Happy December! December is a big time for holidays and celebrations world-wide and Korea joins in- though the celebration in Korea is a bit different. South Korea also celebrates Christmas but instead of the traditional focus on family the focus is more on romance!
If you’ve been learning about terms for outer space in Korean you might have noticed 성 pop up multiple times, 성 has Sino-Korean origins and uses the hanja 星 which means a star or planet. You’ll especially see it for planets in our solar system which all, excluding earth, end with 성 and have their own meaning for their names!
Time for some quick grammar! The Korean present participle ‘~질’ can be attached at the end of a word and attaches the meaning of ‘act of using/doing’
Knowing some common or interesting Korean idioms is a fun way to take your Korean to the next level! Idioms or 관용구 are phrases that people use to express something more than their literal meaning. You’ll hear and see them everywhere; from TV and movies, music, books, and daily conversation.
You probably already know the 4 seasons but seasons in Korean can go more in-depth than that! Following the Chinese lunar calendar Korea’s traditional calendar has a solar system for seasons too, spaced approx. 15 days apart these dates mark specific points in the seasons.
In the west and many English countries Halloween is a fun holiday (though not usually recognized with time off from school or work) for kids and adults to eat candy, dress up, watch spooky movies and more. So in the spirit of Halloween this post is dedicated to Halloween in Korea, Koreas own spooks, and some vocab to go along with the season!
This is actually a super useful particle that you’ve already been using without knowing it! The 시 particle shows up in 안녕하세요, with the literal break down of it being 안녕 meaning peace and 하세요 (하다 + 시 + 해요체 honorific form)
At least for me typing was something I was really weak at in Korean and took a lot of time to develop. From memorizing spelling, the correct order for typing out double vowel words such as 원, being slow, and just mistyping by not knowing the keyboard layout yet. So I have a favourite resource for Korean typing practice that I really like that I wanted to share with you all!
추석 also known as 한가위, is Koreas autumn harvest festival, similar to thanksgiving or other such celebrations. Its celebrated in both North and South Korea and lands on the 15/8 on the lunar calendar so it changes each year, but for 2023 it lands on September 28 – 30th.
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”.
