Learn Korean Easily

Hi. I had a chance to take a bus today. As common as it is, we also have a smart card system to pay for the public transports in Brisbane. You touch your card to the machine on a bus that gives a gentle beep and a green light if all goes well. Do you know what happens when something does not work out exactly the way it wants? I was in a queue and there was a lady in front of me. She tagged her card but too long I think. The machine started beeping like mad flashing red lights. The poor lady must have thought that the transaction failed and kept touching her card to the machine which then gave more beeps and red flashes. Only then, the driver said that it was complaining because she had already paid for that trip. Don't you think the machine was a bit too harsh? Where is love?! It could have just said "Thanks but you already paid." with.. I don't know a blue light. We pay a lot of money for technologies. They need to be more kind to us! :) I have no idea what is happen...

Hi all. I was thinking about what was happening around the world... many different kinds of natural disasters and hardships in different countries. If there is one thing that is common between them though, I think it is people and community that are looking after one another. The governments are doing their best but I don't think it is governments or any institutional systems themselves that really hold this world together. In my humble opinion, it is love for humanity that does that. It's got to be love that gives the fire fighters and workers courage to go inside the Fukushima nuclear plant despite the dangerous radiation level. Send them your love and prayers. That will be the easiest way of participating in their mission. One day, when everything gets back to normal we will share the prosperity too. :) Sharing sadness halves it while sharing happiness doubles it. 슬픔은 나누면 반이 되고 기쁨은 나누면 배가 된다. 슬픔은, sulpumum, sadness + suffix 나누면, nanumyon, if shared or divided (나누다) 반이, bani,...

Hi all. I am back. :) Let me ask you first. Is there a piece of good news yet? I stay away from the TV these days because I can't handle all those bad news, especially the graphics of violence and disasters. My heart starts aching when I see them. I am grateful that I am not in the middle of any of those. I feel for those who are. If you are getting sick of the bad news, just turn the TV off and join me who is selfishly hoping all the problems would go away while I have been away from the TV. But problems just don't go away. Things get done or fixed when someone takes a responsibility and takes a lead. It is a question of who carries the gun. I will carry the gun and take the lead. 제가 총대 메겠습니다. 제가, jaega, I (polite) 총대, chongdae, body of a rifle 메겠습니다, maegetsumnida, will carry on the shoulder 제가 총대 메겠습니다. jaega chongdae maegetsumnida. The expression, "총대 메다", started being used during the Korean War. After the war started, there were a lot of young students who just ...

Hi all. I have a few friends who are madly in love at the moment. One is in her twenties, two in their thirties and the last one in her fifties. It seem the age doesn't matter though. All of them has the same sweet sixteen look on their faces. :) That is the power of bean pods. She is blinded by bean pods. 눈에 콩깍지가 단단히 씌였네요. 눈에, nune, eye + suffix 콩깍지가, konggajjiga, bead pod + suffix 단단히, dandani, firmly 씌였네요, ssiyonneyo, covered (씌다) 눈에 콩깍지가 단단히 씌였네요. nune konggajjiga dandani ssiyonneyo. Definitely, 콩깍지 is a secret ingredient of love. 콩깍지 creates the optical illusion that makes your boyfriend look as gorgeous as Orlando Bloom and your girlfriend look as beautiful as Miranda Kerr. :) We have a song about it and a movie too. And you know that feeling when the person is here with me in body, but not in spirit. My friends are like that. They are looking at me, but not really. lol An expression for this also has bean in it. 마음이 벌써 콩밭에 가 있네요. -> The spirit has already gone to the be...

Hi. I got a phone call from a good friend of mine this morning. We chatted about everything over an hour, which is no sweat for two women. :) At some point, we were talking about money... how good it is to have money, how lucky we are not having to worry about money right now, how stressful at work to make money, how much money we need, how a lot of problems go away with money, why only the rich people are getting richer, on and on and on. Later, I went shopping and bought some stuff with money! Ahhh.. it was nice. :) Money is good as long as it comes after the value of people. Human existed before money, not the other way around. 사람 나고 돈 났지, 돈 나고 사람 났나. 사람, saram, a person 나고, nago, appear or be born (나다) 돈, don, money 났지, najji, appear or be born (나다) + suffix for contradiction 사람 나고 돈 났지, 돈 나고 사람 났나. saram nago don najji, don nago saram nanna. "사람 나고 something 났지, something 나고 사람 났나" is an expression when people should be valued more than that something. Like, I saw "...

Hi all. My colleague who was battling with the floods came back to work this week. When he saw me, he thanked me again for my prayers and told me it really worked. :) And he asked me to send my prayers to the people in the north Queensland who is anxiously waiting for a category 5 cyclone, Yasi, to hit the towns. Maybe I should be a professional prayer. But then again, I remembered this expression. :) A young shaman can hurt people. 선무당이 사람 잡는다. 선무당이, sunmoodangyi, inexperienced shaman + suffix 사람, saram, person 잡는다, jabnunda, catch 선무당이 사람 잡는다. sunboodangyi saram jabnunda. 선 in 선무당 is a suffix meaning clumsy, inexperienced or insufficient. As another example, 선잠 means broken sleep. 무당 is a shaman. You can imagine what could happen when a shaman have no clue what he or she is doing. Nothing good, for sure. :) "사람 잡는다" is explained here . Here are some such situations. A: Can you believe that the new "young" boss is changing every process?! B: 선무당이 사람 잡는군. A: My fri...

Hi. It seems this guy is quite popular with his new book called "The 4-Hour Body". I didn't read the book but I am sure it would be full of great ideas to keep your body fit with minimum effort. But I have something better for you. It is called "The 4-Day Body". It is simple to follow too. All you need to do is make a new years resolution to loose weight and go gung-ho for the first four days of the year. Did you have some muscle pain? Then you are good to go for the rest of the year! This is exactly what I did this year! I feel great! ;) There is a perfect Korean expression for this kind of situation. It takes only three days so it is even better! ;) My new year's resolution was abandoned after three days. 올해 새해 계획도 작심삼일로 끝났어요. 올해, ohlae, this year 새해, saehae, new year 계획도, gyehwekdo, plan + suffix meaning as well 작심삼일로, jaksimsamilo, determined mind didn't last long + suffix to indicate a result 끝났어요, ggtnatsoyo, ended (끝나다) 올해 새해 계획도 작심삼일로 끝났어요. ohla...