떠나다 (tteonda)| [Word of the Day]

안녕하세요!

On Sunday, I introduced a new topic on “even though” or “even if” in sentences and verb usage. One of the examples I used initially was “even if I leave” and so today I’m going to show you how to use it.

떠나다 (tteonda) | “leave”

i.e.,

• 지금 떠나도, 늦을 것이다. (jigeum tteonado, neuj-eul geos-ida.) |“Even if I leave, I will be late.”

I think it’s pretty straightforward. We will do another one tomorrow!

That’s it for today!

구혜선 (Ku Hye Sun) | Artist of the Week

I’m back again with a new Artist of the Week! Although I think I’m a week late on this post… my apologies!

If you watch a lot of k-dramas, then I’m sure you’re familiar with 구혜선’s music. She’s recorded for popular shows like “Take Care of Us, Captain” and “The Peach Tree”. She’s not only a singer-songwriter, but she’s also a composer and a director! A very talented musician with eye and ear for art. She’s worked behind the camera and in fact, starring in shows like “The King and I”, “Absolute Daring” and “Blood” just to name a few.

This week’s Artist of the Week was a bit more difficult for me because I ran into the problem of not being able to find more songs on soundcloud! I love 구혜선’s music and her voice and I really wanted to share more with you guys but unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way. But I’m so grateful for YouTube to fill in where I can’t with videos for both Happy and Floral Rain!

Check out her sample playlist below!

Grammar of the Week | -도 (even if, even though) + 먹다 + 도 [Word of the Day]

안녕하세요!

The holiday is over and I have officially emerged from my vacation to bring you a new Grammar lesson. This is something I mentioned before during a kpop teaches Korean too lesson but I’m not really sure if I went into a lot of detail so this will be short.

The topic is -도. This is one of the many ways you can combine sentences.

도 | “even if; even though”

i.e.,

• Even though I ate, I’m still hungry.
• Even if I leave now, I’ll still be late.

We can create these same sentences in Korean by adding 도 to the end of the verb.

Let’s use the example of the WOTD 먹다 + 도.

먹다 | familiar verb mean, “to eat”

i.e.,

• 먹다 + 도 = 먹어도  | “even though I eat, even if I eat”

We are going to use this in the past tense just to show that it can be done in present, past or future tense.

• 먹었도 여전히 배가 고프다. | Even though I ate, I’m still hungry.

Okay,  so I’m going to stop here. We will be covering this all week!

Foreign Language Tip 2 #24 | “How I Learned Korean” [video]

Every now and then, I find videos from people who have been working hard at learning Korean and want to share their experience with others who want to learn as well. I think it’s really encouraging to see it because this is someone who was in the same place each of us was in a while ago and now they’ve come so far due to dedication and practice.

The old adage, “if they can do it so can I!” 

I wanted to share this video. If you’ve been struggling lately, maybe this can pick you up!

프라이머리(Primary) | [Artist of the Week]

I’ve been highlighting a lot of albums but I haven’t forgotten about the Artist of the Week! The artist I’m highlighting this week is one that I’ve heard about but never actually sat down and listened to any of his music. Biggest regret! Glad I did today!

The Artist of the Week is 프라이머리(Primary)! I really love the mellow and chill sound that he displays on his albums but especially the one below. Shininyru was released in 2017. As I was listening to it, I noticed how his music from the past is slightly different than what’s he’s been releasing lately. It’s still that same r&b sound but I think it’s starting to have more of a neo-soul feel to it.

And if you’re curious how I found him again, I was introduced to him by the song “When I fall in love” featuring Meego which came out last month. You can hear that song here.

If you haven’t heard of 프라이머리 before, check out his album Shininryu below! And don’t forget to check out his other music on Spotify as well!

Reading and Listening in Korean Practice | iKON-ON: Bobby & Ju-Ne ‘깊은 밤’ MAKING FILM

Okay so I was just scrolling through YouTube today when I ran across this video. Normally, I kinda just watch them and then move on to find some more new music but I noticed something about this video that I really wanted to share with you guys.

Maybe you’ve been searching for ways to practice reading in Korean or even working on your listening but the things you’ve been finding aren’t all that interesting or maybe they’re not something you would use in everyday speech. Well, this is a video I thought would be helpful.

Sometimes I find makeup tutorials like this and share them when I find them because for the beauty gurus that follow me but also want to practice Korean, it’s super helpful! And this is no different, especially if you’re a fan of iKON.

The video is completely in Korean but it has built-in subtitles, that are in Korean to help you follow along if you’re working on listening and/or reading. To help you out some for words you may not understand, just click the CC button for English translation. This video is also subtitled in Japanese so you can switch to that translation as well.

Challenge:

Try to watch it first without the subtitles and then go back again with the CC on and see how much you understood!

New Music Update! | [Videos]

I haven’t done one of these in a while and since I spent a good portion of the afternoon just listening to a lot of music and watching music videos, I decided to share some of my favorite new music so far!

New Music Alert! [Videos]

I haven’t done this in a while but sometimes while I’m just kinda relaxing on a lazy Saturday, I’ll just click on the recommended videos on YouTube and I’m always happy to hear the new music. Sometimes I get to hear new artists that I’ve never heard of before and sometimes it’s familiar faces with a creative visual for new music.