Finishing off part one of my post about language exchange, where I talked about different apps to use and finding a partner. In this post I’ll give you a lot to work with- getting into what to talk about with a Korean language exchange partner. Plus some key vocab which you can use to work with as a starting off point! From introductions, talking about hobbies, asking questions and more.
While you can make a lot of ground studying on your own; one of the best and fastest ways to develop your Korean is by finding a native speaker that you can do Korean language exchange with.
There’s a lot of avenues or questions surrounding language exchange though. So lets get into the How, Why, When, Where and more of Korean language exchange. Here I’ll give you some tips and tricks and a bit of my own experience with language exchange so you don’t go in blind!
Happy Korean Liberation Day! (also my birthday)
Korean Liberation Day on August 15th marks the anniversary of South Korea’s independence from Japanese rule on August 15, 1945, just 78 years ago as of 2023. This is also a key date because it’s one of the few holidays that both the North and South share in common.
Now this day is tied to WW2 and very heavy so I will get into the history a bit but not fully in-depth, for more please research yourself. But I want to touch on this day, especially since this is still recent history and there are Koreans who experienced Japanese rule or lived with the direct after effects that are still alive today.
Let’s get into a quick & easy Sino-Korean lesson! 年 (년) is the Chinese and Sino-Korean character used to say year in Korean. It is used for year vocab and also vocab related to age and generations.
Here’s some vocab that could be useful and fun for a lot of K-pop and even K-drama fans; Kpop Slang! One great way to learn the language is to integrate and use it more on a daily basis; so if you are an active fan of kpop you can use these slang to talk with and understand Korean fans of your favs!
I’ll sort these out with the English equivalent and a little description of what the term means for people new to the slang terms or kpop fan culture in general.
Image by watta_8 on Wallpapers.com
Wanted to bring in more grammar posts and I think one of the best things starting out is learning some beginner Korean conjunction! Learning conjunctions like how to say ‘and’ in Korean is the easiest way to take your sentences and make them more natural and flow better!
Let’s get into some grammar today for beginners and learn about 받침 or batchim rules! Batchim affects how you pronounce a lot of word and sentences so it is a key thing to learn early on.
받침 is a grammatical feature focused on pronunciation. The word 받침 means to support or prop; and is the bottom character in a Korean syllable (like 받: ㄷ 침: ㅁ).
The word itself is an example of its grammar rule! Each letter romanized comes out to equal badchim but it is actually pronounced more like batchim and so more often you’ll see it romanized as batchim rather than badchim.
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!
For a while now many Koreans and politicians have wanted to put an end to the Korean age system. The president, Yoon Suk-yeol, has said before the current age system has been a drain on resources. And a recent 2022 survey suggested “86% of South Koreans said they would adopt the international system”. So better late than never the change starts now!
This one will be a quick vocab rundown of appearance in Korean. Key points like height, hair, appearance, weight, disability all included! With some quick sentences to help you get into the flow and start putting together some yourself.
키가 큰: tall
평균 신장: average height
키가 작은: short
키가 적다: tiny
우리 남동생은 키가 크다: My younger brother is tall
웬디는 키가 너무 작다: Wendy is so short
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!
