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