Korean Religion

Korea has mainly three kinds of religion, Confucianism, Buddism and Christianity.

Starting the middle of the 20th century, Christianity could prosper and has competed with Buddhism. Christianity were affected by Korean Shamanism, Taoism and Buddhism.

With many people insist that Buddists are half of Koreans or Christians are half of Koreans, in 2005, the Korean government announced the statistics of the rate. roughly 46% of the Koreans don't have a particular religion. It means that they could be in Korean Shamanism and Confucianism. Christians are 29.2% of the population of which are Catholics 10.9% and Protestants 18.3%.

Islam is also in Korea. Not many people belive, but it's growing up with about 100,000 foreign workers and immigrants from Muslim countries.

Korean New Year (2)

Korean New Year (2) - The memorial service for Korean's own ancestors.

I am not sure whether "the memorical service for ancestors" is translated in english correctly. Anyway, as you can see the picture, it's called "cha rae"[차례]. It's kind of the respectful service for Koreans' own ancestors.

It's originated from Confucianism which was accepted in the Chosun dynasty as a national religion and a efficiently ruling idea.

I think you already know that Koreans love hot and spicy food. But you won't find out hot and spicy food on the service. It's totally banned that hot, spicy and red color food including peppers and garlics is put on because the red means that ancestors' spirits don't prefer. Obviously, it could be kind of shamanism or idolraty, which is believing idols.

Because Koreans practice worships for acestors like idols, Christian people deny this ritual ceremony with one of the Ten Commandments from the Holy Bible that says "I am the LORD thy God, thou shalt have no other gods before me."

There are other regulations when Koreans set up the table. Fish should be on east and fish's head should be headed for right side. Meat should be on west-side. Koreans put dried seafood like a squid on the left side of the table. And red-colored fruits like apples are on right side of the table.

As like that there are lots of dialects from each area in one language, the methods how to set up are different from family, region, and so on.

차례(charae), the memorial service for ancestors, is usually being held twice a year, 설날(the Korean new year) and 추석(chusok : the Korean Thanksgiving day).

----NEW WORDS

차례 (charae) : the ancestral memorial service in Korea

a picture : 사진[sa jin]

Confucianism : 유교 (you gyo)

Christianism : 기독교 (gi dok gyo)

Buddhism : 불교 (bul gyo)

#. ~교 means a kind of religion.

an apple : 사과(sa gwa / sa gua)

a squid : 오징어 (oh jing oe)

----QUIZ

WHAT is "the memorial service for ancestors" called in Korean?

Korean New Year

Korean New Year

Koreans usually celebrate New Year twice. One is from the solar calender, the other one is for the lunar new year. In the past thime before I or my parents came up on the world, Asian people had a tendency to follow the lunar calender. I think the Pacific Asian people had regarded the lunar was a kind of pivotal standard for the life.

Firstly, I don't want to mention and explain about the lunar calender because I think you are here with your interests of Korean things or Asian things. Unless you were, you can type in "the lunar calender" and get some information or contents about it.

I remember that some of media say Asian people have Chinese New Year. When I read, I got depressed. Why was it from China? I don't know and can not find out where the origin from. It's obvious that there are lots of hypothesis and assumptions but I can not insist which one is logical and valid. Anyhow, I want the New Year on the lunar callender to be called like "the Lunar New Year" now that China, Japan, Mongol, Vietnam or others which I don't know have a celebration of the lunar new year.

The Korean New Year is known as "Seollal" [설날] . It has other names such as "Sesu", "Wondan", "Sinwon" or "Wonil." It's the biggest Korean festival with "Chusok"[추석].

(Chusok is like the Korean Thanksgiving day.)

Starting the Japanese period, the Korean has accepted the solar calender.

Koreans have solar and lunar new year celebrations now. The solar new year is called "sin jeong"[신정], the other one is "goo jeong."[구정] . Part of Korean conservertives asks Koreans not to use "sin jeong" and "goo jeong" because the two words were from Japanese expressions.

What does the Korean do on Seollal? As is the case with other countries, Koreans also have like New Year's resolutions and greeting with their precious reletives. With roughly a couple of weeks to go before Seollal, Koreans send some postal mails with their sweat hearts.

Many people go back to their hometown where they had been grown up. Many Korean people with dreams of success gathered into Seoul or around Seoul from other cities or provinces in 1970's. Those were the babyboom genereation from their parents suffered from the Korean War. By virtue of their efforts, South Korea could stand and come up.

On one or two days before Sollal, lots of cars are clogging up on all the highways and all tickets for travellers on the holidays are sold out. Do you want to feel the day? Just take your car on highways. You may have to wash your hands around highways, not in a restroom of service area.

With pleasure of getting together with family, they are going back their hometown on that day even if they get great tons of stress.

On Seollal, Koreans have new year's greeting, called "Sebae"[세배]. Young people bow formaly in Korean ways, with kneeling down and bending their body, to their parents or grand parents. (You can see the pictures on the top of the post.)

--NEW WORDS-----------------------

세배 (sebae) - bow formaly in Korean ways.

설날 (sollal) - the Korean New Year based on the solar or lunar callender

신정 (sinjeong) - the Korean solar new year. The word might be from Japan.

구정 (goojeong) - the Korean lunar new year.

고향 (gohyang) - the hometown where you were born and grown.

추석(chusok) - the Korean Thanksgiving day. It's not the same with the American or Canadian one.

할아버지(hal ah bu ji) - grandfa

할머니 (halmoni) - grandma

아버지 (abeoji) - father [formal]

아빠 (abba) - dad [informal]

어머니 (oemoni) - mother [formal]

엄마 (eomma) - mom [informal]

중국(joongguk) - China

몽골(mongol) - Mongol

일본(ilbol) - Japan

아시아(Ah si ah) - Asia

-------------------------------

Quiz.

What's the Korean lunar new year called in Korean?

Why the Korean gets the traffic congestion on highways during the national holidays?

Words - House

You can learn Korean at your finger tips on my blog!!


House : 집(jip)

문 [mun] : a door
티비 [tivi] : a TV
전화기[jeonwhagi] : a telephone
휴대폰 [hyudaepon] : a cellphone
탁자 [takja] : a table
의자 [uija] : a chair
책상 [chaeksang] : a desk
책 [chaek] : a book
냉장고[naengjanggo] : a refrigerator
전자레인지 [jeonjarange] : a micro oven.
침대 [chimdae] : a bed
소파[sopa] : sofa
박스[baksu] : box
이불[yibul] : linen
베개[begae] : a pillow
창문[changmun] : window
유리[youli] : glass
컵 [keop] : a cup
유리컵 : a cup made of class
안경[angyung] : glasses
옷장 [otjang] : a closet



"이것/저것/그것은 OOO입니당."
This/That/It is OOO.

You can put those words in the form of the sentence.


----------------------
#. Read these sentences.

1. 이것은 책상입니당.
2. 그것은 침대입니당.
3. 저것은 탁자입니당.
4. 저것은 냉장고입니당.
5. 이것은 베개입니당.

My name is...

Hello. I'm here as usual. Today's expression is "My name is."

I will give a dialogue. If you know how to read Korean, you can learn easily.

------------
류 : 안녕하세요? (ah nyung ha se yo?)

Ciara : 안녕하십니까? (an nyung ha sip ni gga?)

류 : 만나서 반갑습니당. 제 이름은 류입니당. (man na seo bangapsupnida. Je yirumun Ryu ipnida.)

Ciara : 네. 저도 반갑습니당. 제 이름은 씨에라입니당.
(Ne. Jeodo bangapsupnida. Je yirumun Ciara yipnida.)

-------------

Ryu : Hello?
Ciara : Hello?
Ryu : Nice to meet you. My name is Ryu.
Ciara : Ah~ Nice to meet you, too. I'm Ciara.

---------------


# Expressions
Hello = 안녕하십니까 = 안녕하세요 = 안녕
Nice to meet you = 만나서 반갑습니당. = 반갑습니당.
My name is OOO = 제 이름은 OOO 입니당.

# Words
meet = 만나당.
my = 저의 = 제 = 나의
name = 이름
is = 입니당.

# Grammar
만나서 is meant to show your reason that you did or have done.
English word order is subjective, verb, and objective. In Korean, however, the word order is subjective, objective, and verb. (Eng : S+V+O, Kor : S+O+V)

-----------------------------
#. BONUS!!!

I will put this sentence "This is a bag."
"a bag" is said "가방[gabang]" in Korean.
"This" is said "이것은" as well.

Analyze the sentence "This is a bag. "
이것은 (This) - Subjective
입니당 (is) - Verb
가방 (a bag) - Objective

As I wrote, Korean order is subjective, objectictive, and verb. Thus!!
you should think like this.
(this) - (a bag) - (is). = (이것은) (가방) (입니당.)


------------------------

# More~

Now, you know "this" is "이것은". How do korean say "that" and "it"?

- this = 이것은 [yigussun]
- that = 저것은 [geogussun]
- it = 그것은 [gugussun]

Now you can change the sentence "this is a bag" to "that is a bag" or "it is a bag."

---------------------------

# Excercise. Change the sentences to Korean.

1. That is a book. (a book = 책[chaeck])
_________________________

2. This is my dog. (a dog = 개[gae])
_________________________

3. It is a car. (a car = 차[cha])
_________________________

Some Words from other languages

There is a ton of Korean words from English. Usually, north Korean language has tendency to create its own vocabulary when foreign words come to. On the contrary, lots of south Korean words are created from sounds of English words. Wow!!

• computer : 컴퓨터 [kom pu toe]
• mouse : 마우스 [m a u s]
• monitor : 모니터 [mo ni toe]
• ice cream : 아이스크림[a i s k rim]
• elevator : 엘리베이터[el li be i teo]
• camera : 카메라[ka mae la]
• microphone, MIC : 마이크[ma i k]
• CD : 시디[si di]
• DVD : 디비디[di vi di]
• date : 데이트[de i t]
• coffee : 커피 [keo pi]
• cola : 콜라 [kol la]
• cider : 사이당 [sa i da]
• McDonald : 맥도날드[maek do nal d]
• Burger King : 버거킹[beo geo king]
• Starbucks : 스타벅스[stabeoks]
• donuts : 도너츠[do neo chu]
• pizza : 피자[pi ja]
• spaghetti : 스파게티 [spageti]
• hamburger : 햄버거 [haembeogeo]
• bagel : 베이글 [beigul]
• sandwich : 샌드위치 [saen d wi chi]
• France : 프랑스 [pu lang su]
• Paris : 파리 [Pa li]
• Sri Lanka : 쓰리랑카 [ssu li lang ka]
• India : 인도 [in do]
• Philliphine : 필리핀 [pil li pin]
• Brazil : 브라질 [Bu la jil]
• Singapore : 싱가포르 [sing ga po ru]
• Turkey : 터키[teo ki]
• Sony : 소니[so ni]
• Toyota : 도요타 [do yo ta]
• Nintendo : 닌텐도[nin ten do]

- NOTES

1. Most of countries are called in the same way with common saying.

EX> Brazil, Singapore, Turkey etc...

2. Some brands doing business and franchizing in Korea are called in the original name.

EX> Sony...

3. Foods originated not in Korea are called in the original.

EX> Pizza, Cola ....

- Conclusion

Anything invented, created or made not in Korea is being used with its original sound using all over the world.

At this point, you may have a question how you guess where words from. I would like to give an answer understanding Korean cultural things is the best way to improve your Korean. I think any other language is NEVER understood without understanding its own culture.

If you have any question, you can email to dooliya@gmail.com at your convenience.

Useful Expressions

If you walk on streets, you may want to go to bathroom. Probably, you are in emergency situation with number one or number two. Whatever!
What will you do?

If you show the korean your expressful body languages, the korean might catch your meaning. However, it's obviously efficient if you say some korean sentences. ( It's okay that you say just only one word meaning of "bathroom.")

How should you say "bathroom" in Korean? You say "화장실."[hwajangsil]
Then, how should you say "I'm in emergency" in Korean? You can say "저 급해요." [jeo guphaeyo]

I will put some korean sentences for the situation on the below.

• a bathroom = 화장실 [hwajangsil]
• I'm in emergency! = 저 급해요! [jeo guphaeyo]
• I wanna go to bathroom = 저 화장실 가고 싶어요. [jeo hwajangsil gago sipoeyo]
• Where is a bathroom? = 화장실이 어디에요? [hwajangsili eodiaeyo]

Tip> When you ask something, you should make your intonation up at the end of the question.

Dialogue>

You : 실례합니당. [sillehapnida] = Excuse me.

Ryu : 네? [ne] = huh?

You : 저 화장실 가고 싶어요. [jeo hwajangsil gago sipeoyo] = I wanna go to bathroom

저 급해요! [jeo guphaeyo] = I'm in emergency.

Ryu : 여기에 있어요. [yeokiae itseoyo] = It's here.

Voca>

1. a bathroom : 화장실 [hwajangsil]
2. be in emergency : 급해요 [guphaeyo]
3. I : 저 [jeo]
4. here : 여기[yeoki]
5. there : 저기[jeki]

----------------------------

한국어 공부해요~

Let's learn Korean. ^^