Annyong haseyo

In our "spare time" (this doesn't really exist, but sometimes it feels good to put your feet up!), we have been working on learning the Korean language. We started in April when we checked out a Korean language program from the library (CDs and a workbook), and thought we could listen to the CDs in the car and learn a few words. Eric followed along in the workbook while I drove. The WORST way to learn the language it turns out! We probably learned about 100 new words in about a half hour, which means that we learned one new word--the first word on the CD. Hello = annyong haseyo. Needless to say, we did not continue this method! We learned a few words when we went out for Korean food including thank you = kam-sa-ham-ni-da, rice = bap, and beer = maekchu. Eric’s students have been teaching him several words each day, and he has been coming home and teaching the kids (though I don’t know that I’ve learned any of them yet!). Kennedy regularly tells me that she needs to go to the hwajangshil (bathroom).

Personally, I have been working hard on learning Hangul (the Korean alphabet). Thankfully, it’s turned out to be easier than I thought to read the characters. I have learned all of the letters (I just have the vowel digraphs to go!) and most importantly, I learned that each character is actually a syllable usually made up of two or three letters. Of course, I still have to learn the actual Korean words, but I’m learning to read American-ized Korean words (for instance taxi = t-aek-shi and hotel = hot-el). Check out the site on the right if you want to learn more!

We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re making progress!!