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추석 also known as 한가위, is Koreas autumn harvest festival, similar to thanksgiving or other such celebrations. It’s celebrated in both North and South Korea and lands on the 15/8 on the lunar calendar so it changes each year, but for this year it starts on September 28 and goes on until the 30th. Uniquely 추석 guarantees 3 days off; the day before, 추석 day, and day after.

Where Does Chuseok Come From?

Chuseok is an age old celebration so when it originated is a bit debated. Some think it comes from around 57 BC – 935 AD as a part of another celebration called gabae. Gabae was a month-long weaving contest between two teams and when the competition was over the winner would be treated to a feast from the losing team.

Other think that it is tied to celebrations for the harvest moon where people would offer deities and ancestors new harvests. Which means chuseok could have started off as a worship ritual.

Whichever the origins or history, chuseok has developed to be a big family event in Korea, with a lot of specific foods and events going on. The event celebrates family, food, and the large harvest before winter starts to come in.

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Korean Onomatopoeia! A fun thing to add to your repertoire of Korean words to really add emphasis and feeling to your conversations. Onomatopoeias imitate a sound, feeling, or action; like “The dog barked at me as I clanked my keys”.

In Korean onomatopoeia is called 의성어, you might have heard Koreans use onomatopoeia something like: “and I ‘whhackkkkk’ smacked him!”. I actually think they are used more commonly in Korean than English. You will especially see them with storytelling, whether in person or a comic or book.

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식 is a reoccurring piece in many Korean food words and that’s because it has Sino-Korean and hanja origins. 식 comes from 食 which means meal and food. It also comes in up in some words related to family or people because of Koreas strong cultural attachment of family and meals. So let’s get into some of the words that it comes up in!

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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.

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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!

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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 aftereffects that are still alive today.

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