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Here’s a 새로운(new) 카테고리(category) for everyone.

Whenever you learn a new foreign language, it always takes a lot of time remembering (and forgetting) new words, but at the same time it’s very interesting how some basic differences in the way of thinking or looking at things can result in the differences in individual words. But then there are some ‘powerful’ words that come in handy in a variety of situations, which kind of have to do with the understanding of the culture, and at the same time help you build stronger vocabulary in the cultural context.

I’d like to introduce those words in the Blog, once or twice a month just like Hyunwoo’s Mind Map. And today we have the Korean verb “풀다” here, and how it can be translated into various different words in English.

How many of the words below did you already know? How many of them will leave you wondering “how come it can have such a meaning”? Have a look!

Thanks for reading!! 한국어 공부 열심히 하세요!!

Epik High (or 에픽하이) is a hiphop band made up of three members: Tablo, Mithra Jin, and DJ Tukutz. DJ Tukutz works the turntables, while Tablo and Mithra Jin rap, and all three members have a huge amount of input into the creation and production of their albums, being their own producers as well as composing the music and writing the lyrics.

Unlike some other Korean artists that throw random English into their lyrics, the English that Tablo puts into Epik High’s lyrics is perfect, and never just simple things or common phrases, but complex thoughts and ideas; Tablo, after all, spent many years in America, and has a Master’s degree in English Literature and Creative Writing from Stanford University in California.

A mix of pop and hiphop, Epik High is the kind of hiphop band that often people who don’t like hiphop actually do really enjoy once they start listening to some of the songs. I know plenty of people who this has happened to … myself included XD Their sound is better summed up with this, something they said during their fourth album: “No genre, just music”

Epik High have made some waves in Korea, with the Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism trying to ban several songs from their fourth album, Remapping the Human Soul, because the lyrics deal rather bluntly with social issues such as sex crimes, war, education and religion. This is the kind of music Epik High makes, music with a message, lyrics with a meaning.

So far, they have released 4 albums and have a 5th due out later this year. Tablo also teamed up with Pe2ny to create a project group called ETERNAL MORNING, and together the pair released an instrumental album called Soundtrack to a Lost Film. The “film” doesn’t exist, but each track is set to a different scene of a different type of movie, a different genre, relying on only music (and occasional, very minimal, lyrics) to set the mood and deliver the message. Tablo said that “The music I couldn’t do as part of Epik High, I did as part of ETERNAL MORNING.” and although it isn’t to everyone’s taste, I personally find it very original and incredibly interesting, and I completely love it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a work of art in it’s own way.

In my previous entry, I mentioned 비 as being one of the few artists that I admire. Epik High is another one of those few artists.

Some live performances first:
Let It Rain This is one of my favourite Epik High songs, and Korean rock band 넬 (Nell) make a guest appearance in this. It’s from their third album, Swan Songs.
Untitled Yeah, Epik High + 넬 is probably my favourite musical combination in the entire world XD Epik High’s sound goes great with 넬’s, it’s like they can both retain their own group’s sound while creating something together. These two groups are perfect together, they really are.

And some MVs:
I Remember This is one of their first MVs, from their first album Map of the Human Soul.
평화의 날 From their second album, High Society
Fly This is from their third album, Swan Songs. It was with this album that they began to get a lot better known. This is one of my favourite Epik High MVs!
Paris Also from their third album
Fan This is from their fourth album, Remapping the Human Soul, and is one of my favourite Epik High songs and definitely the coolest MV that I have ever seen. This song was reaaaaally really popular
Love Love Love Also from their fourth album

First, I apologize for not getting a post out last week. It was a holiday/long weekend here and well, time just got away from me. I know, no excuses…

Our house guest/extra child has been adapting to life in the Unites States quite well, sometimes too well. He is a very good follower so he is susceptible to peer pressure more than most. He recently got in trouble for booing at a school assembly. Hey, he was just having fun with his friends and he says those friends are more fun. Right. I am sure they are. He is, on the other hand, the best soccer player among kids his age. 

As far as Korean goes, I am finding it interesting the holes that I have in my vocabulary as well as in our “exchange student’s”. This past week we were able to witness the lunar eclipse. We all had the opportunity to learn new words: 월식(月蝕) and 일식. I expected that a sixth grader would know that word. There have been other words as well. When he first arrived here I was surprised that he did not know 시차. Of course, maybe only someone who travels a lot would know that word. My wife keeps reminding me that he is only a grade schooler and that he doesn’t have a large/specialized vocabulary. That describes me pretty well most of the time. If you only speak to kids you will learn to speak like a kid. My children are communicating by using a mixture of English and Korean together so it is a win/win situation as far as Korean goes. English is another story. My younger two children spit out a hodge-podge of words sometimes that don’t really make sense, kind of like our resident English learner.

He tends to do a fair amount of communicating using descriptive sounds like ‘확-’ ㅅ슈 -ㄱㄱ ’ ‘very very’ ‘many many’ ‘봉’ and lots of other sounds that are hard to write down but I am sure you can imagine that my arms are flying around while I am making these sounds right now. It is kind of like having a comic book acted out in front of you. So he is doing a great job of combining comic book-like sounds with pantomime to get his point across. But, after being here about a month he is starting to get some complete sentences out too, which is good.

Sometimes we hear things in Korean or English and it doesn’t really matter because everyone involved understood what was being said. Then, we have to think about what language we just heard.

The Korean school year starts at the beginning of March. Consequently, there is some shuffling that will take place all over the orphanage. Two boys and one girl will move up from the pre-school room to the elementary house. Two 6th grade boys will move up to the middle school/high school floor. And I’m sure that some older kids who just graduated will be off to college/military service or some may be moving away.

Unfortunately, this is all going to happen when I’m in Taiwan. It will be interesting to see how the dynamics change among the elementary boys. The two new 1st graders are pretty tough, no-nonsense kind of kids. The 2 boys who are just one year older than them are not nearly as rugged. They aren’t bigger. They’ve spent the past year at the bottom rung of the social hierarchy and do it relatively willingly. For lack of a better word… they are much “wussier.”

Now, as you already know, age plays a BIG role in social relationships in Korea. Even one year can make a difference - especially for children. The current 2nd graders just LOVE to throw their little bit of weight around at the less-assertive 1st graders. It is the only authority can claim! I am expecting the new 2nd graders to try that with the two new boys. But these kids will not go so easily. They have really strong personalities. Now, they’ll probably take it from the 4th, 5th, and 6h graders, but I have my doubts about the others!

If you have lessons that you liked particularly and want to share with your friends or on the blogosphere, here is an easy way to do it. Go to the [share] button of the lesson post, and just click on it. There you can register a certain lesson to your bookmarks on the Internet or send the link to your friends by email.

특별히 마음에 드는 레슨이 있어서 친구들과 혹은 블로그를 통해서 나누고 싶으시면, 아주 간단한 방법이 있습니다. 각 레슨 포스트의 [share] 버튼으로 가서 클릭하시면, 인터넷 북마크에 등록하거나 이메일로 링크를 친구에게 보낼 수 있습니다.

Help us spread the word! We will keep working hard to help you improve your Korean and make your learning more fun!

주변 사람들에게 KoreanClass101에 대해서 알려 주세요! 앞으로도 여러분이 한국어 공부를 재미있게 할 수 있도록 노력할게요!

비 (Bi), also known as Rain or 정지훈 (Jung Jihoon), is one of Asia’s superstars. Signed under JYP Entertainment from debut until just last year, 비 has enjoyed success in the past 6 years throughout Korea and into Japan, China and even America; but China, in particular, loves this guy.

His music is R&B style, something that his voice is perfect for and gives his natural talent as a dancer the chance to shine, and he’s often been favourably compared to American artists like Usher and Justin Timberlake. In 2006, 비 was featured on the song Man Up by American R&B artist Omarion. And although he has yet to make his official American debut, 비 has still held several very successful concerts in America since 2006, and he has snagged himself many Asian music awards.

It hasn’t just been as a singer that 비 has enjoyed so much success; he’s also had a good acting career, starring in the Korean TV dramas Sang Doo! Let’s Go To School (상두야, 학교가자!), Full House (풀하우스), and A Love to Kill (이 죽일놈의 사랑), as well as the Korean movie I’m A Cyborg But That’s Okay (싸이보그지만 괜찮아). He’s also set to make his Hollywood debut in just a few months, in the upcoming Wachowski brothers’ film Speed Racer. This is definitely a huge milestone in 비’s career.

비 is one of the few artists that I admire. I like a lot and support quite a few, but 비 is one of the very few that I can honestly say that I admire. Part of it is because he’s only a year older than I am, yet he’s accomplished so much. He puts so much effort into his career, and everything that he does he does 110%. His career hasn’t at all been smooth sailing, there’s been many bumps and many obstacles, and in 2007 not only did he leave the security of his JYP Entertainment contract and set up his own record label instead, there was also a lot of trouble that would perhaps have ended the career of many other artists, or made many just give it up. But he’s come out the other side of it in one piece, and in a lot of ways he’s better off for it. I admire that, the way that he doesn’t give up, the way he just keeps on going.

His motto is “Endless Effort, Endless Endurance, Endless Modesty”. I think that’s something we could all try for.

Before I give you some MVs, you can have a live first Here is 비 performing my favourite 비 song, 태양을 피하는 방법.

And now its on to some MVs

나쁜남자 This is 비’s debut single. I love this song.

태양을 피하는 방법 This is from his second album, 태.양.을.피.하.는.방.법. My favourite 비 song!

It’s Raining This is from his third album, It’s Raining, and I think it’s one of those songs that pretty much anyone who’s into Korean music has heard at least once before - or at least the ssss~ ahhh~ bit XD;

Sad Tango This is one of his Japanese singles, probably my favourite of his Japan releases.

Free Way Another of his Japanese singles, this one is super cute.

Still Believe This is really cool! He did a promotion with BMW, and there was a digital single released for it. This is just the MV for the song, but the whole thing was like a mini movie of sorts. You can see it here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

And finally, I’m Coming From his latest album, Rain’s World.

I am not very familiar with the financial side of things at the orphanage.  The are working on a new building, and apparently still fundraising for it.  But periodically lots of other gifts show up.  Occasionally, all of the kids will have new shoes…the same kind.  Right now, there is a stack of roller blades.  One of the first graders showed me his pair (which is really twice the size of this foot) and got very defensive when I asked him if they were really his.  I tried to ask about the size thing, and he started screaming..

“괜찮아!”

Most often the donations are food.  One day a box of mini ice-creams from Baskin Robins arrived.  Another time it was Dunkin Donuts.  Occasionally, each kid will get a veritable treasure chest of junk food.  Crown Bakery is a chain bakery in Seoul.  Last Christmas they delivered about 90 crates stuffed with all sorts of goodies - each kid got his or her own!  That’s pretty awesome, isn’t it!?

Some really interesting things happen though.  I watched the first and second graders open their boxes and shout with glee as they pulled out the various treats.  Then the oldest boys came in and said something I couldn’t understand, but immediately, all the little kids pulled something from their box and gave it to the older kids!  It was like they had to pay tribute!

For the next day or two…yes, they eat it all that fast…wrappers and crumbs from those treats were everywhere.

There are two issues all of this brings up.  Let’s try discussing them  in the comments:

1.  These kids have nothing, so giving them things is OK, but should they get so much junk food?

2. They already don’t have good habits, and these kinds of gifts come right before bed, after they “supposedly” brushed their teeth.  They rip into them right away and never really get around to brushing their teeth again.

Hi everyone. I’m back with another picture of a Korean bar/restaurant but this time I’ve labeled this post under “Travels in Korea” instead of “Humor in Korean” because it’s not so much about ‘humor’ this time.

Here’s a pic of a small bar that’s located between the two subway stations 강남역 and 논현역 in Seoul. If you look at the name of the shop, it’s CASTLE PRAHA. And for those who travel to Korea and see this and wonder “Why Prague?” or think “The owner of this bar must like Prague very much”, I’d like to introduce to you a nice Korean TV Drama.

Here’s a link to the MV of the theme song of the drama :

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5HPQXxpCGtk

And here’s the link to the official webpage of the drama :

http://tv.sbs.co.kr/praha/

The drama was such a hit in Korea in 2005, and from 2005 to 2006, Korea was one of the major countries that people visiting Prague were from, and they even made a new direct airline from Inchon to Prague because of the Prague boom. Interesting, huh? No wonder there are still a lot of shops and bars named after the city.

There was another Korean TV drama named “파리의 연인(Lovers in Paris)” that sent A HUGE number of people to Paris after the last episode was aired, but that’s another story.

Another “artist review” from me! Thankyou to everyone who left comments on the post about Drunken Tiger, and I hope those of you who hadn’t heard any of Drunken Tiger’s stuff enjoyed it ^^

This week, I thought that I would do one of my favourite artists. In fact, this is actually my favourite group in the entire world. They are a six member boyband, are fast approaching their 10 year anniversary, and are Korea’s longest lasting boyband. They are… 신화 (Shinhwa)!

신화 consists of six members: Eric, Lee Minwoo (이민우), Kim Dongwan (김동완), Shin Hyesung (신혜성), JunJin (전진) and Andy. Apart from Eric, all members have released solo work, and Eric and Dongwan have side careers as actors. Overall, they are incredibly successful as a group as well as when standing on their own.

They were formed in 1998 by SM Entertainment, one of the biggest labels when it comes to pop music in Korea. In 2003, they left SM Entertainment and signed under Good Entertainment instead.

Their sound during their first few albums ranged from upbeat, bubblegum pop tunes, to a slightly heavier, rockier type of pop music that was very similiar to H.O.T.’s style, one of 신화’s biggest rivals despite being under the same company. In fact, 신화 were actually given several songs that had been originally intended for use by H.O.T. Despite rivalry such as this, the members of the two groups formed and maintained friendships with each other, even to this day.

In recent years, 신화’s sound is more of an R&B influenced pop. Perhaps one of 신화’s main keys to success has been the way that their sound has constantly evolved and changed to fit in with what is most popular at the time while still maintaining their own style.

One of the things that I like most about 신화 is that they aren’t entirely manufactured. Over the years they have had more and more of an input into their music and lyrics, writing some of their own songs, and they are also very heavily involved in choreographing their dances.

신화 are quite popular in Japan, and are incredibly popular in China, Taiwan and Singapore. Hyesung and Minwoo’s solo works have also been very well recieved throughout Asia.

I am however a very sad puppy, because most of the 신화 boys are going to be doing their military service later this year, and I am going to miss them so much.

Now it’s MV time!

으쌰! 으쌰! Now don’t let this song scare you XD This is what I was talking about with bubblegum pop. It’s their second single from their first album.

Hey, Come On! This is from their fourth album, Hey, Come On!.

Wild Eyes This is one of my favourite Shinhwa songs, from their fourth album.

Brand New Another one of my favourite songs, from their seventh album Brand New.

Once In A Lifetime From their eight album, State of the Art.

The Snowy Night I love this song and this MV. It was from their latest release, Winter Story 2007. I think it’s adorable because you get to see them goofing off.

And to wrap it up, a live for you This is from late last year, December 30th, at the KBS Song Festival. Part 01, where they perform Brand New and Hey, Come On!, and Part 02 where they perform Perfect Man and T.O.P - and I totally recommend watching them performing T.O.P if nothing else. It’s a song from their second album, and they remixed it and it was awesome (you can watch it on it’s own here if you don’t want to click your way through the other file)

As you know, this past week was New Years. We celebrated fairly simply by having some friends over for dinner. The family is a couple similar to myself and my wife; that is an American husband and a Korean wife. They have one son, six years old.

The wife is from 대구 (경상도). Until recently her parents lived with them but they have returned to Korea to live now. When the son speaks Korean, he usually speaks in 경상도 사투리. He learned most of his Korean from his grandparents so his 말투 is very hard to understand. His mom’s 사투리 is also difficult to understand even for my wife. Like our children, he seems much more comfortable speaking English.

We had 떡국, 불고기, 김치, 빈대떡, 쌈장, 쌈 and rice (of course). The cooking was different from what my wife prepares. I think the difference is due to the way 전라도 and 경상도 use spices. Our friend said that anyone from 전라도 is a good cook. (While I will get in trouble for saying this… my wife had a hard time cooking rice properly when we first got married… maybe it was just that American rice̷ I have heard that the further away from서울 one gets, the better the food gets. I don’t think that is true so much today due to the metropolitan nature of 서울.

We had some good food and enjoyed some time with friends, speaking Korean.

Happy New Year everyone!