Recently found this little gem. On this website you can watch some (recent) anime shows and movies with Japanese subtitles. For some this is limited to the first 10 minutes, but even then it’s a nice way to watch anime/dorama raw without having to download/torrent!
Update: not sure if I’m just late to the party but animelon is even nicer and has no restrictions!
네이버 오디오클립
I thought people knew about this listening resource but my good friend nocturnalinseoul didn’t know about this, and if she doesn’t, that means not a lot of people do, heh. I too only found out about this a couple months back through r/korean, and I think it’s a pretty good rec for those wanting another resource for Korean listening practice.
Naver Audio Clip (Android | iOS) is apparently still in beta form, but as it is, it’s already got some good content for Korean language learners. There’s 외국인을 위한 한국어 읽기, a channel that features Korean folk tales, excerpts from novels, as well as cultural and historical articles. Transcripts of the audio clip are also included, so you can read along as you listen.
SAY: A new online learning platform
Don’t know if this is pretty known throughout the online Korean learning community but SAY (which stands for Seniors and Youth) is a new Korean learning platform made for Korean learners wanting to practice speaking Korean. It first started out as a volunteer project for seniors living in Seoul–they tutored students in Princeton and Yale. The project became a success, and SAY was born, now as a company providing students all over the world with opportunities to have 1:1 conversations and learn from a 선생님 willing to share their experiences and knowledge not just about the language and the culture but also about life.
I had the chance to check out the free 30-minute trial earlier today. Prior to that, I emailed say asking if they could place me in a particular level, since I honestly have no idea which level to pick. For the curious: SAY currently offers 5 levels. Levels 1 and 2 are beginner levels (Level 1 is currently unavailable), levels 3 and 4 and intermediate, and level 5 is advanced. As someone who’s never attended an actual class (except for that one time I participated in a Nooma class when it was just starting out) and has never taken the TOPIK, all I know about my level is that I’m somewhere in the intermediate range. I just don’t exactly know where I stand. This is where SAY is still trying to figure out the little kinks, since a placement test was still unavailable and the person who responded to my inquiry just suggested I pick level 3, which is the basic intermediate level.
In each level, there is a list of topics you can choose to talk about. The list for level 3 looks like this:
I don’t think it’s necessary to go from lesson 1 downwards since I had no problems picking lesson 3 (It’s only natural I pick it, being a drama fan). You can pick the time and date you want based on availability, and then wait for the SAY team to pair you up with a SAY tutor, based on your answers to the profile questions. I mentioned wanting to learn more about Korean history since I’m fascinated with it, and they paired me up with my teacher, 이계원 선생님 (tutor profiles can be found here).
When Koreanized words break your brain
So I just started watching the basketball variety show 버저비터 and throughout the games I kept seeing the word 트래블링 on captions. I was puzzled at this because ??? TREBLING is not a basketball term why do they keep using that??? Is that a Korean basketball term??? This went on for two episodes–TWO episodes–until I couldn’t take it anymore and paused the video to sound out the words aloud just to see if it’ll click.
It took two episodes. TWO episodes, and me pausing the video and saying the word out loud for it to stick that no, the ridiculous word wasn’t TREBLING but rather TRAVELING. Mind you, the thought in my head the entire time before doing that was, that’s not trebling, though, it’s traveling. Why are they using a wrong word?
OTL
Reminds me of the time, a long time ago, when 커리어우먼 broke my brain too. 😫😫😫
On a side note: Buzzer Beater is pretty entertaining. There’s a couple of familiar faces like Lee Sang-yoon, Seo Ji-suk, Kim Hyuk (Hyuk!!!!), Jung Jin-woon, Jay Park, etc., along with some new ones (okay, where have I seen you before, Oh Seung-hwan??? Where???). I don’t know if there are subs available anywhere, but those in the US can watch the raws at OnDemandKorea 😆