Me, Myself, and I

[Jisun]

Helloooo!! My friend told me about this forum and I wanted to come and check you guys out! My name is Jisun and I'm 25. I was born in Seoul, South Korea, but grew up in Hong Kong and then went to college in Baltimore, Maryland! (small school, not many people know about it.) I majored in Creative Writing and minored in Spanish. I love learning languages! So far, I know and speak three pretty well (English, Korean, Spanish) and know a handful of French, Mandarin, and German.

I'm mostly a fiction prose writer, but I do dabble in writing poetry as well. At the moment, I'm working on a paranormal/supernatural short story idea.

I'm a huge fan of going with the flow, and seeing the beauty in everything and everyone; one of my favorite quotes: "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched; they must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller.

I love Disney movies, and any other animated movies-- I'm really a child at heart. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, my favorite color is pink, and I love listening to music. More often than not, I am listening to music. My favorite genres of music are rap, hip-hop/R&B, pop, indie. and folk/bluegrass, but really, I will listen to anything. As you can see, my music tastes vary quite a lot. and of course, I love listening to music in different languages as well.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Helloooo!! My friend told me about this forum and I wanted to come and check you guys out! My name is Jisun and I'm 25. I was born in Seoul, South Korea, but grew up in Hong Kong and then went to college in Baltimore, Maryland! (small school, not many people know about it.) I majored in Creative Writing and minored in Spanish. I love learning languages! So far, I know and speak three pretty well (English, Korean, Spanish) and know a handful of French, Mandarin, and German.

I'm mostly a fiction prose writer, but I do dabble in writing poetry as well. At the moment, I'm working on a paranormal/supernatural short story idea.

I'm a huge fan of going with the flow, and seeing the beauty in everything and everyone; one of my favorite quotes: "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched; they must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller.

I love Disney movies, and any other animated movies-- I'm really a child at heart. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, my favorite color is pink, and I love listening to music. More often than not, I am listening to music. My favorite genres of music are rap, hip-hop/R&B, pop, indie. and folk/bluegrass, but really, I will listen to anything. As you can see, my music tastes vary quite a lot. and of course, I love listening to music in different languages as well.

Hi; good to see you; God bless His Word to you.

PS: A good way to learn languages is to read editions of the Bible in different languages particularly at familiar passages.

 

[Jisun]

Yes! I've got the English-to-Korean Bible, NIV, ESV, and the Spanish Bible on my phone! Thanks!

 

[faroukfarouk]

Yes! I've got the English-to-Korean Bible, NIV, ESV, and the Spanish Bible on my phone! Thanks!

When you look for example at a passage such as John chapter 1, where the language is clear and simple, it is surprising how easily you learn to follow the structure of the language you are learning, right?

So do you read the Chinese characters that occur in Korean as well as the Hankul?

 

[Jisun]

When you look for example at a passage such as John chapter 1, where the language is clear and simple, it is surprising how easily you learn to follow the structure of the language you are learning, right?

So do you read the Chinese characters that occur in Korean as well as the Hankul?

Yep. And no, I don't know hanja but I do know some Chinese characters.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Yep. And no, I don't know hanja but I do know some Chinese characters.

I was thinking of the Korean script; don't you call it Hangul or Hankul?

 

[Jisun]

I was thinking of the Korean script; don't you call it Hangul or Hankul?

Yes. Hangul. But there aren't any Chinese characters in hangul.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Yes. Hangul. But there aren't any Chinese characters in hangul.

Okay!

So you do read the Hangul, right?

 

[Jisun]

Okay!

So you do read the Hangul, right?

Yep, that I do!

 

[faroukfarouk]

Yep, that I do!

I find the Hangul characters quite simple, really, compared with Chinese characters.

 

[Jisun]

I find the Hangul characters quite simple, really, compared with Chinese characters.

Yep. It's an alphabet, actually, so like in English, you can mix and match different consonants and vowels to make a word, whereas in Chinese, one character is one word.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Yep. It's an alphabet, actually, so like in English, you can mix and match different consonants and vowels to make a word, whereas in Chinese, one character is one word.

It seems like Hangul is a really great heritage for Koreans; and it looks very elegant also on the page. It's syllabic and phonetic, right?

 

[Jisun]

It seems like Hangul is a really great heritage for Koreans; and it looks very elegant also on the page. It's syllabic and phonetic, right?

Yep it's phonetic. That's what I meant by it being an alphabet, sorry. It's phonetic... what do you mean by a great heritage for Koreans?

 

[faroukfarouk]

Yep it's phonetic. That's what I meant by it being an alphabet, sorry. It's phonetic... what do you mean by a great heritage for Koreans?

I mean it's an indigenous cultural feature of Korea; the script did not emerge someplace else.

 

[Jisun]

I mean it's an indigenous cultural feature of Korea; the script did not emerge someplace else.

Oh yep.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Oh yep.

Some ppl - especially Westerners - find the politeness inflections in Korean very difficult to learn, particularly because they link to aspects of Korean culture which are not widely understood by foreigners.

 

[Jisun]

Some ppl - especially Westerners - find the politeness inflections in Korean very difficult to learn, particularly because they link to aspects of Korean culture which are not widely understood by foreigners.

haha yeah. even I have a hard time with the different ways to address people in Korean. Korea's all about giving respect to people older than yourself, so you have to speak with them in a certain way. Otherwise, you would look super rude. for example, talking to someone 30 years older than yourself in the very casual/intimate way you would with a close friend ro someone younger than you is incredibly rude.

Personally, I just prefer people talk to me in bahnmal which is the casual/informal/intimate way of speaking, and I would prefer using bahnmal with my friends (but if they object, of course I would adjust my speaking pattern with them.

having grown up in a somewhat Westernized country, I can understand how that can be hard. It's hard even for me (but then, I'm not fluent in Korean anyway)

 

[faroukfarouk]

haha yeah. even I have a hard time with the different ways to address people in Korean. Korea's all about giving respect to people older than yourself, so you have to speak with them in a certain way. Otherwise, you would look super rude. for example, talking to someone 30 years older than yourself in the very casual/intimate way you would with a close friend ro someone younger than you is incredibly rude.

Personally, I just prefer people talk to me in bahnmal which is the casual/informal/intimate way of speaking, and I would prefer using bahnmal with my friends (but if they object, of course I would adjust my speaking pattern with them.

having grown up in a somewhat Westernized country, I can understand how that can be hard. It's hard even for me (but then, I'm not fluent in Korean anyway)

Interesting; so Bahnmal is more informal, but I guess that there are even Bahnmal-specific inflections, right?

 

[Jisun]

Interesting; so Bahnmal is more informal, but I guess that there are even Bahnmal-specific inflections, right?

Umm not really.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Umm not really.

Oh okay! so Bahnmal has simple, uninflected phonemes, then?