Korean Pronoun Part 2 - I, me - 제가, 저는, 내가, 나는

**Video pending

I hope you have been keeping your motivation to learn Korean.  As I said, it feels difficult at first but that is because our brain is being fed with new information (and a lot of it!).

Learning Korean from a native speaker can often be like learning English from a native speaker (which is not a teacher) as well.  While native speakers get all the grammars perfectly well, there is a reason why language teachers are teachers, its because they know how best to explain things.  If you ask a native speaker why some things are the way they are, the answer you would probably get is, "its just is".

I'm not a (real) teacher but I would like to share what I found from my self learning when it comes to the above subject.  Even for a native speaker they would simply say, "its just is" or 그냥 (keu-nyang).


The question is, if 저 and 나 are 'I/me' and 제 and 내 are 'my/mine' in English, so why are there 제가 and 내가 and why is 저가 and 나가 not used?

If you feel that this is too long to read, you can skip everything and read paragraph*** but you probably will miss some conceptual points.  For the inspiring Korean speakers, this may be helpful.  Besides pure repetition and practise, understanding concept is best into being able to understand and remember this.  In fact, it would be helpful if one can pass it on to other new learners in the future.

Practise Reading Hangeul: Korean names

In case you wanted to practise reading your Hangeul. These names are the fallen soldiers from Korean war battles around Yang-gu. We went there last Sollal 설날. Last year's 살날 we went to the most Eastern part of the DMZ in Sokcho so we chose to go to the Yanggu side this time.

The Yanggu Unification Hall is located in the northernmost part of the Civilian Control Zone in Haean-myeon Yanggu-gun. It was built and opened to be utilized as a unification education center that would help broaden people’s understanding about the real situation in North Korea in preparation for reunification and encourage commitment for reunification. The location is 5 km away from The Fourth Tunnel, in the northern end of the punch bowl basin and it first opened in 1996. It has a first exhibition hall, second exhibition hall, agricultural specialty market, and a parking lot that can accommodate about 100 cars.

Kdrama Words Drill: 50 Abstract Nouns

I started learning Korean knowing these list of words only after two years, while they were used in Kdramas and conversations ALL THE TIME!
 
Try to memorize them in a week.  Try to imagine you've just entered a new class with 50 new classmates.  You have to remember all of their names within a week.  If you don't get them all, don't worry.  They will appear again in the dramas.
 
Highlight the right hand side to see the English versions.
 

Korean Pronoun part 1; I, you, me, our, my, yours...

The use of pronoun can be omitted when not needed if the the listener is clear about who or what is being refered to in a sentenced for example, A can ask B "밥을 먹었어요?" (You've eaten?) and clearly the question is about B; the listener. In return, B can reply a plain "네, 먹었어요." (Yes, I have eaten.) without ever using '저' too, as it remains clear in this conversation that the subject is B.

Hangul Reading Practise: 20 Korean words borrowed from English

Not to reinvent the wheel, I will not post on how to read Hangeul.  Check out the blog links on the right to watch Hangul video lessons by KoreanClass101.  They are fun and easy to understand.  You can also install smart phones apps.  Just search for 'Hangeul'. 

THE BEST thing you can do for yourself to learn Korean is learn Hangeul!

I would like to post something on brushing up the reading skill especially with similar sounding consonants and vowels.  I think this is important because there are many words that sound almost the same but mean totally different.  If you are listening, you would want make sure you understand it correctly.

However, when I first starting learning, I wasn't able to find the right place to practise reading because I haven't arrived in Korea and I couldn't type Hangul to search the right website to start practising more.  So, I list here 20 Korean words borrowed from English so you can practise your first reading.  Can you recognize what are they in English? (highlight right side for English version)

The Kdrama Junkie

People say watch Kdramas to learn Korean but I learn Korean to watch Kdramas, which is VERY different.

Mary is an American. She just got the good news about her application for a teaching job in Seoul.  She will be flying soon after the school complete her visa application.  So she reaches for the nearest bookstore and got herself a learn Korean book and scour the Internet for eveyrthing about the language to prepare for her life in Korea.  When she reaches Seoul, she is excited and then settle in her new school.  She realizes, her Korean needs some brushing, since she needs some level of fluency to make life easier (in school and outside) so she roles into a class.  She enjoys them so much because it has been a pleasure for her to learn a new language and she can finally relate more with her Korean middle school students.  She can also order any food she wants in a restaurant and ask help from the customer service centre and make friends with her colleagues.  It took her a while to learn basic speaking but she is a young and lively woman who can handle that. She may or may not have time for Korean dramas but she basically doesn't need it to learn Korean.  She has her work and students to keep her busy.  She probably dating a cute Korean guy too.  Geewiz...you can find love anywhere if its meant to be. 

Wong is from Shanghai and is granted a scholarship to study in Korea.  He goes there and spends a whole year to 1.5 years studying Korean intensively through lectures and tutorials and sits for exams.  He studies very hard because he needs the fluency to later attend his actual major that is in

Introduction: Before You Start

Hello, this will be the very first post in this blog.  If you want to check out why I started this blog, go ahead and check out at the About Me page.

I will explain what do you need to be prepared for and what you need to know about the Korean language as a whole. It doesn't matter if you've watched kdrama for 2 years or 12 years, I hope some information would be helpful.  Let's face it, you are here because you've fallen in love with kdramas although you don't eat kimchi nor speak Korean on a daily basis.  You want to know a little sumthin' sumthin' about the language, more than the sarangheyo and anyonghaseyo, am I right?