Downloaded a whole load of podcasts to torture train my ears to get used to listening to Japanese. I usually listen to Japanese radio programs but decided to try out an audio drama instead! Not too familiar with audio dramas but basically they are mini dramas “acted” out by voice actors – no image, just voices/sounds. Not sure if it’s entirely a Japanese concept, but I don’t recall seeing similar stuff for Korean (not yet anyway). I find the concept really cool, since you have to act out the character / drama based SOLELY on your voice, without gestures, facial expressions etc to help. Basically there’s no other distractions and perhaps voice acting is even harder than acting.

For language learners, audio dramas are an awesome way of training your listening proficiency. When we are watching live dramas, we tend to be “helped” by visual elements when it comes to figuring out the plot etc. Even if I’m watching an unsubbed drama, I find myself using visual elements to aid in processing the dialogue etc. This means that even though I didn’t exactly catch the phrase that they are saying, sometimes I can guess it through their expressions etc.

With audio dramas, all I have is my ears hahaha. I can’t depend on anything else to aid my understanding. Either I catch the phrase or I don’t. D: Logic can only help so much.

Randomly picked out this audio drama (オーディオドラマ「ライトハンド」) to try! Just finished the first episode (twice in fact) and I’m like …. mmm. I’ll peg my listening ability at 65% D: I kinda know what’s going on, yet I can’t understand some of the dialogue sigh. Experimenting with a new learning method where I’ll listen to an episode at one go, then go for a 2nd (and third..) listen to pick out some of the words that I don’t know and then check it up using the dictionary. (yes I switched to daum) Sometimes it works, but sometimes my ears can’t even pick up the sounds in the first place pffft.

It’s still too early to judge whether this method will work for me or not, but as of now, not really. I’m more of a visual learner than a .. ermm what do you call learning by ear? lol. I prefer learning from books (not necessarily textbooks but yeah..), so I find myself learning a lot more when I’m reading Japanese novels. I am better at mapping words I read to what I heard – meaning that I’ll read a word in the novel, check it up, and be like “ahh yes I heard this word used in xxx drama before”. Can’t really do the opposite. Hearing a word and matching it with something I’ve read before.

In any case, I did learn quite a number of words today from the audio drama but I’m not sure how much of an impression they have made in my brain hahaha. I still prefer reading. But it’s a real good challenge, because it forces me to open my ears and LISTEN. I prefer live-dramas still though, I think having a visual element in listening helps (for me at least). It’s been around a year since I started learning Japanese (counted from the time I last restarted since I forgot everything including part of hiragana -.-), not sure if my progress is okay or not, but I’m really loving the language ❤

yay! So.. happy weekends

p.s. If you are interested in Japanese audio dramas, search for “オーディオドラマ” in the iTunes podcast section! ^^

복분자 막걸리 is actually a combination of two types of alcohol: 복분자 (raspberry wine) and 막걸리. It is considered as a type of 막걸리, as it contains 80% of the latter. The basic 막걸리 is milky white in color, with a mild sweet taste and relatively low alcohol content (around 6%?). It’s one of those alcohols that you keep on drinking thinking that it’s really mild, but the effects (headache) hits you the next day (not talking from personal experience). 막걸리 is great with 파전 (pancake) but I can drink it with almost any food.

복분자 on the other hand is a bit more potent (less potent than soju still) and it’s supposedly good for men and gives them energy. Let’s stop here, eh? To my unrefined taste buds, it tastes like the sweeter version of red wine and I’m more partial to it. In fact, 복분자 is one of my favorite Korean alcohol, next to 동동주. It’s more expensive than makgoli or soju, which (I think) explains why the 복분자 막걸리 contains more of the latter.

Coming back to makgoli, there are A LOT of types of makgoli. Each region have their own specialities and their own flavors etc. I can’t remember how many I’ve tried in Korea, but I did try 복분자 막걸리 a few times. Curiously, the first time I tried it was with a Korean friend and it was the first time he heard of it hahahaha.

Yes!! Found the picture!!

Curiously, the one we had in Korea was of a darker red compared to the one I just bought (in the glass bottle). I much prefer the glass bottle one as this one was too sweet for my liking.

Okay, on to the review!! I’ve been blabbering non-stop haha.

For those who are new to Korean alcohol, I think it’s a good one to try! Slightly milky and a pretty dark pink color, it already wins appearance wise. I find this brand pretty good – the 복분자 is not too overpowering and not too sweet. It’s a pretty mild alcohol and great on its own or with some light snacks. I would think that the taste will be popular with the general public, unlike soju which is more of an acquired taste (i love soju btw) I think this brand contains 6% alcohol (around there, too lazy to check) and 360 ml. haha sorry if it looks very little in the photo, I’ve already drank a cup ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

I’m no wine reviewer, so I’m sorry I can’t come up with all the bombastic terms and descriptions. All I can say is that this brand is pretty good and if you are in the supermarket, pop by the alcohol section and grab a bottle! Retails for around SGD 10.50, so it’s still quite decent for an indulgence once in a while. ^^

pfft. I can’t believe I actually reviewed a.l.c.o.h.o.l ><;

I’m so addicted to Strawberry Night that I bought the novel hehehe. Read around 30 pages so far. Twice in fact – first reading and the detailed reading. Will talk about how I feel about reading two Japanese novels concurrently in another post. Picked up quite a lot of vocabulary like 現場、事故死、解剖 etc. lol. Reminds me of how I first picked up this category(?) of words in Korean when I watched SIGN. One of the first unsubbed dramas I watched was God’s Quiz lol. A rather interesting choice for an unsubbed drama hahaha

In any case, I’m having fun reading the novel. ❤ Couldn’t imagine that one day I’ll be reading an original Japanese crime novel hehe. I need to start varying my input and exposure so that I can read other stuff too lol.

Okay I will stop buying Japanese novels lol. As you can see the other two are alcohols. lol.

Books and wine. ❤

Saw this luggage on sale the other day!! omggg. SO TEMPTED. Totally my kind of style hahaha.

But I’m glad I didn’t give in to irrationality and buy it. It’s too expensive anyway even with the sale. Can’t even buy it even if I want to xD

BUT SO NICE. Googled the picture btw.

By the way, I’m totally clueless when it comes to wines! I just like drinking them lol. If you have any recommendations for a decent and relatively cheap wine, let me know!!!

똥 묻은 개가 겨 묻은 개 나무란다

Let’s break down the proverb!

똥: shit

묻다: to be smeared – take note that the verb is in the passivized form. To smear something – 묻히다. In that vein, 묻다 is NOT used with the 을/를 particle while 묻히다 is

개: dog

겨: bran

나무라다: to scold

Literal meaning: The dog who is smeared with shit is scolding the dog smeared with bran

Figurative meaning: Pot calling the kettle black

ㅎㅎ Interesting right?

Example sentence: 똥 묻은 개가 겨 묻은 개 나무란다더니 맨날 늦는 철수 씨가 처음으로 지각하는 나에게 다음에 늦지말라고 하더라

Understanding proverbs is easy, using them naturally in a sentence is the hard part!

Tip: ~ ㄴ/는다더니 is a very common grammar construction to use when you want to make use of a proverb. ^^

Since this one is quite short, let’s do another one… shall we?

똥 싼 놈이 성낸다

Toilet humor is the best and shit proverbs are likewise interesting ㅋㅋ

똥 싸다: to shit – pretty crude way of phrasing it though. To urinate – 오줌 싸다

놈: guy / bloke

성내다: to be angry

Literal meaning: The guy who shits get angry

Figurative meaning: The guy makes the mistake but still dares to be the one yelling at other people

Example sentence: 똥 싼 놈이 성낸다더니 먼저 실수를 하면서 나한테 화를 내더라. 어이가 없다 정말..

Hope everyone enjoyed learning with me! ^^ Spare a moment to leave a comment ㅎ

Now I still get a range of reactions. From the “oh so you are kpop crazy” (minority reaction since almost everyone is kpop crazy lol) to “WOAH so cool!!” “wow I hope to be as good in Korean next time” “so amazing that you can self study a language!”. hahahaha.

Thank you kpop, for making my life better and getting so many compliments lol.

Kinda ironic how something that was seen as “useless” is now seen as “cool”. Not that it’s a bad change but to be honest, I don’t really care about it. I don’t care how Korean is going to be a “useful language now that there are a lot of opportunities to do business with Korean companies” or that “you are so smart to predict that Korean is going to be so popular now!”. I have always act according to my own interests and will continue to do the same thing. I’m immune to all these trends / popularity / usefulness stuff. -.-

It’s definitely not a bad thing to “ride on the wave” and start learning Korean now. But sometimes I feel like I need to emphasize that I’ve been learning for five years and try to separate myself from those who started to learn recently just because of the “popularity” factor. lol. It’s a stupid thought since the reasonable and logical self in me knows that there are also a lot of people who are starting to learn now because they are interested in the language and even if they join it because of the “trendy” factor, there’s nothing wrong with it. There’s no such thing as a “better” reason to learn a language. Besides, who am I to judge? ㅋㅋ

But the emotional self in me still feel that way, possibly because of all the criticism and all the shit stuff I have to endure just because at that point in time, it wasn’t common to learn the language. I was going through a difficult period at that time and all the shit stuff just made me feel even worse but I felt even more sure that I have to protect my own interests and to believe in myself and my choices.

I’m sure a lot of people who have started learning for quite some time knows what I mean (about the negative comments). I get it a lot more because I dedicate a large part of my life to the language. I’ve had people tell me that I should stop learning Korean and focus on more pragmatic stuff. #truestory

A few years back I have that strong urge to succeed with my Korean skills and prove those who belittle my choices / decisions etc wrong. hahaha sadly I’m still very much unaccomplished and yeah.. haha. That kind of thoughts have subside over the years. Why should I answer to others and why must I prove you wrong? I should answer only to myself and if the path I take makes me happy, it should be enough. Even if I don’t succeed with Korean (or don’t succeed at all ㅠㅠㅠ) I’m still very happy that Korean is part of my life.

Same with Japanese. I have no goal in mind when I decided that Japanese is also going to be part of my life. I just feel happy doing so and I’m enjoying the process of learning a new language and culture. (:

p.s. I’m trying to be honest here, so please don’t twist my words and think that I’m trying to say that I’m “better” than those who are learning because of kpop. lol. Part of the reason I learnt Korean was because of 궁 hahaha.

Sorry it has to be in caps because I haven’t done one for ages (or so it seems).

Today’s audio blog centers around the theme “만약”. If you are interested in what I have to say, click and listen!! ^^

I have to say that I sound horrible in some parts. ><;; Can’t pronounce some words properly, getting stuck in some sentences and having funny intonation in other bits. Feels like I’ve kinda forgotten how to speak Korean O.o oh well, I’m meant to learn from these mistakes!

Still reading the Japanese novel these days. ^^ I’m falling in love with 東野圭吾’s writing. ❤ Shall get another book after I’m done with this! Probably 卒業 from the Kyoichiro Kaga series.

How’s everyone doing for Korean / other languages that you are learning?

Will be nice to hear from others, so feel free to share! ^^

1. 맞팔

Meaning: Follow each other (서로 팔로우하는 것)

Not sure if there’s an equivalent word for the same concept in English. Can’t think of anything offhand except “Follow me back?”. 맞팔 is an abbreviation where the morpheme 맞 means “마주 (together, each other, facing)”.

You see this morpheme used in words like 맞앉다 (마주 앉다) – sit facing each other and 맞부딪다 – hit each other. It may be harder to guess the meaning of 팔 at first, but it’s actually an abbreviation of 팔로우 (follow). Due to Korean not having an “f” sound, f-words (haha) are romanized with ㅍ. Like 파일 (file).

Like I said earlier, I can’t really think of an equivalent word for English but it’s common in Korean to use it as a verb and a noun. eg. xx랑 맞팔됐어!!! can be used if you and xx are following each other. That’s the noun usage. As a verb you can say something like 맞팔하세요! and I think I have seen it used it some profiles when the person will follow you back if you follow him/her.

Personally I’m not into the whole 맞팔 thing. I am thankful if you follow me but I don’t like people asking me to follow them back.

2. 알튀

Quite straightforward. This means RT or 리트윗 (in more proper romanization form).

3. 트통령

Meaning: person (on Twitter) who has a large follower count and influence The above 2 slangs are quite common knowledge (if you are a Twitter user) but this one is less known. 트통령 is a play on the word 대통령 (President), replacing the 대 with 트 (트위터).

ㅎㅎ If you are on Twitter, is there any 트통령 that you want to be 맞팔 with?

Every year I discover some new blogs / people through the competition and it’s always nice to inject some extra fun into language blogging ❤

If you feel that Hangukdrama has been a nice read for the past year (or years), please spare some time to nominate it for the Blog Category!

TOP 100 Language Lovers 2013 Nomination 

You can learn more about the competition and look at past year winners from the above link too!

I will be nominating a few blogs myself ㅋㅋㅋ (erm not myself)

잘 부탁해용~

For those who are still new in learning Korean, take note of them whenever you come across such words but do not be too worried if you cannot remember them or can’t figure how 성큼성큼 has any connection or in any way sounds like walking. It will all come to you

Novels are particularly rich in these words, kinda hard to find them if you are always reading non-fiction (like me).

저벅저벅: with heavy footsteps and taking big strikes ( 발을 크고 묵직하게 내디디며 잇따라 걷는 소리. 또는 그 모양)

성큼성큼: taking big strides (다리를 잇따라 높이 들어 크게 떼어 놓는 모양)

느릿느릿: slowly, sluggishly

어슬렁어슬렁: walk slowly, sluggishly

사뿐사뿐: with soft, muffled steps (lightly)

살금살금: stealthily, walk on tip toes

가만가만: walk with soft steps

타박타박/터벅터벅: plod, walk with difficulty

아장아장: toddling – kids

저벅저벅: sound of walking heavily

뚜벅뚜벅: sound of plodding

This post is partially recycled from a 2009 post. ㅎㅎ I doubt anyone realizes, right?

This list is not exhaustive. If you have something that I’ve missed out, leave a comment! ^^