Korean Online Lecture Class

The Legend of Tan-Gun

무동 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:07:39 GMT

The Legend of Tan-Gun

Legend has it that Hwan-ung, the son of Hwan-in (who was the God of All and the ruler of Heaven), yearned to live on Earth among the valleys and the mountains. His father sent him and 3,000 helpers to rule Earth and provide humans with great happiness.

Hwan-ung descended to Mount T'aebaeksan on the border between Manchuria and what is now North Korea. He named the place Shinshi, City of God. Along with his ministers of clouds, rain, and wind, he instituted laws and moral codes and taught the humans various arts, medicine, and agriculture.

A tiger and a bear living in a cave together prayed to become human. Upon hearing their prayers, Hwan-ung called them to him and gave them 20 cloves of garlic and a bunch of mugwort. He then ordered them to only eat this sacred food and remain out of the sunlight for 100 days. The tiger shortly gave up and left the cave. However, the bear remained true and after 21 days was transformed into a woman.

The bear-woman was very grateful and made offerings to Hwan-ung. However, lacking a companion she soon became sad and praved beneath a sandalwood tree to be blessed with a child. Hwan-ung, moved by her prayers, took her for his wife and soon she gave birth to a handsome son. They named him Tan-gun, meaning "Altar Prince" or sandalwood.

Tan-gun developed into a wise and powerful leader and in 2333 BC moved to P'yongyang and established the Choson ("Land of the Morning Calm") Kingdom. Finally, at the age of 1,908, he returned to T'aebaeksan where he became a mountain god.

The Appearance of Korean Peninsula

무동 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:06:45 GMT

The Appearance of Korean Peninsula

Geography
Over 70% of the land is mountainous with the eastern regions consisting of mainly rugged mountain ranges and deep valleys. Many people enjoy hiking in the foothills and mountains. Most of the larger rivers and forests are located in the west. The coastline is dotted with bays and it has some of the highest tides in the world. The eastern coastline has many sandy beaches, while the western side consists mainly of mud flats and rocky shores.

South Korea
Location: between 131°52'42"E (East) and 124°11'00"E (West), 43°00'39"N (North)
and 33°06'40"N (South) Area: 222,154 km² (South Korea: 99,392 km²)

The country extends south from the northeastern end of Asia and consists of the
Korean Peninsula and over 3,400 islands. It is bordered in the north by Russia and
China and by Japan across the East Sea. Since 1945, the country has been divided
into the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea (North Korea). South Korea is divided into 9 provinces and 3 special cities.

People
Population: over 46.9 million (1999 est.)
Koreans descended from the Mongolian race in prehistoric times. Periods of
occupation have also added Chinese and Japanese blood to the gene pool.
Although they have borrowed from other cultures, especially Chinese and Japanese,
Koreans have maintained their own distinctive language, culture, and customs.
It is a family orientated society, heavily based on Confucianism, which even in
modern times retains the basic patterns and manners of family-centered life.

History of Korea

Korea claims a 5,000+ year history, dating from the country's foundation by
Tan-gun. Its history is full of foreign invaders and various factions vying for power.
Korean history is broken down into the following periods:

Three Kingdoms (57 B.C. - A.D. 668)
Silla (668 - 935)
Goryeo (918 - 1392)
Joseon (1392 - 1910)
Japanese Occupation (1910 - 1945)
Republic of Korea (1945 - present)

National Flower

무동 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:05:31 GMT

National Flower

The rose of Sharon (Hibiscus Syriacus L.) has been generally
accepted as the national flower of Korea due to its popularity
among the Koreans call it mugunghwa, or the "flower of eternity,
" as it embodies their aspiration for eternal prosperity.

How to Fly the Flag

무동 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:03:27 GMT

How to Fly the Flag

On national holidays and
ordinary days,
it should be flown at full-mast.

On days of mourning,
it should be flown at half-mast.

When the flag is flown in a line with other flags in three or
in other odd numbers, it is placed in the center.

When the number of flags is even, the flag is flown
on the left end as viewed from the front.

* When the flag is flown in Korea together with the U.N. flag and flags of other countries, they should be flown in the following order: the U.N. flag, the Korean flag and flags of other countries in alphabet order.

Order of Raising or Lowering the Flag

When the flag is flown along with other flags, it should either be raised first or simultaneously with the others.
When the flag is lowered with other flags, it should either be lowered last or simultaneously with the others.

Safekeeping and Care of the National Flag

The flag must be folded with great care and stored in a flag box or other container for safekeeping. Additionally, the box or container must be stored in plain sight and be easily accessible.
If the flag is dirtied or wrinkled, it may be washed and ironed but care should be taken to ensure its original form is not distorted.
If the flag is damaged or worn out, it should not be discarded casually or used for other purposes; it should be burned in a discreet place.

Meaning of the Taegeukgi

무동 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:02:11 GMT

The white background of the Taegeukgi symbolizes light and purity and reflects Koreans' traditional affinity for white. A taegeuk circle, divided equally and in perfect balance with red on top and blue below, represents the cosmic dual forces of yin(blue) and yang(red). It symbolizes universal harmony in which the positive and the negative or the active and the passive form a whole.

The four trigrams that surround the taegeuk circle in the four corners denote the process of yin and yang going through a spiral of change and growth. The three unbroken bars in the upper left-hand corner denote
geon( heaven - justice), the three broken bars in the lower right-hand corner denote gon( earth - fertility), the two broken bars with one unbroken bar in the middle in the upper right-hand corner denote gam( water - life), and the two unbroken bars with a broken bar in the middle in the lower left-hand corner denote
i( fire - wisdom). Collectively the Taegeukgi represents universal harmony and unity.

Thus, the Taegeukgi embodies the ideals of Koreans who have pursued development and prosperity under universal principles and truth and circumscribes the country's tasks of unifying the people and working for world peace and prosperity.

Manner to the Flag

Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag

" Before this proud Taegeukgi, I firmly pledge my loyalty and will devote my body and soul to the eternal glory of my country and people. "

When and How to Fly the Flag

Days on which the Flag is flown

January 1 - New Year's Day
March 1 - Independence Movement Day (Anniversary of the
March 1, 1919, Independence movement)
July 17 - Constitution Day
August 15 - Liberation Day
October 1 - Armed Forces Day
October 3 - National Foundation Day
October 9 - Hangeul Day
(The anniversary of the promulgation of the Korean alphabet in 1446)

Other days the government designates as national holidays

The flag may be flown on days local autonomous governments or provincial or city councils designate as local holidays.
The flag is flown at half-mast as a sign of mourning on Memorial Day (June 6), during periods of national mourning, and for state or public funerals.

Places Where the Flag is Flown All Year Round

It is obligatory to fly the flag every day at national and local government offices, public organizations, schools, and military installations.
It is recommended that the flag be flown at places where international events are held such as hotels, large buildings, and parks where large crowds assemble, along walls of government buildings and anywhere flag polls are installed.
Private homes and other places may display the national flag all year round if the residents so wish.

Raising and Lowering the Flag

The flag may be flown 24 hours a day, but if flown at night, it must be illuminated.
Schools and military units are required to fly the flag only during daylight hours.
The flag should not be flown if there is any possibility that it might be torn or damaged by wind or rain.

The Korean National Flag

무동 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:58:43 GMT

Korea first felt the need for a national flag as it was preparing to conclude the Korean-American Treaty of Commerce, which was concluded on May 22 and signed on June 6, 1882. This was during the 19th year of the reign of King Gojong of the Joseon Kingdom (1392- 1910).

Though China had been pressing Korea to use a dragon design on its national flag, Korea rejected this in favor of a blue and red yin-yang on a white field, a favorite Korean design since ancient times. Thus, the taegeuk design flag became the temporary national flag. Later Korea added eight trigrams-combinations of three unbroken and broken bars - around the taegeuk circle and thereby creating the Taegeukgi, which served as the national colors for a while.

King Gojong appointed Bak, YoungHyo as his ambassador to Japan in September 1882. While aboard ship heading for Japan, Bak drew a national flag with a taegeuk circle but included only four trigrams instead of eight, and started using the flag on the 25th of that month. On October 3, Park reported this change to King Gojong who formally proclaimed the Taegeukgi as the national flag on March 6, 1883. For some unknown reason, however, he did not have formal instructions published at that time on how to make the flag.

In fact, it wasn't till June 29, 1942, that the provisional Korean government in exile enacted a law on the uniform method of making the national flag. The law was promulgated but as the government was in exile, it was not widely known to Koreans at home still under Japanese colonial rule.

Following the founding of the Republic of Korea on August 15, 1948, the government felt that it should codify the method of making the national flag. This prompted the government to form a special commission in January 1949 that issued the provision on the national flag on October 15 of that year. Since then, the Republic of Korea has been using the Taegeukgi as the national flag.

The Taegeukgi embodies the ideals of Koreans who have pursued development and prosperity under universal principles and truth.

Standard color shades of Taegeukgi, the Korean National Flag are
follows: in the CIE System, the x, y, and Y coordinates for the red are
x=0.5640, y=0.3194, Y=15.3; for the blue, x=0.1556, y=0.1354,
Y=6.5. Alternatively, in the Munsell System of color Nation, the red
corresponds to 6.0R 4.5/14, and the blue to 5.0PB 3.0/12. In the
Pantone Matching System, 186C red and 294C blue are
recommended.

1) Diameter of circle x 3
2) Diameter of circle x 2
3) Length of flag x 1/2
4) Length of flag x 1/4
5) Diameter of circle x 1/4
6) Diameter of circle x 1/2
7) Diameter of circle x 1/3
8) Diameter of circle x 1/12
9) Diameter of circle x 1/24
10) Right angle(90 degrees)
(Width:Length = 3:2)

[Scrap] UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prizes

무동 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:47:59 GMT

© Patrick Lages
Art work, South Korean artist Ik-Joong Kang. Small blocks of Hangul script, invented in the 15th century by King Sejong.

The UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize was created in 1989 through the generosity of the Government of the Republic of Korea.

The Prize honours the outstanding contribution made to literacy over 500 years ago by King Sejong, who created the native Korean alphabet 'Hangul' which is still a valuable model and reference for the world today.

The UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize rewards the activities of governments or governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) displaying merit and achieving particularly effective results in contributing to the fight for literacy. It gives special consideration to the creation, development and dissemination of mother-tongue languages in developing countries.

The Prize consist of a sum of US$20,000, a silver medal and a certificate.

http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=53673&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

[Scrap] Learning Korean Language

무동 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:46:18 GMT

영어정복 | 스피드
http://blog.naver.com/tanta/120011009703

Author Gives New Perspective on Learning Korean Language

Not all Koreans can be good Korean-language teachers, as it is difficult for them to be objective about their mother tongue. In fact, non-Koreans may sometimes be better instructors, as they understand what obstacles learners face.

Stephen Revere, host of Arirang TV's ``Let's Speak Korean'' and author of a new book on learning the language, is one of those instructors who knows firsthand what it means to study Korean.

``Most Korean textbooks don't understand the perspectives and difficulties of foreigners,'' Revere said. ``As I went through those, I can communicate a little better, I think, for beginners.''

The 33-year-old American said when foreigners learn Korean each level has different difficulties. ``When we are starting out, syntax, changing your word order around is very challenging. Then as you progress, `chondaemal (honorifics used to those older or in a higher position than oneself)' become difficult,'' he said.

For the higher level, it will take a long time to be able to communicate difficult ideas with a large vocabulary, he added.

Born in California, Revere came to Korea in 1995 and ended up falling in love with the nation, which led him to decide to take on the linguistic challenge. In 2004, he received a master's degree in teaching Korean as a foreign language at Yonsei University Graduate School of Education.

Such is his fluency that, during the interview, he often came up with Korean phrases and used the English translation.

However, Revere says his language ability is still far from perfect. ``My difficulty nowadays will be roughly similar to Korean high school students'. `Sajasongo (sayings with four Chinese characters epitomizing historic events or lessons),' use of correct collocation and that sort of thing,'' he said.

Then, what was the most difficult vowel and consonant to master? ``ㅡ was the most difficult when I was a beginner,'' Revere said, pronouncing the vowel sound almost perfectly now. ``And `ㅓ' and `ㅗ' sounded too similar to tell apart.''

When it came to consonants, Revere said that the hardest nut to crack was distinguishing ``yesasori,'' namely ``ㄱ,'' ``ㄷ,'' ``ㅈ'' and ``kosensori,'' like ``ㄲ,'' ``ㄸ,'' ``ㅉ'' (each sounds like k, t, ch).

With the knowledge gained from his studies, Revere wrote a Korean language practice book, ``Survival Korea.'' The book was published last month by Nexus, and is priced at 21,500 won with two cassettes.

``I put a lot of teaching techniques in the book,'' he said.

Among the major differences, even if not its excelling point, with other textbooks is that it does not use any romanization of Korean text for pronunciation. ``I think the method is useless, as Korean is so perfectly phonetic.''

Another peculiarity of the 272-page book is the cultural tips, which enables beginners to better understand the background of Korean. The writer's observance of the culture here is perceptive and often hilarious. One of the tips was on the Koreans' customary use of ``Our'' or ``Uri'' in Korean, like ``Uri'' nation, ``Uri'' house, ``Uri'' Father or even ``Uri'' wife! In the book, he writes ``Asia is always said to be more community-focused while the West is more individualistic… The concept of `we' and `us' permeate the Korean language and society.''

That is also the very point Revere loves in the nation he ``inadvertently'' came to a decade ago. ``I really like how people interact here. People work very hard at accommodating other people… They try to hard to keep conflicts down in `Uri' groups,'' he said.

``I enjoy the Korean lifestyle. I enjoy my work. I love teaching English. I love teaching Korean even more.''

Revere's love for teaching Korean led him to volunteer to teach the language to immigrant workers every other Sunday at a welfare center in Sindang-dong, central Seoul, despite a tight schedule filled with lectures and TV appearances.

Any tips to beginners of Korean? ``Get a good beginner level cassette and listen to them until you memorize them,'' he said.

Stephen Revere

02-20-2005 koreatimes

Onomatopoeia/Mimeses (의성어/의태어) part.2

무동 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:44:33 GMT

animal action (동물이 움직이는 모습)

1.turtle(거북이): slowly 엉금엉금 (ung-gum ung-gum)

2.frog(개구리): jumping 폴짝폴짝 (pol-chak pol-chak)

3.duck(오리): waddle 뒤뚱뒤뚱 (dui-toong dui-toong)

4.Tiger/lion(호랑이/사자): prowling 어슬렁어슬렁 (u-sul-lung u-sul-lung)

5.Rabbit(토끼): hopping 깡충깡충 (kang-chong Kang-chong)

Wind (바람)

1. Breeze(산들바람): 살랑 살랑,솔솔, 산들산들 (salang salang, sol-sol, sandle sandle)

2. strong wind sound: 휘잉, 쌩쌩 (wheeing, Ssang Ssang)

Smile/laugh

1.baby siling: 방글방글 ( Bangle Bangle)

2.Smiling: 빙긋 (Bing kub)

3.Laughing aloud: 하하, 히히, 낄낄 (Ha ha, Hee hee, Kik kik)

walking

1.baby walking: 아장아장 (a-jang a-jang)

2.waling lightly: 사뿐사뿐 (Sa-pun Sa-pun)

3.walking with long strides: 성큼 성큼 (sung-kum sung-kum)

4.walking noiselessly: 살금 살금 (sal-gum sal-gum)

5.trapming: wjqjrwjqjr (je-buk je-buk)

Onomatopoeia/Mimeses (의성어/의태어)

무동 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:43:24 GMT

[Animal sound (동물소리)]

1.Dog(개): Bowwow 멍멍 (mung mung)

2.flog(개구리): croak croak 개굴개굴 (gae-gul gae-gul)

3.cat(고양이): Meow meow 야옹야옹 (yaong yaong)

4.crow(까마귀): caw caw 까옥까옥 (kaok kaok)

5.chicken(닭): cock-a-doodle-doo 꼬끼오(ko-kio)

6.pig(돼지): oink oink 꿀꿀 (kul kul)

7.pigeon(비둘기): chuck-chuck 구구 (goo goo)

8.Chick(병아리): chick 삐약 (Pyak)

9.cow(소): moo 음매 ( um mae~)

10.Duck(오리): quack quack 꽥꽥 (quack quack)

11.sparrow(참새): chirp chirp, tweet tweet 짹짹 ( Jheck Jheck)

12.Cuckoo(뻐꾸기): Cuckoo 뻐꾹 (Puckook)

13.Owl(부엉이): hoot 부엉 (boo-ung boo-ung)