Korean Thread

[Arumdaum]

Unfortunately, North Korea hasn't been in the news lately, so I'm not sure how successful this thread will be. There's not as much interest in Korea as there is in Japan, haha, so it's definitely not getting the amount of posts my Japanese discussion thread has gotten.

However, this thread is for anything related to Korea, North or South. I'd prefer it if people here spoke Korean, largely so I can get practice, haha. Learn the alphabet at least; it's really simple. It should take you a few days at most, or like less than a day if you're smart. I think lots of Koreans take pride in that it's easy and logical. It is, though, really.

If you speak Korean, please tell me whether I should speak to you casually or formally. I don't really know what to do with anonymous strangers online. I think most Koreans use polite speech just to be safe, but I suck at that. Maybe we should all just speak to each other politely.

Have you ever been to Korea? Have you been experiencing Hallyu (Korean cultural wave)? Do you enjoy KBBQ? Kimchi? Does North Korea intrigue you?

I've been trying to improve my Korean and so decided that I'd watch some Korean shows. I tried watching a drama previously but I really didn't like it. However, I just started watching Running Man, and I've been really enjoying it. The subtitles aren't very accurate sometimes, but nonetheless they help.

안녕하십니까. 저는 아름다움 입니다. 이름이 좀 그래서... 죄송합니다. 저는 미국에서 태어나습니다, 하지만 저의 부모님들은 한국인 입니다.

지금 무슨 말을 할지 잘 모르겠습니다...

fake edit: of course and i have to go with formal polite

[Xixuan]

KOREA IS GREAT

Sadly I do not speak Korean.

I do, however enjoy Hallyu (mostly K-Drama as in spite of my teasing spoiler I don't care for most K-Pop), Korean BBQ and eat Kimchi regularly.

I find North Korea to be very boring compared to Korea, and am tired of people, when they realize I am of Korean ancestry, asking me "Oh hey, is your family from the North or the South?"

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

I don't speak Korean but I will say that I'm liking some of the animation coming out of there. I'm a fan of Yobi, the five tailed gumiho and the less sophisticated (drawing style) The House.

[Xixuan]

However, I just started watching Running Man, and I've been really enjoying it. The subtitles aren't very accurate sometimes, but nonetheless they help.

It has actually been a while since I've watched a K-Drama. I am studying Mandarin so I am watching lots of Taiwanese stuff. Have you seen 나쁜 남자? I thought that was pretty good.

[Arumdaum]

KOREA IS GREAT

(Image)

Sadly I do not speak Korean.

I do, however enjoy Hallyu (mostly K-Drama as in spite of my teasing spoiler I don't care for most K-Pop), Korean BBQ and eat Kimchi regularly.

I find North Korea to be very boring compared to Korea, and am tired of people, when they realize I am of Korean ancestry, asking me "Oh hey, is your family from the North or the South?"

Are you just part Korean?

Yeah, I'm not really into K-Pop either, but I've noticed that Korean music has been becoming acceptable to me recently. I recently discovered trot music, and I find that hilarious. I enjoy listening to it.

What are some good dramas? I tried a historical one... I thought the acting was really bad, haha, and couldn't even finish one episode.

Yeah, that really bothers me too. A lot of people act as if the division has always existed and that North Koreans and South Koreans are sworn eternal enemies or something. They never realize that it's a relatively recent development. By the time America and the Soviet Union divided Korea in half, my grandpa was already an adult.

[Arumdaum]

I don't speak Korean but I will say that I'm liking some of the animation coming out of there. I'm a fan of Yobi, the five tailed gumiho and the less sophisticated (drawing style) The House.

What are they about?

I recently watched a Korean animated film called The King of Pigs. It dealt with bullying in the Korean school system. I thought the animation was honestly bad, but it really drew me in because a lot of what happened in the film was familiar to me (not as in that I was bullied, but yeah, social environment and power structure and stuff). I thought what was off though that people who were things like class president and did the best in class (who do so because of their wealth + afterschool academies) were the bullies, but when I lived there the bad kids at the top of the power structure generally did the worst on their exams.

[Arumdaum]

However, I just started watching Running Man, and I've been really enjoying it. The subtitles aren't very accurate sometimes, but nonetheless they help.

It has actually been a while since I've watched a K-Drama. I am studying Mandarin so I am watching lots of Taiwanese stuff. Have you seen 나쁜 남자? I thought that was pretty good.

Bad Boy? HAHAHA

I have a hard time taking that name seriously... I haven't watched it though. I haven't really watched any dramas with the exception of one that I partly watched with my sister when I was bored called My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox or something like that.

But ooh, nice. I've also been studying Mandarin. I slaughter the tones though. I really like discovering hanja for Korean words through it, since there's lots of borrowed words from Chinese that Korean has.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

I don't speak Korean but I will say that I'm liking some of the animation coming out of there. I'm a fan of Yobi, the five tailed gumiho and the less sophisticated (drawing style) The House.

What are they about?

I recently watched a Korean animated film called The King of Pigs. It dealt with bullying in the Korean school system. I thought the animation was honestly bad, but it really drew me in because a lot of what happened in the film was familiar to me (not as in that I was bullied, but yeah, social environment and power structure and stuff). I thought what was off though that people who were things like class president and did the best in class (who do so because of their wealth + afterschool academies) were the bullies, but when I lived there the bad kids at the top of the power structure generally did the worst on their exams.

Yobi is about a five tailed fox that tries to pass for human, and rescue the soul of her friend.

The House is about house spirits and a girl who lost everything learning to live on her own, wanting to be rich and helping people realize their houses had ghosts in them. It's a commentary on Korean hoisin expansions and the disenfranchised. Quite interesting.

[Xixuan]

Are you just part Korean?

Yes - half on my mother's side. I really wish my family had passed on more of the language. : \ It sounds like you are also part Korean?

Yeah, I'm not really into K-Pop either, but I've noticed that Korean music has been becoming acceptable to me recently. I recently discovered trot music, and I find that hilarious. I enjoy listening to it.

Trot is awesome!

What are some good dramas? I tried a historical one... I thought the acting was really bad, haha, and couldn't even finish one episode.

Oh man, it's actually been a while aside from the one I recommended previously, "Bad Guy", I can't think of any off the top of my head...I'm probably better at recommending movies. I tend to like darker movies like "The Yellow Sea" (황해) and "Poetry" (시 ? I think?). "Monster" (괴물) aka "The Host" was pretty good too. I think most of these are available through Netflix? I thought the acting was good in all of these.

Yeah, that really bothers me too. A lot of people act as if the division has always existed and that North Koreans and South Koreans are sworn eternal enemies or something. They never realize that it's a relatively recent development. By the time America and the Soviet Union divided Korea in half, my grandpa was already an adult.

The Korean side of my family had left for the US before the division, so it wasn't something that really effected them.

[Empire of Narnia]

I love North Korea.

[Millinesia]

Ooh boy, I was waiting for someone to create this thread.

I'm currently learning Korean, but I'm not at all fluent (or even coherent). I've recently been slacking on my Korean, so it's not getting very far, and I should really start learning more regularly now. I'm totally "fluent" in 한글, though, and I think it's one of the easiest alphabets in the world to learn, and one of the coolest. Mathematically, there are over 11,000 different characters you can make with 한글, which I find AWESOME, although most of them aren't even used or allowed in actual Korean.

Anyway, I'm approximately 0% Korean ethnically, I just love the culture and language. I plan to travel there someday, and possibly even live there for about a year...maybe more, maybe less. Before that, though, I'll have to be able to hold an actual conversation in Korean . If you type a sentence in Korean, I can usually understand the gist of it, but I suck at actually formulating a reply, so don't expect me to be any good

[Xixuan]

It has actually been a while since I've watched a K-Drama. I am studying Mandarin so I am watching lots of Taiwanese stuff. Have you seen 나쁜 남자? I thought that was pretty good.

Bad Boy? HAHAHA

I have a hard time taking that name seriously... I haven't watched it though. I haven't really watched any dramas with the exception of one that I partly watched with my sister when I was bored called My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox or something like that.

Haha, I would say it's "serious" for a K-Drama, so not really serious at all. I also liked "Women of the Sun", and there was one I can't remember the name of that was about some family that makes makgeolli. These are all several years old at least.

But ooh, nice. I've also been studying Mandarin. I slaughter the tones though. I really like discovering hanja for Korean words through it, since there's lots of borrowed words from Chinese that Korean has.

Yeah, I need to work on my tones. I also really like looking up Hanja, it's so interesting to see how different words became incorporated into Korean.

[Xixuan]

What are they about?

I recently watched a Korean animated film called The King of Pigs. It dealt with bullying in the Korean school system. I thought the animation was honestly bad, but it really drew me in because a lot of what happened in the film was familiar to me (not as in that I was bullied, but yeah, social environment and power structure and stuff). I thought what was off though that people who were things like class president and did the best in class (who do so because of their wealth + afterschool academies) were the bullies, but when I lived there the bad kids at the top of the power structure generally did the worst on their exams.

Yobi is about a five tailed fox that tries to pass for human, and rescue the soul of her friend.

The House is about house spirits and a girl who lost everything learning to live on her own, wanting to be rich and helping people realize their houses had ghosts in them. It's a commentary on Korean hoisin expansions and the disenfranchised. Quite interesting.

Those sound awesome. I love animation, but don't know much about Korean animation (ironic since most cartoons are manufactured in Korea!). I will have to check those out.

[Arumdaum]

Are you just part Korean?

Yes - half on my mother's side. I really wish my family had passed on more of the language. : \ It sounds like you are also part Korean?

Both of my parents are Korean.

Yeah, I'm not really into K-Pop either, but I've noticed that Korean music has been becoming acceptable to me recently. I recently discovered trot music, and I find that hilarious. I enjoy listening to it.

Trot is awesome!

Yeah! It is!

I recently found a bunch of it on Youtube... best thing ever, haha. So old-fashioned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNXDNz8XEO4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-Ip0MN9bs0

What are some good dramas? I tried a historical one... I thought the acting was really bad, haha, and couldn't even finish one episode.

Oh man, it's actually been a while aside from the one I recommended previously, "Bad Guy", I can't think of any off the top of my head...I'm probably better at recommending movies. I tend to like darker movies like "The Yellow Sea" (황해) and "Poetry" (시 ? I think?). "Monster" (괴물) aka "The Host" was pretty good too. I think most of these are available through Netflix? I thought the acting was good in all of these.

Don't have Netflix, unfortunately, but there's probably another way. What are those about? I know Monster though, I should probably watch that, since it seems culturally significant.

Yeah, that really bothers me too. A lot of people act as if the division has always existed and that North Koreans and South Koreans are sworn eternal enemies or something. They never realize that it's a relatively recent development. By the time America and the Soviet Union divided Korea in half, my grandpa was already an adult.

The Korean side of my family had left for the US before the division, so it wasn't something that really effected them.

Ahh. When'd they arrive? One of my grandpas left his hometown in North Korea in 1950 to what became the South. He lost everything and never saw his family again after the war started.

It's probably better that he left though, since he was part of a landlord class.

[Arumdaum]

What are they about?

I recently watched a Korean animated film called The King of Pigs. It dealt with bullying in the Korean school system. I thought the animation was honestly bad, but it really drew me in because a lot of what happened in the film was familiar to me (not as in that I was bullied, but yeah, social environment and power structure and stuff). I thought what was off though that people who were things like class president and did the best in class (who do so because of their wealth + afterschool academies) were the bullies, but when I lived there the bad kids at the top of the power structure generally did the worst on their exams.

Yobi is about a five tailed fox that tries to pass for human, and rescue the soul of her friend.

The House is about house spirits and a girl who lost everything learning to live on her own, wanting to be rich and helping people realize their houses had ghosts in them. It's a commentary on Korean hoisin expansions and the disenfranchised. Quite interesting.

Yeah, the housing expansions are pretty sad.

I think it's the same with gentrification in the US. Pretty sad stuff, even though people like me benefit from it.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Yobi is about a five tailed fox that tries to pass for human, and rescue the soul of her friend.

The House is about house spirits and a girl who lost everything learning to live on her own, wanting to be rich and helping people realize their houses had ghosts in them. It's a commentary on Korean hoisin expansions and the disenfranchised. Quite interesting.

Yeah, the housing expansions are pretty sad.

I think it's the same with gentrification in the US. Pretty sad stuff, even though people like me benefit from it.

I appreciated the social commentary. Both movies are on Netflix if you're ever curious.

[Millinesia]

What are some good dramas? I tried a historical one... I thought the acting was really bad, haha, and couldn't even finish one episode.

I watched one a while ago called "Gu Family Book", but I don't think it's on Netflix. Of course, it's possible that I have really bad taste in K-dramas, but I really enjoyed it.

[Arumdaum]

Ooh boy, I was waiting for someone to create this thread.

I'm currently learning Korean, but I'm not at all fluent (or even coherent). I've recently been slacking on my Korean, so it's not getting very far, and I should really start learning more regularly now. I'm totally "fluent" in 한글, though, and I think it's one of the easiest alphabets in the world to learn, and one of the coolest. Mathematically, there are over 11,000 different characters you can make with 한글, which I find AWESOME, although most of them aren't even used or allowed in actual Korean.

Anyway, I'm approximately 0% Korean ethnically, I just love the culture and language. I plan to travel there someday, and possibly even live there for about a year...maybe more, maybe less. Before that, though, I'll have to be able to hold an actual conversation in Korean . If you type a sentence in Korean, I can usually understand the gist of it, but I suck at actually formulating a reply, so don't expect me to be any good

Where are you learning it? How long have you been learning it?

Yeah! Hangul is really cool.

Ooh, nice. You should definitely visit, preferably during the winter, spring, or fall. Summer is hot and humid, plus it has mosquitoes. If you live somewhere like the East Coast of the US or the Midwest the weather should feel normal though I guess, except that there's more rain.

나 지금 무슨 말하는지 알아?

[Arumdaum]

What are some good dramas? I tried a historical one... I thought the acting was really bad, haha, and couldn't even finish one episode.

I watched one a while ago called "Gu Family Book", but I don't think it's on Netflix. Of course, it's possible that I have really bad taste in K-dramas, but I really enjoyed it.

What's it about?

[GraySoap]

are you middle class white person? why don't you stay interested in your own people?

[Arumdaum]

I love North Korea.

Coolio. Why?

I think North Korea is pretty interesting. I don't like how a lot of people treat it when discussing it.

[Arumdaum]

are you middle class white person? why don't you stay interested in your own people?

No, but I talk like one HAHA.

I have a special circumstance. But really, I'll be interested in whatever I'd like.

[Gigaverse]

East Asians seem to have spawned a lot of works with great drawing styles and/or animations lately.

[Arumdaum]

East Asians seem to have spawned a lot of works with great drawing styles and/or animations lately.

Has it?

I don't really pay much attention to those... what have I been missing?

[Arumdaum]

But ooh, nice. I've also been studying Mandarin. I slaughter the tones though. I really like discovering hanja for Korean words through it, since there's lots of borrowed words from Chinese that Korean has.

Yeah, I need to work on my tones. I also really like looking up Hanja, it's so interesting to see how different words became incorporated into Korean.

It's pretty interesting. There were some words I didn't really expect to be Sino-Korean that turned to be so, like pyeongsang (from pingchang).