우리 공부합시다
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Podcasts can make a great resource for learning Korean and practicing your listening no matter what level you are at! Using podcasts to learn Korean is a great option because you can do it while doing chores, menial tasks, on the bus or train, or in many other situations. If you are alone you can also have the added benefit of repeating what you hear back for extra speaking practice, not so fun to do on a full bus though haha.

Podcasts to Learn Korean for Beginners

First up for beginners, you’ll probably want simpler grammar and sentence structure or podcasts that are a mix of English and Korean. Some great options for beginner podcasts to learn Korean are:

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Looking to travel or move to Korea? South Korean nature is beautiful and there is a lot to choose from; from mountains to rivers and is surrounded by multiple seas, as well! Let’s get into what Koreas landscape is like with some bonus nature vocabulary

What is Korean Nature Like?

South Korea’s natural environment is mountainous but it is very stable, without active volcanos unlike nearby China or Japan, and without the threat of strong earthquakes. It is pretty humid, with multiple large rivers flowing throughout the country. (more…)

Spring in Korea with its beautiful landscape brings flowers, warmer days, cherry blossoms, and many beautiful things! But there’s something to watch out for too; Korean fine dust can ruin your plans and the beautiful sky, even with warnings from officials to limit time outside. I talked a little bit about 미세 먼지, or fine dust, in my last post about Korean weather vocab and now today since we are right in the season I want to get more into it!

Where Does the Korean Fine Dust Come From?

미세 먼지 is translated literally as fine (미세) dust (먼지) but if you have heard about it before you may have seen it referred to as yellow dust or Asian dust. 미세 먼지 is brought over from the northern area of China and the dry areas of Mongolia which spread over Korea and Japan. (more…)

I’ve mentioned the 4 seasons and broken down the traditional Korean seasonal calendar but have yet to talk about weather vocab in Korean! Learning how to talk about the weather helps you advance within regular conversation and talk about daily life with Koreans, so it’s important to at least learn the basics.

What is the Weather like in South Korea?

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Mastering Korean future tense, along with the other tenses, is one of the first things you probably really want to get into when you’re starting out with Korean! After all, it can take your sentences from very basic to more fully communicating and expressing yourself. Luckily it isn’t that hard to get started with the future tense ~ㄹ/을 거예요 and speaking about the future.

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The 생 in 인생 meaning comes from the Hanja 生 which meaning is tied to life and living. You’ll find 생 in a lot of words; from a social life, birth, and even over to students!

Again, I want to say don’t be scared off by Hanja and think you have to start memorizing Chinese characters along with Korean! I like making these lists so we can gain more insight and intuition in Korean, just knowing that 생 can be tied to life and living can help you guess what new words may mean. Just like in English when you hear “un-something” you know it means the opposite, or “anti-something” you know that it is against or opposing.

Plus I find it fun sometimes to find the original meaning/origin of a word like 외국인 directly meaning “external country person” in the original Hanja. Anyway, let’s get into the Vocab!

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