KoreanClass101.com Blog

Swimming Safety. Koreans have had a long affair with swimming. Korea is a peninsular country surrounded by water so naturally, Koreans have been swimming for recreation for some time. However, danger lurks in those calming waters...but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's set the stage. In America, typically we teach our children to do three things as soon as possible: feed themselves, ride a bike, and swim. Don't get me wrong - we don't throw kids in the pool and hope they resurface eventually. Traditionally though, whenever a family goes swimming the toddler goes in the pool while the adult teaches the child how to swim. Little by little, once the child gains confidence, we typically encourage him or her to swim relatively unassisted... Show more

Hi. 현우예요. How was your week, everyone? 일주일 동안 잘 지냈어요? I want to talk a little bit about the word '마음' in this blog post today. If you like listening to Korean pop songs, 마음 is like one of the top ten frequently appearing words in the lyrics - which is more than natural because most of the songs are basically talking about 마음. 마음 is a very interesting word - it can not only be translated in many ways into English, but it also has a lot of meanings even in Korean. So for all the phrasal verb lovers out there, I'll go through some of the most common expressions that contain the word "마음" in them that cannot easily be translated into English word by word. 마음 can be mind, heart, feeling, emotion, or even interest. If you eat your 마음... Show more

여러분, 안녕하세요! I was a happy little fangirl yesterday, because Epik High's latest release, a mini album called LOVESCREAM, came out! I love it, it's great! It's got a couple of songs in their usual, upbeat hiphop style but it's also got some instrumental tracks on there, really pretty little pieces that are melodic and somehow a little bit dark, similiar to some of the instrumental pieces on their Remapping the Human Soul and Pieces, Part One albums. If you've got a Naver account, you'll be able to listen to previews of the album over on Naver. You need to use IE though, the music player isn't so friendly when you try using Firefox. And if you click the little orange TV icon next to 1분 1초, you'll be able to watch the music video (or you... Show more

AC voltage differences. Physics101. Alternating current (AC) is what is in the wall while direct current (DC) is like what is in your car's cigarette lighter socket. Today, let's go over some important things to consider about AC power when traveling to South Korea. We must consider two things 1) Voltage and 2) Plug shape. You'll find that plugs that come with two flat pins usually are built for 110-120V and plugs with two round pins  are built for 220-240V. Let's address the most pressing difference first: current (measured in volts). Korea most generally runs a current of 220-240 volts so that must be taken care of first. But before you go out and buy a new travel razor or cell phone charger, check the backside of your device. If you... Show more

Hi. 현우 here : )  Haha. You do see these pictures?  Yes, that's me in my military suit. Haha. So why am I wearing my military suit (=군복) again? Well I had to attend the annual reserved army training (예비군 훈련) this past Thursday, and I took a couple of photos before taking the uniform off. I'm sure many of you already have some knowledge about the Korean military system, but to briefly mention what it works like, every *healthy* man in this country has to serve the army for roughly 2 years (now it's getting shorter and shorter), and after the service is over, they have to attend the annual trainings for the next 5~6 years. It's *very* difficult to find somone who doesn't have any sweet memory at all from his military service, and... Show more