Posted by Ginny
Did you know that Hillary Clinton is the first secretary of state to visit the countries of Asia right after being promoted to office? In the past, the first countries that the secretary of state would visit were the Middle East and Europe. The fact that Clinton’s first visit is anywhere in Asia signifies the important presence Asia will have in the Obama presidency. Already as it is, the U.S. has important politcal and economic ties with the Asian continent. Not surprisingly, the main focus of the talks happen to center around North Korea and their nuclear weapons program. In honor of Clinton’s visit last month, here is a list of vocabulary related to the visit.
South Korea : (한국)
North Korean : (북한)
state visit : (공식 방문)
ambassador : (대사)
president : (대통령)
politician : (정치인)
diplomacy : (외교)
negotiation : (고섭)
nuclear weapons : (핵무기)
Posted by Ginny
Today’s proverb is: 虛心坦懷. The pronunciation and meaning for each character are as follows:
虛 - huh (empty)
心 - shim (heart)
坦 - tan (flat)
懷 - hwe (cherish)
This proverb is used to describe a person who is frank, candid or open-minded. The character meaning empty (虛) and the character meaning heart (心) can be translated as being open minded or open hearted. The character for empty (虛) is used in the sense of “an untainted canvas”, or “a vessel that has yet to be filled”. The character for heart (心) is used in the sense of the word for “feeling” or “emotion.”
The character for flat (坦) is used to refer to someone who is unbiased. In other words, someone who is “flat” is someone who is honest with oneself and tells the truth without sugar coating it. Then there’s the character meaning “to cherish” (懷). In this proverb, this character is used to imply those feelings that one cherishes or holds dear. It can also refer to secrets that you might not want to share with the world. Secrets that you bury deep inside your heart.
This is a very difficult proverb to explain, but if I were to explain it in a sentence, it refers to a person who is so open-minded that they air out anything (even stuff that should be kept to yourself) without bias. You might think that this proverb has a negative ring to it, but that’s not necessarily true. This proverb could refer to a person who is really honest. On the other hand it could have a negative connotation when it refers to a person who keeps talking without reserve.
I like this proverb because it can explain a person without using so many words. If someone asks you, “What’s he like?” you can just answer with this proverb without being too critical of Mr. Joe or whoever it is you had in mind. It’s a convenient way to describe someone without trashing the person directly. With that being said, I’m going to conveniently end this post!
Posted by Ginny
There’s another another directional particle besides ro (로) and uro (으로). While ro (로) and uro (으로) means to go “towards” something, eh (에) means to be “at” something.
For example if I say the phrase “at the house” I would take the noun “house” and attach the eh (에) particle to it. Since the noun for “house” in Korean is jip (집), the phrase “at the house” would be “jip eh” (집에).
Just to remind you again, you don’t need to take account of the particle “the” or “a” in Korean.
Now if you want to say the phrase “I go to the house” you would need the verb “to go” conjugated in the present tense. Since the verb “to go” is kada (가다), in the present tense it’s kayo (가요). So the phrase “I go to the house” would be, jipeh kayo (집에 가요). Remember that the verb is the last word at the end. The word eh (에) can mean “at” or “to” in English.
The difference between uro (으로)/ro (로) and eh (에) is that uro (으로)/ro (로) is used in a vague sense while eh (에) is more exact. If I say the phrase “Seoulro” (서울로) or “towards Seoul”, I am saying that it’s somewhere near or around Seoul (서울). Now if I say “Seouleh” (서울에) or “at/to Seoul” I am saying it’s “in” Seoul. Notice how the eh (에) particle gives off a precise meaning compared to the ro (로) and uro (으로) particle.
In my opinion when I’m being given directions through a map, I’d rather get them in the eh (에) particle than the uro (으로) or ro (로) particle. Of course, that’s just my two cents!
Posted by Ginny
I think now’s a good time to go over directional particles. Let’s look at the particle ro (로) and uro (으로). If I want to say, “towards the school” all I have to do is add the ro (로) particle to the noun “school”. The noun for school in Korean is hakkyo (학교). Add ro (로) to hakkyo (학교) and you get hakkyoro (학교로). Whenever you add ro (로) or uro (으로) to a noun, it means “towards the _____”. For example the noun for “class” is suop (수업). The phrase “towards the class” is suopuro (수업으로).
Unlike English, Korean does not have a “the” or “a” particle. In sophisticated English terms, the Korean language does not have an indefinite and definite article. This is good, because that means you don’t have to worry about it! Another thing to keep in mind is that depending on whether the last character is a consonant or vowel, you’ll use uro (으로) or ro (로) accordingly. If the noun ends in a vowel you have to use ro (로). When it ends in a consonant you use uro (으로).
The only exception is the consonant ㄹ. When the noun ends in ㄹ such as the word kyoshil (교실), you add ro (로). Kyoshil (교실) means “classroom” in Korean. Even though ㄹ is a consonant, it’s a special case so you would use the ro (로) ending. The reason for why ㄹ is a special case has to do with phonetics. If you want to say “towards the classroom” and add the uro (으로) ending, it would be hard to pronounce. It’s much easier to pronounce “towards the classroom” with the ro (로) ending. Try it for yourself: kyoshilro (교실로) versus kyoshiluro (교실으로).
Alright folks, that’s it for today!
Posted by Ginny
Hangul (한굴), which is the Korean alphabet system; is largely phonetic. This means that words are written as they are pronounced. Well, for the most part they are. There are some exceptions to the rule. For example the character resembling ㅅ is pronounced differently depending on where it’s located. When it’s located on top, it’s pronounced as an English “S” sound. Words like bosu (버스) which means “bus” or suop (수업) which means “class” have this feature. When the ㅅ is placed on the bottom, it takes on a “T” sound. Words like net (넷) which means “four” and bitda (빗다) which means “to comb” have this feature.
When ㅅ is placed both on the top and bottom, you pronounce the ㅅ on top as an “S” and the ㅅ on the bottom as a “T”. So for example sutja (숫자) which is the word for “number” and set (셋) which is the word for “three” follow this example.
When ㅅ is doubled, it will make an English “sh” sound like in the word “shut”. Words like shit-da (씻다) which means “to wash” and words like shi (씨) which is the suffix for Mr./Ms. all contain this feature. When the double ㅅ or ㅆ is on the bottom it will make a “t” sound like itda (있다). Itda (있다) can mean “to have or to exist” depending on the sentence.
Hopefully this clears up a lot of the pronunciation troubles that you might be having. Good luck with your Korean studies!
