Learn Korean Easily

I have a couple of international colleagues at work. They are quite eager to learn Korean so I teach or correct them whenever I have a chance. Yesterday, we were going to have coffee after lunch and one guy said, "밥 먹은 다음에 커피 마셔요" It is totally correct. But we can also say, "밥 먹고 나서 커피 마셔요". Let's have coffee after lunch. 밥 먹고 나서 커피 마셔요. 밥 먹은 다음에 커피 마셔요. 식사하고 나서 커피 마셔요. 식사한 다음에 커피 마셔요. 밥, 식사, meal ~고 나서, after something ~은/는 다음에, after something 마시다, drink 마셔요, let's drink 밥 먹고 나서 커피 마셔요. bab mokgo naso kopi mashoyo. 밥 먹은 다음에 커피 마셔요. bab mokun daumae kopi mashoyo. 식사하고 나서 커피 마셔요. siksahago naso kopi mashoyo. 식사한 다음에 커피 마셔요. siksahan daumae kopi mashoyo. One of the hardest things of learning any language is the fact that there are usually more than one way of saying the same thing. But knowing different expressions for the same meaning will make your speaking more rich! Hope you don't give up!! :-)

It's almost end of the long weekend. It was a good break for me since last vacation in December. I have been reading a book on the weekend which title is "What Google Really Wants" by Thomas Schulz. I am also working in IT but every time I read about their ambition, it blows my mind. Maybe what we need to ask ourselves is not how to do something but what we want to do and why. Tomorrow, I will get back to work and start working hard to find better reasons why I do what I do. Let's get started again! 그럼 다시 시작해볼까! 그럼, then 다시, again 시작하다, begin, start ~볼까, shall I, shall we 그럼 다시 시작해볼까! Gurom dasi sijakhebolka ~볼까 is used when you make a suggestion to someone. 그럼 이제(now) 먹어(eat)볼까? Shall I(we) eat now? 그럼 내일(tomorrow) 가(go)볼까? Shall I(we) go tomorrow? You probably know that in Korean, subject can be left out. So it is not clear whether the speaker is talking to themselves or talking to otheres. It is all in the context of the situation. Hope you guys ha...

I am in my hometown, Busan. Since I am not a tourist here, I rarely go to tourists attractions like Haeundae beach(해운대 해수욕장) or Jagalchi Market(자갈치 시장) But when I come to Busan with my nephews, there is one place we don't miss and it is a PC cafe near my parents place. Few months ago, my nephews and I came to Busan without their parents. When I ran oit of things to entertain them, I took them to a PC cafe for the first time. Since they have been watching game videos like Overwatch on Youtube and their parents don't allow them to go to PC cafe, they were super excited about it and really enjoyed playing games on a big screen. Since then, we made a rule to visit PC cafe every time we come to Busan. My nephews wanted to go there several times during this trip, but their parents wanted to do more touristy things. So we ended up going there only once during three day visit. The younger nephew was really disappointed about it. Only one visit, how is this possible?! 한번밖에 못가다니 어...

A trip to Kyungju was fun. The weather was very nice and traffic was also fine until we got to Kyungju. As we expected, there were a lot of holiday people. Traffic jam in downtown was pretty bad. When we got there it was already lunch time. My sister had already done intensive research where would be the best place for lunch in Kyungju. Since we don't come this way often, she wanted to try one of the popular ones. So she decided to try a restaurant that had been featured in a food show on TV.  When we got there though, there were about 30 people queued in front of the restaurant. It was already 1pm and my nephews had no patience for it. The 14 year old one protested, "I don't want delicious food! I just want to eat a lot!!"  So we hurried into a relatively empty restaurant but the waitresses were literally running around carrying foods. We made an order to a middle aged woman who seemed to be in a complete panic mode. And of course she forgot what we order...

Yay!! It finally came! It is start of the week that many Koreans have been waiting for 10 years! There are three holidays next week. Monday is Labor Day and Wednesday day is Buddha's Birthday and Friday is Children's Day. So if one can tak Tuesday and Thursday off, that's 9 days off in total!!!!! News says that national highways are already full of cars and the Incheon Airport is expecting two million people using the airport during this period. That's one fifth of Seoul population. Wow! I have decided to take only Tuesday off. And my plan is a road trip to Kyungju and Busan with my sister's. Kyungju will be a great destination for my nephews to learn some histories because it was a capital of Silla Dynasty 1000 years ago and it's history and architecture is relatively well preserved. Busan is my hometown. I will see my parents there. Since the May 8th is also Parents' Day I prepared a gift for them. A tablet. These days older people are also enjoying ...

I don't even know where to begin. It has been a quite a journey personally for the last few years. There were health issues and inter-continental relocation, new job.. really a new life. I am back in South Korea for almost three years now. Living in my native environment is great. Especially being able to see my family any time I want is great. New job has been demanding though.  Many late nights in the office like many other people here. But I never forgot about this blog. And finally I feel like writing again. I feel like I can enjoy doing this again. If there are people who are surprises to see my posting, I have a great expression for you. Min is back! Is this for real? 민이 돌아왔어! 이거  실화냐?! 돌아오다, come back 실화, true story 민이 돌아왔어! 이거 실화냐?! Mini dorawaso! Igo silwanya?! According to this wiki , '이거 실화냐' expression got popular in 2015. People use it when really surprised about something. Are you surprised that I am back?

Hi. I never imagined this happening. I am talking about the  #occupywallstreet protest in the U.S. And not about the protest itself, but about how the NYPD police react to this. Given that the freedom of speech is a protected right over there, I think, the police should help the protestors voice their opinion in a peaceful manner. Instead, if some protestors' claims are true, the policed tricked them on the Brooklyn bridge  so that they violate the law. Hundreds are arrested as a result. hmmm... hope this is not true. Anyway, the mainstream of society doesn't usually want a revolution. They rather want gradual changes. So this protest may not get a big support from the majority. 1987 is the most important year in the history of democracy in South Korea. That year we achieved the direct election of the president after so many years of tyranny. And the victory was possible only when the tens of thousands of office workers join the protest. We called them " 넥타이 부대 (necktie ...

Hi. I have been living in an English speaking country for about ten years now. But the language barrier is still high. I tried to pick the best way to say something before I open my mouth, however too often I sound awkward. So I understand when other people make similar mistakes. I trust their good intention. Like today, someone whose English is not very good asked me "Are you still working?" after saying hi. I assumed she was asking if I worked today. It was a lot better than hearing someone asking me "Are you still single??" out of nowhere. :) Today, someone asked me on facebook how to say "What do you do for a living?" And I was trying to think of the most safe expression for most situations. What do you do for a living? 하시는 일이 뭐에요? 하시는, hasinun, polite form of 하다 meaning do 일이, yli, work or job + suffix 뭐에요, muoeyo, what is it 하시는 일이 뭐에요? hasinun yli muoeyo 하시는 일 means "work that you do" with politeness because of -시- variatio...

Hi. Sometime ago, I was thinking why I hadn't been reading much in the last few years. Having thought of the reason seriously, after a while, it became obvious. I wasn't reading because I didn't have a Amazon Kindle. Who reads paper books these days?! ( Borders closed ) I ordered a Kindle the next day and it arrived within a few days. I loved it. I "downloaded" a bunch of "e-books" immediately. And I loved it more! Since I don't like my gadgets being scratched, I decided to buy a cover for my Kindle as well. I went to amazon.com and browsed the covers. There were many at different prices with some covers as expensive as $125! A $125 cover to protect a $139 device? If I bought that one, I would need to get another cover to protect the cover. It was definitely much more than I needed. That is way more than needed. 배보다 배꼽이 더 크네요! 배보다, baeboda, belly + suffix for comparison 배꼽이, baeggobi, belly button + suffix 더, duo, more 크네요, kneyo, big 배보...

Hi there. I am following news in IT industry as part of my job. Recently, patent lawsuits are increasing a lot between mobile phone makers namely, Apple, Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, HTC and so on. At this point, no one seems to be completely innocent because they are suing each other. Some months ago, Apple sued Samsung claiming that the offender copied their unique form factor, a black square with rounded corners to be blunt. What do other companies have to do not to copy black square form factor? A phone of a yellow triangular shape? Anyway, later one claimed that Apple had manipulated the evidence so that Samsung products look more like theirs. Hmm... Isn't that mean, or what? That is really petty. 정말 치사하네요. 정말, jeongmal, really 치사하네요, chisahaneyo, petty/mean/shameful (치사하다) 정말 치사하네요. jeongmal chisahaneyo. 치사하다 is to accuse someone for being mean or petty.  To say someone is acting petty, you can say "치사하게 굴다". Here, "-게 굴다(gulda)" means acting...

Hi. I went to university in Korea when there were a lot of anti-government activities among students. I was never that political before but somehow I got involved heavily. During the summer of the second year, there was a massive protest in Seoul. It went on for three days and we were roaming about the city to avoid the police. The event ended without a big drama but our luck ran out there. On the way to our hometown, we all fell asleep on a chartered bus. And when we woke up, the bus was conveniently parked in front of a police station. D'oh!! All of us were arrested and sentenced to a few days in cells at the back of the police station. I was locked up for five days and it was enough to feel what it was like to loose freedom. I still remember the freshness of the air when I got released. And I swore to God that I would never do anything that could risk my freedom again. Never! But then, news like this  (constructing a military base on a tourism island and suppressing people who w...

Hi. When I was a little girl, I fell sick quite often. Sometimes I had more serious conditions like pneumonia but most of the time, I was just weak. My skin complexion was pale and any physical activities were out of question. It wasn't all depressing though. There were some funny moments because of my lousy health. I remember one day when I was in fourth or fifth grade. That day, one boy was teasing me a lot and it got one of my friends really angry. My friend pushed the boy hard and yelled at him. "Stop teasing her! She is going to die soon!"... I was like O.o "Thanks dear, but I didn't know that I was going to die..." I don't remember who she was any more. If I did, I would love to meet her and say that I still exist. :) What do you mean that I die?! 내가 죽기는 왜 죽어요?! 내가, nega, I 죽기는, jukginun, dying (죽다) 왜, whe, why 죽어요, jugoyo, do I die? 내가 죽기는 왜 죽어요?! nega jukginum whe jugoyo?! 죽다 and 죽기 is kind of the same relationship as die and dy...

Hi. I have been learning a lot about a compassionate lifestyle in the last year or so. I read a lot of books, saw many spiritual teachers including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, went to retreats, did a lot of meditation, became a vegetarian(except a few occasions including tonight), and made quite a lot of donations to various organisations. I was helping others as much as I can but I was still carrying a big bag of guilty feelings. And the reason was, because I haven't been sending letters to the child that I am sponsoring through World Vision. World Vision send Christmas cards, birthday cards to me and all I need to do is write something and send it off in the enclosed return envelope. But still I managed to put it off to miss the deadline for the last couple of years. I don't know how to describe the feeling when I got her Christmas card last year. I felt shame, guilt, frustration and anger towards myself. It was terrible. Thankfully, World Vision was kind enough to give me a...

Hi. I was on a sick leave today because of a cold. After spending the whole morning lying around, I ended up having a bad headache too. So I decided to take a walk to get some fresh air. I was going to go to a park near my place but for some unexplainable reason, I wanted to go to the Brisbane riverside which would require well over 20 minutes of driving. It is very rare for me to go that far for a walk even when I am in full strength. Anyway, I got there and started walking along the river. Then for some reason I wanted to climb Kangaroo point stairs which was 107 steps in total! I was a bit annoyed by myself but decided to do it. When I finally arrived at the top, I was looking for a bench to rest. And what I found was something a lot more exciting. I found a small fire starting in a dry patch of the park up there. It was just starting to smoke and the fire was getting bigger due to very strong wind. I went over and put water in my water bottle over the fire. Then a couple of people ...

Hi all. I was flying to go overseas a few weeks ago. It is exciting except the fact that Australia is so far away from everywhere. Luckily, I sleep very well on the plane. A few hours into this flight, I woke up from sleep and tried to turn on the personal TV which happened to be touchscreen. I was still half asleep as I was touching the screen. My brain was not quite figuring out that the hand was mine and thought "Looking at these long fingers, this person much be really lazy...". In Korea, we think that the long fingers indicate the laziness of the person. True or not... You know how Korean people can be quite direct about personal things. E.g. Asking "How old are you?" is socially very acceptable in Korea. It is also quite common for Korean people, especially between friends, to comment on the physical features. I had many people telling me that I had lazy fingers. I could not object because it is quite true for me. :) 손가락 하나 까딱하기 싫네요. I don't want to lift a...

Hi. Almost everyone around me complains about their attention span shrinking due to too much incoming information or distractions coming from gadgets. Osama Bin Laden's death helped us improved it a little bit, you think? Again, our eyeballs are fixed to the news channel. But I hope we do not carry on upon his death as if it was the ultimate goal. We want peace for all humanity, don't we? Osama was a bad guy but did he really deserve to be shot in the head without any trial and dumped in the ocean? He deserved to die. 그는 죽어도 싸다. 그는, genun, he + suffix 죽어도, jugodo, even if dead (죽다) 싸다, ssada, deserve it 그는 죽어도 싸다. genun jugodo ssada. 싸다's main usage is to mean something is cheap. But when -(어)도 style ending proceeds 싸다, it means the subject deserves something negative. 혼나도 싸다. deserve to be scolded. 맞아도 싸다. deserve to be smacked. 욕먹어도 싸다. deserve to be blamed. 차여도 싸다. deserve to be dumped from a girlfriend/boyfriend. I hope we focus on more important things like Love, Compa...

Hi. My holiday is finally over and I go back to work tomorrow. It is great! Yes, it is. It has got to be! ;) Before I left for my holiday I saw a poster while I was driving. It said, "You can make a lot of money without working! It works!" It also had a website which address was something like makelotsofmoneywithoutworking.com. It was quite obvious to me how much money they were making because it was scrawled using a black pen on a white piece of cardboard. I didn't bother to visit the website. :) Most of us have to work to make ends meet. It might be easier to get away from working if we can live without eating. The throat is as scary as cops. 목구멍이 포도청이다. 목구멍이, mokumongyi, throat + suffix 포도청이다, podochungyida, traditional police station 목구멍이 포도청이다. mokumongyi podochungyida. 포도청 is a name of a organization in the Choseon dynasty which had a similar role to the police these days. No one can completely be honorable when asked to come to a police station. Instead, people act...

Hi all. I am enjoying a three week long holiday in South Korea at the moment. It has been only eight months since my last visit. I know how lucky I am to be able to visit this often. :) A few of my friends asked me if I was going to get some plastic surgery done while I am here. I was not very surprised by these questions as many people chose to do it these days. The eyelid surgery is especially common between the Asian people. Here are some of before and after shots . Also various skin therapies are available for younger looking skin. Some treatments are using laser and some others are using needles. Usually, people need to stay at home after the treatment as the skin will be swollen or red for a few days. Sometimes people use their holidays to get these done. My friends told me an interesting trend with them these days. Hospitals are providing these skin therapies to the patients who are hospitalized for a minor car accident, baby delivery or any other minor operations. It is thought...

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,...