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Formal or informal? Posted by on Oct 20, 2016

Korean has different levels of respect: depending on the speakers’ ages, societal status, or closeness to each other, Koreans will decide which level of politeness to use and how to behave themselves. Did you know that Korean language has seven different levels of speech? Korean has six formal speech forms and one informal speech form…

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That Was Awkward: North and South Korean Language Barriers Posted by on Oct 5, 2016

There is a very good chance you will never meet, let alone speak Korean to, a North Korean (북한국인). But if you did meet, say, a defector or diplomat, chances are you would test out your Korean (한국어) in order to build a trust and strike common ground, right?  But would they understand your South Korean? Last…

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North and South Korean Language Split: Can They Understand Each Other? Posted by on Nov 6, 2015

Over sixty years after North Korea and South Korea agreed to a ceasefire (along with the United States and United Nations participants), the two countries have taken different political pasts, clearly.  But this has transferred into the linguistic fear as well, with North Korean defectors struggling to adjust to South Korean hangul.  Imagine trying to adjust…

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Korean Movies: Beyond ‘Old Boy’ and off the Charted Path Posted by on Aug 6, 2015

Korean film is more than the modern classics like Old Boy (올드보이 2003), The Chaser (추격자 2008), and Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War (태극기 휘날리며 2004).  Those titles are internationally acclaimed Korean movies–quirky, disturbing, powerful.  Film Festivals in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, among others, represent a steady stream of nominated Korean films from independent to large studios.  (In a future post, I…

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Let’s Have a Korean Conversation: Part 2 Posted by on Jul 11, 2013

We received many requests for a transcript of Let’s Have a Korean Conversation: Part 1. So that you can follow along with the podcast, and to better understand the Hangul/written text and proper pronunciation, Hyojin prepared a transcript with translations and transliterations.

Let’s have a Korean conversation: Part 1 Posted by on Jun 25, 2013

Learning a language should be collaborative and fun! Transparent Language created another podcast for you, walking you through the question, “How are you feeling?” and various emotions/answers. We also chat about some of your Twitter questions (e.g., “What’s the best way to say the word “cute” in Korean?”)

Learning Korean with Social Media: Podcast Posted by on Nov 24, 2012

Learning Korean with Social Media: Podcast with Linda and Hyojin. Our previous blog post, “Learning Korean with Social Media”, listed useful Korean phrases and words alongside English translations. This follow-up post provides you with a 15-minute podcast, walking you through the various Korean pronunciations that we listed (see below). We’ll also chat about helpful background…

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