Category: Free Inquiry (Page 1 of 2)

I used Canva to make a review sheet of the various ways to say “only” in Korean.

I have used ‘Screencast-O-Matic’ to record myself translating a Korean text about Kimchi in real time. I was getting rusty in my translation ability, but pleasantly surprised how quickly it comes back with practice. Basically, as Korean is a S-O-V language, you need to read the sentence backwards in your head and then translate back into English familiar S-V-O syntax.

These are some tricky advanced multi-meaning verbs I am studying right now. I used a Google docs and converted it into a PDF. All photos courtesy of Unsplash

Using Screencast-o-matic software, I read a Korean advanced dialogue in Korean and then give the English translation and identify and explain the Korean idioms that which contain the word rice cake. Rice cakes, signifying good fortune and giving, are ubiquitous in Korean culture, forming a huge part of Korean food culture and gift giving. Therefore, over time many culturally specific idioms relating to rice cakes are present in the Korean language.

Unlike onomatopoeias, which attempt to mimic a particular sound, mimetic verbs attempt to add feeling to a motion or movement to give the listener a more detailed picture of an action. Mimetic verbs are arguably the final hurdle in achieving fluency and sounding “Korean” as they are routinely used by native Korean speakers. These are difficult for Korean second language learners to learn as there are few resources for formal instruction on this topic. Moreover, there is a astonishingly a specific mimetic word for almost every kind of movement until recently, there was little standardization of spelling and slight variations in sound are still very common.

Let’s look at some examples:

오늘 아침에 일어나서 교육에 응용기술 수업에 다니기에 대학교에 운전 해 갔어요.

I got up early this morning and drove to my applied technology in education class.

 오늘 아침에 벌떡 일어나서 교육에 응용기술 수업에 다니기에 대학교에 운전 해 갔어요.

I sprung out of bed early this morning and drove to my applied technology in education class.

쓰레기가 많아서 방을 청소할 수밖에 없어요.

I had to clean the room because it was so dirty.

 쓰레기가 많아서 싹 방을 청소할 수밖에 없어요.

I had to completely clean (from top to bottom) the room because it was so dirty.

As you can see above, the addition of a mimetic verb adds an emphasis of degree feeling, imagery which really lets the listener visualize the action.

Here are 14 Mimetic Verbs I will try to learn to use this week:

1. 칭칭                                    8. 졸졸                                                   
2. 가득                                    9. 뻘뻘                                         
3. 깜짝                                    10. 꼭꼭                                                          
4. 엉엉                                    11. 철철                                  
5. 낄낄                                    12. 벅벅                                        
6. 콕콕                                    13. 펑펑          
7. 꽁꽁                                    14. 텅텅             

• a. crying profusely
• b. water coming out slowly
• c. sweating a lot
• d. exerting effort repeatedly
• e. somebody scratching f. going around something
• g. water, blood, energy flowing
• h. somebody snickering
• i. stinging pain j. using an object frivolously
• k. something being frozen l. being completely empty
• m. something wrapping around
• n. completely full / stuffed

This is a little off topic from learning Korean but I just wanted to share a project I’m working on for my multiliteracies class. This is the title page from a graphic novel I’m working on using Comic 3 software.

Definitely not Stan Lee but I see a lot of potential in this program for getting students to demonstrate understanding of periods in history in a visually appealing way.

Here is a small 10 question Korean Vocabulary Quiz I made on Kahoot! to review vocabulary related to the theme Urban Living which I had been reviewing.

Today, I practiced combining new grammar and taping my voice speaking sentences in Korean. After speaking the sentence, I pasted the audio files to the PowerPoint

Grammar Lesson 2:  – 고 보니 Expressing Discovery and Result

가: 둘이 아는 사이였어요?

Do you two know each other?

나: 네, 처음에 누군지 몰랐는데 만나고 보니 옛직업 동뇨였어요.

Yeah, At first, I didn’t know who it was, but after meeting him, I realized that we used to work together.

가: 브라이언 씨, 오늘 왜 도시락 안 가지고 갔어요?

Brian, why didn’t you take your lunch today?

나: 미안, 아침에  안 가지고 나갔어요. 학교에 도착하고 보니 도시락이 없더라고요.

 Sorry, I left without it. I realized it when I arrived at school.

Meaning in Use

1. This expression is used to indicate that the speaker learned something new, or discovered some new information, or discovered something contrary to previously thought after some action occurred.

비슷하게 생겨서 제 신발인 줄 알고 신었어요. 그런데 신고 보니 동생의 신발이었어요.

자동차 우화전으로 돌아서 가고 보니 잘못 방향으로 가는것이었요.

This grammar can only be used with verbs. If an adjective or noun / 이다 precedes this grammar, it is grammatically incorrect.

To use adjectives, you must change it to 아/어지다. For example,

전에 축구에 폐력이 좋았는데 나이가 많고 보니 젊은 선수와 축구를 하면 숨 차게 돼네요.

전에 축구에 폐력이 좋았는데 나이가 많아지고 보니 젊은 선수와 축구를 하면 숨 차게 돼네요.

I didn’t notice when I was young, but after having been an expat for so long, I realized how tiring it is.

어렸을때 몰랐는데 오래간 객지생활이고 보니 객지생활 얼마나 힘들다는 것을 새삼 알게 되었어요.

어렸을때 몰랐는데 오래간 객지생활 되고 보니 객지생활 얼마나 힘들다는 것을 새삼 알게 되었어요.