Review of Chinese Characters Cognates - 808 Common Hanja
This book by Joon Geem lists the 808 most common 한자 Chinese characters in Mandarin (hanzi), Japanese (kanji), and Korean (한자) in a compelling format. This book is particularly recommended to language learners or both Japanese and Korean or Chinese and Korean. For each of the 808 most common Chinese characters across China, Korean, and Taiwan; the author lists the corresponding simplified Chinese character, the Japanese kanji, and the Korean hanja (한자). The author also provides three vocabulary words using the corresponding Chinese character for each language, allowing comparisons between Chinese and Korean for example.
Trains in South Korea
Trains are probably the fastest and most comfortable means of transportation in South Korea. Most of the time they are faster than buses are they cannot get stuck in traffic, and they are also faster than planes in that train stations are usually in downtown areas rather than in suburbs. There are also plenty of train options for traveling within a city or a metropolitan area, such as subways and suburban trains. For tourists however riding trains in South Korea can be overwhelming given the number of train services available, the different operators, and the different booking processes. This post summarizes all you need to know to book and ride trains in South Korea.
Intercity Train Services
There are several types of intercity train service in Korea. From fastest to slowest (and most expensive to cheapest): KTX & SRT, ITX & 새마을, 누리로 & 무궁화. Most services (except the SRT) are run by Korail (코레일), a public company.
The different train services run by Korail (all but SRT) and SR (SRT) (adapted from https://flytoazuresky.tistory.com/602?category=669623)
Public Transportation in Korea (Vocabulary)
Buses in South Korea
There are two major categories of buses in South Korea: 시내버스 (市內버스) or intra-city buses, and 시외버스 (市外버스) or intercity buses. 시내버스 include 마을버스, 지선버스, and some 간선버스 lines, while 시외버스 include some 간선버스 lines, 광역버스, and 고속버스.
마을버스 are neighborhood buses (literally "village buses") that stop every few blocks in both residential and commercial areas. In Seoul, many of these buses run in a loop, with one or two stops connecting to subway stations. Their routes are the shortest among city buses. Walking is sometimes faster than taking a 마을버스, especially during rush hours, as these buses rarely take bus lanes. In Seoul, these buses are green and shorter than regular buses.
Pattern V-더니 Past Observation of the Speaker
V-더니 is used to describe an observation of the speaker about people or things, or a change that came to be known through personal experience, and always precedes a statement resulting from that observation. A good example in English/Korean of how this pattern would be used: "my friend used to eat a lot of ice cream before더니 these days he even hates the sight of ice cream." V-더니 can therefore only be used in the middle of a sentence and can never end a sentence.
Hanja 火 (화) - Fire, Anger
한자 (pronounced [한짜]) are the Chinese characters behind many Korean words used in modern Korean. Being aware of them helps with guessing word meanings and retention of new vocabulary.
火 (화) as a character has two main English meanings, fire and anger, and is used in many words related to these concepts. When 火 is used by itself as a word, it almost always means anger. 火 as a radical that appears in many other 한자, such as 炎 (염, flame) or 災 (재, disaster). Below are some common words including the character 火.
Differences between -던 and -았/었던 (retrospective modifiers)
The retrospective modifier V/Adj-던 (e.g., 하던) and its past version V/Adj-았/었던 (했던) are both used to describe processes, states, or situations that happened/took place in the past. In a lot of cases, V/Adj-던 and V/Adj-았/었던 are very similar. The subtle differences manifest if the speaker chooses intentionally between one or the other.
V/Adj-던 describes a situation that was not finished in the past and interrupted before completion; or an action that was repeated continuously in the past or was done just once but may happen again.
TOPIK II Reading - Vocabulary Questions
Each TOPIK II (한국어능력시험 중-고급) reading section has two questions (questions 3 and 4) that will ask you to replace the underlined text by a similar expression. While it may seem like a hard task, knowing the expressions that came out in previous tests will help a lot as they tend to come out regularly. Learning their equivalence should help you answer this question correctly.
Tip: Even if you know only two patterns out of the five in the question, don't panic! The sentences for questions 3 and 4 usually make sense, so if you can translate it to English and one of the answers seems to make them, pick that one. If not, eliminate the ones that you know cannot fit, and pick your best guess between the remaining options.
Buying Korean 라면 (Ramyeon, or Ramen noodles) on Amazon US
Amazon is a great place to buy Korean food, but finding Korean noodles, or ramyeon, on it can be a little daunting. This post lists some of the best Korean ramen (라면) products to buy on Amazon, such as Shin Ramyun (신라면) or Buldalk Bokkum Myeon (불닭볶음면).
Quick links- Ansung Tang Myun 농심안성탕면 - ramen with miso taste (Amazon)
- Buldak Bokkum Myeon 삼양 불닭볶음면 - fire chicken ramen (Amazon)
- Cheese Ramyeon 오뚜기 치즈라면 - ramen with dried cheese (Amazon)
- Chapagetti 농심 짜파게티 - ramen with black bean paste (짜장) taste (Amazon)
- Jin Ramen 오뚜기 진라면 (Unavailable)
- Kokomyun 팔도 꼬꼬면 - chicken ramen with clear broth (Amazon)
- Namja Ramyun 팔도 남자라면 - spicy ramen with red broth and strong garlic taste (Amazon)
- Neoguri 농심 너구리 - spicy seafood ramen (Amazon)
- Rabokki 팔도 라볶이 - ramen with tteokbokki taste (Amazon)
- Shin Ramen 농심 신라면 (Amazon) / Shin Black 농심 신라면 블랙 (Amazon)
- Volcano Chicken Noodle 팔도 블케이노 치킨볶음면 - spicy chicken ramen (Amazon)
라면 - Ramyeon (Ramen) Noodles
Ramyeon noodles are a must-have staple in any Korean pantry. Ramyeon noodles on Amazon tend to ship in large boxes of 10 to 20 bags or cups, so check the quantity twice before ordering. A rule of thumb: a 5-pack Korean ramen at Korean grocery stores usually retails between $6-$9; premium ramen such as Shin Black (신라면 블랙), or flavored Buldak Bokkum Myeon (불닭볶음면) usually command higher prices (from 1.5x to 2x for Shin Black). See the end of this post for more tips about ordering Korean ramen on Amazon.
TOPIK Expression List for Writing - Advanced (한국어능력시험 쓰기 - 고급)
The list below includes some of the key expressions to know when taking the written part of the TOPIK Exam and aiming for levels 5 and 6.
**This table is still under construction**
Grammar Patterns
| Causation | |
| 중급 | V-(으)니(까) |
| V-(아/어)서 | |
| V-기 때문에 | |
| 고급 | V-은/는 바람에 |
| V-은/는 김에 | |
| V-(으)므로 | |
| V-느라고 | |
| V-(으)ㄴ/는 이상(에[는]) | |
| V-기에 (spoken ≈ V-길래) | |
| V-아/어 | |
| V-더니 | |
| V-(으)ㄹ테니까 | |
| Connective xx | |
Expressions
순서 (order)
1. 우선/먼저/첫째로/첫번째로
2. 둘째로/그리고/두번째로... 셋째로/세번째로
end. 마지막으로
Connecting Ideas Together in Written Answers
These patterns are used in essays to connect several ideas together. These patterns are particularly useful to structure your answers to writing questions for TOPIK II. Especially for shorter answers (e.g., graph description), you can follow this procedure: