To You, Who Love the Korean Language

Eighth Letter

Jul 19, 2026

안녕하세요, 학생 여러분!

이번 한 주도 잘 보냈어요? 저는 지난 며칠 동안 폭염과 폭우 때문에 집 밖을 나서지 않았어요. 하지만 책상에 오래 앉아있었더니 아무래도 허리에 무리가 간 것 같아요. 가까운 한의원에 가서 침을 맞았는데 별로 효과가 없었어요. 이상하게 30분 정도 걷고 집에 돌아오면 많이 아프지 않아요. 사실 이 뉴스레터를 쓰기 전에도 오전에 남편과 외출을 하면서 좀 걸었더니 허리에 통증이 심하게 느껴지지 않아요. 여러분은 규칙적으로 운동을 하고 있죠? 한국어 공부를 열심히 하느라 저처럼 오래 앉아있지 말아요! 집 밖에 나가서 산책하면서 주변을 둘러보는 여유를 가져보세요.

✅ 진이 선생님이 직접 뽑은 자주 쓰는 단어 10개

폭염 = Heatwave / Extreme heat
→ 서울은 지금 폭염에 시달리고 있어요. (Seoul is suffering from a heatwave right now.)
폭우 = Heavy rain / Torrential downpour
→ 폭우가 와서 한강에 물이 범람했어요. (The Han River flooded due to the heavy rain.)
나서다 = To step out / To set out / To leave
→ 집을 언제 나설거예요? (When are you going to leave the house?)
무리 = Overdoing it / Strain / Impossible
→ 절대 무리하지 마세요! (Please don't overexert yourself!)
한의원 = Traditional Korean medicine clinic
→ 한의원에 갔는데 저 빼고 다 할머니셨어요. (I went to a traditional Korean medicine clinic, and everyone except me was an elderly woman.)
별로 = Not really / Not particularly
→ 생각보다 별로 맵지 않아서 다 먹을 수 있었어요. (It wasn't as spicy as I thought, so I was able to eat it all.)
효과 = Effect / Effectiveness
→ 파스를 붙이면 좀 효과가 있어요? (Is it effective if you put on a pain relief patch?)
외출하다 = To go out
→ 지금 외출 중인데 혹시 한 시간 후에 오실 수 있나요? (I'm out right now, could you possibly come in an hour?)
통증 = Pain / Ache
→ 다행스럽게도 통증이 좀 줄어들었어요. (Fortunately, the pain has subsided a bit.)
심하다 = Severe / Excessive / Too much
→ 아무리 생각해도 그 장난은 너무 심했어요! (No matter how much I think about it, that prank went too far!)

[ENG]

Hi, Students! Have you been enjoying another nice week? For the last couple of days, I’ve been trying to stay at home because of the heat wave and heavy rain. I think the prolonged sitting has increased the pain in my back. I went to an oriental medicine clinic and got acupuncture. Yet it seems it didn’t help as much as I hoped. Strangely, when I come back home after a half-hour walk, my back doesn’t hurt as much. Even before I sat down to write this newsletter, I went out with my husband this morning and walked around a little more than usual. I think that somehow reduced the pain a lot. You’re all working out regularly, right? Please do not sit for too long studying Korean, and make the same mistake I did. Make sure to go out and see the world too!

아이스크림 이름으로 단어 공부

한국 아이스크림을 먹어본 적이 있어요? 제일 좋아하는 아이스크림 이름이 뭐예요? 몇몇 학생들은 이미 알겠지만 여름에는 더위사냥을 주로 먹어요. 이름 ‘더위서냥’에서 알 수 있듯이 여름에 먹어야지만 진짜 맛을 알 수 있어요. 한국에서 잘 알려진 아이스크림 이름을 같이 보면서 단어를 공부해볼까요?

[ENG]

Have you ever tried Korean ice cream? What’s your favourite flavour? Some of you may already know this, but I really like the ice cream called 더위사냥 during the summer. As the name ‘더위사냥’ suggests, it’s best enjoyed when it’s hot outside. Let’s check out some other popular Korean ice creams and learn a few new words together.

더위사냥 = 더위 (heat) + 사냥 (hunting) → Beat the heat!
호두마루 = 호두 (walnut) + 마루 (the best) → The best of walnut flavour
쌍쌍바 = 쌍 (twin) + 쌍 (twin) + 바 (bar)
It’s an ice cream that is meant to be split into two and shared, but as you can see in the photo, it often doesn’t split equally. When I was a child, my friend and l would still buy two so we could each eat both our halves.
수박바 = 수박 (watermelon) + 바 (bar)
It is an ice cream that has a shape of a watermelon slice, but it is not watermelon flavour. In fact nobody likes the red part…
요맘때
It took me some time to figure this one out. 요 comes from the word Yogurt, and 맘때 comes from the French word Moitie, which means “the half.” They want to suggest that this is a new ice cream with half yogurt. I still don’t really get it, but I like the strawberry flavour.
.
보석바 = 보석 (crystal) + 바 (bar)
돼지바 = 돼지 (pig) + 바 (bar)
I am not a big fan of this ice cream because my brain works too hard to figure out the connection when with the pig when I look at the package. The picture above shows how it got thinner over time, as if the “pig” had gone on a diet.
메로나
They simply added an ‘a’ to the end of the word 멜론 (melon in Korean), so 메론아 turns into 메로나. My husband kept saying it sounds like the name of a skin cancer, Melonoma.
누가바
The name comes from the chocolate nougat that covers the vanilla ice cream. 누가바 is said to be an ice cream that thieves avoid because they worry that ‘누가 볼까봐 (누가 봐),’ which means someone might see them. Did you get the joke? ba-dum-tss…
설레임 = 설레임 (feeling of excitement/fluttering)
It seems to come from a homonym, 설래임, which means “to fall like dew after a light snow”.