Over the past few weeks, I’ve taken the time to improve my Korean listening skills by watching Korean television shows that are available on Netflix. One that I particularly enjoyed watching was Twenty-Five Twenty-One, starring Nam Joo Hyuk and Kim Tae Ri. I thought that the story was well written and I loved each of the characters’ personalities. The show takes place during the 1990s during the Asian Financial Crisis and follows the story of a teenage girl and a young man who are working to accomplish their dreams during hard times.
From watching this drama, I learned about the IMF crisis and some of the difficulties that South Koreans faced due to the unprecedented foreign exchange shortage in December 1997. I learned that this was a very painful period in Korea’s history because so many people lost their jobs and their livelihood. I also learned a lot of new Korean vocabulary on topics like fencing and reporting. For example, breaking news or 긴급 속보 (gingeub sogbo) was a word that came up very frequently throughout the episodes as one of main characters becomes a reporter.
In addition, my language partner and some other SDLC students took a trip to Northern Virginia where we enjoyed our last Korean meal together. We ordered our food in Korean and thoroughly enjoyed the Korean BBQ and the variety of side dishes offered at the restaurant. We also talked about our experiences taking SDLC this semester and how we planned to continue our Korean language learning moving forward.
Comments
Grace,
I also watched Twenty-Five, Twenty-One and absolutely loved it! Before watching this show, I also did not know what the IMF crisis was and how much that impacted our parents' lives. Not only was the k-drama fun, but it was also very historically insightful. Thanks for a great post!