Acceptance and Understanding

9 May, 2013 7:58 PM \ 30 Comments \

5 years ago, when I tell people that I self study Korean, spend a lot of time learning Korean and run a blog talking about learning Korean, I get a range of reactions. The nicer people will give me a bewildered look and go “ah I see ….. …. . . (silence)” while the others will be like “so how is it going to help in your career?” “why are you wasting your time doing this?” and all sorts of belittling remarks.

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.

Posted in: Korean learning journey (:

[Audio Blog] 만약에 ….

8 May, 2013 7:19 PM \ 9 Comments \

I’M BACK WITH AN AUDIO BLOG! ㅋㅋㅋ

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! ^^

 

Posted in: Audio Blog 말하기 연습, Korean learning journey (: \ Tagged: , , , ,

[Korean Slang] 트통령과 맞팔!

7 May, 2013 3:17 PM \ 6 Comments \

호호. The last time I updated the Korean slang category was in ….. *whispers* December hahaha D: I’m back again though! Today I’ll be introducing a few slangs that is related to Twitter! I suppose I don’t have to explain what is Twitter.. right? If you are not following me, please follow! @hangukdrama I complain and whine a lot there, so if you don’t want any of that, don’t follow me ㅋㅋ

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? :D

Posted in: Korean learning journey (:, Korean Lessons, Korean Slangs \ Tagged: , ,

TOP 100 Language Lovers 2013 competition is here :D

6 May, 2013 8:20 PM \ 5 Comments \

ㅎㅎ Every year I look forward to May because of the annual TOP 100 Language Lovers competition organized by bab.la!!! :D As you can see from the sidebar, I’ve been joining since 2010. (missed out on the 2012 badge ㅠㅠ) and now I want to collect the 2013 badge!

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~

 

Posted in: Korean learning journey (:

10 ways of walking in Korean

6 May, 2013 2:12 PM \ 5 Comments \

One reason why Korean is such an expressive language is because of its rich collection of onomatopoeic words. Personally, to be able to use such words comfortably is a good sign that you are close to “mastering” the language. I’m still far from it, but I can recognize more and more of these words.

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 :P

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! ^^

Posted in: Korean learning journey (:, Korean Lessons \ Tagged: , , ,

[VIDEO] My Korean Language Notebooks

5 May, 2013 12:02 PM \ 16 Comments \

First of all, I have read all the feedback regarding the new layout and I know that some of you like it a lot, some are o~k~ with it while some prefer me to go back to the old layout. I really want to find a comfortable and easy-to-read layout for all, but the search is proving difficult. I’m too broke to pay for something also (^^;), so try to adjust to the new (smaller) font! ^^ My only gripe is with the smaller font (ctrl + is always there), but other than that I really like this!

Anyone wants to design for Hangukdrama? ㅋㅋㅋ

Yeah I know I’ve talked about my language notebooks countless of times and many of you have already seen this video, but I doubt I embedded in a post before, so here goes.

I miss having the Optimus G!!! omg but too bad I have no spare cash to splurge on a new phone. I don’t remember using a filter so I don’t know why the photos have such a “dreamy” look lol.

Either the 3rd or 4th notebook! You can click on them for the full size pictures (if you are interested)

CAM00039 CAM00040 CAM00042

Posted in: Korean learning journey (:, Videos - Learning Korean \ Tagged: , ,

[Korean Proverb] 때리는 시어머니보다 말리는 시누이가 더 밉다

4 May, 2013 10:14 AM \ 17 Comments \

There’s a lot of wisdom in proverbs and I particularly love Korean proverbs for their directness although sometimes the expressions can get a little crude (quite a number of proverbs involving 똥) ㅋ

 

때리는 시어머니보다 말리는 시누이가 더 밉다

Let’s break down the proverb, shall we?

때리다 – to hit

시어머니 – mother-in-law. 시- (媤) means “on the husband’s side” so you get words like 시어머니, 시집 etc

~보다: grammar construction meaning “compared to~”

말리다: to stop somebody from doing something

시누이: sister in law. Recognize the 시? 누이 is a term referring to a male’s sisters. Commonly used to refer to younger sisters. Take note that it is not an addressee term, so one won’t call the sisters 누이 directly, but used it to refer indirectly to them. eg. 저는 누이 하나 있다

더: more

밉다: dislike

Literal meaning: The sister-in-law who tries to stop the mother-in-law is more hateful (disliked) than the mother-in-law who beats (the daughter-in-law)

Figurative meaning: The person who pretends to be nice to you on the outside but who slanders you on the inside is more hateful.

TOTALLY AGREE.

Sister-in-laws generally have the image of being spiteful, often sliding in snide remarks and expecting the wife to treat them like a princess etc – per k-drama norms.

hehe find this proverb so spot-on! That’s the kind of people I dislike the most too – those who pretend to be nice and friendly to you but slander you behind your back. If you dislike me or have a problem with me, I will rather you show it to me directly or say it in front of me or just do nothing. Those who pretends to understand but then comment to other people “I don’t know why she’s like that. I know it’s bad for me to say this (as her friend), but she really is (cues bad stuff)”. If she’s really your friend and you feel bad about saying it, then don’t say it in the first place. 재수없다 정말

A similar proverb is 때리는 사람보다 말리는 사람 더 밉다. Very similar and in fact easier, so I guess I don’t have to explain this!

———-

If you like this post and find it helpful, leave me a comment! I am currently studying Korean proverbs, so if it helps, I’ll be glad to share more! :D

Posted in: Korean learning journey (:, Korean Lessons, Korean Proverbs 속담 \ Tagged: , , ,

Introducing Yago – a site for language lovers

3 May, 2013 4:41 PM \ 2 Comments \

yago

 

Have been meaning to talk about this site for ages, but procrastination got the better of me. Better late than never!

Language lovers in Singapore may have already come across Yago Singapore – it is basically a site that promotes language learning here and it boasts a very comprehensive directory of local language classes for a number of foreign languages.

Instead of going straight into what Yago offers, I’ll like to introduce Guus, the founder of Yago. I always believe that knowing about the person behind an idea/site/business etc is important and it really gives you an insight of what is the driving force behind his/her works. I was really happy to meet up with Guus after corresponding with him for awhile over emails. I’m usually pretty awkward with new acquaintances but I was totally comfortable talking with Guus. Right from the start, I could tell that he really loves languages and he’s genuinely passionate and interested in what he’s doing. Passion is infectious, and I found myself being really interested in his business and site and we talked about various topics on language learning in Singapore, self studying etc!

Unlike me and my fixation with Korean (and now Japanese), Guus loves language learning in general. Hailing from the Netherlands, he speaks Dutch and English and is learning Mandarin Chinese. hehe his pronunciation is really good! We talked a lot about language learning and he told me that he loves foreign languages and wanted to promote language learning in Singapore, prompting him to create Yago.

I find that amazing, because that is kinda what I want to do also. Through Hangukdrama, I mainly want to share the joy of language learning and to encourage more people to pick up a foreign language and to show that it’s possible to self study (Korean and Japanese). We talked about how language learning is often given low priority in Singapore and many simply take up classes in schools but gradually give up learning due to “more important things to do”. Sadly, there’s also a “pragmatic reason” when it comes to choosing the language one wants to learn.

We didn’t talk for that long, but I’m truly inspired by what he wants to achieve with Yago and I really hope that more locals will be encouraged to pick up a foreign language!

Screen Shot 2013-05-03 at 4.34.56 PM

Yago has a very comprehensive directory of language classes in Singapore and it’s a breeze to find what you want, as the classes are categorized by language, class types etc! Reviews are enabled for each class listing, so if you are looking for language classes and unsure of which ones are good, check out the reviews.

The listing for Korean classes can be accessed HERE. If you have taken any language classes in Singapore, please help to leave a review. Promoting language learning is not something that can be done by an individual. Guus and I are both playing a small part in it, but do join us and share the joy of language learning. ❤

Guus, if you are reading this, hopefully we can meet up some time again and discuss more language issues ^^

Yago Site

Twitter: @YagoSG

Facebook Page

Posted in: Others / General \ Tagged: , , , ,

Hangukdrama gets a new look

2 May, 2013 10:15 PM \ 4 Comments \

Hi everyone! :D

It’s been quite some time since I have tidied up the blog! Nothing better than a new look to freshen up the blog and myself. I’m still fiddling with a lot of stuff and adding this and that, but at least the general new look is out.

Comments will be much appreciated!

If there is anything you will like to see on Hangukdrama, feel free to post them here too. If you have suggested something that have slipped my mind, please remind me again!

Before you move on, take a second to vote!

If you do not like it, please tell me why. If not I’m going to keep guessing and still not get it right!

NEW LAYOUT
How much do you like the new (incomplete) look of Hangukdrama?

 

Posted in: Others / General

Being satisfied – a good or bad thing in language learning?

2 May, 2013 12:44 PM \ 16 Comments \

“you are pretty good already”

“that’s enough to survive in Korea”

“it’s good enough already. You can already do this and that in said language”

“how good you want to be? hahaha”

“don’t be so greedy. You are already so good!”

I think one of the things that I’m really scared of is that one day I’ll be satisfied when it comes to the languages that I’m learning. No matter if the satisfaction comes from within or from the compliments / comments that I get from people around me, I think it’s scary. Once you come to a certain level of ability (no matter in what), I think it’s very much in human nature that you will start to think “hey I’m pretty good” and be happy about it. No matter how much we try to deny, I’m sure everyone likes compliments and they will get to you somehow. It’s not that easy to brush off compliments and be totally unaffected about it. 칭찬이 독이다. I believe in this lol.

Come of think of it, I’m kinda guilty of telling people similar things too.

“Please.. you are super good already!!”

“You are already better than so many other people out there!”

Guilty of it. Why am I saying the same stuff to other people when I don’t like hearing things like that in the first place?

I admit that I have a lot of .. ambition(?) when it comes to Korean. I don’t want to be “good”, and I don’t want to sit around feeling happy that I’m considered pretty good for a foreigner who is learning the language (at least amongst my own social network – the world is damn large).

However, to be very honest, I find myself slipping down into the “quite satisfied” zone recently. I don’t feel any particular need to work super super hard for Korean at the moment, and I’m happily leaving Korean aside to focus on Japanese at the moment. Lacking internal and external motivation. To put it even more bluntly, I’m acting this way because I don’t feel threatened. (HAHAHA what am I saying)

But I don’t like myself for it. I think I am one of those people who needs 자극 and a poke in my pride/ego every now and then. I can get quite competitive and I like to feel that urge to improve and get better haha. Right now, I need to be be made to feel that I suck so badly at Korean that I should be ashamed to think that I am pretty good. I need to be put in that situation again when I find myself unable to express myself properly in Korean, unable to read in Korean. I think I need to be in Korea again.

To be amongst Koreans. To meet more foreigners who are learning Korean (and who are damn good at it).

——-

Back to talking about those comments. I get them quite a lot to be honest. A lot of people cannot understand why I want to get to that “native standard” and they think that I should totally be satisfied with being functional in the language. Is it a bad thing if I want to strive to be even better? Is it becoming a norm that “good” is more than enough? D:

I don’t know.

Hard to put this into words. While I can be totally happy about being “good” or “passable” in some things in life, there are some that I really want to keep taking on to the next level. And I think Korean is one of those things at this point in life.

Posted in: Korean learning journey (: \ Tagged: ,