The last two weeks, I worked on several things individually as well as with my language partner. The first week, I finished up studying about Korean history. Because the history of Korea was much more lengthy than I thought it was, I took much longer than anticipated to cover all the topics I wanted on this subject. Last week, I read over the graphic novels that the Global Studio called 설민석의 학국사 대모험 which roughly translates to Seol Min Seok’s Korean Adventure. Different volumes covered something different and illustrated different historical events. Because the graphic novels had a visual aid in addition to the text, the book was very readable, and I understood a lot more than I did when I read textbooks. One of the historical figures I read about Admiral Yi Sun Shin. Admiral Yi was a naval commander during the first instances of Japanese invasion of the Korean peninsula. During the Joseon Dynasty, Admiral Yi fought the Japanese army several times but never lost a battle. In the 23 instances of fighting in the sea, Admiral Yi maintained a perfected win record. Admiral Yi has since become a national hero and is featured in many aspects of Korean culture. Many movies, books, and documentaries are written about Admiral Yi and his accomplishments. There are even statues dedicated to the admiral for his achievements fighting for the country. I think this unit about Korean history was a very fruitful because I had many good refreshers about the rich history of Korea and went more in depth about the history I learned about when I was younger. I was able to take time on my own to study more in depth which I enjoyed as well. I also learned about the history that are not frequently brought up or taught in schools which was also helpful. In addition, I learned more about the language by reading the texts and speaking about it with my language partner. Often times, I found myself struggling with the texts because a lot of historical terms in Korea have difficult root words. These were words that had hanja in them, so it was hard to decipher what the word meant at times.
The following week after finishing up Korean history, I took a break from the formality of history and learned more about slang in Korean. With the help of my language partner and some online resources, I learned about how culture of slang has changed over time. Much like how the slang language changes over time in America, it took changes in Korea as well. Many of the slang in Korean are used in text messages and on TV shows. Usually, most slang used in Korea aren’t metaphorical but shortened versions of the meaning. For example, “갑분싸” is just shortened version of “갑자기 준위기 싸해짐” which means the mood suddenly turned cold or uncomfortable. I also noticed several slang words were just Korean pronunciations of English words such as “티엠아이” which literally reads “TMI” in English. Learning about more informal language after learning about history was very refreshing because I am used to informal speech more. In addition, since I use it more often, I get more practice as well.
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