To You, Who Love the Korean Language
Fourth Letter
안녕하세요! 이번 한 주도 잘 보내고 있어요? 지난주에 뉴스레터를 발행하지 못해 정말 미안해요. 요즘 한국은 비도 자주 오고 습한 데다가 기온까지 높아서 그야말로 찜통더위가 이어지고 있어요. 여러분이 있는 곳의 날씨는 어떤가요? 한국처럼 습한 여름인가요, 아니면 건조한 여름인가요? 그것도 아니라면 아예 정반대의 계절을 보내고 있는지 궁금하네요!
✅ 진이 선생님이 직접 뽑은 자주 쓰는 단어 10개
발행하다 = To publish / to issue
→ 이 책이 언제 처음 발행되었어요? (When was this book first published?)습하다 = To be humid
→ 낮 시간에 밖은 너무 습해요. (It's too humid outside during the day.)기온 = Temperature
→ 내일은 기온이 뚝 떨어집니다.찜통더위 = Sweltering heat
→ 8월에는 찜통더위가 찾아와요. (The sweltering heat comes in August.)날씨 = Weather
→ 오늘 날씨가 정말 좋네요. (The weather is really nice today.)건조하다 = To be dry
→ 겨울에는 피부가 건조해요. (My skin is dry in winter.)아예 = (Not) at all / completely
→ 그 사람을 아예 몰라요. (I don’t know that person at all.)정반대 = The exact opposite
→ 둘은 성격이 정반대예요. (The two have exact opposite personalities.)계절 = Season
→ 어떤 계절을 제일 좋아해요? (Which season do you like the most?)궁금하다 = To be curious / to wonder
→ 그 결과가 너무 궁금해요. (I’m so curious about the result.)
[ENG]
Hi everyone! I hope you’re all having a great week. I’m so sorry for missing last week’s newsletter. Lately, Korea has been experiencing non-stop sweltering heat, with frequent rain, high humidity, and soaring temperatures. How is the weather where you are? Is it a humid summer like Korea, or a dry one? Or maybe you’re spending time in a completely opposite season? I’d love to know!
선생님 플레이리스트에서 뽑아온 노래
이번 주 뉴스레터에는 제 플레이리스트를 뒤져서 새로운 노래 한 곡을 들고 왔어요. 바로 밴드 중식의 ‘나는 반딧불’이라는 노래인데요. 몇 달 전 버스에서 흘러나오는 라디오를 듣다가, 우연히 신청곡으로 나온 이 노래를 처음 접하게 되었어요. 그러다 어느 날 밤, 문득 생각나서 가사를 찾아보며 다시 들었는데 마음이 찡하고 울컥하더라고요. 마침 유튜브를 보다가 알고리즘 추천으로 한국의 인기 예능 프로그램인 <유 퀴즈 온 더 블럭>에 출연한 아티스트의 영상을 보게 되었어요. 영상에서 유재석 ‘자기’님이 “예전의 나에게 무슨 말을 해주고 싶냐”는 질문을 던졌을 때, 아티스트가 눈물을 흘리는 모습을 보며 그동안 정말 고생을 많이 하셨다는 게 진심으로 느껴졌습니다.
[ENG]
For this week’s newsletter, I dug into my playlist and pulled out a special track for you: “I am a Firefly” (나는 반딧불) by the band Joongshik. I first stumbled across this song a few months ago while catching the radio on the bus. Then, just the other night, it randomly popped into my head, so I looked up the lyrics and gave it another listen. It really hit close to home and left me feeling quite emotional. By total coincidence, while scrolling through YouTube later on, the algorithm served up a clip of the artist appearing on the hit Korean variety show, You Quiz on the Block. In the video, the host, Yoo Jae-suk, asked them, “What would you say to your younger self?” Seeing the artist break down in tears at that very question, I could truly feel the weight of all the hardships they’ve gone through.
이번 주의 ‘FSM’ (Frequently Seen Mistakes)
This week, instead of talking about common mistakes students make, I thought to share an interesting feature of the Korean language. Unlike English, Korean doesn’t always require a subject. For native English speakers, this might feel a bit unnatural at first. However, because verbs (predicates) are the central focus of a Korean sentence, you don’t need to state the subject if it’s already clear from the context. In fact, when speaking Korean, people rarely say “저는“ (I). Next time you’re on the subway, if you listen to people chatting or talking on the phone, you’ll notice it’s incredibly rare to hear them explicitly use “I” or “me” as the subject. That’s because repeating “저는“ over and over in a conversation makes you sound a bit like a robot!
저는 배고파요. → 배고파요.
나는 배고파. → 배고파.
Have you ever come across the word “눈치” (nunchi) while watching Korean media? Nunchi refers to the subtle art and ability to quickly gauge a situation and grasp what’s going on without anyone saying a word. There are some expressions related to nunchi, so I’d love to introduce a few of them to you. Study them together with some everyday examples!
눈치가 없다 = to be clueless / tactless
→ 왜 이렇게 눈치가 없어요? (Why are you so clueless? / Read the room!)눈치를 챙기다 = To read the room / grab a clue
→ 눈치 좀 챙겨요! (Read the room! / Get a clue!)
눈치를 보다 = To sense someone's mood / walk on eggshells
→ 왜 자꾸 부모님 눈치를 봐요? ((Why do you keep walking on eggshells around your parents?)
눈칫밥을 먹다 = To live at the mercy of others / suffer constraints)
→ 거기서 눈칫밥 먹지 말고 그냥 나오세요. (Don’t stay there walking on eggshells, just leave.)
여러분은 이번 주말에 뭐 할 거예요? 저는 어제 언니랑 조카가 서울에 놀러 와서 함께 시간을 보내고 있어요. 요즘 밖에 나가면 정말 덥지만, 그래도 귀여운 조카를 보니 너무 행복해요. 여러분은 밖이 너무 습하고 더울 때 보통 주말을 어떻게 보내시나요? 역시 에어컨을 빵빵하게 틀고 '집캉스'를 즐기는 것이 최고인가요? XD
(What are you all up to this weekend? My older sister and my niece came to visit Seoul yesterday, so I'm spending time with them over the weekend. It’s incredibly hot outside lately, but just looking at my adorable niece makes me so happy! What do you usually do on the weekend when it’s just too hot and humid outside? As expected, is there nothing better than blasting the AC and enjoying a nice 'staycation' at home? XD)
진이선생님