KoreanClass101.com Blog

As Matthew explained in his last post, kids in Korea have a lot of pressure to perform well in school, and not only in normal classroom activities but also in extracurricular studies, sports, foreign languages, music, etc, etc, etc.. What he didn't mention, however, is how much Korean mothers like to brag about their friends' children, and how well they are at the aforementioned etc, etc, etc.. A very interesting expression has come out of this phenomenon: 엄친아. This is short for 엄마 친구 아들 (mom's friend's son). As any Korean child would know, your 엄친아 always gets perfect grades, speaks perfect english, and french, and japanese, plays at least 3 musical instruments, plays soccer, volunteers every week, and is absolutely gorgeous... Show more

Korean children's daily life. These snot-nosed little brats sweet little angels are the cutest things on Earth. Proof. But make no mistake - these kids get more than their daily dose of school. The sheer number of hours spent in the classroom is enough to raise Western eyebrows. They get plenty of instruction in and out of school. The Korean educational system consists of six years of elementary school, three years of junior high, and three years of high school. School semesters are seasonal (like in America) but start in March and ends in February (Spring to Fall as opposed to Fall to Spring). One overall educational goal is to make them bilingual in Korean and English; if they can fit another language into that sweet little... Show more

Really Simple Korean Conversation #2 Featuring Gyeong-eun (Host of KoreanClass101.com) Hyunwoo (Host of KoreanClass101.com) Emily (Listener/Blogger of KoreanClass101.com) Matthew (Listener/Blogger of KoreanClass101.com) Max (Listener of KoreanClass101.com)

안녕하세요~~ 여러분 잘 지내시죠? If you have ever been to any Korean entertainment websites and looked at the comments, or seen any online chatting dialogue between korean people (especially young girls), you have probably noticed that it can seem like people are speaking an entirely different language. One of the big differences is the rampant use of abbreviations. While these kinds of abbreviations are also used in casual conversation, they are even more prevalent on the internet and in text messages. One of the first abbreviations I learned about was a different way to talk about different kinds of students. Let me explain: Kindergarten Students = 유치원생 = 유딩 Elementary School Students = 초등학생 = 초딩 Middle School Students = 중학생 = 중딩... Show more

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