Studying language tip - use google image search

When online dictionary fails. Use google image search. That is what i've been doing lately.

See, this way you get some visuals and how the word is used in the captions.
Also, sometimes slangs are not recognised in dictionaries. If you run it through google, you might find that a word is an internet slang. Or some sort of abbreviated word that Koreans have coined up for easy use sake. Try it. It gives you context and helps with remembering vocabs you don't have a feel for.

Side cute story: My friend was telling me how her friend who've come from Korea messaged her 'wayd' to her. She assumed people will figure that it's 'what are you doing' since it's commonly used enough. 

[Buzz] 궁금해요? 궁금하면~ 500원

I like adapting punchlines/buzz words i see on tv, and turning it into a joke and all with my friends. 

So, it seems i also enjoy picking up on others doing the same on Korean tv.

It's so me.. ahahaa

Anyways, "궁금해요? 궁금하면~ 500원" translates to "Curious? If you want to know~ 500 wons"

which is pretty much the equivalent of "50c and i'll tell you". 

Whoever's subbing this show... thanks for all the background info.

I'm learning Korean through Teen Top and you ^^

Simsimi - The robot app SHINee Jonghyun plays with! Also a language learning tool?

I've been meaning to blog about this app i've come across recently. The screenshot above was tweeted by Jonghyun from Shinee last night. Looks like he's having fun with the app too =) [Flirting with a robot lol]

Anyways you can download the app on to your smartphone, otherwise you can play with it online here. 

Simsimi is basically a little chicken(?) robot that learns different languages, through us users who teaches it how to responds. 

(It's a robot because it's not a person at the other end responding to you in live time) 

Surpassing 10 000 views on this blog

joi sia

감사합니다

THANK YOU

viewers!

옥수역

I was looking for a picture of this:

A subway station in Korea

....but i ended up reading a Ghost story/comic about the station
http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/detail.nhn?titleId=350217&no=30&weekday=tue&fb_source=message

Follow the link. The comic is in English. The only concern is that the setting is based on a real subway station. A quite pretty looking subway station...

It's possible to get married at a subway station in Korea?

Again, i'm studying from the Yonsei textbook and I come across something that catches my attention which leaves me a little bewildered.

People gets married at the subway station in Korea?!!

All i can think of is Sydney's train station in reference to imagine how it would appear. 

Quickly enough, i type in 녹사평역 for an image search in google and see how that would really look. 

Immediately, i see that their station looks rather spacious in comparison, which actually seems more feasible than the Sydney referenced imagination of a station that appeared in my head.  

Clothes horse - WHAT?

Since when is a clothes rack (the thing we air our clothes to dry on after doing laundry) also called a clothes horse? I thought i was lost in translation when i looked up 빨래 건조대 and was presented with "clothes horse" on Naver's dictionary. I thought it was a Korean expression that had some sort of whacky cultural/language/symbolic significance, until i did a google search just out of curiosity.

Turns out such term exist in the English dictionary, and is in fact an English word. It's probably more commonly known as a clothes rack as to a clothes horse nowadays. I could be wrong. However, a quick survey of people around me seems to suggest they're in the same boat as me and don't have the faintest idea what it could be. Okay, i lied. One person had a rough idea of what it is but didn't pinpoint it down to exactly what part of laundry it is related to.

I hope Koreans learning English don't get too confused. Naver gives decent translation if you break the expression down 빨래= laundry 건조대 = drying rack.

Anyhow, it looks like i'm learning English while i'm trying to learn Korean.

Learn Korean slang from dramas 껄떡거리다 Big ep 10

So here's a screen capture of Gil Da Ran getting told by Kyung Joon (in Yoon Jae's body) to not be 껄떡거리다 all over him in Big ep10.

껄떡거리지 마 is his more exact words

The scene is followed by Gil Da Ran thinking through the word and this next screen actually appears in the drama.

Yay! Definition of a Korean slang from a drama.  If that wasn't clear enough on how it's used, toss it into the online naver dictionary and tadaaa! more examples on how to use the word =)

풍물시장 folk flea market

I never heard of a folk flea market before. I came across it from studying Korean from the Yonsei textbook. It looks like Seoul has a folk flea market and this website seems to explain what it is quite well. I don't think there's any in Australia? I could be very wrong. I'm not really into shopping. 

The sketch is of Seoul's Flea Market by Lee Yong Hwan. He sketches places in Korea. Pretty cool. 

Visit his blog www.archiartistlee.blogspot.com

For more of the Seoul's Flea Market sketches: click here

Bare minimum technique for staying interested in language learning

Looks like i've fallen into the trap of not "keeping language study a priority when life gets busy". I quote,  because this post sums up my struggles.

I've been busy and instead of really studying, i've been trying to keep myself 'interested' in studying - which is probably the bare minimum a language learner can do. 

Korean movie - 도가니 Silenced / The Crucible

Must watch this movie. It's disturbing, but i like how this movie raised awareness in the Korean society. It's based on a real story (Inwha 2005 case) and it's great that Korean movies also have that ability to make a difference. I say 'also' because Korean films are great at entertaining. The Korean entertainment industry is so good at what they do, that their audience base is fascinating in itself. With this movie, it did more than just make another film. It served a better purpose, yet at the same time, it didn't lose its touch in keeping people watching. I think it's brilliant. 

Koreans at UNSW - gotta love what they get up to :)

KSA@UNSW LIPDUB "Simple Plan - Jet Lag" from UNSW.KSA on Vimeo.

I thought this was a pretty neat video that the Korean Student Association has made to promote Korean culture at UNSW and abroad (abroad as in: living in Australia as to Korea).
Loving all the fun and effort they put into making this video.

Naver's Korean Dictionary - Pronunciation of Korean words

You know how online dictionaries often have a button to the right side of the word for listening to pronunciation of the word you'd just  looked up? Eg just search up any definition of a word on dictionary.com Well, Naver's Korean dictionary 국어사전 (NOT Naver's Korean-English dictionary 영어사전 that i've previously mentioned on my blog) seems to be introducing that in their Korean online dictionary.

 'Listening to pronunciation' 바름 듣기 seems to be new to Korean online dictionaries? Correct me, if i'm wrong. I can only seem to find pronunciation function on Naver's online dictionary, and even so, it's not available for all the words that you might want to look up. At least, at present.

Anyways, either way this feature might be useful to us language learners who aren't sure of how to pronounce random words.

Click HERE for the link to Naver's Korean online dictionary.

My latest learning Korean method - Utilising online dictionary

Hello everyone, or no one...? it's been a while.
Either way, i'm going to blog about my latest learning method. I'm going to keep this blog documenting my  learning experience as much as i can (..will myself out of my own laziness). Hopefully, one day i look back and have a recollection of how i learnt, to get to where i am.
One thing about self learning is having the complete freedom to adjust, or adapt our methods of learning to our learning needs. If we're clever, we manage to customise our learning to it's best fit.
No one uses one mode of studying all the way to the end these days. Especially, with language learning. That really would be mindless studying. 


So moving on from the bookworm language exchange partner also calls for a different mode of studying.
Lately, instead of just translating words so i get a definition of what i don't understand, I've incorporated writing out sample sentences that is provided from online dictionary.
[Physical copy of dictionary from Korea, that are made for Koreans learning English also have heaps of sample sentences!]

Advantages of using online dictionaries:

• Get an idea on how a Korean word is used in a sentence
• This deals with untranslatable word problem in language learning - the sample sentences reduces the focus on how it make sense in our own language and forces us to infer how it is used in Korean.
• Allow us to see how the words are commonly used - i assume the sentences given are one that are somewhat commonly used... who puts uncommon sentences in their native language dictionary for examples? 
• Make sure that the word is even in use in the way i intend to use it - no matter how we try we will always think of words in our native language when learning and so forming our sentences can be a little messed up~ this is a nice reassurance that i've got it right

Language learning tendency. Flaws.

We can only take part in things you could already understand

The hardest part about learning a language is creating a space in your head, almost as if you're creating another mind (within the single head of yours that you have). So that your thinking can be done in the language you're learning.

After you master learning like that, is then, when translation should come in. I think many of us starts off learning a language as if everything is translatable. I mean we know that its not, but somewhere in the language learning process we neglect/forget that knowledge and do it anyway. We think of words with equivalent meaning in the language we speak in, and unconsciously use that as our basis for understanding that word (probably until we come in greater contact with interacting with speakers of the language your learning). You can probably see the flaw here.
We can only learn, what we already know. That is, we learn about words that already exist in our language. The thing with language is that words can exist with a whole new meaning in another language. 
So essentially, we're learning through mindless assimilation. Think about it, if we take a word from another language and think of it in term of our own language - what kind of knowledge base are we building on? The one that is in our language. This isn't what you want if you aim to know another language well. You will eventually want to be able to think in that language you're learning to communicate efficiently. As to, referring back to your native mind then re-enter your self learnt language mind to conceptualise things.
['Assimilation' is one of those theories that cognitive psychology will cover when you learn about how your brain learn new things.]

So how are we suppose to learn if we don't assimilate it to things we already know - i.e. how are we suppose to learn a language if we don't use the language we know already?

Cha beung (fried rice)

Being a Teo Chew, it's kind of funny that i never attempted to make fried rice until now. We eat it ever so often. Can't say my cooking here taste all that great, i really should follow a recipe or ask the mum for some guidance.

Anyways, i'm personally not so big on fried rice. In the same way i'm not that into bimbimbab. I don't like  my food mixed into one dish. It's probably due to bland taste buds or something.

Gaginang, jiat beung bwear? ;)
Right now, it's only about 2pm but make sure you eat your rice already.

Dump by my language exchange partner.

I think i had a long enough sulk about this. There's a reason behind me not studying, or even trying very hard to study Korean lately (despite that i wrote that "i miss it" on my twitter). My language exchange partner just decided on his own to not meet up with me. Yes. I'm taking this a little personal. In reality, we are two strangers who don't owe each other anything. Yet, still i feel a little abandoned. After all, he kind of just didn't show, and that was it.
I guess partly, it was my fault. The last 2-3 weeks that we were exchanging language, i wasn't as attentive as i usually was. I had assessments due and finals that were doing my head in. I think he just thought i loss my motivation to learn Korean. I guess i really did lose my motivation after that though. Probably because i came to see him as a friend.

Anyways, whatever it might be, it's time to move on. He taught me well. I'll just be thankful of what i did learn from him. I'm sure i'm going to meet many more inspiring language learners that'll be as inspiring as him to help me along the way.

Kpop Music Festival in Sydney 2011

Since i haven't blogged in a while about anything...  Here's some delayed kpop concert photos! 

The first one is of Mychonny an Australian youtuber. He had a massive crowd trailing behind him. Priceless look on his face, as he got given a free moochi. The photo after, is of Shinee.. and my view for the night... if i actually had much of a view at all (my camera saw more than i did). Truth is, everyone was so hyped being in the same space as kpop artists that they regarded the concert as best ever simply based on that. Unless you were in VIP standing, you'd probably didn't get to see much on stage. People stood on chairs. Full stop. Seating were not elevated. 

Want close up pictures? Sure. The following pictures are credited to my friend. She got some pretty neat close up shots, i just chose a few to share here on this blog. I'm convince that Jonghyun from Shinee is looking at her camera. 

Let's be realistic.

Learning Korean, people assume that you naturally LOVE everything Korean.

That's not true. 

Weird coexistence of things i like

I've been wondering how two completely different thing can coexist in my liking lately. 

They couldn't be more different. 

I undoubtedly love my kpop. The other thing is the Wallabies (Australia's team), Rugby Union.

Kpop is entertainment, Rugby Union is a sport.
With Kpop their platform is the stage, with the Wallabies it's the field.
One is pretty and picturesque in every way, the other is life/body on the line just to ensure scores are put on the board.