Billy Go's Blog, page 76

Traditional Korean Hanbok (feat. Minji Teaches Korean) | 한복 체험

Where would you go first if you rented a Hanbok? I wanted to visit some of the palaces in Seoul. This time I met up with my friend Minji from the YouTube channel Minji Teaches Korean. It was both of our first time to wear a Hanbok outdoors, and we had a ton of fun.

The place we went to in this video is called Deoksu Palace (덕수궁), which in my opinion is the prettiest of all the palaces in Seoul.

Renting Hanbok isn't as expensive as I expected, but it's also not that cheap. The prices ranged from $10 to $30 (10,000원 to 30,000원) depending on the style and where you rent them. But to be honest, the $10 ones weren't that pretty and I wouldn't want to even borrow one of those Hanbok because of how simple they looked. However, the $20 and $30 ones looked beautiful, so that's the range we rented.

$20 to $30 isn't that much, but the issue is that rentals only last for a few hours. Ours were 2-hour rentals, so it's just barely enough time to walk around a few temples and take some photos. If you visit only one temple, it's plenty of time (especially if you take a taxi to get there, although we walked). For this video we visited 2 temples, and walked around a lot, and we had just enough time to film and enjoy the time. However, if I were to rent Hanbok again, I'd pick only one temple and spend more time there relaxing.

The experience of renting a Hanbok was fun for several reasons. I explain in the video as well, but it felt like we were celebrities. Tons of people were staring at us as we walked by (but in a good way) and we got a lot of smiles. I even had a Korean lady say "Very pretty!" to me and gave me a thumbs up. I'd never been called "pretty" before in my life, so it was pretty hilarious. Just feeling special was fun enough, and in addition to being able to take some fun photos, it was overall a very fun experience that I'd highly recommend to anyone visiting Seoul.

A bonus - if you go around April during the cherry blossom season, everywhere in the temples looks beautiful.

The post Traditional Korean Hanbok (feat. Minji Teaches Korean) | 한복 체험 appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Culture Shock in Korea ? (feat. Abby P) | Glass with Billy

Have you been to Korea for an extended period of time? If so, did you experience any culture shock?

For me, the biggest culture shock was related to Korean food, but a lot of things surprised me living in Korea. I met together with YouTuber Abby P, and we talked about some of our culture shock we experienced living in Korea - including transportation, food, Korean behavior and social norms, and more.

Abby P also made a video we filmed together the same day, about tips for learning Korean. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_cZg...

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Eating Raw Beef with Jinyoung | Trying 육회 (YUKHOE)

Have you ever tried eating raw beef? I wouldn't recommend slicing a raw steak into noodles, then eating it - normally - but Korean 육회 (YUK-HOE) can give you that opportunity, if you're so inclined. It's made with fresh (very fresh), cold beef, so it's safe to eat. But if you have a weak stomach, or don't like beef, then you should probably avoid it. The flavor was similar to eating a really, really rare steak, but it was also cold. As someone who often cooks and enjoys steak, I really liked it and it was better than I thought. Now I can say that I've tried raw beef.

Another feature of this dish is the sesame seed oil mixed into the beef. It gives the beef a deep, nutty flavor and smell that many first-time visitors to Korea can find off-putting - but only at first. Once you're familiar with it, it won't seem so strange anymore, and I quite like the smell and taste.

To try this dish I went together with my friend JinYoung. She's had it before a few times, but it was my first time to try it.

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Korean Cosplay Convention (with Abby P) | 코스프레 체험

I've wanted to try cosplaying since I was a teenager, but didn't have an opportunity. I wasn't a big fan of anime, but I did watch some, and I thought it'd be fun to visit a convention. Well this year in Korea I found out that there are several conventions going on, and one of them was a cosplay convention in Seoul. So I contacted my friend Abby P (another YouTuber) and we went together in cosplay as characters from the movie "Spirited Away."

Have you ever tried cosplay before? What are your experiences?

Abby P also made a video about our cosplay experience on her channel here: https://youtu.be/u4Y342EyAFc

The post Korean Cosplay Convention (with Abby P) | 코스프레 체험 appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Seoul vs Countryside [Kor. & Eng. Subtitles] | 서울 vs 지방

My Korean friend Summer originally is from an area close to Seoul, but moved south to the Korean countryside for work. She's been living in the countryside for awhile but often tells me how much she misses being close to Seoul, so I wanted to chat with her about what the pros and cons are of the countryside.

For a traveler, I wanted to know which she thought was better - visiting Seoul, or visiting the countryside.

And also as a Korean person, I wanted to know which one a person might prefer, and why.

What are your opinions? Have you ever lived in the countryside before? What did you like or dislike?

The post Seoul vs Countryside [Kor. & Eng. Subtitles] | 서울 vs 지방 appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Korean Phrases Ep. 60: 낫 놓고 기역자도 모른다

This is a semi-humorous Korean idiom that I remember learning before I could actually hold a full conversation. When the Korean who taught it to me explained it, I still didn't really know what it meant. This is because I didn't know the word 기역 yet - the word for the Korean letter "ㄱ." I hope that after explaining it to me, the Korean wasn't thinking I was someone who it should be used to... but who knows.

I know 2 weeks ago we also had a new Korean Phrases episode, but this will be the last one for awhile. Starting next week, I'll be uploading some new videos I filmed in Korea that I'm excited to share with you. In the meantime, here's another useful idiom. Check out the video here~!

The post Korean Phrases Ep. 60: 낫 놓고 기역자도 모른다 appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

The Best Way to Learn Korean Vocabulary

How are you learning vocabulary? I've been wondering what's the most effective way to study Korean vocabulary since I first started, and I've tried a lot of different methods.

Here are some of my personal best methods for learning vocabulary. I don't claim to know the best way of studying vocab, but only want to present a few suggestions. Only you know the best way that you can learn vocabulary, so take this with a grain of salt (yum).

Do you have a different method? Let me know in the comments - either here on this site or under the YouTube video.

The post The Best Way to Learn Korean Vocabulary appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Korean Phrases Ep. 59: 개구리 올챙이 적 생각 못한다

Today we have a new phrase about... tadpoles? Wait, really?

This phrase is one that I first heard back in 2007, from an older Korean man who I guess was trying to tell me something at the time.

While these sort of idioms are less commonly used in Korean daily conversation, I bet that once you learn this phrase you'll start hearing it here and there from Koreans.

Check it out here~!

The post Korean Phrases Ep. 59: 개구리 올챙이 적 생각 못한다 appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Korean Test Practice with Billy [Ep. 14] – Intermediate Korean (Listening Practice)

This week's new episode is an intermediate level Korean test question.

There are episodes for all levels in this series - beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

Let me know if there's a type of question you'd like to see in future videos~!

Don't read below if  you want to try the problem on your own first.

Here is the listening example from the video:

네. 이제 밖에 나와서 잘 들려요. 아, 그 옷이요? 아직 안 팔렸어요. 사실 건가요? 네. 저는 내일 저녁 8시에 괜찮아요. 여의도로 와주시면 다른 옷도 한 벌 더 드릴게요. 그럼 택배비 빼고 5만 원만 주시면 돼요. 네. 내일 뵐게요.

Here's the English translation:

Yes. Now I came outside and can hear you well. Ah, those clothes? They haven’t been sold yet. Will you purchase them? Yes. I’m fine tomorrow evening at 8 o’clock. If you come to Yeo-ui-do I’ll give you an extra set of clothing. Then I’ll remove the delivery fee, and you can just give me 50,000 Won. Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.

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Learn Korean Ep. 101: More Than & Less Than (Comparatives)

I found a cool Korean drum and wanted to show off my skills to Keykat... but she didn't seem too impressed. Maybe she thinks it's boring?

안녕! "Comparatives" are a useful concept in Korean. You can use adverbs (such as 더 and 덜) to say that something is "more" or "less" than something else. This episode will cover how to do that, and give you some examples that you can use in your Korean too.

Remember that there are free extended PDFs available for every "Learn Korean" episode (at the bottom of this post), and each contains additional information or examples not covered in the video. You can move through them at your own pace, print them out and use them as a free workbook, or skim them for a quick review before or after watching a lesson.

Check out the episode here!

Click here to download a free PDF of this lesson!

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