Billy Go's Blog, page 73

Korean FAQ – How to Find Your Korean Level

What is your current Korean level? Have you taken any tests to find out? If you haven't, maybe you're wondering whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or advanced - or what level you are on a different system such as CEFR or TOPIK.

I made this video to help you figure out your Korean level, no matter what system you use. This is my own system I use for assessing someone's level, and I think it corresponds similarly with other systems that require testing.

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Learn Korean Aegyo from Koreans | 애교

This summer in Korea I stopped dozens of Koreans on the street and asked them several questions (7 to be specific). These became 7 separate videos. This is the final question I asked them - "Show me your Aegyo!"

How can Aegyo (애교) even be translated into English? This one's tricky. It means how charming a person is, like when someone acts cute toward someone else (such as when they want something). It also just means acting cute in general. "Charm?" I can't think of a great way to translate Aegyo, so I'll just keep saying Aegyo.

So I asked Koreans to show off their Aegyo to the camera, telling them to invite people around the world to visit Korea. Here's what they did.

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Korean FAQ – Learning Korean Through Japanese

There are many people who became interested in Korean after first being interested in Japanese (myself included) and vice versa. The two countries are neighbors and share thousands of years of history together. But despite that, the two languages are unrelated. Still, they share lots of similarities, and that leads many people to want to study both of them at the same time.

So let's talk about that. Why do Korean and Japanese seem so similar, if they're actually unrelated? Is it beneficial to learn both at the same time? What sorts of pitfalls should you avoid if you want to try this?

If you have any experiences learning both, post them in the comments too.

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Silk Worm CHALLENGE in Korea | 번데기 도전

Why would anyone ever want to eat silk worm pupae? Well, I'll tell you.

Silk worm pupae - known as 번데기 - were once an insanely popular Korean snack for both young and old. They're a cheap source of protein, and despite their appearance (worms? bugs?) taste pretty... well, edible.

During the Korean War and after, protein was scarce as it was being used for the military. Regular citizens didn't have many reliable and affordable sources of protein, so they turned to silk worm pupae. Well, not quite. Silk worm pupae were already a popular snack in Korea well before the Korean War (silk worms were originally brought over to Korea from China), but the Korean War helped popularize them and increase their demand in Korea. It was that necessity for cheap, edible, and reliable protein that drove the snack into becoming how famous it is even today.

These days young people avoid it due to the smell, appearance, texture, and even taste. Personally I think none of those are too off-putting, and it actually tastes quite nice, but I can understand why these days with so many other types of meat and snacks and fast food available that people no longer prefer eating silk worm pupae. But as a cultural experience, you won't find anything else quite like it.

Do you think you'd want to try them?

The post Silk Worm CHALLENGE in Korea | 번데기 도전 appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Korean FAQ – What Does 빠른 년생 Mean?

Before watching the video, try to guess what the term 빠른 년생 means (unless you already know). Got it? Okay, let's continue.

This is a concept not well explained in textbooks (even my own) because it's an older system no longer in use. However despite it being retired (and technically no longer even legal), it's still a term that's used in Korea by Koreans - especially older Koreans. You might encounter this term used if you spend time living in Korea, and if you're a Korean then you'll have to be able to use it yourself.

While this system caused a lot of problems in Korea and is now gone, hopefully you'll be able to better understand what it was and why they got rid of it.

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Escape the Intermediate Plateau | Learn Korean

The "Intermediate Plateau" is something everyone will reach - everyone who continues learning Korean - whether they realize they've hit it or not. It's a plateau in your learning where improving starts to feel like it takes longer and longer. Often this results in people becoming demotivated to study Korean, stressing that they're doing the wrong things, or even giving up.

In previous videos I've talked about the plateau, but I wanted to make an episode discussing it in detail - when and why it happens, and what to do when it happens. Hopefully this will help anyone who's currently there and wondering what's wrong. You could be studying every day, using the best materials, and still get stuck in the plateau.

I met up with SpongeMind TV and MotivateKorean to talk about this.

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Korean FAQ – Three Meanings of 되다

되다 is a word that's commonly missed by beginning learners. This is probably because it can have so many meanings and uses - in addition to meaning "to become," it's also used in several different grammar forms (~게 되다 and passive, to name two). So I wanted to cover its three main meanings when used as a verb to hopefully make sense of this verb.

Leave your requests for future Korean FAQ episodes in the comments~

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Why Are There No Trash Cans in Korea?

If you've recently visited Korea, what did you think about finding a trash can? Having lived in Korea previously, I know where to look, but any visitor to Korea could go days without being able to locate a single public trash can.

So I wanted to know why there weren't any public trash cans in Korea, and asked Koreans on the street.

For anyone visiting Korea, my recommended place for finding trash cans is inside major subway stations. You can sometimes find large trash cans just like in the US (throw everything in just one place), but they're not common still. Also subway bathrooms will often have small trash cans at the entrances where you can throw away trash. Convenience stores also have trash cans for paying customers so you can sit and enjoy their food, and throw away your trash before leaving. But these locations are only for small amounts of trash. For anything larger... good luck!

The post Why Are There No Trash Cans in Korea? appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Korean FAQ – 안 vs 못 | Negative Verbs

I've often heard 안 and 못 misused by Korean learners - especially 안. And while it's simple to just say "안 means doesn't and 못 means can't" this explanation doesn't fully cover why people make this error to begin with. I'll also talk about how to use each one, as well as what Pure Korean verbs are.

Feel free to leave your own suggestions for future Korean FAQ videos or any new video here or in the video's comment section.

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Korean VR Cafes (feat. Jinyoung)

VR cafes are a new trend in Korea from a year or so ago, and this summer I really saw a lot of places while traveling around. "Cafes" are everywhere in Korea, and there are various kinds from pet cafes where you can have a cup of coffee together with animals (cats, dogs, raccoons, etc.), book cafes where you can read while drinking something, and VR cafes where you can play virtual reality games - from normal virtual reality games to games that require special equipment and facilities. And because there are plenty of companies currently running VR cafes in Korea, you don't have to travel to one specific location or city to visit one.

Overall, it's quite expensive to visit a VR cafe. Think of it like visiting a theme park, minus the expensive food. But if you're able to, it was a unique experience I haven't found anywhere else.

This was not a sponsored video and we weren't given anything for visiting the VR cafe you'll see. I don't have anything against sponsored videos, but I've typically avoided them because I know they can influence a more positive review. What you see are our honest reactions of what we do.

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