Korean News: State Visit Posted by Ginny on Mar 19, 2009
Did you know that Hillary Clinton is the first secretary of state to visit the countries of Asia right after being promoted to office? In the past, the first countries that the secretary of state would visit were the Middle East and Europe. The fact that Clinton’s first visit is anywhere in Asia signifies the…
Korean Proverb of the Day Posted by Ginny on Mar 17, 2009
Today’s proverb is: 虛心坦懷. The pronunciation and meaning for each character are as follows: 虛 – huh (empty) 心 – shim (heart) 坦 – tan (flat) 懷 – hwe (cherish) This proverb is used to describe a person who is frank, candid or open-minded. The character meaning empty (虛) and the character meaning heart (心)…
Korean Grammar: Directional Particle eh (에) Posted by Ginny on Mar 15, 2009
There’s another another directional particle besides ro (로) and uro (으로). While ro (로) and uro (으로) means to go “towards” something, eh (에) means to be “at” something. For example if I say the phrase “at the house” I would take the noun “house” and attach the eh (에) particle to it. Since the…
Korean Grammar: Directional Particles Posted by Ginny on Mar 11, 2009
I think now’s a good time to go over directional particles. Let’s look at the particle ro (로) and uro (으로). If I want to say, “towards the school” all I have to do is add the ro (로) particle to the noun “school”. The noun for school in Korean is hakkyo (학교). Add ro…
Korean Spelling Posted by Ginny on Mar 10, 2009
Hangul (한굴), which is the Korean alphabet system; is largely phonetic. This means that words are written as they are pronounced. Well, for the most part they are. There are some exceptions to the rule. For example the character resembling ㅅ is pronounced differently depending on where it’s located. When it’s located on top, it’s…
Bosonggun (보성군) Posted by Ginny on Feb 10, 2009
Bosonggun (보성군) county is located in the Jollado (전라도) province. Bosonggun (보성군) is known as the premier green tea plantation. While the green tea plantation is amazing in and of itself, I prefer the spring baths. The spring bath is called Yulpo Haesu Nokchatang (율포 해수 녹차탕). The spring baths are a mixture of natural…
I accept! Posted by Ginny on Feb 9, 2009
I haven’t really talked about Korean standards for accepting and declining, so here goes a post on this very important matter. For one thing, accepting and declining an offer can be tricky for the newbies. One rule you should always follow is the rule of humility and modesty. It’s considered polite to refuse someone when…