Learn all about Korean culture while you learn the language! The two go together hand in hand; culture influences language and vice versa so it’s key to learn if you want to really understand Korean.
As of just this week South Koreans are now a year or two younger! Now this isn’t literal, if you and your Korean friend were both born in 2000 they are not suddenly younger than you. For the longest time Koreans had a separate age system that added a year to a persons age. Well not anymore!
Happy pride month! A while ago I mentioned briefly how gay Koreans would use certain terms to refer to a partner/romantic interest and I want to delve deeper into the culture! Both with some points on Korean LGBTQIA+ culture and life, and some great vocab!
Koreans like using 우리 to show a sense of community, but not always between them and the speaker. In English when you say ‘I went to our house’ it typically means 1 of 2 things; you and the listener live together or the person you live with is with you. Korean includes another option where nobody living with you is there; nobody even needs to live with you!
Round two of Korean drinking culture! In the first post I got into all the hierarchy, rules, and culture in different areas. Now let’s get into the more fun and relaxed part with all the Korean drinking games, slang, and more.
Drinking is a big part of adult life in Korea, and comes with some very interesting rules, games, tricks, and tips to surviving the Korean adult world.
A lot of fans dream is to use Kpop to learn Korean, and while obviously that’s not entirely possible it can certainly help. I remember one of the first phrases I learned was “머리부터 발끝까지” or from head to toe because someone pointed out how common it was in songs!
Sino-Korean basically means that a specific words source is originally Chinese. About 60% of Korean has Chinese origins as a basis. Words like 인간 (person/human) use the Chinese character (or hanja in Korean) 人 make the 인 in 인간.
One thing about Korean many people struggle with is the dynamics between people and speech. For native English speakers; especially if English if your only language, formalities is something that doesn’t exist to a quarter of the extent as in Korean. Korean is a culture based highly around respect and knowing or understanding you position and others.
Now Koreans don’t solely use these terms for people related to them, they are used freely! People call the woman running the restaurant 이모, boys call their older friends 형, etc. These terms are used to show how close and familiar you are with others (and for the ‘aunt’ at your favourite K-BBQ to warm up to her and maybe get extra side dishes haha).
A lot of Korean texting slang has a rooted meaning in the original word, just shortened to make it easier to type. Some originate from Korean itself like 엉 which is the most casual way to say yes or yeah in Korean, being reduced down to just ㅇㅇ. Or ᄋᄃ from 어디 (where), ᄆᄎ from 미쳤어 (crazy), etc.