KoreanClass101.com Blog

It's been another week of good stuff being released, such as Fly to the Sky's latest (and last) album Decennium. I'm personally still feeling rather heartbroken that they're breaking up, although they have said that they will be coming back together to release smaller releases sometimes. That's like ending your marriage but still dating that person! I wish that they were staying together properly, because Decennium had so many amazing songs on it, they just keep getting better and better - I suppose it's good to go out on a high note, though. 신화 member and ballad singer 신혜성 also released an album this week. Keep Leaves is the 'second side' of his third solo album. The first side, Live and Let Live was released last year and had 신혜성... Show more

Congratulations to Alexis Bartlett on winning the GRAND PRIZE of the Mail Bag Contest II! We gave her 12 months of FREE Premium service for sharing a truly inspirational and touching story. Alexis grew up feeling a bit disconnected from her Korean heritage and through studying the language and the collaboration of the KoreanClass101 community she was able to discover more about her ancestry and become truly passionate about learning the language. This is what she wrote us: "I started learning Korean because it's a part of who I am. I was adopted to Sydney, Australia almost straight after I was born, in 1983. I grew up feeling like I wasn't interested in Korea - the language, culture... anything! But since I was a teenager, I... Show more

노래방 Goodness gracious this is popular. If your first encounter with Korean culture wasn't with K-Pop or K-Dramas, then it might have been at the Korean karaoke bar. It's also been blogged about here, here, here, here, here, and here. Oh, and here too. And kind of here. The thing about this Korean-wide phenomenon is that it permeates and flows through each and every Korean like the force. Sure, not everyone goes all the time but if you're Korean, you've gone to the 노래방. Plenty of times. And here's a brief comparison of 노래방 outside of Korea. Something that I see that makes me smile are these practice rooms: 노래연습장. It's not quite enough to embarrass yourself with your friends - now you can practice your craft so that you'll... Show more

Really Simple Korean Conversations - Video #1 Featuring: Hyunwoo (Host of KoreanClass101.com), Kyeong-eun (Host of KoreanClass101.com), Emily (Listener & Blogger of KoreanClass101.com) and Matthew (Listener & Blogger of KoreanClass101.com). Script by Emily.

안녕하세요~ 오랜간만이에요~~ Hi guys! It has been a very long time, but I am back, and I have an entirely new purpose for writing.^^ Each week I am going to introduce a new interesting phrase, slang, idiom, or abbreviation that I hope you will find helpful! This week, I want to introduce the phrase 쥐가 나다. Know what it means? No, it doesn't really have anything to do with a mouse, even though that is exactly what it says.. It actually means "to get a cramp." So, if you are, let's say, running down the street and get a cramp in your leg, you can say 쥐가 났어요 (polite) or 쥐 났어 (informal). But, do not get this confused with the verb 저리다 (like I did). That means "to fall asleep" or "to become numb." So, if you are sitting on your knees for... Show more