HaruKorean.com - When an additional tool becomes essential!

안녕하세요!

Recently I've told you that I won a 1-month membership of Harukorean.com when I bought 'Talk to me in Korean' Level 1's book (read the original post here). Frankly speaking I didn't buy the book thinking about HaruKorean (actually, in that moment I thought that this site was kind of needless and unhelpful). But... since I won the membership I gave it a shot.

There I could access the 10-minutes podcast lessons - Interesting, but why should I pay US$61.99 (for 12 months access) for something like this? But I continued discovering the site... After which lesson you can write a sentence about the vocabulary or grammar learned from that lesson and it will be correct by a native teacher. After you do this 2 things occur:

1. You can see now the correction of other students' sentences. In other words, you can learn with yours and their mistakes.
2. You earn points (for finishing one lesson, for writing sentences and for sharing them). With them, you can compete with the others users/students. It's a tool to motive the learning and I liked it.

OK, so if I pay almost US$6 per month I get 10-minutes podcast for lessons and a native will correct my sentences. I was not convinced yet...

Anyway, I listened 8 podcasts and wrote 8 sentences from Level 1 (really beginner). For my surprise, just 5 sentences from 8 were corrected... Besides correcting the wrong sentences, the teacher even suggested other forms of written for some of the right ones, giving new possibilities for me to express the same idea. I was able to write a reply for one correction and he replayed back, solving my doubts! It was AMAZING!!!

For my surprise and total regret of my arrogant and rude misjudgement, this site is completely AWESOME and EXTREMELY HELPFUL! After my membership expires I will renovate it, because this kind of learning tool is ESSENTIAL if you are like me and don't have anyone to teach you or correct your mistakes.

TTMIK and HaruKorean teams, please forgive me!

죄송합니다

So, visit HaruKorean.com and try it yourself. Pay for just one month if you are not sure of its usefulness. I'm sure you will not regret it and it will help you to improve a lot your Korean.

See you soon! 안녕히 가세요!

카카우

Korea's "American Idol" ^___^

Hi, guys! This post will be short and fast.

Roy Kim (로이킴) and Jung Joon Young (정준영) are two contestants of the program "SuperStar K4" (슈퍼스타 K4) - just like "American Idol", but a South Korean and better version. They are simply AWESOME!!!! I hope that in the future they form a duet, because they are just perfect together. They rocked in the music "After Turning Into Dust" (먼지가되어), originally by Kwang Seok Kim (김광석). It was so great that this performance is in TOP #1 at Korea K-Pop Hot 100 at Billboard.com. You can buy their version on iTunes ^___^. See you, 카카우.

Books for Begginers II

안녕하세요!

My new book have just came! I`m bought the TTMIK (Talk to Me in Korean)`s first book (Level 1) with a lot of expectation at My Korean Store. As I bought it during the period of pre-order, the book came autographed by the entire team - see photo below, and I won an one-month signature from HaruKorean. The quality of it is amazing! The paper and the printing are of great quality. A CD follows the book, and the audio is very clear and doesn`t leave anything without explanation.

 

In this book, all the Level 1 lessons from the site (talktomeinkorean.com) are compiled, including all the .PDF archives and workbook (which are free in the site). The book`s audio is different from the site. The last one is a podcast and in the book, it is more objective and summarized. So if you buy this book, you should listen both audios - it will improve your assimilation.

BEST POINTS:

• Paper and printing quality;
• Audios` quality;
• The romanization exists, HOWEVER it is very tiny under the hangul and in gray. So, if you are like me and simply hate romanization, in this book it will not distract you at all. But if you like it, you will be satisfied too.
• Samples dialogues are said in two speeds: the native one (very quickly) and a slower and clearer.

NOT SO GOOD POINTS:

• No really extra material comparing with the free version online;
• It doesn`t teach you hangul, so if you are more than a beginner, just like a newbie, this is not the book that you should choose to star learning Korean.

To sum up, I don`t think this book is the best one for someone who are really a newbie in Korean. You have to know hangul as its pronunciation at least. But I think it`s a great complementary material. The remain question is: Is it worth buying this book since the same material is available online completely free? If US$ 20.00 will not be missed, I think that you should buy this book. Because it`s a very book material and while you are purchasing it, you are also supporting the TTMIK team that actually do a awesome job with the site and the YouTube channel.

With all said, I`m still looking for the perfect beginner`s book. Today I will buy another one. Wish me luck! 

Bye! 안녕히 가세요!

카카우

OMO! OMO! OMO! WTF

안녕하세요!

Oh, My God!!! Have you watched the new MV from Hyuna (4Minute) - Ice Cream??? WTF is that?! I really don't know if I say that you must or mustn't see it... I like Hyuna, I love 4Minute, but this MV and this music (lyrics) are so...

OMO OMO OMO!

Before you continue reading me, I think it is better to watched the MV with English subtitles:

Aren't you thinking/saying "WTF?!" just like me?

The lyrics are sooooo poor. I think Hyuna is a good artist, but her singing abilities aren't good enough for a solo album. So sorry Hyuna's fans, unfortunately, this is so true! But what shock me the most is that the Cube Entertainment uses her as a sexy toy. Have you ever seen Hyuna in a concert or a variety show? She is more SHY and CUTE than sexy!!! The company is completely forcing her to assume an image that isn't her at all.

OK, I understand that a lot of people think like me, and they probably are writing the same thing in their blog/facebook/twitter. However, I couldn't control myself, I had to express my frustration and my deception with those song and MV. But in this album, there are more musics... Oh God, I'm afraid with their probable emptiness...

Poor Hyuna! God bless her with a new contract with a better company. I really hope that this wrong choice of path doesn't stain her career.

I'm feeling better now. Let's move on for the next Hyuna's disaster. I'm hoping things get better for her.

I promise that my next post about K-pop will be more positive.
See you soon!
안녕!
카카우

Nothing is perfect...

안녕하세요!

As I promised, today I will talk about K-movies. You should know how I love K-dramas, but I`m not sooooo fan from K-movies. I cannot understand why K-movie isn`t as catchy as K-drama... I like the movies, I really do, but when it ends I always fell like something is missing.

Sometimes this felling is easy explained, like in the movie "Love me not" that has NO END! Yes, It`s impossible to understand the end - they die? they are alive and together? Please someone give a convincing explanation!

In Korean movies the love couple doesn`t convince me too much. Whats the problem: no chemistry between the actor and the actress? Short time to tell a hole history? I don`t know...

But there is some kind of movie that is awesome - the Korean horror movies! They are incredibly and so convincing that I am not able to watch them alone at home.

There as some movies that I`ve already watched in Viki or Dramacrazy.net:

• 100 Days With Mr. Arrogant
• 200 Pounds Beauty
• A Millionaire's First Love
• A Moment To Remember
• A Perfect Match
• Finding Mr Destiny
• Fly High
• He was cool
• Kiss Me Kill Me
• Love in Magic
• Love Me Not
• Mr Idol
• My Little Bride
• My Sassy Girl
• Please Teach Me English
• See You After School
• You Are My Pet

Do you have any sugestion for me? Please, leave a comment!

See you. Bye!
카카우

Yes, I confess: I've already cheated

안녕하세요!

I`m writing posts and more posts about Korean things, but I must confess... Long time ago, before I knew about the Korean world, I was a otome... Yes... I had watched Japanese dramas, J-Pop MV... And, once in a while, I relapsed and I ended up cheating on my fidelity by Korean world.

However, something must be clear. It`s impossible to compare the Korean pop world with the Japanese one. The Korean dramas are way more complex, their picture has better quality, the actors are also better, the tune of the musics are more catchy... Anyway, Korean industry of entertainment has more quality and diversity - I`m so sorry if you are a J-World fan, but this is my opinion!

For this reason I don`t give grades for the J-dramas that I`ve watched, because it would be unfair to compare them with the K-dramas that I usually wacth.

Nevertheless, there are moments when I appreciate to watch a J-drama just to spend time. Below, there is a list of J-dramas that i`ve already watched:

• Hana Kimi (Drama)
• Hana Yori Dango (Drama)
• Hana Yori Dango 2 (Drama)
• Kimi wa Petto (Drama)
• Koizora (Drama) 
• Muscle Girl (Drama)
• Ouran High School Host Club (Drama)
• Sprout (Drama)
• Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge (Drama)
• Zettai Kareshi (Drama) 

• Boku no Hatsukoi wo Kimi ni Sasagu (Movie)
• Hana Yori Dango Final (Movie)
• Kimi Ni Todoke (Movie)
• Lovely Complex: The Movie (Movie)
• Paradise Kiss (Movie) 

Oh! I forgot to mention... I`ve already watched Taiwanese dramas too. And I loved it! They are better than the Japanese ones, but they can`t reached the same level of the Korean dramas. But if you have never watched, I recommend those ones:

• Devil Beside You
• Hi My Sweetheart
• It Started With A Kiss
• It Started With A Kiss 2
• Skip beat

In my next post I will talk about Korean movies.

See you next Monday!

카카우

Books for Begginers I

안녕하세요!

Finally the first Korean book I bought arrived - "Read & Speak Korean for Beginners"!! It cost US$20,00 and was printed in USA. It`s also included a 60-minute CD. However, I didn`t like this book very much for a few reasons. In my opinion:

 

1. It`s not for real beginners. You must be able to read and write Hangul before hand.

2. Romanization is used all the time.

3. The lessons are disorganized, without much logic. Anyway, they are little didactic to a self-taught student.

4. The audio lesson aren't clear enough. Either English as Korean pronunciation are weird.

5. Very few lessons are available.

6. What are the card games at the end of the book? They really think that it's essential?!

7. There are less than 90 pages of real lessons!

Anyway, the purchase was not worth it! I cannot recommend this book at all.

Besides this book, I purchased online another one. I'm looking forward to talk about it too. Oh, God, when will it arrive??

See you soon!

카카우

Learning Korean - Why? How?

안녕하세요! (Hello!)

I`ve intensely experienced this K-World for about 2 years. And I was very frustrated for not be able to understand anything, just relying on other people to transcribe k-dramas, k-musics, k-mawhuas, twitters and news into English (Google Translate doesn`t do a good job when we are talking about Korean -> English ㅜ-ㅜ). Therefore, I decided to learn Korean but, for that, I stipulated a few rules to not create addictions or crutches to memorize sentences or anything. I really wanted to learn Korean without romanization and understand the essential grammar before trying sentences.

With this in mind I chosen a paid online course to guide me (almost US$40/year). It was elaborate by an American who started to learn Korean from the scratch just like me. In this course, romanization is rarely used, the audio was recorded by a native Korean and each lesson has a quiz! Among all online courses, this was the most adapted one to my needs and requirements. Here is the link for it:

Learn Korean Now!

To complement it, I've watched the free lessons of Professor Rob Julien (an American who lives in South Korea teaching ESL). They are really good, but I just didn't pay for the complete course now, because it is more aimed for foreigners who lives in Korea. But I'm going to sing up in the next future, when I feel that my reading and listening skills have improved more. But you can try it in this link: Learn Korean Online.

Other tools to help in learning that I use are:

• Flashcard Machine - for vocabulary
• Korean Learning for Correct Pronunciation - for Hangul
• Forvo - for pronunciation of words
• Word Reference - English -> Korean dictionary
• Talk to me in Korean - to learn Korean from natives teachers

I bought 2 books, but they didn't arrive yet. When I got them, I will write a post about my impressions. I also bought a Korean keyboard on eBay, but you can also buy just Korean keyboard stickers.

If you speak Portuguese and your English isn't enough to follow the links above, there are 2 really good sites to learn Korean in Portuguese (Br):

• Aprendendo Coreano
• Aula de Coreano Hara Haru

I will write new posts about this topic very soon. So come back soon!

또 봐요! (See you later!)
카카우

Surprised by Secret Garden (시크릿 가든)

안녕하세요!

I've been sick for the past days and I'm really bored theses days, since the K-dramas that I'm watching now will release the next episodes in the coming days. So, when I woke up today (about 5 a.m.), I looked for a "new" drama but completed already. Then I found "Secret Garden (시크릿 가든)"!

It was broadcasting on SBS between 2010 and 2011, with Ha Ji Won (하지원) and Hyun Bin (현빈) as lead actress and actor respectively. At first look you can think that the plot isn't original, but when you watch the first episodes... WOW! It is completely captivating! I watched 8 episodes in a row!!!!! And I'm really anxious to resume it.

Another feature that stands out in this drama is the soundtrack! Of course it featured two songs of the Queen of K-ballad: Baek Ji Young (백지영). The full OST is available on iTunes, but you can follow the main tracks in the links below:

• The Woman by Baek Ji Young (백지영) - You Tube
• The Man by Baek Ji Young (백지영) - You Tube
• The Man by Hyun Bin (현빈) - You Tube
• Here I Am by 4Men (포맨) - You Tube

 Now I have more 12 episodes to watch on Viki! Bye everyone! 

카카우

K-dramas

안녕하세요!

Have you saw this column in the left? In there, you will see what I'm enjoying and I've enjoyed about the Korean Culture.

One of the thing you can follow is the Korean dramas that I'm watching, as well as the ones I've already watched. Beside the name of the drama, I rate it in a scale from 1 to 10. The grade is related to how I was touched and how much urgency I have to watch the next episode. This is something totally personal, so don't be angry if you don't share my opinion. But I would be glad if you could recommend other dramas for me.

From all this list, my favourite drama is "Big (빅)". It was amazing, being almost impossible to know what will happen in the next episode. Besides that, I cried a lotttttttttttttt. The soundtrack was touching too. The only thing that I really didn't like was the last episode - it was extremely abridged. I confess that I was expecting more, but it doesn't change the fact that its grade was 10 of 10! If you are excited to watch it you do it in this link (no adds, no breaks and more than 20 languages available as subtitles for this drama - it's real!). Oh! Out of curiosity, my alias in this blog is inspired in the leading lady role Gil Da Ran (but my nickname, 카카우, is real!).

Of course, my favourite South Korean actor is... Gong Yoo (공유). His acting ability is awesome! Every character is different from each other and he can convince when he kisses, grabs and hugs his co-star (his characters  aren't satisfied with just a light touch of the lips during the kiss scenes... his kisses are hottttt! You don't agree? See this video!). I'm focusing in this love scenes, but I'm not a pervert! kekeke How can a character cry his soul out for the loved one, and then... after a long waiting... a so-so kiss appear? Impossible! In this interview he talks about his kiss scenes! Besides that... he is a lot like my ex-boyfriend. kekeke

My favourite South Korean actress is Yoon Eun Hye (윤은혜). I've already watched ALL her dramas! She is lovely and cute. But the most important thing: she makes me cry every single time! Her characters are sooooo real and convincing. She acted on: Princess Hours (a.k.a. Goong), Coffee Prince (with Gong Yoo), My Fair Lady and Lie to Me. I love her! I'm looking forward for her next drama!

Now you know my favourites drama, actor and actress. I'm curious to know what are yours!

See you!

카카우