Billy Go's Blog, page 80

Korean Phrases Ep. 53: 백문불여일견

This week's new video is a "Korean Phrases" episode. This series is for learning quick idioms and phrases in Korean. This week we'll be learning about an idiom that originally comes from China and the Chinese language. But it's still useful to know in Korean. And this week we'll learn about the idiom 백문불여일견.

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.

Check it out here~

The post Korean Phrases Ep. 53: 백문불여일견 appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Do You Need HANJA to Speak Korean? + Interview with Koreans

HANJA (한자) are Chinese characters that are occasionally used today in the Korean language. Originally, over 60% of the Korean language comes from Chinese characters. You can find them in places such as signs and newspapers. But these days, the overwhelming majority of written Korean contains no Chinese characters, although the words themselves still originated from them. Chinese to Korean is like Latin to English, so knowing the meaning of root words can definitely be helpful when understanding new words and phrases.

So does that mean that Hanja is mostly useless for learning Korean? I'll give my personal opinions on the topic, as well as the opinions of some Koreans I asked.

 

The post Do You Need HANJA to Speak Korean? + Interview with Koreans appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Eating Pig’s Feet in Korea – JOKBAL – 족발 처음 먹는 미국인

I'd always wanted to try pig's feet, but never wanted to pay for it. For a relatively expensive price (around $30) it seemed just out of my curiosity's reach. In addition, many Koreans dislike the smell of pig's feet, as well as the texture. So finding someone to even go together with was difficult. Then this time in Korea I found out my friend Claire (who I've filmed an interview with before) happens to really like pig's feet. This was my chance. I brought along my camera and we journeyed together to try it out (for my first time).

Pig's feet do smell bad, but only from the outside of the restaurant where the steam travels blocks away. From the inside, the smell isn't very strong. It smells like Chinese medicinal herbs, which isn't an off-putting smell, but is strong. However the pork itself has no such odd flavor. The smell comes from the herbs that are used when preparing the pork to help remove the pork's own strong smells, and it helps a lot.

Once you've tried a bite, the pork instead tasted almost like regular chicken, or just soft and juicy pork. But there's also a unique texture to some of the pieces. Part of what comes out will also be "collagen" which is kind of a hard jelly. Some people dislike that texture. I didn't mind it.

You can also order different kinds of pig's feet. For this video I tried regular and spicy, and ended up liking both equally as much. And you can choose between the front legs (highly recommended for their flavor) or the black legs.

So if you get a chance an excuse to eat pig's feet, give it a try. In fact, just give everything in Korea a try. That's the whole purpose of this video series, I think. Even things that sound like they'd taste disgusting can be delicious.

 

The post Eating Pig’s Feet in Korea – JOKBAL – 족발 처음 먹는 미국인 appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Learn Korean Ep. 95: Causative Verbs

It's hard to focus on two things while I'm playing games. I think Keykat was trying to tell me something, but I didn't really hear her. Oh well. I can ask her to repeat it after I finish playing....

This episode will cover causative verbs. What are causative verbs? Causative verbs are verbs that cause someone to do something. For example, "to make someone eat something" or "to make someone do something." We'll learn about why they're useful, how to recognize them, and how to use them.

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. 95: Causative Verbs appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Korean Test Practice with Billy [Ep. 7] – 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:

영희야 오랜만이야. 괜찮아. 아직 10시도 안됐는데. 응. 방금 일 끝나고 집에 와서 아직 안 자고 있었어. 뭐라고? 수진이가 결혼한다고? 잘 됐다. 그럼 다음 주에 다 같이 봐야겠네. 그래. 난 평일 저녁이면 언제든 괜찮아. 응. 시간과 장소가 결정되면 다시 연락 줘. 고마워. 잘 자.

Here's the English translation:

“Young-hee, long time no see. It’s okay. It’s not even 10 o’clock yet. Uh-huh. I wasn’t sleeping yet because I just finished work and came home. What did you say? Sujin’s getting married? That’s great. Then next week we’ll have to all meet up together. Okay. Any time’s okay for me if it’s a weekday evening. Yeah. Let me know when the time and date is set. Thanks. Good night.”

The post Korean Test Practice with Billy [Ep. 7] – Intermediate Korean (Listening Practice) appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Korean Phrases Ep. 52: 조삼모사

This week's new video is a "Korean Phrases" episode. This series is for learning quick idioms and phrases in Korean. Lately, it's mostly been a series for learning about 사자성어 ("4 character idioms"). These types of idioms (mostly) originally come from China and the Chinese language, but are still useful to know in Korean as well. And this week we'll learn about the idiom 조삼모사.

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.

Check it out here~

The post Korean Phrases Ep. 52: 조삼모사 appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Asking Koreans if Korean is Difficult to Learn | 한국어가 배우기 어려운 이유

As an English speaker, Korean is considered to be one of the most difficult languages to learn. Anyone who's studied Korean can tell you this: it takes a lot of time and effort to learn. But I wondered what Korean people thought about their language. Would Koreans think that their language was difficult to learn... or even easy to learn?

The two questions that I asked them specifically were these: “한국어가 배우기 어려운 언어라고 생각하세요?” (“Is Korean a difficult language to learn?”), and “한국어를 배우는 사람들에게 응원의 말 부탁 드릴게요.” (“Any words of encouragement for people who are learning Korean?”).

The post Asking Koreans if Korean is Difficult to Learn | 한국어가 배우기 어려운 이유 appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

How to Ride the Seoul Subway (지하철) | Getting Around in Korea

I've gotten lost more times than I can count while riding the subway in Korea. I'm fairly 길치, which means that I'm not good at maps or directions. But even someone like me can get around the subway because of how simple it is to use. It might look scary, but the Seoul subway is one of the world's most advanced subway systems. It's simple to use, and I'll teach you how it works and how to get around. I'll also tell you what to look out for if you don't want to get lost like me.

Check it out here~!

The post How to Ride the Seoul Subway (지하철) | Getting Around in Korea appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Korean Test Practice with Billy [Ep. 6] – 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 a listening question. More episodes to come soon!

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

Here is the listening example from the video:

선생님께. 선생님 잘 지내셨어요? 저는 캐나다 여행을 마치고 미국에 왔어요. 다음 주에는 멕시코로 갈 거예요. 어제는 선생님께서 추천해주신 뉴욕 베이글도 먹고 미술관도 둘러보았어요. 오늘은 브로드웨이에서 공연을 하나 보고 랍스터를 먹을 계획이에요. 기념품 꼭 사갈게요. 서울에서 다시 볼 때까지 건강하세요.

Here's the English translation:

“To my teacher. How have you been? I finished my trip to Canada and came to America. Next week I’ll go to Mexico. Yesterday I ate a New York bagel as you recommended, and visited the art museum too. Today I’m planning to see a show on Broadway and eat lobster. I’ll make sure to buy you a souvenir. Stay healthy until we meet again in Seoul.”

The post Korean Test Practice with Billy [Ep. 6] – Intermediate Korean (Listening Practice) appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.

Asking Koreans Why People Learn Korean | 외국인들이 한국어를 배우는 이유

So many more people are learning Korean these days than ten years ago. When I first started learning Korean, it wasn't popular at all, and I had no other friends who were interested in it. But just a few years later, I started seeing Korean courses pop up online, new books appear in stores, and study groups focusing on learning Korean at my local college.

Why did Korean suddenly become a lot more popular then, around ten years ago (give or take a few years)? Was it due to Kpop? Is it because of the delicious Korean food, or the culture? I had some of my own ideas, but I wanted to find out what Koreans themselves thought was the reason so many people are learning their language.

This summer I flew to Korea to ask Koreans directly what they thought about this. Here's what they said~

The post Asking Koreans Why People Learn Korean | 외국인들이 한국어를 배우는 이유 appeared first on Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean.