43. A Few Honorific Verbs (Very Respectful, Formal Register); Kingdom (2019), Season 2”
Human beings are an animal of vanity. When it comes to linguistic skills, some people act like speaking faster than others is the measure of…
Tag: K-Drama
41. 목 말라요 I am thirsty; 자음동화 Consonant Assimilation II - Nasalization; 서른, 아홉 (Thirty-Nine, 2022), Ep. 8
To correctly say a simple but important phrase such as “I am thirsty” in Korean, you would have to understand another phonetic process called 비음화…
40. How to Become an Alchemist of Korean Particles -이/가, -만, -도, -은/는, etc., etc.; Alchemy of Souls 환혼 (2022), Ep. 1; 눈동자 - 조용필 The Pupil of the Eye
Korean is an agglutinative language. Words are formed with morphemes such as verb stems and particles glued together like a string. There are a plethora…
39. Our Blues 우리들의 블루스 (2022) Ep. 8; How to Apologize Correctly in Korean; How to Pronounce 받침 ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅌ as [ㄷ]; Consonant Assimilation I - 격음화 (Aspirates)
Online or offline, we humans are by nature a social animal. For many of us, the quality of our interpersonal relationships is the single most…
34. How to Swear in Korean - Entry Level Invectives; 신의 (Faith, 2012), 기상청 사람들 (Forecasting Love and Weather, 2022), 하나뿐인 내편 (My Only One, 2018)
Swearing in a foreign language is the first step to fluency, they say. Whether such a theory is valid or not, real Korean ladies and…
32. Contraction: 흰 = 하얀, 맘 = 마음; Korean Lyricism; 옛사랑 (Old Love) by 이영훈; 갯마을 차차차 (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, 2021)
I heard that it snowed in Seoul over the weekend. Here in the Iberian peninsula, snow is a rare commodity, enjoyed only in the inland,…
26. Spring in My Hometown 고향의 봄 from 오빠 생각 (A Melody to Remember, 2016) and D.P. (Deserter Pursuit, 2021)
A young Korean soldier chooses to become a deserter to protect his grandma suffering from dementia. Before getting arrested, he respectfully bows to her, who…
21. My Dear, Come Back to Me Again 그대 내게 다시 by 변진섭; Reply 1988 - Nostalgia of Innocent Times
Ah, nostalgia. 추억. 회상. 그리움. 향수. The bittersweetness of reminiscing and regretting all things past is one of the good things about human memory (기억). …
9. Basic Salutations; 안녕! Hi or Goodbye?
Many of you already know that “안녕하세요” is “Hello!” in Korean. It is the most useful phrase in Korean, since it works perfectly fine in…
How to Introduce Yourself Professionally to Your New Boss; How to Bow in Korea I
If you plan to work in Korea, it makes perfect sense to learn how to introduce yourself correctly. Professional society in Korea is notoriously hierarchical. …
