Korean script

I can now phonetically read almost any Korean word put in front of me. The only part I have yet to learn are the dipthongs and double consonants. Basically, dipthongs are two vowel sounds joined together in the same syllable to make a new vowel sound.

I can thank...

• (Once again) Judith Meyer for her online Lessons 1-5 (Lesson 6 is pending)

• Professor Oh, who I found on YouTube, and has some sensationally funny and helpful videos: The first two Learn Korean 1: Pronounce the Alphabet and Learn Korean 2: Write the Alphabet (Basic Consonants + Vowels) have already been immeasurably helpful. She gets silly in her KWOW (Korean Word Of the Week) videos, which--in my opinion--are entertaining to watch even if you have no intention of learning Korean.

Since Judith has not yet finished her sixth lesson--which would deal with the dipthongs I still have to learn--I plan on watching and taking notes on Professor Oh's next two videos:

Learn Korean 3: Double Consonants (and some words)
and
Learn Korean 4: Dipthongs (complex + compound vowels) with MINI DRAMA!

The girl has some serious video skillz.

Save the drama for your mama.

The Korean drama, that is. I unapologetically have been sucked into a series genre which is second in nerdiness only to anime. The acting is so bad sometimes, that I wonder how the scenes can evoke anything other than the gag reflex. Instead, I find myself laughing out loud or muttering at the characters on the screen as tears stream down my face. Here's how Korean dramas sucked me in:

Netflix. Yes, I can blame a lot of my wasted time on the streaming movies available on Netflix. Since I watch so many subtitled movies (See? I do read!), Netflix suggested "Playful Kiss" as a series I might be interested in checking out. I'm not going to recommend it, as it is more than mildly aggravating to watch... though watch it, I did. All twenty-something hours of it.

Just this morning, I finished watching the last hour-long episodes of another (much better) series called "Boys Over Flowers/Boys Before Flowers." The lead characters are less idiotic, the lead female is less helpless and pathetic, and the lead male is less of a complete jerk. Plus, there are four dreamy Asian main characters in this one (see image below). I've sort of developed a crush on the one to the far right. (What, am I in? High school?!)


But on a more serious note, I really started to appreciate some things about what I was watching:

1. the sound of the language.
2. the fact that I started to recognize words that were being said.
3. the cultural differences between the US and Korea.
   

I also realized that:

1. Koreans use a phonetic alphabet.
2. Korean is an SOV language, which means that the verb comes at the end of the utterance (among other very distinct word-order differences characteristic of SOV languages).
3. I have always wanted to learn to read and write a new alphabet.
4. I have wanted to learn an SOV language since I learned about it in grad school.
5. the path to learning Korean = talking to cute Korean guys.
   

So, I took myself to the public library tonight and checked out an audio book on learning Korean. Turns out, I have to learn the entire alphabet pretty well before it even lets me get to Lesson 1. Thankfully, I stumbled upon Judith Meyer's free online lessons to reading and writing Hangul, the Korean script. Her lessons were so well-constructed that she had me easily reading about fifty words in the span of thirty minutes. And writing several independently, too. Brilliant!

So, with that, I sign off. Goodbye! Annyonghi kashipshiyo! 안녕히 가심시오!

keu-ri-seu-ti
그리스디