spinning at the end (for more than one reason, since it involved a fair amount of beer) it was also one of the most fun exchanges since we got around so many aspects of our cultural differences. We…
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Specialized Korean vocabulary: Legislation and politics
Yesterday’s article for my language exchange meeting was about legislative matters in Korea. I do enjoy a challenge, but OMG this one took the prize. (For interested parties, the article is here). As usual, I started reading the article out loud for feedback on flow and pronunciation. My reading of the article was pitiful and I don’t…
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How my office dinner turned Korean
Yesterday I went out to dinner with some colleagues. The purpose of the dinner was to entertain a Japanese professor who is briefly visiting our department. This is common practice at my uni whenever we have a professor visiting from abroad. Since the professor was from Japan, the talk of the evening naturally centered around cultural…
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Korean, not so foreign after all?
Despite Korean and English being very different indeed, I’m often surprised by phrases or idioms that are stunningly similar. This past week I’ve collected a few of these in conversations with my language partner. I actually rather enjoy how such expressions may help me to see my other languages in a different light. The first one…
Sofie to Korea 