Placeholder Posted by Ginny on May 19, 2009
Whenever you see a vowel such as this: 아, you’ll see a circle right before the vowel. All vowels have this feature. However, when vowels are combined with consonants, they lose this feature. Let’s look at a two letter word: 나. This word is written correctly because it starts with a consonant followed by a…
Consonants Posted by Ginny on May 15, 2009
If you want to spell out a word in Korean, you’ll need to know what each character is called. Luckily, the vowels are just called by the way they sound, but the consonants actually have a name. ㄱ – giyok (기역) ㄲ – ssang giyok (쌍 기역) ㄴ – niun (니은) ㄷ – digut (디귿)…
Vowels Posted by Ginny on May 10, 2009
Did you know that there are 10 simple Korean vowels? I’ll try and give you an idea of what these vowels sound like; with examples of words that contain these sounds in English. However, the best way to learn these vowels is to hear them over and over. 아 – “a” like in father 야 –…
Honorific Titles Posted by Ginny on May 7, 2009
Honorific titles can help you figure out the nature of your relationship with other people. For example, shi (씨) can be translated as Mr./Miss/Mrs. When you use this title, you are showing a level of respect. Shi (씨) is attached at the end of the name. We’ll use Minji (민지) as the first name. Minji shi…
Proverb of the Day Posted by Ginny on May 4, 2009
Today’s sajasongo (사자성어) or four letter proverb is 초록동색 (草綠同色). 초 (草) = means “grass.” 록 (綠) = green. 동 (同) = alike. 색 (色) = color. There’s a similar saying in English as well. Before I tell you what that English proverb is, let me give you hints as to what the Korean version could…
The Blue House Posted by Ginny on May 2, 2009
The President of the United States lives in the White House. The President of Argentina lives in the Pink House. What color house does the South Korean president live in? You guessed it, it’s the Blue House, or what is aptly called Chungwade (청와대). The Chungwade (청와대) contains the press hall or chunchukwan (춘추관), where…
Election Day Posted by Ginny on Apr 29, 2009
This year North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il (김정일) was unanimously re-elected to office. His sons were also appointed to high government posts as well. Big surprise there! The voting system in North Korea is basically the voting system elementary schools use to pick the class president. There are two boxes, one in favor of…