Billy Go's Blog, page 78

Korean HONG-EO vs. Surstromming (홍어 vs. 청어)

홍어 (Hong-eo) is raw, rotten-tasting, ammonia-smelling, fermented skate fish. Most Koreans who've tried it don't like it, although some love it. I'm not a fan.

I'm also aware of surströmming, which is a Swedish fermented herring that supposedly has the worst smell of any other food in the entire world. So I wanted to know - which food was worse?

I met up with SpongeMind TV and MotivateKorean to tackle this issue once and for all.

The post Korean HONG-EO vs. Surstromming (홍어 vs. 청어) appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Learn Korean Ep. 99: Korean Counters

Keykat wants to eat pizza, so I guess I can let her choose the toppings for once. I mean, it's not like she's going to put anything weird on there. It should be something simple... I hope.

This week's lesson will teach you Korean counters, and connect together the two Korean number systems we learned in the last episodes - both Sino-Korean and Pure Korean numbers. Counters are useful for counting things, and we'll need to learn how to use numbers with counters (such as 개, 명, 마리, etc.) in order to count different things in Korean.

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!

The post Learn Korean Ep. 99: Korean Counters appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Korean vs. American Culture Differences | 한국문화와 미국문화의 차이

Recently my Korean friend Jinyoung (who was last seen in my Korea arcade video) was traveling around the US for a big vacation. During her trip she stopped by Los Angeles for a week and we hung out together. While she was here, we went to several places, but before she left I took her to the local park to chat about some of the differences she felt between America and Korea.

Jinyoung's traveled from the east coast to the west coast and has also done some traveling in Korea, so I wanted her opinions on what she thought was better in Korea and America and which things she felt were different or unusual.

Then we also talked about her native Daegu dialect, where she's from, and she taught me a few phrases I can use. Check it out here~!

The post Korean vs. American Culture Differences | 한국문화와 미국문화의 차이 appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Korean Test Practice with Billy [Ep. 11] – Beginner Korean (Listening Practice)

Are you preparing for the TOPIK test, a government Korean test, or a Korean test at school? Then let me help you prepare with my video series focused on Korean test questions and explanations.

This episode will cover an example of an beginner level listening question. More episodes to come soon!

And feel free to send me requests for videos you'd like to see. There are also higher request priorities through my Patreon page. Thanks for watching~!

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

Here is the listening example from the video:

오늘 해야 할 일 중에서 빨래는 아침에 했고, 설거지는.... 아직 조금밖에 없네? 저녁 먹고 하지 뭐. 그럼 이제 해야 할 건 강아지 산책 시키기랑 시험공부하기인데.... 강아지 산책을 지금 시키고 시험공부를 나중에 하면 되겠다.

Here's the English translation:

Among the things that I have to do today, I did the laundry in the morning, and as for the dishes… there are still just a few? I’ll guess I’ll do them after I eat dinner. Then what I have to do now is walk the dog and study for a test, so I can the dog right now and study for the test later.

The post Korean Test Practice with Billy [Ep. 11] – Beginner Korean (Listening Practice) appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Why Do Koreans Laugh When I Speak Korean?

When I was first learning Korean, occasionally people would laugh when I tried to speak. I wasn't sure if they were laughing at me ("Haha, that guy's Korean is terrible!") or if I said something wrong, or if my pronunciation was strange, or what the reason was. I've since figured out what the reason was, and wanted to talk about this with my friends Jeremy and Jonson to see what they thought.

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

The post Why Do Koreans Laugh When I Speak Korean? appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Learn Korean Ep. 98: Korean Numbers Part 2 (Pure Korean)

Keykat's always looking for something to do. I think she gets bored too much. Anyway today she decided to make some pretty paper hearts... for me! But wait, what did she make these hearts out of?

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!

The post Learn Korean Ep. 98: Korean Numbers Part 2 (Pure Korean) appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Why Korean Machine Translation is TERRIBLE | Google vs. Bing vs. Naver

There are several web sites that you can use for free to instantly translate to and from Korean. The top 3 are currently Google Translate, Bing Translate, and Naver Translate (also known as Papago Translate).

I've had a lot of people ask me which is the best to use, and I've always responded with "none of them." But if I'm going to give a proper reason, I figured I should make a video to explain why.

If you need to translate something that's important, avoid machine translation wherever possible. Find out in this video why it might be a bad idea to use any of them, and learn about the problems with current machine translation.

The post Why Korean Machine Translation is TERRIBLE | Google vs. Bing vs. Naver appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Korean Phrases Ep. 56: 외유내강

This week's new video is a "Korean Phrases" episode. This series is for learning quick idioms and phrases in Korean. Even if you don't use any of these idioms in this series when speaking, you might find them written in books, or hear someone use them when speaking. So they're useful to know, especially if you're at an intermediate or advanced Korean level.

This week we'll be learning about an idiom that originally comes from the Chinese language. But it's still useful to know in Korean.

And today's idiom is: 외유내강

Do you know anyone who you could describe with this idiom?

Check it out here~

The post Korean Phrases Ep. 56: 외유내강 appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Korean Test Practice with Billy [Ep. 10] – Intermediate Korean (Listening Practice)

Are you preparing for the TOPIK test, a government Korean test, or a Korean test at school? Then let me help you prepare with my video series focused on Korean test questions and explanations.

This episode will cover an example of an intermediate level listening question. More episodes to come soon!

And feel free to send me requests for videos you'd like to see. There are also higher request priorities through my Patreon page. Thanks for watching~!

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

Here is the listening example from the video:

민우야 이모랑 놀러 갈까? 동물원은 어때? 동물원엔 토끼도 있고 코끼리도 있어. 맛있는 솜사탕도 있고 풍선도 아주 많아. 오늘은 싫어? 그럼 공원 갈까? 공원엔 친구들도 많고 나무도 많아. 신나게 뛰어다녀도 돼. 음, 이것도 아니야? 그럼 등산하러 갈까? 아니다. 이건 민우한텐 힘들 것 같아. 그래? 등산이 제일 좋다고? 알았어. 지금 운동화 신고 나가자.

Here's the English translation:

Min-woo, do you want to go play with your aunt? How about the zoo? The zoo has rabbits and also elephants. There’s also delicious cotton candy and a lot of balloons. You don’t want to today? Then should we go to the park? There are a lot of friends at the park, and a lot of trees. You can run around as much as you’d like. Hmm, not that either? Then do you want to go hiking? No. I think that’d be difficult for you. Yeah? Hiking would be best? Okay. Let’s put on our shoes and go.

The post Korean Test Practice with Billy [Ep. 10] – Intermediate Korean (Listening Practice) appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Learn Korean Ep. 97: Korean Numbers Part 1 (Sino-Korean)

Keykat's always asking me to drive her places. I think it's probably about time she learned how to ride a bicycle, right? There's a steep hill in my neighborhood that would be great for riding a bicycle down, I think.... It might be a bit difficult for a beginner, but Keykat can do it. I know she'll be great at riding a bike.

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.

Check out the episode here!

Click here to download a free PDF of this lesson!

The post Learn Korean Ep. 97: Korean Numbers Part 1 (Sino-Korean) appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.