Monthly Archives: August 2012

Learning Korean from Korean drama O.S.T : Winter Child (겨울 아이)

Since the song ‘Winter Child’ was first sung by JongYong, Lee in 1990, this song has been remade by many singers. ‘Winter Child’ was again highlighted by Suzy, member of Miss A. Suzy sang the song in Dream High which is very popular drama in Korea. The lyrics of the song are so lovely and beautiful. So, the song is sometimes sung for a birthday song for people born in the winter.

Shall we learn this song?

겨울에 태어난 아름다운 당신은      

Gyeoure taeeaonan areumdaun dangsineun           

(Beautiful you born in the winter)
눈처럼 깨끗한 나만의 당신            

nuncheoreom ggaekkeotan namane dangsin

(My darling you white as the snow)
겨울에 태어난 사랑스런 당신은

Gyeoure taeeaonan sarangseureon dangsineun

(Lovely you born in the Winter)
눈처럼 맑은 나만의 당신               

nuncheoreom malgeun namane dangsin     

(My darling you pure as the snow)

하지만 봄 여름과 가을 겨울

           

hajiman bom, yeoreumgwa gaeul gyeoul

(But ….spring, summer, fall and winter)
언제나 맑고 깨끗해                      

eonjena malggo ggaekketae

(You’re always pure and lovely)

겨울에 태어난 아름다운 당신은

Gyeoure taeeaonan areumdaun dangsineun

(Beautiful you born in the winter)
눈처럼 깨끗한 나만의 당신             

nuncheoreom ggaekkeotan namane dangsin

(My darling you white as the snow)

생일 축하합니다 생일 축하합니다     

sangil chukkahamnida *3 (Happy birthday)

생일 축하합니다 당신의 생일을        

dangsine sangireul

Happy birthday to you. (Happy birthday to you.)

 

There are four seasons in Korea. 봄(spring) 여름(summer) 가을(fall)and 겨울(winter). If you were born in the winter, you can say “저는 겨울에 태어났어요 (jeoneun gyeoule ttaeenatsseoyo)”

-에 is a time marker. 저는 여름 태어났어요. It means “I was born in the summer.” Then, “in the spring” becomes “봄에”. 태어났어요 is the past tense which means “were/was born”

당신(dangsin) is an honorific expression of “너(neo/ you)” but you need to be aware of how to use this word properly. Because it is used for the most honorific title or poetic expression, you may be confused how to suitably use the word. In this song, 당신 is used for the kind of poetic expressions. If you improperly use the title “당신” to the elder, you would seem rude on the contrary.

How can you say “Happy birthday!” in Korean? It is “생일 축하합니다.” 생일(sangil) means birthday and 축하합니다(chukkahamnida) means congratulations on~. You can use this expression in some ways. For example, “Congratulations on your graduation” is 졸업 축하합니다 in Korean. 졸업(joreop) is graduation. You can put any word in front of 축하합니다. So, the basic form is something 축하합니다. Instead of 졸업, 결혼 (gyeoron, marriage) can be put. 결혼 축하합니다. The form of –합니다 is formal polite sentence so normally, you may say just with 축하해요. Altogether, 생일 축하해요. 졸업 축하해요. 결혼 축하해요. Those expressions are still polite.

You can enjoy 겨울아이 (Winter Child) on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGNS2F1fb5c&feature=related

Is it so interesting to learn Korean form Korean OST and songs? Next time, let’s learn another song and useful expressions. 감사합니다

Korean teacher, Sarah Yong.

 

Go-Stop_ A national card game in Korea

Go-Stop (고스톱) is a Korean card game. Go-Stop is also known as Godori (고도리), the name of a winning move in the game, Hwatu (화투) as this is the name of the cards used to play the game and also as Matgo (맞고), the latter implicating that only two players are playing.

Go-Stop is played with hanafuda cards using a different point system. The cards are referred to as hwatu (화투) in Korean. In addition, a deck of Korean hwatu cards usually includes bonus cards. Most households own a deck of hwatu and they are as common in Korea as the standard 52 deck cards are in the Western world.

Typically, there are two or three players, although there is a variation where four players can play. The general point of this game is to score a minimum number of points, usually three or seven, and then call a “Go” or a “Stop” (this is where the name of the game is derived from). When a “Go” is called, the game continues, and the amount of points or money is first increased, and then doubled, tripled, quadrupled and so on, though the latter being very rare. If a “Stop” is called, the game ends and the winner collects the winnings.

Typical games between experienced players move very quickly.

오빤 강남 스타일 The new mainstream of K-pop

Korean-pop rapper Psy’s video “Gangnam Style” is taking over the world.

Gawker suggested“Gangnam Style” may be the best music video of the year. American auto-tune aficionado T-Pain tweeted, “Words cannot even describe how amazing this video is…” And Scooter Braun, who manages pop-munchkins Justin Bieberand Carley Rae Jepsen tweeted, “HOW DID I NOT SIGN THIS GUY!?!??!… GANGNAM STYLE!!!! . “

The video features Psy, also known as Park Jae-sang, in various upscale locations doing a funky horse riding dance. A couple of famous Korean comedians make cameo appearances in the video, so does a member of the Korean pop group 4Minute–she’s the girl with the red hair wearing the blouse decorated with billiard balls. 

The video became a huge online hit in Korea about a week before it reached viral success throughout the world, said Kevin Allocca, YouTube trends manager. As of Thursday the video was one of the most shared videos in South Korea, as well as the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, Singapore and Sweden.

It’s not just the Olympics that brings together the citizens of the world, people. It’s also completely insane, hilarious, high-energy music videos.

Some Stories About Our Japanese Course 11

Hi everyone,皆さん、おげんきですか。

My Japanese classes and lessons include the following features. We had activities of speaking, reading, listening, writing, (esp. in group lessons) making and performing dialogues in front of classes with use of the course book, “Genki 1”, its grammar and vocabulary of the Unit taught and exercises. Also, we used some pages from other books that include Japanese for Busy People Book 2, Japanese for Everyone, The First Couse in Japanese (by Fudeko Reekie) etc.  As usual, flash cards, magazines, CDs, etc were also used to create a variety of methods in teaching.

The exam of Beginners 2 included the listening test.

As one of new things, I used the Jikokuhyo (the national wide timetable of all trains, esp. bullet trains, of the JR network and many of local private trains (and even buses) for speaking timetable of the bullet trains, e.g. “What time will the bullet train, Nozomi, depart from Tokyo Station? What time will it arrive at Hakata, Kyushu Island? It is language related to travelling in Japan as well. It seemed worthwhile for students to practice, since they will or could used such language if they visit Japan?

The majority of my classes (and some tutorials) watched the dvd City Guide as well as the video series of Japanese for Beginners if they have not seen them yet. Also, there was an interesting video that was produced by the Department of Education NSW and it talks about the difference of gestures (including expressing something serious or unpleasant) between Japanese speakers and English speakers. That video was interesting and useful.

There were many exciting news in a newspaper Nihon-keizai-shimbun (Nikkei), ones issued in June. They are mostly related to technology, industries and economy. I informed them in the majority of classes/lessons. They were:

  1. (29.6.12) The Japanese, eight major car manufacturers increased the total sales profits over 60% in the current financial year. In cases of Toyota and Honda, they got twice of the amount for the increase. The demand has been great; especially the sales of hybrid cars and small cars were high. The phenomenon was partly due to the assistance given by the Government’s package to make the prices of cars to be approachable for many consumers to pay, for over a few years.
  2. (27.6.12) Microsoft and Mitsui Home made a joint venture to create technology used at homes. With that, people can wave a hand (up and down, right and left) or speak some words and they can close/open curtains, turn on or off TV, change TV stations, turn on or off lights etc at many homes. The users of that do not need to stand up and do not need a remote control. The technology is based on system called “Kinekuto” of Microsoft. Amazing project! That will be available in market about 3 years later.
  3. (30.6.12) Toyoto Motors and BMW made a joint project to make a better eco-car, and battery based sports cars. (Nissan and German-based Daimler Motors have been actively making similar ventures to improve and make better cars for environment, the report says.)
  4. (28.6.12) Toyota Group is leasing 3000 cars that are of a new model called Komusu. In it, only one driver/person rides. It will be used for the network of Seven Eleven in Japan. The small and light car can stop easily and that will increase the business and efficiency in business. (There are 14000 shops of Seven Eleven sell popular bento and packed vegetable etc around Japan; the small cars will be used for the deliveries.)
  5. (26.6.12) Japanese Government, local organizations and companies are trying to establish the environmentally friendly and energy saving system and community called “Smart Community” that will used solar energy, battery based energy, buses run with electricity, buildings that will be categorized as Sumaarto Biru, Sumaato-sutoa, Sumaato-sukuuru, Sumaato-hausu etc.
  6. (29.6.12) The U.S. Boeing 787 has the research and innovation project with the Tokyo University to make better carbon fiber to be used in their aircrafts.

Japanese Teacher, Toshiko Jackson

4.8.12

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