다행이다 is not a complicated word. It's commonly used in daily Korean in a number of situations. And yet, that's exactly what gave me pause.
Relieved
Category: Personal
Me, in Korean
People often ask me if I have a different personality when I speak Korean. My answer has always been no.
I guess this is a slump
I've been feeling very "damned if you do, damned if you don't" when it comes to studying Korean these days. When I don't have time to study a language, I feel bad because I truly love it and want to do it regularly. That is not what's happening now; for the past couple months, I've actually [...]
Thoughts on non-Koreans adopting Korean names
This is a topic that's made me scratch my head for a while now and I'm not entirely sure about it. Over the years, I've come across many non-Korean-heritage learners who have adopted a Korean name and introduce themselves in class and to their native Korean friends using that name. Usually it's a Korean-sounding name [...]
Twenty-eight
It's been a few years now since I stopped being excited about my birthday. Every year, the weight of my disappointment in myself grows heavier; all of my numerous, unrealized goals come rushing painfully back at me. Responsibilities grow, conflicts become more convoluted, and meanwhile it gets harder and harder to stay true to my [...]
Striving for excellence in language learning
This post was going to be about how I'm preparing for the 55th TOPIK but it turned out being more about my insecurities instead. I'd normally scrap it but it's been preying on my mind for a while now and I wonder if any of my fellow language learners have felt the same way. It's [...]
Goodbye 2016, hello 2017
I love this: https://www.instagram.com/p/BOcHYsCjO6q/ I always get melancholic at the end of the year, wishing I had accomplished more, grown more as a person. 2016 was a hard, harsh year for the world in general. Sometimes the greatest accomplishment is simply surviving one more year and celebrating that even though you might've not done anything [...]
Q&A: New site name
Jeannie asked: Omg why did you change your URL? Astute readers of this blog might've noticed that my URL is no longer https://panjjakpanjjak.wordpress.com - gasp! Five years ago when I first created this blog on WordPress, I decided to go with my favorite Korean word (at the time) as its site name/URL. I was one year into [...]
The most useful phrase to know in Korean (and any language)
Literal 'did that just happen?!' moment last week. A friend of mine reached out to me last week, saying a coworker of hers needed help placing an order for 떡 for her child's 백일 from a Korean bakery in Santa Clara. I'm not sure what this person's situation was--whether she was Korean(-American) or married to Korean(-American)--but I [...]
Language Tag
Well, this is fun! Riccardo of Kaito Monogatari tagged me in this language learning questionnaire. Of all the people I know studying Japanese, Riccardo is the most prolific reader of Japanese literature that I know of. I hope I can be just as good some day. Anyway, thanks for tagging me, Riccardo! I'm always happy to talk about myself [...]
