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Rusty Korean?
녹슬었을까봐 조금 걱정했어요. (I was afraid that my Korean had become too rusty.) I told this to my LP whom I was finally able to meet up with yesterday after a three-week hiatus due to various circumstances involving travel, changing schedules, and unplanned meetings. It was soooo nice to be able to speak Korean again, and she…
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“뭐”라고요?
This time I’m going about my Korean drama watching in a new way. I’m currently half-way through the classic “여름향기”, my last drama with 송승헌 before I’ll be able to cross “Watch every drama 승헌 오빠 ever starred in” off my Korean learning bucket list. For those of you who may question my motives; yes, I’m doing this entirely with an educational…
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Four-syllable words in Korean
Not to be confused with four-letter words, these are words of Chinese origin used idiomatically for linguistic efficiency. A few examples: 십중팔구(十中八九) lit. meaning: 8 or 9 out of 10; use: “most likely” 세면도구 (洗面道具) lit. meaning: syllables of various personal hygiene activities; use: “toiletries” 유구무언 (有口無言) lit. meaning: to have nothing to say; use: “offer no…
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A Korean listening challenge
Earlier this week, Jeremy from MotivateKorean kindly sent me a link to a youtube video where a Korean professor of philosophy gives a talk about how we currently live in a polarized society and how we may achieve the right balance. It is about 20 minutes long and quite challenging but I’m sure you’ll find it worth listening to.…
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Getting lost (and found) in Korean drama land
As any other dedicated student of Korean I shy away from watching anything on tv that is not Korean. Anything else is just a waste of precious time which could otherwise have been spent learning this awesome language. However, with Korean dramas there are just SO many to choose from that actually choosing one can…
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My hanja hunt
I’ve really come to enjoy the game of building my Korean vocabulary through hanjas. This morning when I was reviewing the new words from my most recent TTMIK news delivery I came across the word 획득하다 meaning “to acquire or obtain”. I definitely recognized the 득, and wondered if it was the same 득 as in 설득 (persuasion). Indeed…
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Speaking practice
Yesterday my language partner had to cancel our meeting, so I didn’t get to practice any real Korean conversation. However, I was pretty determined not to let that stop me from practicing my speaking, so when I got home I spent the time I was supposed to have spent on our meeting reading a veeeeery…
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How I all of a sudden got plenty of time to study Korean today
Today was supposed to be a busy day. My schedule looked something like this: 8:00-10:00 Give econ lecture 10:30-11:00 Attend meeting with professor 12:00-12:45 Lunch date with colleague Afternoon: Attend seminar and meet with discussion group Well, whilst giving the lecture this morning an hour and a half into the lecture a student yells out:…
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The puzzle of the “ㅅ” 받침
The more Korean words you know, the more compound words you can make. This is of course very neat, but I’ve noticed a peculiar thing about written Korean which makes making compound words slightly more complex than we are used to with English. In English “coffee” + “shop” simply form the compound word “coffee shop”…
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Studying Korean grammar
A while ago I bought the intermediate version of Korean Grammar in Use. I admit that this wonderful book has spent too much time just sitting in my bookshelf looking new and shiny. I therefore recently made a pact with myself to study two new grammar points every day. They’re not all “new” to me…
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Sofie to Korea 