I have no idea what idiomatic phrases or colloquial expressions are commonly used in Korean, much less slang.
Sweet potato vs. lemon-lime soda
Tag: 한국어
On reading Han Kang
When I read The White Book, I felt a kind of desolation. It wasn't agony like Human Acts, but a quiet, persistent sadness.
Relieved
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.
More Korean words I wish existed in English
This is a follow-up to a popular post I wrote over SIX (gasp?!) years ago. My Korean vocabulary (much as I complain how lacking it is) has increased over the years, which means, yep, more Korean words I wish existed in English. To be fair, I've come to dislike articles that say some word from another [...]
Tips for improving Korean essay writing
After more than a year of attending advanced Korean classes and regularly writing and reviewing 500-800 character essays with my teacher, I've accumulated a few useful tips for improving long-form writing that I thought I'd share here. I'll preface this by saying few people write well in any language, even among native speakers. I'm a [...]
Throwback to my K-pop listening days
Confession time. I tend to get defensive when people ask me if I'm learning Korean because of K-pop. That's because 1) K-pop was never a motivation for me to learn the language; it was a side-effect, and the better I got at Korean, the less I started to like idol music anyway. And 2) the [...]
2018 language goals
In all honesty, I never liked setting personal goals because why bother when there's good chance that I'll just fail and make myself feel bad? There are a few different things wrong with that attitude, yes, but one major reason for it is that my goals were always either 1) grossly unrealistic or 2) not [...]
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 [...]
먹칠하다
It's so strange to realize that 성균관 유생들의 나날 was one of the first Korean novels I ever bought, at a time when it was still wayyyy too difficult for me to comprehend. Six years later (!!), I can finally read entire chapters without having to look up words and still understand what's going on. Plus, I know [...]
First ever Korean class
So after many months of not really studying Korean (despite what it looks like on my blog, I rarely pick up a textbook and study. Almost everything I write about comes from random one-off things I read in Korean.) I decided what I really needed was external motivation to take my skill to the next level. SO! I [...]
