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This is the last week of this semester and I do not want to say goodbye to my learning partner Brenda and my talented classmates, Yuting and Amber. We reviewed what we learned during the whole semester including advanced version of self-introduction, conversation we can use in restaurant, the names of scenic spots and how to ask direction. We also discuss the Korean history during Japanese colonial and idioms and slangs that are commonly-used in Korean. What I learned in this class not only meet with my expectation at the beginning of the semester but even beyond that and brought me many new aspects of Korean culture that expand my horizon.

Instead of keep using Yonsei textbook to learn grammar and vocabularies, Brenda applied a more interesting method to teach us by choosing different topics each classes and letting us learn vocabularies and sentences while doing conversations. All the topics we chose are interesting and useful. For example, when we are in restaurant, something we must know how to say is “What would you recommend?” and in Korean, it is “어떤것을추천하세요?”; or when we take a tour in Soul, we want to ask “where is the museum?” we can say: “박물관이 어디에 있어요?” 박물관 means museum and we can replace it with any other places we want to ask. After practicing with Brenda and my classmates, I can fluently ask and answer questions related to theses topics.

One of my favorite class this semester is idioms and slang. Korean idioms have great similarities with Chinese idioms and that might because of the great influence of ancient Chinese cultural to Korean. The Korean idioms are even more commonly used in daily conversations than Chinese idioms. Similar to idioms, slang is widely used and has become one of the popular trends in Korea. By learning and using some slang and idioms during conversation, we can better understand the Korean culture and sound more native. Idioms and slang show me a different aspect of Korean culture because they keep up with times and they are something I cannot learn from text book. I believe that taking students to learn grammar and formalities, they can produce great coherent sentences. However, take students out of the classroom and away from textbooks, they will encounter a world of language that break those rules. Thus, I think taking time to learn slangs and idioms allow students to get to know a language and a culture faster and deeper.

I gained invaluable insights appertaining to myself as far as learning the Korean language and exploration of culture are concerned. As what I said last semester, developing advanced skills in a new language is quite a slow and incremental process and learning Korean, in this case, requires some sufficient amount of time. I feel that every small steps forward makes me more confident about my learning process.

I am always a fan of Korean movie because I believed that there are always unique genres of Korean movies and in general Korean movie = Hong Kong movie+ Hollywood movie. On the subject of film selection, Korean movie inherited the narrative tradition of Hollywood commercial blockbuster on the one hand, and on the other hand had the feature using small characters as protagonist in golden age of Hong Kong film. However, it does not have the mundane matters in Hong Kong films, nor the personal heroism in Hollywood films, but uses complex political and social backgrounds as the basis to expose the dark side of society.

The film “Silence” is modeled after sexual violence in a deaf school in South Korea in 2001. It describes the tragedy happened and how the school teachers and human rights activists working together to uncover the behind-the-scenes story. I personally admire the director's courage. The process of deaf child's death was not ended by three or two shots nor a few voiceovers. Instead, he chose to show the audience the most painful and depressing footage while the children "recounted" the victim's experience to the teacher. During the whole process of recording, it is very cruel to ask children to remind how they were humiliated. And that might be the reason why the protagonist decides to protect these children whose crys are swallowed up in the silent world.

“Silence ,” the film depicting real-life cases of abuse in a school for deaf children, has moved beyond the box office into the legal arena. The revised bill allows for heavier punishments for sexual offenders, particularly those who abuse children aged 13 and under, and the disabled. Under the new law, the prison terms for rape against the disabled and young children will increase from its minimum of seven to ten years. The new law also allows for offenders to be sentenced with life imprisonment.

The data listed on the official US website tell us that more than 90% of people with developmental disabilities, including men and women, have experienced at least one violation in their lifetime, and 49% have experienced it more than 10 times. The incidence of sexual assault is so high, but only 3% are reported.

Besides increasing the legal protection of children, school sex education is also crucial. Schools should teach children to know their own body in order to protect their privacy, and distinguish between public behaviors and privacy behaviors. Children need to learn to maintain different physical distances from people with different relationships and strictly express and defend themselves when necessary.

At the end of the film, the words of protagonist Mr. Ren are very touching: "We fight all the way, not to change the world, but not to let the world change us!" Maybe we cannot change this world and change others, but at least we do not choice to become them, and there are countless righteous people, upholding the faith in their minds.

A movie in South Korea is very popular recently called Parasite. It is a story about how a family living in a sunken basement attached to a rich family. The protagonist is a family of four, trying everything to work in a rich family: the son is an English teacher, the daughter is an art teacher, the father is a driver, and the mother is a housekeeper. In order to enter this house and earn more wages, they used various "despicable" methods. The son and daughter forged college degrees, and they framed the former driver and former housekeeper which cause them to lose their jobs. To take advantage of the situation, they went to work in the mansion as expected.

They are not ordinary poor people in some aspects. Their son's English level is far higher than that of college students; their daughter is knowledgeable, eloquent, and can forge various kinds of documents skillfully; their mothers are good at cooking, and used to be a shot putter; their father is a skilled driver who can take you to any places in Korea without GPS. However, no matter how capable they are, and how they well-behaved, the rich family always said they have "the musty smell in the basement", even if not intentional.

When the four chased away the original driver and housekeeper and gained the trust of the house owner, they said, "This family is so rich and so kind." To a certain extent, it makes little sense. The rich have a superior life and have been well protected since childhood. By receiving a good education and having a high level of morality, they become a seemingly elegant person. With their huge wealth advantage, they don't need to fight or grab anything, so they all look "kind". And as the poor who live in a world with scarce resources and unfairness, they have to do their best to survive. Where else can he care about what is " elegant"? Every moment, they are competing with others for resources to survive.

When we put this issue in sociology, one can think of an old topic: is the rich feeding the poor, or the poor feeding the rich? Should the capitalists feed the workers, or will the workers feed the capitalists? Who is the "parasite"?

Recently, a scholar named Xue Zhaofeng put forward a point of view, saying: "It is not the capitalists exploiting the workers, but the workers exploit the capitalists! Because capital cannot flow freely when it is invested in enterprises, but workers are free. They can leave if they want and they can make their own personal gains. So, it is the workers who are exploiting the capitalists. " However, in my point of view, laborers are always in a disadvantaged position, because the means of production are occupied by capitalists, and laborers can only sell their labor power in exchange for remuneration. The value they created are far higher than the wages they receive. The worker seems to be a free man, but under the pressure of survival, they cannot leave the capitalist and the means of production to make a living independently. Even though laborers have strong abilities, their still can be replaced easily in their work place. Therefore, they do not have the freedom to come as they wish, and to leave as they wish.

After we learned Korean idiom last two weeks, we came to Korean slang. Similar to idiom, slang is widely used and has become one of the popular trends in Korea. By learning some slang and used it during conversation, we can better understand the Korean culture and sound more native. The following is the nine slang we learned in class.  

얼죽아：얼어죽어도 아이스 아메리카노 

It means that even if die in winter, Ice Americano is indispensable. Brenda told us that Ice Americano is the most popular drink in cafes and it is a fashion if you order that.

I drunk it in Starbucks but Brenda said it is different from Korean style Ice Americano. Koreans take their americano with one shot of espresso and at least 200 mL hot water. A buttload of ice if they want it cold, so they are translucent pale brown. However, the Americanos in the US are almost always served with two shots of espresso and they are an opaque near-black.

꾸안꾸: 꾸민듯 안꾸민듯 

Translation: when you look like you didn’t try but you did. It refers to someone who is naturally fashion whose outfit looks like did not try too hard but really stylish.

졌잘싸: 졌지만 잘 싸웠다

Translation: It’s a good play, but still lost.

~피셜

Translation: According to 

비담: 비주얼담당 

Translation: the person who is the most good looking one in K-pop group and literally translate as the best face of group.

안물안궁：안물어봤고 안궁금해 

Translation: I didn’t ask, so I am not curious and I do not care what you said.

핵인싸- very insider

Translation: It refers to someone can gain many information from “inside” within a group.

워라벨- work-life balance

This is a word borrowed from English and it is pronounced as wolabar which pick the first syllable of work-life balance and combine them to a new word. There are many other combination Korean words which are very interesting such as 불꽃 fireworks = 불 fire + 꽃 flower.

댕댕이- 멍멍이 

This is a bob-tailed dog breed originating in Korea and it is also a slang because it is invented when too many people write it wrong as 멍멍이. This is so interesting!

For the last class, we reviewed a lot of things we learned this semester and I am satisfied with my progress in Korean learning. My goal for this semester is to improve the skills of communication, especially to learn the conversation that I can truly use when I travel to Korean because learning is for using and I did learned the topic about tourism and how to order food in restaurant. I began to looking forward my future language learning already!

During the past two classes, we learned Korean idioms. I find some Korean idioms has great similarities with Chinese idiom and that might because of the great influence of ancient Chinese cultural to Korean. The Korean idiom is even more commonly used in daily conversations than Chinese idiom. I have seen a Korean variety show called New Journey to The West, which contains a game about idiom, to test whether the participants are familiar with them. It makes people more aware of traditional culture.

갈수록 태산.

translation: The further you go, the more mountains you will meet. Things are going to be harder and harder, and there will be many barriers waiting for you in the future. It is often used when you get a small success and the elders advise you not to be complacent.

그림의 떡.

translation: Pie in the painting. It referring to untouchable things or something one can only see.

누워서 떡 먹기.

translation: eating cake lying down. It means you can get it without paying many effort.

미운 놈 떡 하나 더 준다.

translation: give one more rice cake to your enemy. The more you hate someone, the better you should treat them. I guess it means “spoil” the one you hate so that he or she will be more and more annoying so that nobody will like them.

믿는 도끼에 발등 찍힌다.

translation: Be chopped in the foot by the ax you trust. It refers to one was betrayed and hurt by someone he or she trust.

병 주고 약 준다.

translation: to give illness and then medicine. It means at first you did not treat one well but you give them a reward after then. There is a similar Chinese idiom and its literal meaning is slap your face then give you a sweet dates.

작은 고추가 더 맵다.

translation: the smaller the pepper, the spicier it is. It means people that look shorter might have larger energy and more skills.

지나가던 개가 웃겠다.

translation: a passing dog will laugh. It means the joke is so boring that only the dog passing by will laugh.

혼자서 북 치고 장구 친다 / 혼자서 모두 일을 알아서 한다.

translation: doing everything by yourself.

하나를 보면 열을 안다.

translation: See one part, it shows ten more aspects.

하룻강아지 범 무서운 줄 모른다.

translation: a puppy isn’t afraid of a tiger. A genuine and ignorant one will not be afraid because he or she did not truly understand the situation. There is a same one in Chinese idiom: a calf is not afraid of a tiger.

On October 19th, Sulli (Shirley), a member of girl group F(x), was found dead in her home in Seongnam by police. Her death put spotlight on a worldwide conversation about in South Korea misogyny and cyberbullying in South Korea.

After Korean pop singer Shirley ended her life last month, Goo Hara, also a singer, who was best friend of Shirley, was distressing. Goo Hara said that she hoped that Shirley could live in freedom in heaven. "I will work harder to live after you leave," she said, "Dear fans, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." However, six weeks after Shirley's death, Goo Hara was found dead at her home in Seoul, and police claimed she committed suicide. The two of them are among the most popular stars in the Korean, and their suicide has caused Korean music fans to reflect on what ’s wrong with K-pop, the country ’s most successful cultural output.

Shirley debuted when she was very young and she was famous for her cuteness and innocence like a princess. Three years ago, she became fickle and did things that everyone does not understand, including the photos which were sexy and slightly exposed. As early as 2013, the fame started to turn dark. Rumors spread that Shirley was dating Choiza, a rapper whose stage name slickly alludes to sexual organs. Shirley ‘s fans preferred to think of her as single and refused to accept that she is dating with such a sordid man. With the media record continued to speculate about their relationship, including a false story that Shirley was pregnant. All the things subverted her image of a good girl. Many haters have begun to curse her online, claiming that she did not love herself or even asserting that she was mentally abnormal. Previously, Shirley shared a photo without wearing underwear on her Instagram and was attacked and scolded by netizens. It is even more annoying that every time after Shirley posted some photos of herself, vicious comments came. She responded that "I wear it or not is my freedom." 

In the months before her death, Shirley was criticized for a long list of supposed missteps, including: posing in a sweatshirt which prompted accusations of promoting pedophilia, posting a photo of herself going braless, kissing her friend Goo Hara on the lips at a birthday party and Dubbing live eels in the oven.

The recent news always makes me feel uncomfortable, and I hope every girl can be treated well. "No snowflake is innocent during an avalanche", “You guys are murderers”. After the incident, countless similar remarks spread on the internet, which I find ironic. It looks like a complaint, but in fact it is more like shirk responsibility. Cyber ​​violence exists and is very common for a while. As observers, should we be innocent downright? We know that a lot of people hurt others online, but we just flipp through the comments and choose silence instead of fighting back.

This week we discussed about the Korean history during Japanese colonial. In 1910, Korea was annexed by the Empire of Japan after years of war, intimidation and political machinations; the country would be considered a part of Japan until 1945. In order to establish control over its new protectorate, the Empire of Japan waged an all-out war on Korean culture. Schools and universities forbade speaking Korean and emphasized manual labor and loyalty to the Emperor. It also became a crime to teach history from non-approved texts and authorities burned over 200,000 Korean historical documents, essentially wiping out the historical memory of Korea.

Korean people weren’t the only thing that were plundered during Japanese colonization. One of the most powerful symbols of Korean sovereignty and independence was its royal palace, Gyeongbokgung, which was built in Seoul in 1395. Soon after assuming power, the Japanese colonial government pushed down over a third of the complex’s historic buildings, and the remaining structures were turned into tourist attractions for Japanese visitors.

Though Japan occupied Korea for an entire generation, the Korean people didn’t submit passively to Japanese rule. Throughout the occupation, protest movements pushed for Korean independence. In 1919, the March First Movement proclaimed Korean independence and more than 1,500 demonstrations broke out. The March 1st Movement provided a catalyst for the Korean Independence Movement. Given the ensuing suppression and hunting down of activists by the Japanese, many Korean leaders went into exile in Manchuria, Shanghai and other parts of China, where they continued their activities. Later then, March 1^st became the Independence Movement Day, also known as 삼일절 (Samiljeol).

The Japanese surrendered to the Allies in 1945, which ended World War II, led to a time of great confusion in Korea. The country was divided into zones of occupation by the victorious Americans and Soviets. The Soviets and Americans failed to reach an agreement on a unified Korean government, and in 1948 two separate governments were established, each claiming to be the legitimate government of all Korea: the Republic of Korea in Seoul, in the American zone, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in Pyongyang, in the Soviet zone. In 1950, North Korean forces invaded the South. The Korean War drew in the Americans in support of South Korea and the Chinese in support of the North. In 1953, after three years of fighting in which some three million Koreans, one million Chinese, and 54,000 Americans were killed, the Korean War ended in a truce with Korea still divided into two mutually antagonistic states.

By knowing the history of Korea help us gain more insight into a fascinating society and country with the long and rich history.

This week we learned tourism in Korea and some basic conversation that we can use when we visit there. The most commonly used is to ask road and ask others help to take pictures. When we want to ask: “where is the museum?” we can say: “박물관이 어디에 있어요?” 박물관 means museum and we can replace it with any other places we want to ask, such as 미술관  which means art museum, and 동물원  which means zoo. Besides these, Brenda also introduced many Korean famous scenic spot to us. In남산골 한옥 마을, also known as "A Village of Traditional Houses in the Namsan Valley", we can take part in cultural programs including wearing hanbok (traditional Korean costumes), calligraphy, making traditional paper (hanji), kites and masks, and sipping traditional teas. It is such an impressive trip to experience the life of ancient Korean surround by the modern buildings.

The second spot is 서울 타워(Seoul Tower), an observation tower at 236 meters which is the second highest point in Seoul. Some other attractions are  광화 멘 (Gwanghwa men), 양화 대교 (yanghwa Bridge), 반포 대교 (Banpo Bridge), and 경복궁 (gyeongboggung).

Once we arrived the attractions, we can say:  

여기서 사진 찍어도 돼요?

Can I take a picture here?

실례합니다. 사진 좀 찍어 주시겠어요?

Excuse me. Do you mind taking a picture of me/us?

한 장 더 찍어주세요.

Please taken one more picture

네. 찍습니다. 하나, 둘, 셋, 김치.

Are you ready? One, two, three, cheese!

"Say cheese" is an instruction used by photographers to smile. By saying "cheese", most people form their mouths into what appears to be a smile-like shape. Most time, we simply use "say cheese" as a cue to enter their final pose and to smile, and now "say" is almost always dropped from phrase, resulting in simply being "Cheese." However, in Korean, they use 김치(kimchi) which is a famous traditional side dish of salted and fermented vegetables, instead of cheese. When we pronounce ‘ -chi ’, as you know, our mouth is usually like smiling. Usually, in China people do not say “chesse”, because in Chinese it is called “nai lao” and the word could not produce the same mouth shape, so the Chinese version is to shout out “茄子” (qie zi) which means “eggplant”.

Some words we need to remember after class:

박물관 museum/ 화장실 toilet / 미술관 Gallery or art museum/ 식당 restaurant/ 백화점department store / 지하철역subway station 

For the third week, Brenda asked us to choose from three topics that we are going to cover this semester, including topic about shopping, restaurant and tourism. As a foodie, I definitely vote for the topic of restaurant. I am really excited about that because one of my goal this semester is to improve the skills of communication, especially to learn the conversation that I can truly use when I travel to Korean. I have been to Korean restaurants in Richmond several times but never spoke in Korean with 이모, the female owner in the restaurant who help us with ordering food. Korean food is the most attractive part of Korean culture.

Usually the menu is visible on the wall of the restaurant, however if for some reason the menu is not there, we need to ask for the menu. Through situation dialogue, Brenda taught us how to order the food in restaurant and some common phrases we can use.

여기요!

Here!

주문하시겠어요?

Would you like to order?

육게장 일인분주세요

One order of spicy beef soup please.

어떤것을추천하세요? 

What would you recommend?

이거좀더주세요! 

Please give me some more of this!

제가낼게요

I am ready to pay.

This is very helpful because after class I went to Korean Garden, a restaurant owned by 이모, I used this conversation and it works! Besides some vocabularies I learned in class, I also learned from menu. My favorite Korean food is 육게장(spicy beef soup) and 김치볶음밥(kimchi fried rice). 이모was surprised and acclaim my Korean pronunciation as well.

For the fourth week, we learned 30 vocabularies related to dormitory and country.

Korea 한국     India 인도     Philippines필리핀 Thailand 태국

Australia 호주  Canada 캐나다     China 중국    France 프랑스

Germany 독일       America 미국      Japan 일본         UK 영국    

Russia 러시아   Vietnam베트남

Refrigerator 냉장고   pillow베개    fan선풍기     shoes신발

Trash can쓰레기통   hanger걸이  blanket담요    window창문

Wardrobe옷장      bed침대     curtain커튼    cup 컵 

I believe that nouns are vital because they refer to places, objects and people. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the largest challenges in learning a second language, so knowing nouns can largely improve the effectiveness of conversation,especially for a beginner of language-learning. Sometimes I might not speak a complete and grammatically correct sentence, but if I can speak out the main object, my conversation partner can still understand what I mean.

To sum up, I was satisfied with what I have learned these two weeks and after class I made a detailed plan to review and consolidate my memory by making sentences with new vocabulary and applying it with Amber.

For the first week of Korean class, I am very excited to work with a group of students who are friends with me as well. Last semester, I had a great experience of one-to-one class with Seonghye, so I became more excited to have a bigger study group. In first class, we reviewed some knowledge I learned last semester. Since four of the us were on different levels, we began with self-introduction. Take me as an example:

1. 안녕하세요저는류한첸입니다.

Hello!  My name is Liu Hanchen.

2. 저는만20살입니다.

I am 20 years old.

3. 제전공은 수학입니다.

My major is mathematics.

5. 저는남동생 한명 있습니다.

I have one younger brother.

6. 내생일은7 월29 일입니다.

My birthday is July 29^th.

7.     나는 우상을 좋아하지 않는다

I do not have a favorite idol.

Then, Brenda asked us to do the introduction one by one and let us know more vocabulary from Amber, Yuting, and Nichole’s introductions. For example, Yuting has a little sister, and in Korean, we called younger sister여동생. It is similar to younger brother (남동생), with only the first character being different. Brenda showed another analogous example to help us remember the difference between “여”which means female and “남”which means male. Boyfriend is called “남자친구”and girlfriend is called“여자친구”.

When we discussed Korean drama, I mentioned a web series called 퐁당퐁당Love (Splash Love). It pronounced as “pu dang love”, but I accidentally pronounced as “pu dong love”. Brenda seemed confused and then she realized that I want to say 퐁당(pu dang) instead of 포동(pu dong) because what I said is a word means chubby.

For the second week, Brenda used Yongsei textbook and talked about the difference between 가and 는. However, since Seonghye and I mainly focused on this book last semester,  it was not something new for me. Besides that, we spent the rest of the class learning vocabulary of different colors of the rainbow. There was an interesting phenomenon that the pronunciation of color in Korean is basically the same as the English pronunciation of this color. For example, red is 레드(lede), and pink is called 핑크(pinke). There is a more traditional way to say colors. Red is 빨강색; orange is 주항색; yellow is노랑색; green is 초록색; blue is 파랑색; purple is 보라색; black is 까만색. I was delighted with learning new Korean vocabularies because one of my goal this semester is remembering more daily vocabularies and try to use them when I talk with native Korean speakers.

    To sum up, the first two-week class is helpful for me to pick up what I have learned with Seonghye after a long summer. The new stuff for me is attractive, which helps me step closer to my goal.

Bi-W 1.docx

reflection%20papaer.docx

week7- 4/9

This week I began to learn the verb vocabulary such as "to go", " to eat", " to eat", " to read", " to meet" which are all in dictionary forms and if I want to apply them in a sentence, I must change the structure of it by deleting add 다 and addingㅂ니다 or 습니다 right after the verb. For example, when I want to use "to go", which is 가다 in the dictionary form, in a sentence, I must delete 다 which is a useless part in the phrase and add ㅂ니다 to combine into the correct form 갑니다. And similar to the use of object particles, this two affixes are used base on the character before it. "ㅂ니다" must be used after the word ending with vowels and "습니다" is used after the word ending with consonants.  

Michael mentioned that the most useful sentence we should learned as a language learner is "What is this/that?". I eventually get the chance to learn this sentence! In Korean, "this thing" is 이것 and it mainly used when the object is close to the speaker; "that thing" 그것 and is used when the object is close to the listener; When it comes to an object are both far from the listener and the speaker, we can say "that thing" as 저것. 

week8- 4/16

This is the last class before my Korean final exam. We learned a bunch of Korean vocabularies about the objects in classroom including blackboard, desk, book, chair, window and door. And Seonghye helped me review from the first lesson and she said she was really proud of my progress! I really appreciate that!

week9- 4/23 

Final exam!!!!

week5- 3/26

This week I began to learn conversation on textbook. The first lesson is talking about greeting between two people who first met each other, and they are saying "안녕하세요" to each other, which means hello but in a very formal style. It is not my first time to hear it because I have watched a lot of Korean variety TV programs and soap opera, and the first Korean phrases I learned when I was younger was "안녕하세요". In this class I also learned how to introduce my name, my job and my nationality. 

안녕하세요! 저는 한첸 입니다, 저는 중구 싸람 입니다. 중구 학생 입니다. 

Hi! I am Hanchen. I am Chinese. I am a student.

Also, I learned the difference between the topic particle 는 and 은. 은 is used after the words ending with consonants and 는 is used after the words ending with vowels. We practices several sentences about choosing which topic particle we should use on class.

week6- 4/2

This week I learned way more vocabularies about jobs including office worker, student, police, singer, teacher, and doctor. For grammar part, I knew a new sentence structure which is Subject+ 이/가 아닙니다 (I am not ... ). 이/가 is similar to what we learned in last week, and it is a object particle used after subject. 이 is used after words ending with consonants and 가 is used after words ending with vowels. I felt confused about the difference between these two paris of particles and Seonghye helped me specify the difference of usage between 는/ 은 and 이/가 clearly. 

Fan fact: most Korean will omitted the difference of them in daily speech, especially when they have no purpose to serve in a sentence.

week3- 3/5

This week I learnt  four more consonants: ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, ㅎ and four more vowels: ㅑ, ㅕ, ㅒ,ㅖ. Besides these symbols,  Soenghye also taught me several vocabularies and asked me to memorize them. 어느 means which, 나라 means country,

사람 means people. Combining the country's name which is 중국(China)and 사람(people) together, I get the word " Chinese". 

week4- 3/19

During the long spring break, I did not forgot my Korean class. I have a Korean friends who went to Puerto Rico with me, and I effectively practiced my Korean with him, even though the conversation is limited by my scanty Korean vocabulary.

This week I learned the final five consonants: ㅃ, ㅉ, ㄸ, ㄲ, ㅆ, and six double vowel: 왜, 외, 웨, 워, 위, 의. I can straightforwardly feels the difficulty of Korean now, because the double vowels are made by writing and typing two of the vowels we just learned together. Despite looking similar in style, they pronounced almost the same! 외 is pronounced like the English "Way" and 위 is pronounced like the word "We". I used my phone to record Seonghye's pronunciation and my pronunciation, so that by listening to it after class, I can clearly find which part I did well and where I did wrongly.  

Week 1- 2/19

This is my first Korean class with Seonghye 씨. At the beginning, she introduced what is Hangul and what is Hanja. Hangul is the main writing system of Korea and there are 24 unique symbols combine together to make all kinds of Hangul combination. In this class, we learnt five consonants including ㄱ, ,ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ and five vowels including ㅐ, ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅗ, ㅜ. Then we came to how to use consonants and vowels to create simple hangul and the writing order and orientation of Hangul. After the first class, I can read and write simple characters that are only composed of these five consonants and five vowels, such as 개 (dog), 다 (all), 누구 (who), 모두(everyone). We can see that ten basic symbols can already combines into many frequently-used words.

Week2- 2/26

This week, we are keep learning new Hangul including five more consonants: ㅂ, ㅈ, ㅅ, ㅇ, ㅊ and five more vowels:ㅡ, ㅣ, ㅔ, ㅠ, ㅛ. Since some of the pronunciation are similar or even same, Seonghye teached me the different sounds of ㅅ, the difference between ㅔand ㅐ, and the difference between  ㅜ and ㅡ. As we have already learned 20 symbols, I can read a lot of words and write them following the instruction. One thing I found really interesting is that some Korean words is just translated from Chinese or English. Take the word 주스 for example, it means juice and the pronunciation is " jyuseu" which almost same as juice. 

Recently, the new music video of Black Pink, Kill This Love, was banned by South Korean television network KBS, and the reason for the ban is a scene in which band member Rose drives a car without wearing a seatbelt. Since KBS has been known to be strict for the regulations and disqualification including traffic law violation. At the beginning, I thought it was a interesting news; however, since K-pop has such a huge influence in South Korea, especially for teenagers, so that the strictness of broadcast should be appreciated.

Recently, there is a huge event happened in South Korean. The well-known former member of BigBang, Seungri, stands accused of providing prostitution services, embezzlement, and sharing secretly recorded sex videos. Although Seungri had a huge impact on K-pop as a member of one of its most influential acts, the irrevocable damage to his reputation led him to retire from show business. Seungri is known to be polyglot, speaking Korean, English, Japanese and Mandarin. However, after this scandal, people all said that his language skills help him to be an international pimp, which is so sarcastic. Several other high-profile K-pop celebrities are involved in the growing scandal as well. 

With a member from one of its biggest groups entangled in such a scandal, South Korean stocks have already taken a hit. Moreover, the stock price of YG which is Bigbang's company plunged more than 14 percent, the largest drop ever since it was first listed on Korean stock market KOSDAQ. 

Personally, I was a big fan of BigBang when I was younger and now I am very disappointed to him. I gain an insight into the k-pop star that they just act as what we want them to be on screen, so I will be a rational fan in the future.