Korean Numbers

Another quick reference for learners out there. Again, like most language, usage of these numbers might have exception in some case or another.

1	하나	6	여섯	11	열하나	60	예순
2	둘	7	일곱	20	스물	70	일흔
3	셋	8	여덟	30	서른	80	여든
4	넷	9	아홉	40	마흔	90	아흔
5	다섯	10	열	50	쉰

For counting days:

1	(초)하루	6	엿새	11	열하루
2	이틀	7	이레	15	열닷새 (보름)
3	사흘	8	여드레	20	스무날
4	나흘	9	아흐레	30	그믐
5	닷새	10	열흘

반대말

It's final lesson for this level, which means there will be test, and of course, new payment of course fee for next level. For easy reference, I put in the following opposite word for everyone to have a look.

small 작다 ×	크다 big
many 많다 ×	적다 few
low 낮다 ×	높다 high
bright 밝다 ×	어둡다 dark
easy 쉽다 ×	어렵다 difficult
same 같다 ×	다르다 different
hot (weather) 덥다 ×	춥다 cold (weather)
skinny 마르다 ×	뚱뚱하다 fat
long 길다 ×	짧다 short
thin 얇다 ×	두껍다 thick
near 가깝다 ×	멀다 far
fast 빠르다 ×	느리다 slow
narrow 좁다 ×	넓다 wide
quiet 조용하다 ×	시끄럽다 noisy
heavy 무겁다 ×	가볍다 light
dirty 더럽다 ×	깨끗하다 clean
hot 뜨겁다 ×	차갑다 cold

Great read!

Whether it's 새댁 요코짱의 한국살이 (ISBN : 8990787084), 158公分的陽子小姐 (ISBN : 9867291190) or ソウルで新婚生活 (ISBN : 4479761349), I'll bet it is a good read, which I took less than 2 days to complete it! Tagami Yoko (田上陽子) has created such a good book, and it's rather fun to read, even though the book is a bit expensive to buy in Malaysia. It costs me around RM41, where if I were to buy the Chinese version, RRP is NT$250 (around RM29). It is only slightly cheaper than Japanese version RRP, which is ￥1,365 (incl. tax) (around RM44). The original Korean version is only ₩8,500 (around RM33). I bought the Chinese version, although I got to know this book from my Korean teacher, in which she bought the original Korean version. My sister loves it as well.

It's a book about Yoko-chan (a Japanese lady who is married to a Korean), and her life in Korea. It tells you about the culture shock she has gone through, and in some instance, comparing it to those in Japan. Some stories are rather hilarious. After reading the book, I found that the things that she found it rather surprise can be seen here in Malaysia as well. It makes me wonder how similar is Korea to Malaysia, like the bus experience, the hidden danger and so on.

Lost in Translation

I took these pictures in October last year at the famous KLCC Park.

And of course, the Malay 'equivalent' found near by:

To me, if the Malay sign was to be translated into English, I would say it means "In Action". Does "In Action" tells you that work is being done or it is under review whether a work will be done? It sounds something like the expression "I'll look into it". Whether there is anything done by the speaker or the speaker will try to see what he can do about it, unless we clarify with the speaker, the expression might be interpreted differently by different listener.

No doubt that some semantic might lost when translating from one language to another, but they could just use "Kerja sedang dijalankan&quit; which is more common than "Dalam Tindakan". Think I should go and have a look on the progress so far in the park. I might not even notice what is being done as the work mentioned might be just schedule maintenance of the park, or it is just how it was like in October 2005.

FMA Snack

Fullmetal Alchemist fans would probably love this. It is a pleasant surprise that such snack is available on sale in Thailand, and you can find it in most convenient store and supermarket. You can click on the image for a larger photo.

I did not "buy" the snack, although I was tempted at first. I got mine as a free gift when I bought one of those instant glass noodle. So that explains why the barcode was cross out with a pen.

It tasted just like any crispy snack you buy, crunchy but not that salty. Thailand snacks that I bought did not taste as salty as other snacks you bought elsewhere, which I think is great. So if you are a fan of the anime or manga, probably it's a good try. How I wish such product can be found here in Malaysia.

KL Road Sign

Road sign in KL has a standard format of rounded rectangle with blue background and white border. Words and white border is coated with reflective layer, which I think is great, especially driving at night. I'll show one famous and one infamous road sign of KL.

Jalan Bangsar is named after Bangsar estate, which was a rubber plantation estate by French-Belgian association formed by Mr Bunge and Mr Grisar. Now, when people mentioned Bangsar, they usually associate it with the night life of Bangsar, which is actually located at Jalan Telawi, instead of Jalan Bangsar.

This infamous road in KL, which many people associate it with vices, although it is named after Loke Chow Kit (陸秋傑), a prominent businessman and a municipal councilor back then. It's a pity that a negative perception might surface when someone mentioned Jalan Chow Kit, rather than the story of the man itself. You can read more about Loke Chow Kit here.

All things KL

I know it's been awhile since I last updated my blog. I'm ready to start fresh by introducing more photos to spice up my blog. Since I don't have a specific theme for my blog, it's time for me to adopt one, which I'll let reader (and potential reader) to know more about my birth place, Kuala Lumpur.

Welcome to Kuala Lumpur! OK, that's not the translation of the sign, just a welcome note to my "improved" blog. The sign actually shows "Border (of) Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur". When you see such sign in KL, it means you are actually entering physical boundary of KL. This photo is taken at Jalan Kepong, outside Kepong police station.

Speaking of which, a lot of places "claimed" to be Kuala Lumpur, but actually it's not. Famous bread Gardenia factory is not in KL, although the company name stated so. Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is NOT in KL, even the previous airport is not in KL either. The former is in Sepang, while the latter is in Subang. The only airport that is really in KL, is in Sungai Besi, which is now under the Royal Malaysian Air Force.

If people tell you that they are staying in KL, they do not necessary mean within the real boundary of federal territory. Sri Damansara for example, is NOT in KL but road sign and address stated Kuala Lumpur, which is so wrong. Ampang should have been in KL (in historical sense), but actually it's in Selangor.

If you are expecting to see more about these following famous landmark (and touristy spot), I might be doing some write up about it in the future.

Used to be the famous landmark for a lot of postcard, Sultan Abdul Samad Building. Now, it is taken over by another landmark below. This place has a very interesting history and the building itself is more than what you've been told by the tour guide. I'll might feature this in my blog in the future.

Ah, who can't recognised the Petronas Twin Towers. For those of you who has watched the movie "Entrapment", do not believe everything you saw in the movie. I will explain more about Petronas Twin Towers and some of the fabricated facts used in the movie.

지난 주밀에 뭐 했어요?

Well, it's been awhile since I last update my blog. Sorry for the long delay. Some of you suggested that I should upload some photograph instead to attract more visitor to my blog. I give it a shot today, but sorry for the image, I did not have time to edit it using photo editor.

For those of you who remember my very old post Was haben Sie am Wochenende schon gemacht?, this is post has similiar theme to the old post, in which I haven't figure out how to say "Nichts besonders" in Korean as yet. Much to my surprise, I didn't notice that someone named Claus Eikemeier had post a comment to it. Thanks Herr Eikemeier for the lovely information, although it took a year for me to realised someone has posted a comment, as I did not turn on comment notification by then.

OK, what I've done last weekend? Here's my little Korean expression, and again, if any mistake, please point it out.

지난 주말인 토요일에 친구들과 참관하러 켈리카슬에 갔어요. 그리고 온천에도 갔어요. 켈리카슬이 페락주 고펭에 있어요. 온천이 페락주도 숭카이에 있어요. 참 재미 했어요.

Ok, as stated above, my attempt to upload photograph here. It's Kellie's Castle near Gopeng, Perak. It rained heavily that morning, and a common sight in Malaysia after raining, is the muddy river. May try to update on my day trip to Perak, probably in the next post.

Walker's Log of PJ to KL

On 24 September 2005, I set my own personal record of walking from my little home in PJ Old Town all the way to KL to my Korean class. All times are recorded using my cellphone stopwatch function. Here are the details of the long walk, although I do not know specifically the distance that I've travelled

• 00:00:00.00
  Started my stopwatch. Time shows 9:35am (+0800 GMT) on a bright sunny (and hot) Saturday. I was using roads in Section 3 which is not the usual path that I use to walk to the train station to work. There are a lot of sudden decision of road used in this whole journey.
• 00:14:18.79
  Reached Road 3 of Section 1 behind Inai Court off Jalan Templer. This is the point which I turn left instead of going straight to the train station. This particular time is clocked to see how long does it take me to take the same path again next time when I go to work.
• 00:31:51.35
  After walking through Petaling Garden via Section 1A, I reached the KL/PJ border at Gasing Indah. Done a sudden change of usual path as mentioned previously, but headed to a Cul-de-sac and required a U-turn. Gasing Indah is where my buddy, Jian is staying (on the KL side). Guess that he wasn't at home when I was there judging that there was not a single car spotted anywhere.
• 01:09:48.14
  Walking round Gasing Hill via the controversial road that connects Pantai Dalam to Gasing Indah, I reached Angkasapuri's main entrance. For anyone who is going to walk from Pantai Dalam to Angkasapuri, please use the PJ-KL side of the NPE as the other side of the road, there is no foot path. The availability of foot path by the express way is one of the reason why I chose this route. It is straight and flat but you have to endure the hot sun shining with no obstacle to provide shade. Oh, before I forgot, you can view Petronas Twin Towers and KL Tower from here. On a clear day (just like mine), you can view the silhouette of Genting Highlands as well.
• 01:30:24.30
  This path to Bangsar LRT is rather straight forward and no other short cut to take. Just walk straight Jalan Bangsar, and voila. The station is just less than 20 minutes ride from Taman Jaya LRT took me one and a half hour to reach. Here, I do a "shortcut" using the pedestrian bridge to cross the Kommuter track and walk under the track of ERL to reach my destination -> Brickfield.
• 01:45:32.56
  It did not take long to reach Brickfield and within 15 minutes walk from Bangsar LRT, I reach the road outside KL Sentral. It is quite tempting to take the Monorail, given the fact it is right in front of me and a scorching hot day.
• 02:08:31.20
  After a continous 2 hours of walk, I finally reached my initial target of walking to KL from home, Central Market. Walking to KL from home technically only requires me half and hour as stated above. Central Market is the best indicator of really reaching down town KL for most people, especially when you take a bus. Area around Central Market is the de facto definition if one is saying he or she is going to KL.
• 02:14:36.93
  From Central Market, I walked straight to Burger King near Masjid Jamek for my lunch. The French Chicken did not taste as good on that day, and I was quite surprise and dismay that that particular outlet has a smoking section. I did not check out the smoking section upstairs, but from the look of it, the non-smoking section is so small. This reminds me of the McD in Paris where they smoking section has more seats that the non-smoking, only difference is the smoking section is located downstairs.
• 02:38:10.12
  Done eating and time to walk to my language centre in Bukit Bintang. Again, I took a detour into Changkat Raja Chulan instead of the usual path that I used. It is a good decision indeed, where I noticed it connects to Changkat Bukit Bintang, where I had my birthday celebration with my friends.
• 03:07:46.04
  Finally, I was in KL Plaza. My T-shirt is completely wet and I walked straight to the toilet to get changed. Before I headed to my classroom.

Phew! What a journey. I shall get a pair of good walking shoes instead of a pair of safety shoes, which the sole is worn off :( Since I accomplished my target, I will look for other target to set next time. Keep reading for update! I might be adding picture of my walk next time, if timing is not my main objective :D

안녕하세요?

Guess that's one of the expression that most people associate Korean with, just like Parlez-vous français? with French. Finally, after some hiccups, my Korean class has commenced. In lesson 1, my teacher, Ms Pauline (her preference of addressing), "koreanise" names into Hangeul. Mine, if following the Romanised name pronunciation, is 탄희엔. But, if using my chinese name, it would be 진기원.

Today, I would like to share this basic Hangeul table for learner just like me to use it as a tool to guide learning. For those who like the extended table, I also attached it below. Note that the extended table uses all the combination just for completeness and might not reflect the actual Hangeul use. Do notify me if you found typo in it, as I hand keyed those in.

Basic Hangeul Table

	ㅏ	ㅑ	ㅓ	ㅕ	ㅗ	ㅛ	ㅜ	ㅠ	ㅡ	ㅣ
ㄱ	가	갸	거	겨	고	교	구	규	그	기
ㄴ	나	냐	너	녀	노	뇨	누	뉴	느	니
ㄷ	다	댜	더	뎌	도	됴	두	듀	드	디
ㄹ	라	랴	러	려	로	료	루	류	르	리
ㅁ	마	먀	머	며	모	묘	무	뮤	므	미
ㅂ	바	뱌	버	벼	보	뵤	부	뷰	브	비
ㅅ	사	샤	서	셔	소	쇼	수	슈	스	시
ㅇ	아	야	어	여	오	요	우	유	으	이
ㅈ	자	쟈	저	져	조	죠	주	쥬	즈	지
ㅊ	차	챠	처	쳐	초	쵸	추	츄	츠	치
ㅋ	카	캬	커	켜	코	쿄	쿠	큐	크	키
ㅌ	타	탸	터	텨	토	툐	투	튜	트	티
ㅍ	파	퍄	퍼	펴	포	표	푸	퓨	프	피
ㅎ	하	햐	허	혀	호	효	후	휴	흐	히

Extended Hangeul Table

ㅏ

ㅐ

ㅑ

ㅒ

ㅓ

ㅔ

ㅕ

ㅖ

ㅗ

ㅘ

ㅙ

ㅚ

ㅛ

ㅜ

ㅝ

ㅞ

ㅟ

ㅠ

ㅡ

ㅢ

ㅣ

ㄱ

가

개

갸

걔

거

게

겨

계

고

과

괘

괴

교

구

궈

궤

귀

규

그

긔

기

ㄲ

까

깨

꺄

꺠

꺼

께

껴

꼐

꼬

꽈

꽤

꾀

꾜

꾸

꿔

꿰

뀌

뀨

끄

끠

끼

ㄴ

나

내

냐

냬

너

네

녀

녜

노

놔

놰

뇌

뇨

누

눠

눼

뉘

뉴

느

늬

니

ㄷ

다

대

댜

댸

더

데

뎌

뎨

도

돠

돼

되

됴

두

둬

뒈

뒤

듀

드

듸

디

ㄸ

따

때

땨

떄

떠

떼

뗘

뗴

또

똬

뙈

뙤

뚀

뚜

뚸

뛔

뛰

뜌

뜨

띄

띠

ㄹ

라

래

랴

럐

러

레

려

례

로

롸

뢔

뢰

료

루

뤄

뤠

뤼

류

르

릐

리

ㅁ

마

매

먀

얘

머

메

며

몌

모

뫄

뫠

뫼

묘

무

뭐

뭬

뮈

뮤

므

믜

미

ㅂ

바

배

뱌

뱨

버

베

벼

볘

보

봐

봬

뵈

뵤

부

붜

붸

뷔

뷰

브

븨

비

ㅃ

빠

빼

뺘

뺴

뻐

뻬

뼈

뼤

뽀

뽜

뽸

뾔

뾰

뿌

뚸

쀄

쀠

쀼

쁘

쁴

삐

ㅅ

사

새

샤

섀

서

세

셔

셰

소

솨

쇄

쇠

쇼

수

숴

쉐

쉬

슈

스

싀

시

ㅆ

싸

쌔

쌰

썌

써

쎄

쎠

쎼

쏘

쏴

쐐

쐬

쑈

쑤

쒀

쒜

쒸

쓔

쓰

씌

씨

ㅇ

아

애

야

얘

어

에

여

예

오

와

왜

외

요

우

워

웨

위

유

으

의

이

ㅈ

자

재

쟈

쟤

저

제

져

졔

조

좌

좨

죄

죠

주

줘

줴

쥐

쥬

즈

즤

지

ㅉ

짜

째

쨔

쨰

쩌

쩨

쪄

쪠

쪼

쫘

쫴

쬐

쬬

쭈

쭤

쮀

쮜

쮸

쯔

쯰

찌

ㅊ

차

채

챠

챼

처

체

쳐

쳬

초

촤

쵀

최

쵸

추

춰

췌

취

츄

츠

츼

치

ㅋ

카

캐

캬

컈

커

케

켜

켸

코

콰

쾌

쾨

쿄

쿠

쿼

퀘

퀴

큐

크

킈

키

ㅌ

타

태

탸

턔

터

테

텨

톄

토

톼

퇘

퇴

툐

투

퉈

퉤

튀

튜

트

틔

티

ㅍ

파

패

퍄

퍠

퍼

페

펴

폐

포

파

퐤

푀

표

푸

풔

풰

퓌

퓨

프

픠

피

ㅎ

하

해

햐

햬

허

헤

혀

혜

호

화

해

회

효

후

훠

훼

휘

휴

흐

희

히