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Habit pairing or habit stacking is when you take one thing you do regularly and pair it with another activity. So you could exercise when you watch TV, stretch while brushing your teeth, study on the train or bus, listen to podcasts in the car, review flashcards before bed, etc.

Using habit pairing to learn Korean is a good way to integrate study in with your daily life and keep it up! I know some days you can’t sit down for a full study session and that’s okay. Even small, quick habits can make sure you maintain your Korean and still learn. I’ll get into some habits I have and some ideas to get you inspired!

Memorize Korean Numbers with Habit Pairing

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Superstitions are a really unique part of a culture. They can be tied to history, folklore, mythology, or just wordplay! If you’re going to/living in Korea, or just meeting Korean friends learning about Korean superstitions can help you avoid making awkward mistakes or offending people. Also, it helps you connect with people more and integrate yourself into the community. So here are some popular Korean superstitions from the lucky, unlucky, and strange/funny!

1. Lucky and Unlucky Numbers

To start off let’s get into the numbers really quick! Korea’s favorite and least favorite numbers follow along with other Asian countries, so you might recognize seeing 4 and 8 on this list.

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With the weather warming up now, people are getting out in their gardens and starting planting. Personally, I really like gardens, while I don’t have the space for one at my current place I’d love to have one later and grow all sorts of veggies, fruit, and flowers! Right now I have some succulents and a small planter with green onions I get to use for cooking~

If gardening is also a hobby you like this Korean gardening vocabulary can help you. The best way to practice is to use Korean for something you enjoy of course, like talking about your flowers and plants! So with that, I’ll get into some general gardening terms and vocab, plus some common things people grow.

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Want to test your Korean speaking abilities? or just learn something to show off and impress people a bit? Saying a Korean tongue twister is a fun way to test out your Korean and take it lightheartedly because even native speakers mess up with these. So it’s okay if you misspeak or stumble through it a bit!

1. “네가 그린 기린 그림은 못 그린 기린 그림이고 내가 그린 기린 그림은 잘 그린 기린 그림이다.”

Translation: Your drawing of a giraffe is a poorly done drawing of a giraffe, but mine is a well-drawn drawing of a giraffe.

그림: drawing, painting
기린: giraffe

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When you are just starting out there are a lot of different beginner Korean mistakes that can catch you! Some of these mistakes can limit your learning and slow you down or make it harder and others can make it hard for you to communicate in Korean clearly.

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Kim is everywhere as a surname in Korea, Koreans named Kim make up millions of the population! It’s almost guaranteed that you have come across this name enough to wonder “Why are so many Koreans named Kim?”.

How Common is the Last Name Kim in Korea?

The percentage of Koreans named Kim in South Korea is around 20%, which ends up being above 10,000,000 people! While 20% is not the majority of people, that is a huge amount. Conversely, Smith (which is the classic American name) has around 2 million people with that last name. There is a saying that references how popular the surname Kim is similar to “like finding a needle in a haystack”

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