Korean onomatopoeia (의성어)

My Korean vocabulary has grown steadily over the past 2 years but I realised that my knowledge of onomatopoetic words is close to zero. To my knowledge, Korean has a vast onomatopoetic vocabulary which is used much more often compared to the ones in English. Such words are usually used as adverbs or verbal nouns (when combined with ~거리다 and ~대다)

In English, onomatopoetic words are used rarely – how many times do you actually use phrases like ‘clang, bang..’ etc? But not in Korean.

Hence, I’ve been trying to fill up 의성어 vocabulary for the past 2 days. ^^ While studying, I came across a word 쭈욱 whose meaning cannot be found in the Naver dictionary.

After asking around, I now understand that 쭈욱 has the meaning of ‘continuously’ (계속)

쭉 is a colloquial way of writing 죽. When using 쭈욱, people usually write is as 쭈욱~

예) 당신과 쭈욱~ 함께하고 싶어요

(example provided by a friend)

I think 의성어 is one of the many reasons Korean is such a beautiful language. Somehow I find the translation for the above sentence ‘I want to be with you forever’ a little lacking~

Shall go back to studying ^^

Bungee Jumping of Their Own (번지 점프를 하다)

Just finished watching the movie, and I want to write a post on it now while the feeling’s still fresh. It’s been a long time since a movie left such a deep impression on me. (The last one was ‘My Father’)

Borrowed the DVD from the library with no expectations and the storyline seemed simple enough.. at first. I’m not good with words nor am I a good movie critic. All I have to say is that I’ll never have expected the storyline to unfold the way it went. Haunting.

이것 저것.

I definitely know that I will regret not making the best use of this holidays to brush up my Korean. But knowing this doesn’t change the fact that I refuse to do anything that requires brainpower. ><

So I’ve been a total drama addict for the past days  weeks.

IRIS

Love this show! What’s not to like about it? ^^ Compared to Seung Hee, I’ll rather Hyun Joon end up with Sun Hwa. ^^ I cried while watching their parting scene in ep 17.. or was it 18? Anw, now that I know the BIG SPOILER, I feel sad. ㅠㅠ

Creating Destiny

Cute, sweet, lovable! I’m more interested in the Gyu Han and his nuna-dongseng relationship XD

Will it Snow on Christmas?

Don’t get detracted by it’s rather crappy title and that it is labeled as a melodrama. LOVE IT. Probably one of the best 2009 drama for me~ Intense, emotional – in a good way. Solid acting.

Anw.. my book is open right in front of me, but I’m still typing away here ㅠㅠ

후회하지 않도록 지금부터 열심히 해야지~~

[M/V] BIG BANG「Hite Beer」New CF Making MV

Even nicer than the previous version! ^^ GD and TOP stands out!~ I think it’s a really good commercial – it brings out the best of the product and really appeals to the audience. Nowadays, when I think of beer, Hite Beer will be the first on my mind. ㅋㅋ

Wish Dae Sung would get more screen time though.

Finally! ^^

I’ve just completed all the online lessons for the Sogang Korean site here. ^^ It’s been a long journey, with long periods where I’ve been using other materials instead and also the curse of lack of time. So, after one and a half years (from may or june 2008), I’ve finally completed all the lessons.

When I first started out with the Novice Korean 1 lessons, I didn’t really thought that I could complete the entire programme. Maybe I’ll have given up studying Korean halfway or 132908 other reasons~

My next goal is to complete the whole series of Integrated Korean series. I started from the Intermediate Series and I’m currently at the Advanced Intermediate 2 book. (if I remember correctly, I skipped almost the entire book of advanced intermediate 1 oops ><)

——–

Anw I’m currently addicted to 크리시마스에 눈이 올까요? (will it snow on christmas?). Although it’s touted as a melodrama, it isn’t that melo. (at least not now) Of course, with my two fav actresses in there (Han Ye Seul and Sun Woo sun), it’s a must-watch for me. ^^

Korean Animation 둘리

참 귀여워요!!! ㅎㅎㅎ

Was studying Korean using the Sogang site in the afternoon. The title of the chapter was ‘만화’ (cartoon) and they were introducing a famous Korean cartoon character 둘리 (dooly). Out of curiosity, I did a search on google and youtube.

It seems like 둘리 is a miniature dinosaur that has acquired supernatural powers from aliens. After 1 billion years, he ended up in Seoul and was ‘adopted’ into a household. Actually it was the kids who begged to keep 둘리, their father vehemently rejected but under the magic power of 둘리, he found himself consenting to it. I’ve watched the first part of the animation movie.. it seems like the father is trying all means to get rid of 둘리 but to no avail.

CLICK HERE for the official site.

[IRIS OST] 백지영 – 잊지 말아요

우리 서로 사랑했는데
우리 이제 헤어지네요.
같은 하늘 다른곳에서도
부디 나를 잊지 말아요.
차가운 바람이 손끝에 스치면
들려오는 그대 웃음소리
나의 얼굴 비추던 그대 두눈이
그리워 외로워 울고 또 울어요.
입술이 굳어버려서 말하지 못했던 그 말
우리 서로 사랑했는데
우리 이제 헤어지네요.
같은 하늘 다른곳에 있어도
부디 나를 잊지 말아요.

눈물이 입을 가려서
말하지 못했던 그 말
우리 서로 사랑했는데
우리 이제 헤어지네요.
같은 하늘 다른곳에 있어도
부디 나를 잊지 말아요.
혹시 알고 있나요.
뒤돌아서 가슴치고
그댈 보내주던 그 사람
그 사람이 바로 나에요.
그 사람을 사랑해줘요.
같은 하늘 다른곳에 있어도
언젠가는 돌아와줘요.
우리 서로 사랑했는데
우리 이제 헤어지네요.
같은 하늘 다른곳에 있어도
부디 나를 잊지 말아요.

부디 나를 잊지 말아요.

Definitely one of my most fav song in 2009. ^^ It’s one of those songs that really had an impact on me.

한국어 연습 시간~

오랫만에 연습 녹음을 했다~ ㅎㅎ

It’s been months since I last recorded myself speaking korean~ ㅋㅋ I’m just reading a passage from this site. haha you will hear alot of sniffing in the recording. I’m having a bad cold and a sore throat now ㅠㅠ 감기에 걸렸어요.

It’s quite effective to record and then hear yourself. You can then check against the real recording in the site to see if you have made any mistakes.

HAHA. oops. I’m listening to the recording as I’m typing now and I sounded like I was going to die soon at the end of the recording >< (I thought I pressed the STOP button before that…)

I can’t post the audio file directly on wordpress, but here’s a direct link.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Immersing myself in Korean

안녕하세요~

Exactly one week has passed since holidays started!! ㅠㅠ I haven’t been doing anything productive, except watching korean dramas

Dramas that I’m enjoying these days:

1. 아이리스 (IRIS)

2. 인연만들기 (Creating Destiny)

3. 크리스마스에 눈이 올까요? (Will it snow on Christmas?)

I’m totally in love with IRIS right now, the cast is awesome! (TOP!!!) nah, he’s not the reason I watched this drama!

———–

Anw, I’ve been watching them with subs. It’ easier to watch 미남이시네요 without subs as the context is more ‘general’ and there aren’t any special vocabulary required to understand the show. My current vocabulary doesn’t involve words like ‘assassination’, ‘secret agent’ or any political terms, so it’s impossible to watch 아이리스 raw. ^^ But I’ve learned quite alot of specialised vocab from the show~

 

인연만들기 is easier to understand, but somehow I still can’t catch what the 할아버지 (grandfather) and 할머니 (grandmother) are saying. ><

 

As the story of 크리스마스에 눈이 올까요? takes place in rural S.Korea (at least for the 1st few ep), there are alot of slang words being used, which I don’t understand. ㅠㅠ

Hopefully all this drama-watching can improve my listening skills!

다음에 또 봐요! ^^ 감기 조심하세요~

정말 행복합니다~ ^^

Thanks for sharing my excitement and giving me so much encouragement~~ ^^ I’m so happy every time I received a new comment. Just finished a paper in the afternoon and my brain is not really functioning right now. So.. let me just share what is currently in my new iTouch now

Me2DAY                                           Naver Newscast

 

Naver Blog

 

Besides the apps, I have the lastest podcasts of 메이비’s radio show too!! ^^

I’m trying to make my iTouch as Korean as possible haha needless to say, the language setting is in Korean ^^