KoreanClass101.com Blog

Winters in Korea are cold. When I lived in Korea the one thing that kept the winters bearable was the warm floors. Korea uses, I think universally, radiant heat as its primary heat source. The comfort of having warmfloors heating the house without the noise and discomfort of having forced air is really nice. The one thing that I did not like about radiant heat in Korea was having to rotate the 연탄 (coal briquettes). I don't think 얀탄 are very popular in Korea right now though. I think it used to be that every year there were news reports of people dying from carbon monoxide poisoning from 얀탄. Nowadays the floors are heated primarily from a gas boiler. We finished building our house last year and we decided that our primary source of heat... Show more

I usually write about my experiences with Korean orphans, but I've just spent a week in Taipei, so I decided to switch things up a little bit... Of course, the language of Taiwan in Chinese, but a lot of Koreans travel there, and my Korean came in handy at least once. I was entirely unprepared for the Chinese... I should have spent some time with SurvivalPhrases.com before the trip. Alas, I was hopelessly lost, except for the precious few Hanja I understand and recognize. In Taipei, there is a section of town called Snake Alley. It must have been much more exciting in it's hey day, but now is just another street market. The name comes from store fronts where the guy will pull out a large (2m) long snake and bash it's head to stun... Show more

Here's a 새로운(new) 카테고리(category) for everyone. :-) Whenever you learn a new foreign language, it always takes a lot of time remembering (and forgetting) new words, but at the same time it's very interesting how some basic differences in the way of thinking or looking at things can result in the differences in individual words. But then there are some 'powerful' words that come in handy in a variety of situations, which kind of have to do with the understanding of the culture, and at the same time help you build stronger vocabulary in the cultural context. I'd like to introduce those words in the Blog, once or twice a month just like Hyunwoo's Mind Map. And today we have the Korean verb "풀다" here, and how it can be translated into... Show more

Epik High (or 에픽하이) is a hiphop band made up of three members: Tablo, Mithra Jin, and DJ Tukutz. DJ Tukutz works the turntables, while Tablo and Mithra Jin rap, and all three members have a huge amount of input into the creation and production of their albums, being their own producers as well as composing the music and writing the lyrics. Unlike some other Korean artists that throw random English into their lyrics, the English that Tablo puts into Epik High's lyrics is perfect, and never just simple things or common phrases, but complex thoughts and ideas; Tablo, after all, spent many years in America, and has a Master's degree in English Literature and Creative Writing from Stanford University in California. A mix of pop and... Show more

First, I apologize for not getting a post out last week. It was a holiday/long weekend here and well, time just got away from me. I know, no excuses... Our house guest/extra child has been adapting to life in the Unites States quite well, sometimes too well. He is a very good follower so he is susceptible to peer pressure more than most. He recently got in trouble for booing at a school assembly. Hey, he was just having fun with his friends and he says those friends are more fun. Right. I am sure they are. He is, on the other hand, the best soccer player among kids his age.  As far as Korean goes, I am finding it interesting the holes that I have in my vocabulary as well as in our "exchange student's". This past week we were able to... Show more