KoreanClass101.com Blog

When my wife and I first had children (child actually since you have to start somewhere) we decided to try to raise her by speaking Korean to her at home. This worked for a while, her first spoken words were in Korean (although I can’t remember exactly what they were -shame-). She probably said 마마, I’ll have to look this up in her baby book now…

Some of her first sentences were in Korean as well. I think that my parents were frustrated and amused at her bilingualness. Once her socialization expanded beyond our immediate family her Korean language use decreased to the point that after beginning school she hardly spoke it at all. Now, as a teenager, she is trying to regain her Korean ability.

With our younger two children we have tried to expose them to Korean in a more immersive manner. They spend about a month each year in Korea with their extended family where they learn such useful phrases as:

하지마, 먹어/안먹어, 안돼, 내거야, 만지지 마, 이리 와, 네, 야. Lots of useful phrases…

My oldest, 나래, says that her favorite phrase that she learned this past trip was “어이~, 내 사람아,” a well used phrase of my mother-in-law. Her current favorite phrase in English is “anywho,” which she picked up from watching “Palace (궁).” The phrase “좌우당간” (左右當間 I think) was translated as “anywho” and was a new one for me as well as my wife. I think this is an example of how language can  change.

My youngest daughter often calls me 어빠 instead of 아빠 but she is very proud of the Korean that she knows and tends to use it whenever possible. Because of our recent trip to Korea and the excellent work of Koreanclass101 we are speaking Korean much more at home now.

좌우당간, 새해 복 많이 받으세오!

These children have precious few possessions. Most of what they have is shared. They wear whatever fits, and often it fits several kids. Seems like an unfortunate way to live. But the alternative isn’t really any better is it? Simply having lots of stuff doesn’t bring happiness or stability to your life either. But it is a real honor to bless the kids with something even if it’s just a new pair of awesome Spiderman shoes.

 Giving the presents was a real treat.  It was a lot of fun, as you saw in the video from last week’s post.  The children were overjoyed, and surprisingly grateful.  They usually don’t have the best of manners, so it was refreshing to see them say thank you! 

Walking around in Korea, among many other interesting shop names, you will see a lot of names that have the letter “존” in it. But even if you look up the dictionary, you wouldn’t find just the right meaning for what you see in some of the store or product names, other than the meaning of ‘respect’ or ‘existence’, and of course they’re not what 존 means in most sign boards.

Look at the name of this PC Bang.

It says 존앤존 PC방 and in English it’s written Zone&Zone. But what does Zone&Zone mean and where does it come from?

And look at the beverage below.

What does 모메존 mean? What does 모메 mean and what’s the meaning of 존 here? Of course you can’t find any of those words in the dictionary because this name is also a word play.

Do you know the word “좋은” or “좋다”?

“좋다” is the basic form of the adjective that means “to be good or nice”, right? And 좋은 is the form you use when you say it in front of a noun, like 좋은 학생, 좋은 사람, 좋은 날씨.

And if you pronounce 좋은 three times fast, it becomes ‘존’ :-)  and now you know where it comes from.

So, 존앤존 could mean just ‘zones’  (but possibly not) but most people would think of a good PC ‘zone’. And 모메존 is a simplified spelling of how 몸에 좋은 sounds. 몸에 좋은 means ‘good for your body’ therefore “모메존 알로에” means Aloe that is good for your body. :)  Some people are opposed to using too much simplified spelling in brand names like this because these word plays might ‘destory’ the rules of the Korean language, but even if they were to name everything correctly like 좋은 앤 좋은 PC방 or 몸에 좋은 알로에, even more words are being simplified on the Internet already!

안녕하세요! I’m Taliana, and a new member of this blogging team. Every Tuesday, I’ll be bringing you entries about the Korean music scene.

Music in general has always been a big passion of mine. I am almost always listening to music - while I’m travelling, while I’m studying, while I’m sleeping, while I’m just doing my usual daily things, while I’m reading… all the time! I’d even go as far as to say that I’m addicted to music since if I don’t listen to any for a few days, I get really restless and aggravated.

For several years now I’ve been interested in Asian music. Like most people I know, my interest started off with Japanese music, but over the past couple of years my interest has changed to Korean music. In fact, it’s almost all I listen to now. Sometimes I’ll put on something else, but 90% of the time if I’m listening to music then it’s probably something Korean.

Korea has a lot of amazing music to offer, and I really think that there is something for everyone, no matter what genre it is that you enjoy most. There’s pop, there’s hiphop, there’s R&B, there’s ballads, there’s rock - Korea’s got it all, and through these entries I hope to help spark an interest in other people for Korean music.

Although Korea’s modern music has been and still is heavily influenced by the trends of the Western world, their current music scene is still quite different from our own. I don’t pay too much attention to Western charts but from what I have seen, hiphop is the big thing these past few years. Although hiphop is also steadily gaining popularity in Korea, pop music still dominates the charts. One of the biggest names in the pop music industry is a label called SM Entertainment. SM Entertainment has produced some of Korea’s biggest pop music acts - bands such as H.O.T., S.E.S. and Shinhwa (신화), and in more recent years BoA, TVXQ (東方神起), Super Junior, The Grace and now SNSD (or Girl’s Generation).

Just like SM Entertainment is the bigger name in the pop scene, the other scenes also have a label or two that stand out more than the others. For example, JYP Entertainment, headed by Park Jin Young (박진영), has had a lot of influence over the R&B scene, producing artists such as g.o.d., Lim Jeong Hee (임정희), Rain (비), and in recent months The Wonder Girls. Perhaps the main rival in this scene is YG Entertainment who focus on hiphop and R&B, producing well-known artists such as Wheesung (휘성), Lexy, 1TYM, SE7EN, and more recently Big Bang. There are of course many other labels with many other artists worthy of a mention, but if I started listing everyone, this entry would go on forever! This is just to give you a bit of an overview, and in future entries we’ll definitely take a closer look.

It is quite interesting to note that many of the popular Korean artists are not only popular in Korea, but are also very popular in other Asian countries such as China, Singapore and Thailand, and most especially in Japan. BoA, for example, has been very successful in Japan and she has often been compared (favourably) to Japanese popstar Utada Hikaru. In the past two years, TVXQ have released 2 Japanese albums, and will soon be releasing their 16th Japanese single. Shinhwa also have a large Chinese and Japanese fanbase, and Rain and SE7EN have also been very popular in Japan although both men seem to have their sights set on the American market.

I think the fact that Korean artists are so popular outside of Korea just proves that music isn’t just about what language the words are in. Good music can and does transcend all barriers of language and country, and as cliché as it may sound it’s true that music brings people together.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this first entry! Whether you’re a fan of Korean music or not I’d love to hear your thoughts ^^ And if anyone has something Korean music related that they’d like me to write about, just drop me some suggestions!

This past summer we hosted the 여도초등학교 traditional Korean orchestra. The students ages ranged from 8 to 12 years (3rd through 7th grade). The 여도 elementary school is a private school funded by multiple chemical companies in the 여천공단. The orchestra came to the United States to promote the World Ocean Expo 2012 bid. (Congratulations to 여수시 for winning the bid!) For the two weeks that the students spent here we had two boys, two girls, and the school principle and his wife stay at our house. We arranged for the remaining 40 students to stay with various families in the area. Finding host families was not easy in this small community but everyone that hosted these children had a very memorable if not experience.

The children had a total of seven performances while they were here, two at the local high school, two at a theater that we rented, one at a Koean church, and one for the Korean press club in the San Francisco Bay Area. They also perfomed live for a television station morning show. This performance required that they be at the station at 5:30am so the evening prior we had fourteen children stay at our house!

Everyone liked staying at our house. I think that the children that stayed here had the easiest time adapting to American life, probably because we had things that were familiar to them like 김치, 김, 밥, and spoken 한국어. We had the youngest orchestra member stay with us for those reasons and she had no problems at all. Many of the host families were amazed that such young children were travelling away from home for three weeks (they toured for a week before returning to Korea).

There were a few awkward moments with American life for these children. One girl had a very difficult time with one family’s cat. It took her a few days to get used to the idea of a giant (25 pound) cat in the house. She actually spent one night at our house (we don’t have any indoor pets at the moment) and then she was fine. Most of the children were uncomfortable with the idea of indoor pets but by the time they left they were very comfortable with dogs and cats. Another family noticed water all over the floor of the bathroom after the Korean children showered; American bathrooms don’t have drains in the floors of the bathroom as a rule. Despite some communication difficulties everyone got along very well. Several of the families are considering sending their children to Korean for a couple of weeks this coming summer as a kind of sister school exchange. We shall see how this works out.

The performances here were excellent. Some video and pictures can be found here. For a link to lots of photos click the “우리들의 앨범” link on the left. Unfortunately, when someone in America hears the words “elementary school band” they don’t think of well trained performers, skilled in their respective instruments as well as stage presence. Consequently, the performances were not as well attended as they should have been (sold out would have been nice…). Those that attended were treated to an hour and a half long performance of traditional and modern arrangements. Everyone left very impressed and no one missed ”Hot Cross Buns” (our local middle school band favorite heard at every recital).

The instruments featured in the orchestra included the 가야금, 대금, 소금, 거문고, 해금, 태평소, 피리, 아쟁, 모둠북, 사물놀이, 등등. I will try to post some detailed information/pictures of these instruments in the forums. While many of the instruments were foreign to the audience, it was very fulfilling to be a part of this cultural exchange.

Merry Christmas everyone!

One of our listeners, Auntie, requested Hanja in the PDF’s. We had a forum post, we had discussions going back and forth, and gathered feedback. And now we here at Team KoreanClass101.com are in the process of adding this function to our PDF’s! Another great leaning tool for Korean education from KoreanClass101.com! This will be an indispensable aid to learn Korean and build up their vocabulary! This will build up your vocabulary exponentially! So thank you Auntie 씨 for bringing up this topic, and for generating some buzz about Hanja!

This feature should be available after the New Year. We will send out a news feed to describing the way this feature is used, and the way it is intended for use.

여러분.. let’s get excited about Hanja!!

“Aiin’t nothin’ but a Hanja Party!!”

Awwww yeah!

Christmas is not quite the same in Korea. Christmas Day is a recognized holiday, but many schools aren’t closed during the week that follows. Gifts are exchanged, but not to the degree that some of you might be familiar with in Western, Judeo-Christian environments.

Christmas at the orphanage is somewhat special though. Several different organizations and companies donate gifts to the kids. My church arranges funds to buy some new clothes for the pre-schoolers. Today was the shopping day.

Each volunteer was given an envelope with 100,000원 (roughly $100) to spend on the kids. $100 goes a long way, and if you go shopping at the right places, like 동대문 (where 현우 and I went a couple weeks ago), you can REALLY stretch it.

In 동대문 there are about a dozen buildings stuffed to the gills with clothes. It is truly remarkable. Armed with my cash, I set off to buy some clothes for 2 of the children from the orphanage. We were supposed to buy clothes, shoes, and jackets. Some other things had been prepared separately. So what can you get for $100? I managed to get a nice winter coat, a pair of shoes, a pair of jeans, some underwear, pajamas, gloves, and 3 shirts for each kid.

And yeah, I did manage to get a lot of discounts when I told the vendors I was buying clothes to give to an orphan. Sometimes it worked like a charm. One lady even gave me 10 fleece hats for free! But, some people weren’t so interested in cutting their prices! Other times, things were cheap enough, that I didn’t bother asking for any sort of discount.

Those sort of situations are sink or swim when it comes to using Korean. The vendors don’t speak much English. Sometimes they know how to quote a price, but that’s about it. And that’s when you realize just exactly how much you can communicate! I had to do all of the shopping and negotiating in Korean. While I get it wrong a lot, I am always amazed when something works out just the way I hope it will!

I wish I had a video of the shopping. That would have been fun. You’ll have to settle for Part 1 of the gift giving. I did my best to subtitle it in English and Korean. What I said is in orange, and the kids speech is in white. Enjoy, and part 2 should be out next week.

This is a photo I took in 광주(Gwangju), the city I was born in, when I visited my parents the other day. I always love the humor found in these kinds of signboards and store names because they make it so much easier to remember the names and also show the effort that the store owner(or someone else) must have made to come up with such phrases or names.

What you see is [ t = i ], which means nothing in English. But if you pronounce it, it’s a different story The mathematical sign ” =(equal) ” is read as “는” in Korean, as in “저는 ㅇㅇㅇ입니다”

So if you read it in Korean, it’s “티(t)는 아이(i)”.

And as you can see in the bottom part of the signboard, the name is supposed to mean ‘튀는 아이’.

Of course there’s a clear distinction between 티 and 튀 since 티 is [ TI ] and 튀 is [ TWI ], but if you say them both just quickly, they sound similar.

And the expression 튀는 아이 is very interesting too, because 튀는 (or 튀다 in its basic form) is not in the dictionary yet. If you look it up in your dictionary, it will say “to jump” “to run away” or “to spatter” but 튀다 in daily conversations often means “to stand out” or “to be unique or peculiar in style”.

튀는 옷 = very unique clothes (it’s NOT some clothes running away)
튀는 패션 = peculiar fashion (it’s NOT some fashion jumping up and down)
튀는 얼굴 = a very unique face, a face that you won’t easily forget (it’s NOT a face that spatters)

So 튀는 아이 means “a kid that stands out or is noticeable” (because of his/her clothes - this is what the store name is supposed to mean), so you can guess that this store is a clothes shop for kids.

I really loved this name, and wanted to share it with all of you.

Thank you for reading!

Most of my family was in Korea for three weeks prior to my arrival. I travelled with my parents and my oldest daughter. My younger children attended elementary school while in Korea and generally were treated very well. Since we were travelling with my parents and only in Korea for a short period of time, we wanted to do as much sightseeing as possible. We started our tour from 여수 and worked our way back up to 서울.

While in 여수 my parents did a separate tour while I took care of some dental work. I am not that fond of dentists and generally have pretty good teeth but I did have to get a crown two years ago. It cost a small fortune and didn’t last all that long. I fell out two days before I left for Korea. I did not have time to get it fixed before leaving so seeing the dentist was a priority when I got to 여수. My wife knows a dentist who came highly recommended (although I have to say that just about everyone that there that found out I saw a dentist had their own to recommend) so I let him fix my tooth. He did a great job. He told me that Korean dentists are more skillful and have smaller hands than their American counterparts; I’d say he was right. By my best guess I would say dental work is about 25% of the cost in America for comparable work. I wouldn’t be worried about seeing a dentist in Korea again but I wouldn’t wish for it.

We toured the sights in 여수 briefly and then moved up to 순천. We toured a landscaped garden with a 예식장 and a 찜질방 as well as a 찻집. The day was very cold and windy and place was empty. We then took a hike to see 서남사, a small Buddhist temple. It was being renovated but despite that and the cold weather there were many people there. My parents were able to be driven to the temple despite the many people on the trail. (My mom doesn’t get around that well.) After that we went to a folk village (낙안읍성 민속 마을). It really was getting too cold, however. We didn’t stay very long. On our way back to 여수 we took a driving tour of the 여천공단. This is an area comprised of chemical and petroleum factories. At night each factory is lit by a different colored bulb that I believe signifies the type of chemicals produced there. It is quite a sight.

Here 일숙 and Luke try their hand at 널뛰기.

When we were in 부산 we rented a driver and a van to take us on an all day tour of 경주. It was a long day, We saw four main sights: 석굴암, the sight of a sitting Buddha in a cave, 불국사, a large and famous temple, 왕릉, the kings burial sight, and 경주 박물관, the national museum in 경주. It was a lot to do and see in one day. We found a tour similar to this that cost about 345,000원 per person (times that by eight!) but we did it for about 300,000원 altogether. If you aren’t a complete tourist it really pays.

We did a similar thing is 서울, we rented a car and driver and were able to see the palace and the nearby museum as well as 인사동 and 동대문. We really didn’t have enough time to see everything we wanted to but we didn’t have to much time to rest either. That is typical of any vacation though, especially one that is for touring: you need a vacation once you get home.

여러분 짜장면을 먹은 적이 있나요? 없으면 바로 먹어 봐야해요! 고아원에 매월 마지막 수요일에 어린이들이 저녁으로 짜장면을 먹어요. 까가운 중화요리집이 짜장면고 탕수육을 만들러 와요.

Have you ever eaten jjajangmyeon? If you haven’t you really should try it! At the orphanage, the children eat jjajangmyeon on the last Wednesday of every month. A Chinese food shop from nearby comes to make jjajangmyeon and sweet & sour pork.

짜장명 is sort of like the macaroni & cheese of Korea. It is dirt cheap, and an absolute favorite of kids everywhere. Of course, adults like it too! It can be found just about everywhere, but unless you live in LA or NY, I wonder if you can find it at a restaurant in the States. ㅠ.ㅠ Basically it is a noodle dish with a black bean sauce, onions, and pork bits. I know, I know, that description doesn’t sound so delicious, but trust me. I’d eat it 2 times a week if I thought it was really healthy!

I’m not sure about the origin of this dish, you can usually only find it at a “중화요리 집,” or Chinese restaurant, but those are all “Koreanized” so don’t expect to see it on the menu at your local Western Chinese carry-out!

Anyway, the kids at the orphanage rarely get to eat so well. Don’t get me wrong, they are fed each and every day, but it’s not always so appetizing. So 짜장면 Wednesdays are a real treat. A local Chinese food restaurant loads up their gear and hauls it over the orphanage once a month to serve noodles and sweet & sour pork. There is a picture below of the noodle slicing machine. Fresh noodles do taste so much better!