I might not be able to answer some question for now. The laptop I brought has no Korean IME installed in it.

Thank for all the greetings!

So beautiful in Seoul =)

Another way to say this greeting is  성탄절 잘 보내요 (seongtanjeol jal bonaeyo).  Literally means have a good Christmas but it also means have a happy Christmas.

It’s probably snowing in Korea this time.  Hope everyone is feeling happy today enjoy the holidays!

I love traveling and i won’t be bored or tired going back again and again to South Korea. So i thought of sharing what travel is in Korean, its 여행 (yeohaeng) as noun and 여행하다 (yeohaenghada) as verb that means to travel.

• 다음 주 서울에 여행할 께요. (Daum chu Seoure yeohaenghal kkeyo)  – I am traveling to Seoul next week.
•  서울 여행이  좋아요. (Seoul  yeohaeng choayo) -I like traveling in Seoul
• 나도  서울 여행을 좋아해요. (Nado Seoul yeohaengeul  choahaeyo.) – Me too, I like traveling in Seoul.

Good thing they made it even more easy to go to South Korea by not asking too much document if you are an OECD visa holder.  More so, visa is gratis for Filipino traveling to South Korea for less than 60 days.

다시 한 번  서울에 좋은 시간을 보내고 싶어요. (Dashi hanbon Seoure choeun shiganeul bonaego shipeoyo)  Once again, i want to spend a good time in Seoul.

It means cheer up! It also means the same as the cliche ‘break a leg’ in English. When you want to uplift someone’s spirit or give encouragement, this is a good expression to say. To someone esteemed, one can say the more polite way 힘내세요 (himnaeseyo).  This is in addition to common expression like 화이팅 (fighting) or 아자 (aja).

*image was taken from firemasterxd.devianart

I know this blog needs a lot of improvement and those improvement speaks of the improvement that i need.

TTMIK 고맙습니다!

Isn’t it nice to receive one?  I think Christmas is celebrated more as a day for couples in South Korea rather than a family event like Chuseok.  In my country, it’s gift giving day.  Sharing your blessings to other people. I like receiving gifts that are functional, something that i can really use.

너에게 좋은 선물을 뭐예요? (What is a good gift to you?)

I also did write about Korean Unmasked. What did I say about the book? opinionated and subjective, and so does my entry about it. For God sake this is a blog, not a reference site or your source of truth kind of thing.  This is because this is a personal blog and I am someone who is trying to learn too not an expert.

If you have differing opinion or review about Korean Unmasked, buy the book, read it and write your own opinion or review about it. Make sure you write it on your own blog and not on the comment portion of my blog entry. I can take comments about my broken Korean but to tell me to rewrite my blog because my review is wrong or incomplete it really pisses me off.  I am not competing with anyone’s knowledge here in Korean, Japanese or Chinese if you disagree or wanted to point out something feel free to do so but to ask me to rewrite my opinion it’s overboard.

This is my favorite pepero variant

Pepero day I think is celebrated like Valentines in South Korea. The young ones and couples in particular exchange Pepero sticks since 4 sticks resemebles 11/11 or November 11.   While Lotte, the manufacturer of Pepero brand biscuit denies starting this holiday, the observance of Pepero Day  boosts their sales.  According to some stories, this started in 1994 in a middle school for girls in Busan.  They said, the girls exchanged Pepero sticks and wished they were tall and slender as Pepero sticks.

I really love this biscuit.  Good thing it’s available in the Philippines.  The ones covered with chocolate and almond is my super favorite.

여러분 해피 뻬뻬로 데이!

To use this in a sentence you have to identify the base or infinitive form of the word that is 쓰(seu) and 써 (seo) respectively.  Here are some use that I can think of:

• 여기에 이름을 써 주세요 (Yeogie ireumeul sseo juseyo) – Please write your name here.
• 친구에게 편지를 썼어요 (Chinguege pyeonjireul sseosseoyo) – I wrote a letter to a friend.
• 나중에 블로그 엔트리를 쓸거에요 (Najunge beullogeu enteurireul sseulkoeyo) – I will write ( I have an intention of writing) a blog entry later.

Try the Doodle application in iPAD it’s just cute and nice way to practice Hangul writing. It’s also cool that iPAD has enabled writing on most east asian fonts and that includes Hangul.

The North Koreans celebrate this during 15th of January and it is called 조선글날 (Choseongul Nal).  Based on some of my readings, in the earlier times Koreans are forced to write using the Chinese writing system but it was difficult for the Koreans to write their native words in Chinese. This is the reason why King Sejong tasked some scholars during his reign to come up with a writing system that will represent the words and sounds of Korean language.

In line with this, I am participating in the celebration of Hangul Nal being organized by the Talk to Me in Korean (TTMIK) online language site. I have been frequenting this site for up to date learnings on Korean and Hangul.  Together with my sister, we baked and decorated a cake to celebrate Hangul Day and sent it to HangeulDay2011@gmail.com.

You too can participate in this event by sending picture of your work of art with Hangul on it.  Check out the video message from 선현우 선생님 (Seon Hyeonwoo Seonsaengim of TTMIK)

If you are a Korean Language enthusiast your participation in this event will surely make a difference. Show Hangul some love =)