#jeonghak

So as I am sure many of you know 4Minute’s MV for Volume Up has been released.

Many people are either really into Kpop or really against it.  As a Korean language learner I have to love it.  Not because it surrounds me all the time, but because as a language learner pop music in any language plays a vital role to mastering the language.

Now you may think this is weird because if you are a native speaker and listen to pop music it often seems to lack depth in the lyrics, flooded with repetition, and the high use of nonsensical words.  However this is exactly what most foreigners need to experience.  It forces us to train our ears to new words, listen to them at fast speeds and out of context, and finally the chorus in most Kpop songs are just repeated phrases that help us become adjusted to the proper pronunciation.

Of course I am not saying this is the primary method of studying Korean, or any language, but it is nice to just sit back listen to the latest single released and call it “studying”.

So Enjoy!

Tesco & QR codes.

I am sure we have all read the case study of Tesco, after Carrefour and Wal-Mart, entering South Korea and "taking it by storm".  They changed their name and then implemented a QR Code campaign.  I too think it was a great marketing scheme, and also a great way to engage with customers, especially fast moving, busy Korean customers.  However now in grad school I just wrote a paper on Qr Codes and am becoming fed up with Qr Codes and this Tesco reference.

I have talked to experts in Qr Codes and have yet to find people who would really promote Qr Codes in a positive light.  Qr Codes, in my opinion, have a strong purpose when it comes to taking people from the offline world to the online world.  It becomes a problem in the business world when marketers see a creative use of Qr Codes in a market where it fits, such as the Tesco scheme, and try to replicate or pointlessly use Qr Codes for their own business.  For example Tesco allows offline users to see, scan, buy a product.  This is what Qr Codes do.  But what I inevitably see is people using them on their website (already online) or even just blindly add it to a campaign like twitter/facebook without thinking about the customer journey.  What do you want your customer to do? Why do you want them to go here?