Language learning
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Going all Korean in Hongdae
This Friday I did something I haven’t done in a loooong time. I went to an international language exchange meet-and-greet party in Hongdae. Alone! With my husband out with some friends, and my Korean best friend abroad on vacation, I was without my usual companions for a Friday night on the town. Since it had been…
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Finding my Korean cool
“If you want to be popular with your students in Korea you must become a more trendy professor!” These words were uttered by my ever brutally honest Korean language partner, when I told him that I was rewatching old Korean dramas for language learning purposes. I was so taken aback by this statement that I…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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The Tale of Chunhyang
I didn’t have too much time for studying Korean this weekend, but I did manage to read the final chapter of my Integrated Korean Adv. 2 textbook, and this chapter happened to be the story of Chunhyang (춘향전). I’m not too familiar with Korean folk tales except those that have been included in previous textbook…
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One-minute Korean
While I sure recommend that you spend more than just one minute per day when you’re learning Korean, there’s a certain satisfaction in cramming a short and effective Korean lesson into your busy schedule. Our awesome teachers at TTMIK have recently introduced such a series called “One-minute Korean”. In this one-minute youtube video series the teachers take turns…
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Crying and screaming in Korean
Don’t worry, I haven’t actually done either (only the occasional whining), but anyone who watches Korean tv dramas will know that if you have a good classic melodrama running across whatever screen you’re using to feed your K-drama addiction, you can be sure to hear the female lead scream and cry at the top of her…
Sofie to Korea 