The Language of K-Pop

SHINee: 너와 나의 거리 (Selene 6.23)

Ballads aren’t usually my thing, but is this not just a beautiful song? I loved it so much I read through the whole translation. For those of you who haven’t, here is a small taste. I picked the first line of the chorus (first repeat 2:14).

손을 더 뻗어도 (내 손을 잡아줘)

온 힘을 다해 뻗어도 (뻗어도) 넌 닿지 않아

soneul deo bbeodeodo (nae soneul jabajwo)

on himeul dahae bbeodeodo (bbeodeodo) neon dahji anha

Though I extend my hand (take my hand)

Though I extend it with all my might (extend it) I can’t reach you

And here are some of the individual words and phrases so that you might recognize them later.

손 (son) => “hand”

뻗 (bbeod) => “extends; stretches”

넌 (neon) => “you”

을 (eul) => a topic/object marking particle

내 손을 잡아 (nae soneul jaba) => “take my hand”

온 힘을 다해 (on himeul dahae) => “with all [my/your] might

닿지 않아 (dahji anha) => "cannot reach/touch”

The Korean Alphabet: Consonants (¼)

한글 (han geul) is the name for the Korean alphabet, while the Korean language itself is known as 한국어 (han guk eo).

It is important to note that in Korean, an individual character represents a single sound unlike other languages like Chinese where a complex character may represent a symbol. So, just like in English, you can put different “letters” together and build syllables, words, and sentences!

The Korean language has 14 basic consonants, each that correspond to a single sound.

Let’s take a look~

1. ㄱ (g/k sound) g as in gold 2. ㄴ (n sound) n as in north 3. ㄷ (d sound) d as in door 4. ㄹ (r/l sound)* 5. ㅁ (m sound) m as in mother 6.ㅂ (b sound) b as in balloon 7. ㅅ (s sound) s as in sail 8. ㅇ (no sound/ ng)* 9. ㅈ (j sound) as in joy 10. ㅊ (ch sound) and in chat 11. ㅋ (k sound) as in kayak 12. ㅌ (t sound) as in tomato 13. ㅍ (p sound) as in pet 14. ㅎ (h sound) as in house

*it is important to note that the pronunciation of “ㄹ” and “ㅇ” depends on the placement of the character in a given word. The pronunciation of “ㄹ” is in between the “r” and “l” sounds and emphasis varies depending on how the word is spoken. The rule for “ㅇ” on the other hand is pretty simple. When placed at the beginning of the word, “ㅇ” makes no sound, and when placed at the end of a word makes an “-ng” sound.

Eye/Snow. 

Note: This word means both snow and eye. It is a homograph which is a group of words that have the same spelling but different meanings. In English an example of such a pair of words is the word bat where one meaning is the sporting equipment used in baseball and the other is the winged animal that is usually associated with vampires.

..I’ve stumbled across in 무한도전과 런닝맨 ;;

분위기 atmosphere/mood/feeling

대표 representative

가성 falsetto

이름표 name tag

For all you international kpop fans out there who’d like to learn Korean (for multiple reason I guess?), I have collected a large collection of online textbooks, websites, resources, and blogs that can help you achieve your goal!

online textbooks: [ all the downloads are pdfs, no .rar files! ] 

My Korean – book one

My Korean – book two

Dirty Korean

Using Korean

Basic Korean

Korean from Zero! – book one

Korean Grammar for International Learners

Using Korean: a Contemporary Use

Intermediate College Korean

Living Language Korean Course

Continuing Korean

Handbook of Korean Vocabulary

Korean Grammar in Use

Korean for Dummies

Korean Made Simple (not a download)

websites:

how to study korean

Sogang Korean Program

learn korean

talk to me in korean

lets learn korean

free korean lessons

korean for dummies cheat sheet

korean class 101

korean class 101 (youtube)

talktomeinkorean (youtube)

sweetandtasty (youtube)

seemile (youtube)

common vocabulary

useful korean phrases

grammar + vocab reference

vocab games

quizlet

Apps: [ some may only be available for iphone or android and not both so bear with me ]

pop-popping korean (iOS + android)

tengugo hangul (iOS + android)

kdrama talk (iOS only) 

Neme Korean (iOS + android)

KORLINK by Talk to Me in Korean (iOS + android)

Learn Korean by Bravo Language (iOS + android)

Korean Flashcards (free on android only, $4.99 on iOS)

Learn Korean 6000 words (android only)

TOPIK One (iOS + android)

Dongsa (iOS + android)

POPYA animals & fruits + vegetables (iOS + android)

misc. resources:

korean keyboard

culture notes

text slang

crash course on honorifics

children’s books

the chosun (news in korean)

korean class 101 podcast

talk to me in korean podcast

blogs: [ most of these seem pretty active as far as i can tell ]

unyounglearnskorean

study-korean

translating korean

letstteok-korean

onestopkorean

learnkoreanwithmusic

hangeulit

learninghangukeo

way-to-fluency

snubiwriteskorean

easykorean

cassarilla

teachmykorean

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my followers!^^ I hope everyone can spend the day with people they love and don’t forget to tell them you’re thankful for them! I’m so thankful for all of you <3 Now, let’s get to the vocabulary~

추수 감사절: Thanksgiving

호박 바이: pumpkin pie

칠면조: turkey

가족: family

This time, listen to FT Island’s Madly, and find the moment Hongki sings 너만 사랑하니까, that means “Because I love only you”.

너 (You)

만 (particle that gives the meaning of “only”)

사랑하 (basic form of the verb 사랑하다, to love)

니까 (after a verb, gives to it the meaning “because of”)

Ready to check the answer??

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Learning sites

Talk To Me In Korean

KoreanClass101

Sogang Online Lessons

Let’s Learn Korean - KBS

zKorean

For fun

Yahoo Korea Kids (It’s cute, it’s fun and very helpful)

Jaeminara

Kebikids

Korean-English Dictionaries

Naver 신어 Dictionary