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: Korean language
Korean words for the pandemic
What can I say that hasn't already been said? It is April 2020, and we are in the midst of a global pandemic.
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.
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
What I learned from taking TOPIK II without studying
I almost didn't even show up for the exam. Aside from a couple hours of reviewing grammar back in January, I didn't prepare for TOPIK at all. I didn't even spend time looking over old tests. But, as painful as I knew it was going to be, I knew there was still value in just taking [...]
볼장 다 보다
Sometimes there's nothing harder than being honest with yourself. As much as it pains me to say it, looking back on the past couple years or so, I've noticed my... 욕심..? for Korean deteriorating. I'm frustrated by my lack of improvement. I'm at a level where improvement doesn't come in leaps and bounds anymore; it comes from dedicated, [...]
2014: A Year of Change
Stuff happened in 2014. So. Much. Stuff. When I think about growing up and taking on responsibilities and such, I think this is the year that I really threw myself into the ocean of adulthood and taught myself how to swim. It wasn't easy. I'm fairly sure that I cried more this year than I [...]
