What is ㅋㅋ or ㅎㅎ?

What is ㅋㅋ in Korean?

It is a chatting word which means “laugh” or “funny”. One of the laughing sounds in Korean is 크크, so we just write that without vowels. There is also ㅎㅎ, which is 하하.

So if you see something funny, you can leave ㅋㅋ or ㅎㅎ.

Country names in Korean – Africa

Africa  아프리카

Ghana	가나
Gabon	가봉
Gambia	감비아
Guinea	기니
Guinea Bissau	기니비사우
Namibia	나미비아
Nigeria	나이지리아
Republic of  South Africa	남아프리카 공화국
Niger	니제르
Liberia	라이베리아
Lesotho	레소토
Rwanda	르완다
Libya	리비아
Madagascar	마다가스카르
Malawi	말라위
Mali	말리
Morocco	모로코
Mauritius	모리셔스
Mauritanie	모리타니
Mozambique	모잠비크
Benin	베냉
Botswana	보츠와나
Burundi	부룬디
Burkina Faso	부르키나파소
Sao Tome and Principe	상투메프린시페
Senegal	세네갈
Seychelles	세이셸
Somalia	소말리아
Sudan	수단
Swaziland	스와질란드
Sierra Leone	시에라리온
Algerie	알제리
Angola	앙골라
Eritrea	에리트레아
Ethiopia	에티오피아
Uganda	우간다
Egypt	이집트
Zambia	잠비아
Equatorial Guinea	적도기니
Central African Republic	중앙 아프리카 공화국
Djibouti	지부티
Zimbabwe	짐바브웨
Chad	차드
Cameroon	카메룬
Cabo Verde	카보베르데
Kenya	케냐
Comoros	코모로
Cote d’lvoire	코트디부아르
Republic of  Congo	콩고 공화국
Democratic Republic of Congo	콩고 민주 공화국
Tanzania	탄자니아
Togo	토고
Tunisie	튀니지

You can listen to audio files by clicking here.

Country names in Korean – America

America – 아메리카

 North America  – 북아메리카

South America –  남아메리카

 

Guyana	가이아나
Guatemala	과테말라
Grenada	그레나다
Nicaragua	니카라과
Dominican Republic	도미니카 공화국
Cammon Wealth of Dominica	도미니카 연방
Mexico	멕시코
United States of America	미국
Barbados	바베이도스
Bahamas	바하마
Venezuela	베네수엘라
Belize	벨리즈
Bolivia	볼리비아
Brazil	브라질
Saint Lucia	세인트루시아
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	세인트빈센트 그레나딘
St. Christopher and Nevis	세인트크리스토퍼 네비스
Surinam	수리남
Argentina	아르헨티나
Haiti	아이티
Antigua and Barbuda	앤티가 바부다
Ecuador	에콰도르
El Salvador	엘살바도르
Honduras	온두라스
Uruguay	우루과이
Jameica	자메이카
Chile	칠레
Canada	캐나다
Costa Rica	코스타리카
Colombia	콜롬비아
Cuba	쿠바
Trinidad and Tobago	트리니다드토바고
Panama	파나마
Paraguay	파라과이
Peru	페루

 

You can listen to audio files by clicking here.

Country names in Korean – Europe

Europe  유럽

 

Greece	그리스
Netherlands	네덜란드
Norway	노르웨이
Denmark	덴마크
Germany	독일
Latvia	라트비아
Russia	러시아
Rumania	루마니아
Luxembourg	룩셈부르크
Lituania	리투아니아
Liechtenstein	리히텐슈타인
Macedonia	마케도니아
Monaco	모나코
Moldova	몰도바
Malta	몰타
Vatican	바티칸
Belgium	벨기에
Belorus	벨로루시
Bosnia Herzegovina	보스니아 헤르체고비나
Bulgaria	불가리아
San Marino	산마리노
Sweden	스웨덴
Switzerland	스위스
Spain	스페인
Slovakia	슬로바키아
Slovenia	슬로베니아
Iceland	아이슬란드
Ireland	아일랜드
Aandorra	안도라
Albania	알바니아
Estonia	에스토니아
United Kingdom	영국
Austria	오스트리아
Ukraina	우크라이나
Yugoslavia	유고슬라비아
Italy	이탈리아
Czech	체코
Croaita	크로아티아
Partugal	포르투갈
Poland	폴란드
France	프랑스
Finland	핀란드
Hungary	헝가리

 

You can listen to audio files by clicking here.

Country names in Korean – Oceania

Oceania  오세아니아

Nauru	나우루
New zealand	뉴질랜드
Marshall	마셜
Micronesia	미크로네시아
Vanuatu	바누아투
Western Samoa	서사모아
Solomon Islands	솔로몬
Austrailia	오스트레일리아
Kiribati	키리바시
Tonga	통가
Tuvalu	투발루
Papua New Guinea	파푸아뉴기니
Palau	팔라우
Fiji	피지

 

You can listen to audio files by clicking here.

Country names in Korean – Asia

Asia 아시아

Gruziya	그루지야
Nepal	네팔
Taiwan	대만
South Korea	대한민국
Laos	라오스
Lebanon	레바논
Malaysia	말레이시아
Maldives	몰디브
Mongolia	몽골
Myanmar	미얀마
Bahrain	바레인
Bangladesh	방글라데시
Vietnam	베트남
Bhutan	부탄
North Korea	북한
Brunei	브루나이
Saudi Arabia	사우디 아라비아
Sri Lanka	스리랑카
Syria	시리아
Singapore	싱가포르
United Arab Emirates	아랍에미리트
Armenia	아르메니아
Azerbaizhan	아제르바이잔
Afghanistan	아프가니스탄
Yemen	예멘
Oman	오만
Jordan	요르단
Uzbekistan	우즈베키스탄
Iraq	이라크
Iran	이란
Israel	이스라엘
India	인도
Indonesia	인도네시아
Japan	일본
China	중국
Kazakhstan	카자흐스탄
Qatar	카타르
Cambodia	캄보디아
Kuwait	쿠웨이트
Kyrgyzstan	키르기스스탄
Kypros	키프로스
Thailand	타이
Tadzhikistan	타지키스탄
Turkey	터키
Turkmenistan	투르크메니스탄
Pakistan	파키스탄
Philippines	필리핀

 

You can listen to audio files by clicking here.

새해 복 많이 받으세요!

새해 복 많이 받으세요! means “Happy new year!” in Korean. 새해 means new year, 복  means luck, 많이 means a lot and 받으세요 means please receive. So it literally means ‘Hope you will receive a lot of luck in new year.”

This year, Lunar new year’s day is Feb 8th on Monday. It is the biggest holiday in Korea. A lot of people go to their parents house or oldest brother’s house to make special food for a morning ceremony for their ancestors.

After the morning ceremony, they have breakfast with the food that they make a night before new years day. And then kids bow to their grand parents, uncles and aunts and parents.

Here is my favorite part of new year’s day! After kids bow to the old generation, adults give them some money!!!!!! When I was a kid, my mom always took that money and said she would keep it for us, but I didn’t get that back 😦

The special food for new year’s day is rice cake soup. I posted about this last year, you can click here to read stories.

You can listen to the audio file by clicking here.

 

[Culture] 부대찌개 – Army stew, troops stew

부대찌개 – Army stew

부대 means ‘army’ or ‘troops’ and 찌개 is ‘stew’.  Koreans love 부대찌개 especially when they drink Soju.  It is normally served in a big pot, so 3 or 4 people can share. Do you know why it is called ‘army stew’?

During the Korean war, there was not enough food to eat, so a lot of people died by hunger. So Koreans collected some food such as spam, can beans or sausage that is left-over from the U.S troops and put them all together in a big pot. 부대찌개 has sad history, however this is one of Koreans’ favorite food!

In 부대찌개, there are Kimchi(김치 Seoul Kimchi), spam(스팸), sausage(소시지), noodles(라면), can beans(콩), bean sprouts(콩나물), tofu(두부) and onions(양파).  You can put them in a pot and pour broth or water with Red pepper powder(고추가루), yellow bean sauce(된장), soy sauce(간장) and garlic(마늘).

You can add a slice of cheese(치즈) at the end, it is more delicious!!! I am going to make it tonight, do you want to join with me?

새해 복 많이 받으세요! Happy New Year!

“Happy New Year” in Korean is 새해 복 많이 받으세요.

새해(sae hae:new year) 복(bok: luck) 많이(mah nee: a lot) 받으세요(bah deu se yo: please receive)

Literally it means “Hope you have good luck in new year!”

New year’s day is called 설날(Seollal) in Korean. It is my favorite holiday!

In the past, we only celebrated The Lunar New Year’s day which changes every year.  In 2015, Feb 19th is The Lunar New Year’s day.  Recently, a lot of people celebrate both(Jan 1st and Lunar new year’s day) but the Lunar New year’s day is more significant for Koreans.

We take a day off for Jan 1st, on the other hand we take 3days off for the Lunar New Year’s day.

In the morning of  the New Year’s day, we cook “Dduk ggook” which is rice cake soup.  The reason why we eat the rice cake soup is that the rice cake is long and white which means a long life and pureness.  Traditionally,  the day before the new year’s day, all family members make dumplings together to add them into rice cake soup.  My favorite dumplings are Kimchi dumplings.

In early morning of the new year’s day, we dress up with 한복(Han bok) which is Korean traditional clothes and bow to grand parents, uncles/aunts and parents. Then, they give us some money in a small pocket after we bow to them. The bow is called 세배(se bae), and the money is called 세뱃돈(se baet ddon).

When I was a kid, we went to go to my oldest uncle’s house the day before the new year’s day.  My uncle said “You shouldn’t go to bed until midnight, otherwise the ghost will come to make you really old.” (It is one of fairy tales)

For a kid, it’s not easy to stay up late, so I fell asleep.  Every time I went to bed early, my uncle put flour on my eyebrows, so when I woke up I found myself to become an old lady.

I am going to make my own rice cake soup and think about my family in Korea.

여러분, 새해 복 많이 받으세요!

[Culture] Subway in Seoul!

When you travel in Seoul, you will take subway. Subway in Korean is 지하철(Ji ha cheol). The subway system in Seoul is very complicated and big.  So If you don’t have a map, you will get lost!  To be honest, I got lost several times at Chungmuro station. 😦

Here is some information about the subway system in Seoul.  You can download those maps and bring them to Seoul.

Download the Korean map:map_korea

Download the English map: map_english

And these are pictures of some tourist places that are close to subway station.