Posted by Ginny
This Halloween why not spend some time watching scary Korean movies? All these movies have been made within the last couple of years:
불신지옥 - Living Hell/Living Death. About two sisters, one who may possibly be possessed.
여고괴담 5 동반자살 - A Blood Pledge. About a group of high school girls who promise to commit suicide together, but two girls back out of the pact…
고死: 피의 중간고사 - Death Bell. A classroom full of students are taking an exam and are being executed one by one. How do the remaining students stop this mysterious occurence?
해부학교실 - The Cut. A couple of medical students start dying off one by one during a dissection lecture. Could the mysterious new student be involved in the killings?
기담 - Epitaph. The setting of the movie takes place in Korea, under Japanese occupation. Mysterious events start to occur in a hospital. Is there a good explantion for this, or is the place simply haunted?
전설의 고향 - Evil Twin. The spirit of a deceased sister may be taking over the living sister’s body. Does the mother hold the secret to this mystery?
두 사람이다 - It’s Two People/Someone Behind You/Voices. A girl tries to escape a curse haunting her family, but can she even trust her own family?
You can try looking for these movies on Netflix. If that doesn’t work, maybe Blockbuster will have them in the foreign film section. You can also buy them on YESASIA. Keep in mind that some of these movie titles are not translated with the same meaning in Korean. My guess is that some of the titles were changed so that international audiences would find these movies more scary/appealing.
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Posted by Ginny
Let’s say that you see a painting and you say ‘그 여자는 누구예요’? (그 = that. 여자 = girl. 는 = topic marking particle. 누구 = who. 예요 = copula meaning ‘is’.) In English this sentence would mean, ‘Who is that girl?’ As a response the artist of the painting could reply, ‘여가가 아니에요’ or ‘it’s not a girl’. Take a look at another example, 저는 한국 사람이 아니에요, (저 = I. 는 = topic marking particle. 한국 = Korean. 사람 = person. 이 = subject marking particle. 아니 = not. 에요 = means ‘am’.) which means ‘I am not a Korean person’. In this case, 아니에요 takes on the meaning of ‘am not’.
The word 아니에요 negates things. In the sentence above 아니에요 takes on the meaning of ‘not’. However 아니예요 can also take on the meaning of ‘no’. For instance in this sentence, 아니에요, 저는 미국 사람이에요, the 아니에요 takes on the meaning ‘no’ instead of ‘not’. (아니에요 = no, in the standard polite form. 저 = I. 는 = topic marking particle. 미국 = America. 사람 = person. 이 = subject marking particle. 이에요 = is.) In English the sentence means, ‘No, I am not an American person’. You can also say, 아니에요, 저는 한국 사람이 아니에요. 저는 미국 사람이에요, which emphasizes that you’re not a Korean person even more.
Generally when 아니에요 is placed at the beginning of the sentence, it takes on the meaning of ‘no’. When 아니에요 comes at the end of the sentence, it takes on the meaning of ‘not’. Also, the meaning ‘no’ and ‘not’ can also be expressed as 아닙니다. 아니에요 is the standard polite way of saying ‘no’ or ‘not’, but 아닙니다 is the deferential polite way of saying ‘no’ or ‘not’. For example you could say ‘저는 아닙니다’ or ‘it’s not me’. (저 = polite way to say ‘I’. 는 = topic marking particle after a vowel. 아닙니다 = deferential polite way of saying ‘not’.)
You can also use 아니에요 and 아닙니다 in the interrogative form. For example you could say, 승미 집이 아니에요? or 주나 씨 아닙니까? In English this would mean something like ‘It’s not Sungmi’s house?’ or ‘Are [you] not Mr. Juna?’ (승미 = Sungmi (a person’s name). 지 = house/home. 이 = subject marking particle used after consonants. 아니에요 = ‘not’. 주나 = Juna. 씨 = can mean Mr./Ms. 아닙니까 = deferential interrogative form of ‘not’.) You might have also noticed that 아니에요 is not spelled as 아니예요, the difference being that one has the 에 and the other has 예 even though 아니 ends in a vowel. That’s because 아니 is not a noun, and so it doesn’t follow the normal conventions for vowel and consonant endings.
Posted by Ginny
When you want to form a statement in the standar polite form, you stick 요 at the end of the sentence. For example, 이분 보라 씨예요. (이분 = this person. 보라 = Bora. 씨 = Ms. 예요 = copula ‘is’ in the standard polite form) would mean ‘This person is Ms. Bora’. Moreover, if I want to turn this statement into a question, I would say, ‘이분 보라 씨예요?’ This time the sentence would mean ‘Is this person Ms. Bora?’ You’ll notice that the structure of the sentence and the words itself hasn’t changed. In fact, the ending 요 which is a standard polite ending, is the same for both the question and statement form.
The only thing that’s changed is the intonation. When a statement in the standard polite form is being uttered, the intonation is neutral. However when a question is the standard polite form is being uttered, the intonation rises. Since the 요 ending is the same for both the question and statement forms, the only way you can tell the difference between whether a sentence is a question or a statement is by the intonation of the speaker’s voice. In a phrase like 누구예요? (누구 = who. 예요 = copula ‘is’.) meaning ‘Who is it?’ the intonation is not so dependent on comprehension because it would not make much sense as a statment.
When a question is formed in the deferential polite form, ㅂ니까 will be the ending. Using the example above, 이분 보라 씨입니까? will mean ‘Is this person Ms. Bora?’ in the deferential polite form. Now when you want to say it as a statement, it will be 이분 보라 씨입니다 or ‘This person is Ms. Bora’ in the deferential polite. Notice that the difference in ending between the statement and interrogative form of the deferential polite is the ending. In the statement form, the word ends in 다. The question form ends in 까. The same rules apply with 누구입나까? Although, this phrase isn’t really uttered in the statement form.
Now when the word ends in a consonant, the standard polite form (both in the question and statement form) will use a 이에요 ending. Example: 시험이에요. (It’s an exam.) When the word ends in a vowel, 예요 is the ending used. Example: 수라예요. (I’m Sura.) Note, this is only when you use the copula. When the verb ends in a vowel in the deferential polite form, it’ll end with ㅂ니다 or ㅂ니까 depending on whether it’s a statement or question. Example: 갑니다/갑니까. When it ends in a consonant, it’ll end in 습니다. Example: 책을 읽습니다/읽습니까. There are exceptions to this rule, but I’ll discuss them as I go along with the blog.
Posted by Ginny
The following words are Korean words derived from English. See if you can figure out the English word from the pronunciation of the Korean word.
1. 카리스마
2. 볼펜
3. 카메라
4. 핸드백
5. 카드
6. 컴퓨터
7. 헤어 스타일
8. 테니스
9. 텔레비전
10. 프로그램
11. 커피
12. 헤드폰
13. 엑스레이
14. 노트북
15. 피아노
Posted by Ginny
A 사자성어 is a proverb consisting of four letter Chinese characters. Today’s 사자성어 is going to be 出嫁外人, pronounced as 출가외인. This character 出 means ‘to leave, exit’. 嫁 = married. 外 = outside. 人 = person. Altogether, this proverb is saying that a person who is married is basically someone who has left her family or is an outsider to her family.
In a larger cultural context, this proverb is referring to newly married girls who leave their family to live with their husbands’ family. It may not apply to the women of today, because many couples are increasingly choosing to live separately from their parents. The idea of living with one’s family after marriage is an old idea that follows the Confucian tradition of respecting your parents. In most cases, when the woman got married, she would move in with her husband’s family. Sometimes the husband would live with the woman’s family, especially if the husband was the younger son.
This proverb can have two similar meanings. It can mean that a woman who has left her own family to be with another family should be considered a stranger to her own family. In other words, once a woman marries, her alliances are with her husband’s family. The other meaning is used to describe how a woman who marries into her husband’s family is considered an outsider by the husband’s family despite the fact that she is basically marrying into her husband’s family.
I think that proverbs like this can be revealing, in that they give us some cultural insight into Korean beliefs and ideas. That being said, a lot has changed since the time when women were considered subordinate beings. It would be wrong to just automatically assume that this proverb is an insight into how Korean people think today.
