Posts from January 2010

Korean Peninsula

Posted by Ginny No Comments
Jan 31 2010

Today’s post will be a geography lesson on Korea. As many of you probably know, Korea is a peninsula surrounded by the Pacific ocean, the East Sea, and the Yellow Sea. Korea is in close proximity to China in the north, parts of southern Russia in the northeast, and to Japan in the south. Seventy percent of the Korean peninsula is covered by mountains, with the majority of the mountains in North Korea.

The tallest mountain in North Korea is 백두산. This mountain is considered sacred because it’s believed that the first Korean humans descended from this mountain. There is very little arable land for crops. There are several natural hot springs and waterfalls. The climate of North Korea tends to be bitterly cold in the long winters, humid and rainy in the short summers.

Forests and the woodlands make up about 65% of South Korea. The longest river in South Korea is the 낙동강. There is also a sea passage between South Korea and Japan called the 조선해협 or the Korea Strait. Ferries in this strait allow goods and people to be moved from and to South Korea and Japan. The capital of South Korea is 서울, while the capital of North Korea is 평양.

Technically, 제주 Island is not geographically part of the Korean peninsula, but it’s still considered a territory of South Korea. 제주 Island is the only island that has been designated as its own self governing province, meaning that it’s administratively independent from South Korea. The tallest mounatin on 제주 is 한라산. Being that 제주 is surrounded by water, it has a large fishing community.

To/From in Korean

Posted by Ginny No Comments
Jan 28 2010

Let’s take a look at a sentence like this:

친구한테 전화했어요? (친구 = friend. 한테 = to. 전화했어요 = past tense of 전화하다, or “to make a phone call”).

In English, this would mean, “Did you call your friend?”

The part that I want to focus on today is 한테. Here, 한테 means “to” but not in the sense of direction, but in the sense of action or activity.

Now let’s take a look at a sentence like this, “오늘 할아버님께 전화했어요?”

(오늘 = today. 할아버님 = grandfather. 께 = to. 전화했어요 = past tense of 전화하다 or “To make a telephone call”)

In English, this would mean, “Did you call your grandfather today?”

Notice that instead of 한테, 께 was used instead. This is because 께 is used for individuals who you want to show respect towards. Both 한테 and 께 is used when you are doing something to someone (in this case calling the person on the telephone), but depending on who the person is, you’ll use either 한테 or 께.

Now let’s look at a sentence like this, “친구한테서 선물을 받았어요.”

(친구 = friend. 한테서 = from. 선물 = gift. 을 = object marking particle. 받았어요 = past tense of 받다 or “to receive”)

In English, this would mean, “I received a gift from a friend.”

The particular word I want to focus on is 한테서. 한테서 indicates the origin or source of the action. In this case, the friend was the origin of the action, which happens to be gift giving.

In the same vein, take a look at this example, “선생님께서 선물을 받았어요.”

(선생님 = teacher. 께서 = from. 선물 = gift. 을 = object marking particle. 받았어요 = past tense of 받다)

In English, this would mean, “I received a gift from my teacher.”

Like 한테서, 께서 indicates from who the action started. However, 께서 is used for those who need to be shown extra respect. Just remember that 한테/께 is to whom the action is being done to (to my grandmother, to my sister,etc) and 한테서/께서 is from who the action came from (from my mom, from my brother).

Korean Queens

Posted by Ginny No Comments
Jan 25 2010

If you look at the imperial history of Korea, you’ll notice that there are only a couple of queens who achieved the same kind of admiration and perhaps notorioty as the kings of Korean history.

Queen Seondeok (선덕여왕) was the first recorded reiging Queen in Korean history. She was the ruler over 신라 of the Three Kingdoms period. Queen Seondeok was actually favored to be the next in line to the throne by her father, King Jinpyeong (진평왕). Out of all the king’s children, the Queen was noted for her intelligence. Queen Seondeok’s reign was an uneasy period. She had to wage constant warfare to keep neighboring nations from entering her kingdom. Despite this, her reign is considered by historians to be productive, with many important monuments built, like the 첨성대 (astronomical observatory).

Queen Min also posthumously named Empress Myeongseong (명성황후), was the last queen in a line of kings to have an iconic role in Korean history. Queen Min’s personal life was tragic. She lost both her parents at age eight and lost two sons to illness. Her political life was also difficult. She was disliked by the nobles for her advocate of education and modernization. During her reign, girls of non noble lineage could go to school and through her, Korea had its first official newspaper in Korean. Her life ended when she was assassinated by the Japanese military in 1895.

Queen Inhyeon (인현왕후) is one of the best known queens in Korean history. Queen Inhyeon was exiled when her rival gave birth to a son. When Queen Inhyeon was reinstated as queen, she died thereafter. It turned out that her rival Lady Jang (희빈 장옥정) had a shaman priestess pray for her death. When King Sukjong (숙종왕) found out, he put Lady Jang to death by poison. In Korean dramas, Queen Inhyeon is always portrayed as a sympathetic figure. She is idealized as the long suffering and kind queen who died because of a greedy and evil rival.

Queen Jeheon (제헌왕후) was a jealous queen. She poisoned one of her rival concubines and struck her husband King Seongjong (성종왕) after an argument. When the king’s mother found out about this, she ordered the king to send her to exile. Thereafter, Queen Jeheon was ordered to be executed to death by poison. Queen Jeheon produced a son named Yeonsangun (연산군), who later became one of the worst kings in Korean history. At first, Yeonsangun didn’t know about the circumstances of his mother’s death. When he found out, he killed the king’s mother, and the government officials responsible for his mother’s death.

Answers to the Quiz

Posted by Ginny No Comments
Jan 22 2010

Ok, now it’s time for the answers. The answers will be provided in parentheses.

Conjugate the following into the present honorific polite:

1 – 듣다 (to hear, to listen) (들으세요)

2 – 살다 (to live) (사세요)

3 – 어렵다 (to be difficult) (어려우세요)

4 – 나쁘다 (to be bad) (나쁘세요)

Conjugate the following in the past tense of the honorific polite:

5 - 있다 (to have) (있으셨어요)

6 - 쉽다 (to be easy) (쉬우셨어요)

7 - 멀다 (to be far) (머셨어요)

8 – 받다 (to receive) (받으셨어요)

Conjugate the following in the present tense of the honorific deferential:

9 - 먹다 (to eat) (드십니다, 잡수십니다)

10 - 자다 (to sleep) (주무십니다)

11 - 있다 (to be present) (계십니다)

12 – 입다 (to wear) (입으십니다)

Conjugate the following in the past tense of the deferential polite:

13 – 묻다 (to ask) (물으셨습니다)

14 – 공부하다 (to study) (공부하셨습니다)

15 – 예쁘다 (to be pretty) (예쁘셨습니다)

16 – 사다 (to buy) (사셨습니다)

Honorific Polite and Deferential Polite Quiz

Posted by Ginny No Comments
Jan 19 2010

Try this quiz and see how many you get right!

Conjugate the following into the present honorific polite:

1 – 듣다 (to hear, to listen)

2 – 살다 (to live)

3 – 어렵다 (to be difficult)

4 – 나쁘다 (to be bad)

Conjugate the following in the past tense of the honorific polite:

5 - 있다 (to have)

6 - 쉽다 (to be easy)

7 - 멀다 (to be far)

8 – 받다 (to receive)

Conjugate the following in the present tense of the honorific deferential:

9 - 먹다 (to eat)

10 - 자다 (to sleep)

11 - 있다 (to be present)

12 – 입다 (to wear)

Conjugate the following in the past tense of the deferential polite:

13 – 묻다 (to ask)

14 – 공부하다 (to study)

15 – 예쁘다 (to be pretty)

16 – 사다 (to buy)

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