If you’ve been following recent Korean cultural trends you may have heard of Korean MBTI being adapted and gaining huge traction. While the trend of MBTI seems to have died down here, it is going strong in South Korea with many people making judgment calls on people based on their type.
A while back I introduced some common Korean idioms; phrases like “find a needle in a haystack” or “rags to riches”. This time I’m going more into some general Korean metaphors! A few of these will be combinations of different words to create their own meaning, others will have both literal and metaphorical meaning, and some are similar to metaphors in English so let’s get into it.
Konglish comes from Korean + English and is the term used to refer to Korean loanwords from English. But there are more words in Korean grabbed from than just English! The biggest would be Chinese which is the origin of Sino-Korean words and numbers, which you can learn more about in my Sino-Korean introductory post.
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.
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!
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!
Round two of Korean drinking culture! In the first post I got into all the hierarchy, rules, and culture in different areas. Now let’s get into the more fun and relaxed part with all the Korean drinking games, slang, and more.
Let’s go into emotions in Korean and how to describe your feelings. There’s not too much to say about this and I don’t feel like dragging it out and meeting a seo word count… Of course you already know why it’s important to know how to express yourself so let’s just get on with the list.
A lot of Korean texting slang has a rooted meaning in the original word, just shortened to make it easier to type. Some originate from Korean itself like 엉 which is the most casual way to say yes or yeah in Korean, being reduced down to just ㅇㅇ. Or ᄋᄃ from 어디 (where), ᄆᄎ from 미쳤어 (crazy), etc.