살인미소 - Sarin Miso

Le Retour / 귀가

2006-04-09T17:39:00.000+07:00

This makes me a little worried about heading back to the UK...

영국에 돌아가는 것에 대해 이 것이 다소 걱정시킨데.

Britain? C'est un slave ship - Matthew Campbell

영국은 노예선 - 매슈 캠벌

TIRED of being everyone’s punchbag, the French have hit back at their favourite enemy, “les rosbifs”. A book [by Philippe Auclair] published in Paris has depicted Tony Blair’s Britain as a land of paupers, “fat cats” and mindless consumers.

누구의 농담거리가 되는 것이 넌덜머리나서 프랑스 사람들이 자기 가장좋은 적인 "로스트 비프들"(영국 사람들)에 반격했다. 파리에서 출판한 책은 토니 블레어의 영국을 극빈자들와 부자들 그리고 의식없는 소비자들로 묘사하고 있다.

This slave ship, he goes on, is “awash with money” but 13m people are living below decks in poverty. While 10m adults have no insurance, no savings and not enough clothes for winter, he claims that “2m homes are without sufficient heating” and that 25,000 old people died in their homes of cold in the winter of 2004. None of it stops “les fat cats” from enjoying their six-figure bonuses.

이 노예선은 "돈이 넘치"지만 사람 1300만명 주갑판 밑에서 가난하게 살고 있다고 한다. 1000만명의 성인은 보험이 없고 예금이 없고 겨울옷이 충분치 않으면서 "200만 집이 부족한 난방이 있"고 2004년 겨울에 노인 2만5천명 집에서 추워 죽었다고 주장했다. 아무리 해도 부자들이 여섯 자리수의 보너스를 받는다.

After privatisation, the British railway system is more fit for “cattle on the way to the abattoir than for humans” and Blair’s “third way” has brought the National Health Service to its knees.

민영화 후에는, 영국의 철도 네트워크가 "인간보다 도살장으로 가는 소에 맞는다"고 블레어의
"제삼의 길"이 국민건강봉사법을 굴복시켰다.

Education, too, is a failure: “A frightening proportion of Britain’s adolescents leave all forms of education at 16. Many can barely read or write.”

교육도 실패다. "깜짝 놀라게 하는 비율의 영국 청소년이 16살에 교육을 그만둔다. 많은 이 청소년이 읽거나 쓰지 거의 못한다."

...

Unfortunate Names

2006-03-28T11:58:00.000+07:00

It's kind of ironic that even while page after front page of the Korea Times reveals new corruption scandals, there's a new section of the paper trying to convince us of the "Changing Corporate Culture" in Korea.

The thing that amused me almost equally was the man being questioned in connection with the latest Hyundai-Kia slush fund scandal, "identified only by his family name, Kwak." My god, no wonder they're having problems, who would have a Kwak work for them? ;p

Which brings me to the poor sod below. The best comment I've seen read: "He was winning until the crowd started chanting his name."

And as a final note, I should like to pay homage to the unforgettably monikered former Korean foreign minister, Lee Bum Suk.

Readying for the World Cup / 월드컵 준비하기

2006-03-26T16:33:00.000+07:00

Surname Dearth Brings New Clothes for Taeguk Warriors [slightly edited]

The relative scarcity of surnames in Korea will lead to a change in the way national football squad will be identified on their jerseys. Thus the Manchester United striker currently sporting a shirt that reads J S PARK will instead be identified as JISUNG.

"There are many players in the country with the same last name, and distinguishing among them can be difficult," the Korean Football Association said Tuesday. The current system "also makes it difficult to increase the international recognition of the players' names, so we've decided to change it." In the case of the team that played Angola on March 1, the names Kim and Lee accounted for 12 out of 23 players. Three players - Kim Do-hun, Kim Doo-hyun and Kim Dong-hyun - are all identified as D H KIM.

The new jerseys will first be donned in friendlies at the end of May and later be seen at the World Cup in Germany.

World Baseball Classic

2006-03-22T10:08:00.000+07:00

Congrats to Japan on a well-played game against Cuba to win the WBC.

Passions (and national pride) in Korea flared briefly - feeling like a watered down version of the 2002 (Football) World Cup. Team Korea beat the Japanese twice and even the Americans to get through - just like the World Cup - to the semi-finals. Excellent effort guys!

Ways to Demonstrate Respect at Work and in Class

2006-03-03T03:33:00.000+07:00

There's an interesting article at about.com from Susan M. Heathfield. She talks about the importance of treating everyone at work with respect, from the point of view of a good manager. I'd argue that these go equally for teachers in a class. Here are a few of her ideas:

Treat people with courtesy, politeness, and kindness.
Encourage coworkers to express opinions and ideas.
Listen to what others have to say before expressing your viewpoint.
Never speak over, butt in, or cut off another person.
Use people’s ideas to change or improve work. Let employees know you used their idea, or, better yet, encourage the person with the idea to implement the idea.
Never insult people, name call, disparage or put down people or their ideas.
Do not nit-pick, constantly criticize over little things, belittle, judge, demean or patronize. A series of seemingly trivial actions, added up over time, constitutes bullying.
Praise much more frequently than you criticize. Encourage praise and recognition from employee to employee as well as from the supervisor.
The golden rule does apply at work, or, as professional speaker Leslie Charles, says, “Implement the platinum rule: treat others as they wish to be
treated.”

Controversial Two

2006-03-02T19:02:00.000+07:00

As a follow-up to my earlier post on discussing/debating controversial topics - here - I'd like to add just a few more possible topics to the list.

"Money has eyes." - Korean saying
[ie. trying hard to make money is a waste of time; money chooses you]

"He who has money can eat ice cream in hell." - Lebanese proverb

"Success is spending less time in the office." - Anon.

The majority is usually wrong.

If changing one's appearance by plastic surgery is looked down on, changing it with make-up, fashionable clothes, hairstyles and jewelry should be too.

A teacher can't teach a subject; a teacher can only help the learners learn for themselves.

"If you're not with me, you're against me." - George Walker Bush

If you kill a person, you should be killed.

Terrorism is a legitimate method of political struggle.

Cliché-free Similes

2006-03-02T18:19:00.000+07:00

LOVE the similes game! Learners try to explain these.

Her silence was like a card game.
Her smile was like the sea/ a rocking chair.
Her need for revenge was like a train.
Her anger was like a museum.
Her sense of timing was like a shadow.
Her self-esteem was like a bell.
Her kindness was like a tree.
Her passion was like a toolshed.
Her laughter was like the jungle.

(Variation. 2 piles: 1 human trait, 1 interesting noun. Learners pick them at random and try to explain the meaning.)

Convincing Others

2006-03-02T18:16:00.000+07:00

Students take a 'convince' card and have to persuade their partner (who plays the role of the person named on the card) to do the action on the card.

Convince your president to give you a million dollars.
Convince a good friend to swallow a goldfish.
Convince your grandmother to shave her head.
Convince a senior citizen to join a dance troupe.
Convince your brother to grow a beard.
Convince your teacher to buy you an elephant.
Convince a millionaire to wear a pink tutu.
...

The language they use to do this might involve anything from begging (Pleeeeease do it! Pretty Please!) to negotiating with conditionals (If you do it, I'll give you 20 dollars. How about it?) to threats (You'd better do it. Or else I'll... / Unless you do, I'll...) to advice (You should do this: it'll be a great benefit to your health!) to whatever else might spring into a creative human mind.

Quick Idea - Grouping

2006-03-01T19:57:00.000+07:00

When putting learners into pairs or groups for an activity, don't just put them with the same partner they're always with. You can be more creative than that, I'm sure!

Try to find learners who have something visible (or otherwise known to the teacher) in common when creating pairs or groups. For example, 'the purple eyeshadow team', 'the white shirt team', 'the tied-back hair team', 'the grungy clothing team', 'the Japanese learners' team'.

It's something I've been doing for a few months now. Though (deceptively) simple, it provides an obvious starting point for conversation and mutual interest between the people you've grouped together. Try it yourselves.

EFL - all articles

2006-03-01T10:54:00.000+07:00

vocabulary building

Anatomy 101 , Anatomy 102

Phrasal Verb s , Funky Phrasals

Long Day's Journey

Blame/Criticise, Lecture/Class

self-expression

Metaphorically Speaking

Cliche-free Similes

Conversation Starters ; Conversation Starters Two

pronunciation

Crisp Otter -- consonant clusters

linking / 영어 발음 도움 1

rhythm / 영어 발음 도움 2

intonation and stress / 영어 발음 도움3

listening

British Accents / 영국어 발음 듣기

Online Radio listings

writing

Shaking her pen defiantly,...

Piff!

teaching

Ice-breakers

language anxiety- the learning environment

From Linguistics to Language

varieties of English

Grouping Learners

discussion

controversial ; controversial two

other

Hot or hotter? - comparitives

Six Thinking Hats - creativity lesson

TOEIC

For TOEIC the bell tolls

Moving from Linguistics to Language (a response to AJ)

2006-02-26T16:10:00.000+07:00

A surprising number of learners here in Korea seem to do little but “study” languages. That is, they put a great deal of time and effort into memorizing lots of words and grammar rules. However, outside the classroom setting these learners tend to find it very difficult to communicate. What’s gone wrong?

여기 한국에서는 놀라울 정도로 많은 학생들이 언어들을 "study"하기만 하는것 같다. 즉, 많은 단어와 문법을 암기하려고 애쓰는데. 이런 학생들은 교실 밖에서 다른 사람과 대화하기가 어려운 것을 깨닫는다. 무엇이 잘못 된 것일까?

The most obvious answer is that they aren’t trying to learn communicative language skills, the kind most people use every day, let alone improve their communication skills. Instead, faced with another language, too many people (from any country) overlook their first language. The logic goes something like this: “It’s a different language (not to mention a different culture!), so it must be completely different from my own.”

가장 명백한 응답은 대부분의 사람이 매일 쓰는 대화 기술을 향상시키지않을 뿐만아니라 회화 기술도 공부하지 않는다는 것이다. 너무 많은 사람들이 (그게 어떤 나라든지) 다른 언어를 접하는 대신에 모국어를 등한시 한다. 말하자면 이런 것이다. “이것은 다른 언어다 (문화의 차이를 이야기 하는 것이 아니라) 그러니까 내 모국어와 완전히 다르겠지.”

I’d suggest that looking at the communication skills most people already have is the most useful way to start. An approach to communication skills might start by raising learners’ awareness of how they communicate on a day-to-day basis in their first language. (Some people are naturally more self-aware than others.) Looking at: how they interact with different people; how they use language; how they use grammar; how they actually use body language, maybe helping them understand how we keep at a comfortable distance when we talk;
what they talk about; how they recycle topics of conversation, falter sometimes, pause, use fillers; how they ask questions to confirm they understand; how they use intonation, pitch and speed, and how these reflect their feelings; how the language actually sounds, which is often different from how it looks on paper.

내 제안은 이렇다. 언어습득을 시작하기에 가장 좋은 방법은 사람들에게 원래 있는 언어기술을 찾아내는 것이다. 회화의 기술에 대한 접근은 모국어로 매일의 대화의 기술에 대한 자각을 높이는 것부터 시작하면 아마 좋을 것이다. (어떤 사람들은 원래부터 다른사람에 비해 자기자신을 더 잘안다.) 구체적으로, 어떻게 그들이 다른 사람들과 행동하고 표현할 것인지, 언어를 어떻게 쓸지, 실제로 문법을 어떻게 쓰고, 바디 랭귀지를 어떻게 쓰고 대화시의 적절한 거리를 유지하는 것을 이해할 수 있도록 어떻게 도울 것인지, 대화의 내용이 무엇이고, 얼마나 대화의 화제들을 "인용"하고 가끔 더듬거리고 잠시 중단하고 머뭇거리는 소리(음... 저...뭐... 등등)를 내고, 얼마나 이해하는지를 확인하기 위해 질문을 하고, 언어의 억양과 높낮이와 속도를 얼마나 적절히 사용할 지, 또 이것들이 어떻게 감정을 표현할 수 있을지, 문어체에 비해서는 종종 차이가 있는 언어의 실제 소리가 어떤지를 살펴보는 것이다.

It's far easier to build on this awareness than to try and teach all of these skills from scratch. And, importantly, any new skills they pick up will be a clear extension of their own selves, rather than something alien.

이러한 지식을 더하는 것은 ("from scratch") 아무런 기본지식 없이 그냥 이러한 기술을 가르치는 것보다 훨씬 더 쉽다. 그리고 중요한 것은 그들이 새롭게 익히는 기술들이 단순히 주입된 것이 아니고 그들 자신들에게 명백한 성장일 것이라는 것이다.

Starting Conversations

2006-02-26T15:28:00.000+07:00

Hope these example conversations aren’t too clichéd!

At a tourist spot:
1: How’re ya doing?
2: Pretty good, thanks! Y’self?
1: I’m fabulous! Gorgeous day, isn’t it!
2: Sure is!
1: What d’ya think of this place?
2: Amazing, isn’t it! Been here before?

In a busy coffee shop:
C: Hi there! How ya doing?
J: I’m good, thanks!
C: Bit crowded in here, isn’t it! ’S like a cattle market!
J: Ya c’n say that again!
C: C’n I ask what ya’re having?
J: I’m thinking a latte would be nice. How about y’self?
C: Maybe the same. Mind if I join ya f’r a while?
J: Not at all! I’m Jake, by the way.

At a bar:
A: Hey, how’s it going? My name’s Adam.
E: Nice t’ meet ya. I’m Eve.
A: Good atmosphere in here, don’t ya think?
E: Yeh, I like it. It’s chilled.
A: C’n I ask where ya’re from?
E: Oh, d’you know South Korea? I’m fr’m the second city – Busan.
A: Oh, yes? I haven’t heard of it. What’s it like?
E: Well, there aren’t many sights, but Busanites c’n be quite friendly.

On the subway:
H: Hello there. My name’s Hyo-ri. D’ya mind if I ask where ya’re from?
B: Of course not! England, I’m from England. People call me Becks.
H: C’n I ask where ya’re going, Becks?
B: I’m on my way t’ PNU. D’ya know it?
H: Yes, of course! In fact, I’m going there myself. Mind if I join ya?
B: That could be nice!

NB. A number of the spellings have been changed to better reflect how the words are actually spoken in fluent English. Sometimes the odd spelling of English gets in the way of correct pronunciation; it can also impair your listening skills if you think a word is pronounced in one way when in fact it sounds quite different in fluent English.

Language Foci

QUESTION TAGS
~isn’t it! (falling intonation, to ask for agreement)

SEEKING COMMON KNOWLEDGE
Heard of (it)? D’you know (it)?

ASKING FOR OPINIONS
What d’you think of…?
(Also good: What’d you say to…?)

GIVING OPINIONS
I’m thinking…
That could be good/ fun/ nice/ interesting.

POLITE REQUESTS
Can I (ask)…? Mind if I…?
(Also: Mind if I sit here?
-> Not at all/ Go ahead/ I’d rather you didn’t)

Two Jokes

2006-02-18T12:56:00.000+07:00

From January's edition of Humanising Language Teaching.

The bus driver and Big John

One day a bus driver was in his bus when the biggest man he had ever seen got on. The giant looked at the driver and said, "Big John doesn't pay." Then he took his seat on the bus. The bus driver was only a little man and he didn't want to argue.

This happened for several days. After a week, the bus driver was beginning to get a little angry. Everybody else paid, so why not the big man? So the driver decided to go to the gym and start a course of body-building. He didn't want to be frightened of Big John any more.

A number of weeks later the driver had strong muscles and was feeling very fit. At the usual stop, Big John got on. "Big John doesn't pay," he said. But this time the driver was prepared for him. He got up and said, "Oh, yeah? And why doesn't Big John pay?"

"Because Big John has got a bus pass," the man replied.

~~~~~~~~~~
The doctor's advice

A man was feeling unwell and he went to see the doctor. He went with his wife because he was a little worried. Afterwards, the doctor spoke in private to the man's wife.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news," he said. "Unless you follow my instructions carefully, your husband will die. Every morning you must give him a good breakfast and you must cook him a healthy meal every night. What is more, you mustn't ask him to do any housework and you must keep the house very clean. I realise it is a lot of work for you, but it really is the only way to keep him alive."

On the way home, the husband asked his wife what the doctor had said to her.
"He said you're going to die," she replied.

Back to the wall

2006-02-08T15:01:00.000+07:00

With a much more humane work schedule this month, I'm finally finding the time to get back into the pastimes I've had to desert for the past few months. This afternoon I followed the steep road behind the local Carrefour up to Mt. Hwangmyeong Sports and Leisure Park [황령산 레포츠 공원]. The YMCA centre there has a simple but adequate climbing wall, which a friend introduced me to. Free use too, as long as you can put up with the youngsters downstairs practising their choreography to a never-ending loop of dance music.

Round trip on foot from work - 1 hour, plus an hour or so on the wall. I'll be heading up there more often, methinks. (Especially if the weather stops hovering around zero and warms up a bit!)

Korean name?

2006-02-08T14:29:00.000+07:00

Yes, my Korean name is Yong Se-chan.
(Thankfully it's the same, no matter how you romanize it.)

After calling so many Koreans by an English name (far easier for westerners to remember), it's only fitting that I should reveal my Korean name. Most Koreans that I've mentioned this name to seem to think it sounds nice and gives a good impression, which is important.

The meaning?
龍 (용 룡, dragon) Yong, dragon, is fairly rare as a surname in Korea, but it does exist and I have in fact met someone with it. The choice was easy: the flag of Wales has a dragon on it, so...

世 (세상 세, the world)
贊 (도울 찬, help[s])

Because of Korean's subject-object-verb word order, the name in full means "[the/a] dragon [who] helps the world". A reference to my personal philosophy of being nice to others and also to my work as a teacher.

Written in Korean alphabet (han-geul): 용세찬

Written in Chinese characters (hanja): 龍世贊

thee dickhead soh faar

2006-02-04T17:14:00.000+07:00

From an intelligent article by historian Simon Schama on the decade referred to as "the noughties":

There was the teeny matter of the beginning of the end; of planet Earth, that is, the last chance of reversing the irreversible damage that has been done to the ecosystem, beside which all the rest of its problems were small potatoes.

Short of taking the current president of the United States by the scruff of the neck and dunking his head deep into the rapidly melting Arctic ice cap, what more did the Earth need to do to make someone listen to its cry for help? But this was the decayed decade, when everything that urgently needed to be done to reverse carbon emissions was identified, documented, articulated - and then systematically obstructed by the power that was disproportionately responsible for the damage. When the rest of the world shouted "Emergency", America chanted back "Growth".

The decade when coral reefs turned pallid and died; when Alaskan caribou butted their heads against pipelines; when what seemed like a marginal rise in oceanic temperatures translated into hurricanes that ate entire shorelines, was also the decade of the Hummer.

Fabulous Start to 2006^^

2006-01-24T21:47:00.000+07:00

This has been a kick-ass month!

I love this feeling that I'm getting out of it and I've been getting plenty of positive feedback from the learners about it too! There's only one class that I'm a little concerned about that really haven't bonded at all – formal Korean social hierarchies... But they still manage to find enjoyment if I don't group the younger students with the older ones.

Back to the kick-ass front, my overall inspiration, creativity, motivation and enjoyment have soared this month. I’ve been trying new things, sharing ideas with colleagues,... I love it! This is why I love my work!^^

(Still, I do desperately need to get away from work more too – lousy work schedule for the past months.)

~~~~~~~~~~
Update: 26th January, I've just been told by our so-called manager that the student evaluations this month (yes, the students rate their teachers on 10 basic criteria; odd, I know) are far lower than last month, when I was severely burnt out twentyfour-seven.

I've been getting excellent and uplifting feedback from the students verbally and without asking. I also got very positive comments from a useful 'How can I help you learn better?' form I got them to fill out at the two-week mark. [Compared to the other students in class, I feel I'm at the same level / more advanced / less advanced because... ; I feel my weakest points are... ; What I like about this class is... ; In class, I’d like to see more...]

I therefore find my "manager's" news highly suspicious. I'm asking to see the eval sheets for myself and next month I will be personally signing each and every evaluation sheet I hand out to make sure the numbers aren't subject to foul play.

on being fabulous and romantic

2006-01-24T14:49:00.000+07:00

"If we say nothing but what has been said before us, we are dull and have observed nothing. If we tell anything new, we are laughed at as fabulous and romantic."- English society figure Lady Mary Wortley Montagu in a letter to her husband in 1718.

During a stay in Sydney a while back I worked in a non-sales-related telephone job, cold-calling people all around Australia. After a few weeks of settling into the job, it dawned on me that I was in fact a modern-day Santa Claus (long hours and too much caffeine perhaps??). That is, I could potentially bring joy and happiness to people in every city, town and outback corner of Aussie; I could have an impact on the outlook of the whole country from that single bright sunlit room.

I would make every call smiling, be as pleasant as humanly possible, and make the mere five-odd minutes I had with each person count to the max. My aim was to make each person at least a little bit happier. And after they put the receiver down, they might just be nicer to the next person they met. And they too might be a little more cheerful. And so on.

By enriching even one person’s life, I could be the butterfly that flaps its wings. And I could flap them cheerfully in every corner of the country with a mere tap of my fingers on the keyboard and a smile in my voice! And that smile became more and more beaming with every person I was able to make even a little happier.

(Of course, this did my employer a lot of good too and I got very positive feedback from my boss and co-workers.)

Make today the day that you too become a fabulous and romantic butterfly.

Controversial? / 논쟁적인가?

2006-01-16T16:42:00.000+07:00

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." - Martin Luther King Jr.
"사람들에 대한 궁극적인 판단방법은 그들이 편안하고 안락한 순간에 취하는 태도가 아니고 도전과 논쟁의 시기에 취하는 자세에 있다." - 마틴 루터 킹

I have one fussy high-level class this month who take a lot of work. One lesson that I spent hours designing and creating was reduced to a long po-faced silence in no time. So, working on the concept that I had to come up with a topic for the next class that even they couldn't not have opinions about, I racked my brain for contentious issues. What follows are some of the ones that worked really well (;p), grouped into vague categories for you to peruse.

The goal is to provoke learners (and yourself) think, to present a compelling topic for them to express their views on. It can also be used to practise discussion skills, and potentially debating skills too.

Quotes
"God is dead." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"Imagination is greater than knowledge." - Albert Einstein
"Eighty percent of success is just showing up." - Woody Allen
"Laughter is the best medicine." - saying
"Innovators are inevitably controversial." - Eva Le Gallienne
“There is nothing wrong with our faces or bodies that social change can’t cure.” - Naomi Wolf

Universal?
Hitler was the greatest criminal ever.
Beauty is nothing more than a matter of taste.
A woman's place is in the home.

Airbags in cars should be replaced with big steel spikes - people would drive more safely.

People who get plastic surgery are truly happier about themselves.

TV is a huge waste of time.

Monogamy doesn't work.

Korea-based

Military service is a bad influence on Korean men.
"Fan death" is nothing more than a Korean urban legend.
The Korean education system is a robot assembly line.

Harisu (the famous Korean transsexual) is, basically, a man.

English teachers in Korea should be qualified to teach English.

The “East (Asia) Sea” should be referred to by the most widely-used current term – the “Sea of Japan” – until any disagreement has been resolved.
The lack of sleep that Korean high school students put themselves through is damaging.

Japan is actually a bit better than Korea.

~~~~~~~~~~
A related activity is to play them Savage Garden's catchy song "Affirmation" (lyrics below) and ask, To what extent do you agree?

verse 1
I believe the sun should never set upon an argument.
I believe we place our happiness in other people's hands.
I believe that junk food tastes so good because it's bad for you.
I believe your parents did the best job they knew how to do.
I believe that beauty magazines promote low self esteem.
I believe I'm loved when I'm completely by myself alone.

chorus
I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned.
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned.
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side.
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye.

verse 2
I believe you can't control or choose your sexuality.
I believe that trust is more important than monogamy.
I believe your most attractive features are your heart and soul.
I believe that family is worth more than money or gold.
I believe the struggle for financial freedom is unfair;
I believe the only ones who disagree are millionaires.
chorus

verse 3
I believe forgiveness is the key to your unhappiness.
I believe that wedded bliss negates the need to be undressed.
I believe that God does not endorse TV evangelists.
I believe in love surviving death into eternity.
chorus

Dumb? Are you?

2006-01-10T15:07:00.000+07:00

"You scored 30 out of a possible 38" That means, I hope, that I'm NOT dumb, thank you very much!

Of the wrong ones, 1 was on football - I'm only really interested when the World Cup's on - and 2 were on recent British pop culture - I haven't tried to keep up with that while I'm away - I figure it'll make for more interesting conversations when I get back...!

What I'm talking about is this: A recent survey of Britain's 18- to 24-year-olds has shown up the many gaps in the cultural knowledge of the "information generation". Has ignorance triumphed over enlightenment?

As one commentator observed, "Every healthy culture winnows and chooses a past which it finds useful. But something has been lost."

Should we welcome the free-thinking technological generation, "a generation whose minds are more empty than open"? Or should we take the view that "the better informed are also the tolerant and compassionate"? Should we be "smart" or "knowledgeable"?

You can take the test yourself and comment on the meaning of the results here.

Appropriate Management

2006-01-08T19:01:00.000+07:00

Gareth Morgan, a professor of organizational behaviour once commented that, Farmers don't grow crops. They create the conditions in which crops grow. This, as I see it, is the job of any good leader, coach, teacher, manager, conductor - to ensure an environment in which people can thrive at what they do and develop at a speed that fits them.

Albert Einstein, a man whose name is synonymous with intelligence, said, "I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn."

And one more quote to drive the nail home:

Many years ago my friend Christopher was a junior manager at Yorkshire Water Company. He was asked by his line manager to visit a senior engineer at his home in Huddersfield. Chris knocked on the door and was invited in. "Would you like a cup of tea?" the engineer asked. While Chris waited for the kettle to boil in the kitchen, he looked out of the back window expecting to see a garden. Instead he saw row upon row of fish tanks, stacked one on top of the other, each filled with a different species of fish. "I didn't know you kept fish," said Chris. "Nay lad," replied the old engineer, "I don't keep fish, I keep water."
Now that's great leadership, if you think about it. - from HLTmag

At work, we have a monthly teacher evaluation system that allows our learners to voice their opinions of their teacher. Although a lot depends on how they feel towards the teacher personally rather than the quality of the teaching per se, I relish the feedback. I've realised that even if the ratings and comments ARE mainly based on their feelings, surely a large part of my job in the classroom IS based around feelings: if the learners can't find a personal connection with the teacher and the class and the language, how much can I really expect them to learn?

~~~~~~~~~~

One thing is missing though: manager evaluations. Following a similar format to the teacher evaluation form, and for anyone who might want to use this, here's my proposed "good manager" evaluation form.

For each question give an answer from 1(never) to 5(always).
Please be an honest as possible.

01. Manager facilitates employees' work, empowering them to do their very best.
02. Manager recognises the value of employees and shows them respect and trust.
03. Manager is knowledgeable and capable.
04. Manager praises and gives credit where it is due.
05. Manager is fair and reasonable, not punishing employees unduly.
06. Manager recognises problems quickly and knows how to deal with them effectively.
07. Manager admits mistakes and recognises the value of them in striving for new highs.
08. Manager is open to new ideas, suggestions and questions - listens actively.
09. Manager is human and friendly, and helps motivate employees.
10. Manager maintains a positive and motivating attitude.

For TOEIC the Bell Tolls / <토익을 위하여 종은 울리나>

2006-01-08T18:23:00.000+07:00

For me this is great news. Maybe I'm a fool for being too hopeful about the demise of this infamously inept test, but an article in the Chosun Ilbo (Chosun Daily) here reports to my delight that the TOEIC:

나에게는 이게 아주 좋은 소식이다. 어리석게도 나는 이 악명높게 부적절한 시험의 멸망를 낙관하고 있다. 하지만 <조선일보>에서 있는 글이 이렇게 토익에 대해 보고했다.

may at last be on its way out. Some 12 corporations ... have dropped a TOEIC score requirement for job applicants, and three others ... have lowered the minimum requirement...

"...we judged that the TOEIC not an appropriate indicator of actual English skills," says Lee Jeong, head of personnel at the Industrial Bank of Korea.
...The test, which has no reading and writing sections and consists largely of formulaic multiple-choice questions, may have come to the end of its extended run. Most candidates sit the test for employment reasons. If companies now dismiss it, the exam's survival is under threat.

Conversations with Larry King

2006-01-08T18:00:00.000+07:00

A few weekends ago, I read the well-known Larry King book "How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere" and was fairly impressed. Well, at least by 6 of the 12 chapters. His commonsense advice for better conversations can be summed up as follows:

When looking for someone to have a conversation with, choose someone who looks alert and interested in what's going on around them.

There's a good chance the person you're about to talk to is shy, so you don't need to be! Try to put them at their ease. Never feel inferior or intimidated - everyone's human.

Pay attention to the situation, setting and the person.

Conversation starters for 10:
The weather - a no-brainer.
The situation.
Popular current affairs - everyone has opinions.
Kids/pets - people care a LOT about these things if they have them.

Your job is to find out what they're avid about, what's closest to their heart. Be sincere and curious, aim to learn something from them and you will. And you'll be a more knowledgeable person for it! So, listen. Oh, and don't stay too serious for too long!

Pay attention to the person you're talking to. Lean closer if they seem comfortable with it - it shows you're interested. Look them in the eye - but don't freak them out by staring non-stop!

Listening well (for example, making interested sounds and clarifying what you've understood by rephrasing what they've said) will help you ask better follow-up questions ("the mark of a good conversationalist") based on what you've heard.

Learning Resources - online video/TV

2005-12-18T14:40:00.000+07:00

International
MediaHopper (Choose a country)
Mainly news, sports, fashion, culture.

USA
Sit Down Comedy (Interviews)
Click "Watch full episodes and sneak peaks"
Comedy Central has 2-minute video clips
TVGuide (Video reviews of TV shows)

BBC
BBC London 15 mins. of news daily (RealPlayer)
The BBC also shows Panorama and Question Time
Guide to BBC broadband services

Deutsche Welle TV (Click "Video on Demand")
(Also in German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese)

I do tend to agree with the Linguist on this: MP3's better because you don't have to stare at it; you can do other things while you learn. TV's just more colourful.

Godawful December

2005-12-17T12:28:00.000+07:00

Such a heavy workload this month. Considering the number of teachers we have, too many classes have been opened, and opened at times that make everyone's schedule ridiculously long and drawn-out. All of us teachers are feeling the strain - we're completely burnt out and more than a little p*ssed off. Our quality of life is not high right now.

In my case, it has sapped my energy and all but killed my personal relationships. I've been trying desperately to use what free time I can find to reaffirm relations, and this pressure is getting me down even more. (Sorry, my friends.) It seems a vicious circle. Things can't change soon enough.

EFL - Practise your phrasal verbs here! - 구동사를 여기 연습하세요

2005-12-12T11:37:00.000+07:00

From BBC Learning: "Funky Phrasals"
Dialogues with sound files
(standard British English; 표준의 영국 영어)

Learning Resources - Online Radio / 온라인 라디오

2005-12-11T13:16:00.000+07:00

Browse the listings and choose your genre:

UK________Australia
New Zealand_ Canada
USA (New York City - FM and AM)

Genres /장르:
News / Talk - 뉴스 / 대화
Sports - 스포츠
Hit Radio / Top 40 - 히트 음악 / 톱 40
Contemporary - 현대 음악
Rock / Alternative - 록 / 올터너티브
Jazz / Blues - 재즈 / 블루스
Soul /R & B - 소울 음악 / 리듬 앤드 블루스
Dance / Latin - 댄스 음악 / 라틴 음악
Gospel - 고스펠 음악
Reggae / Ethnic - 레게 / 민속 음악
Oldies / Country - 옛날 음악 / 컨트리
Religious - 종교 방송

(Recommended for rock enthusiasts - Woxy)

~~~~~~~~~~
For learners of other European languages:
Listings for major W. European countries
Most links from Great Yarmouth Radio Club
and The Flag Shop

Not a fan of capes, but...

2005-12-10T18:27:00.000+07:00

You are Superman
You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

"Which Superhero are you?"

To my December classes...

2005-12-06T22:12:00.000+07:00

From The Linguist, via AJ's blog:

"It really does not matter why you want to improve your English. The important thing for you to know is that you can improve. You can actually improve quite quickly. You just have to do it the right way.

Most people study languages the wrong way. They study from text books or traditional learning systems with uninteresting content, but lots of pictures, plenty of grammar explanation and quizzes. This kind of instruction looks like it should work, but for most people it does not. It is uninteresting and inefficient. Most people do not progress rapidly and are not satisfied with their language studies. They lose interest and will only study if forced to because of exams.

I can understand this. It is hard to keep working at something if you do not succeed. You need to understand how to learn a language.

When you learn a new language your brain starts to change. The brain begins to build networks of neurons that will enable you to operate in a new language like English. You will not become fluent because you understand grammar rules. You become fluent as your brain naturally develops the ability to understand English. You become fluent when you can put thoughts together correctly in English without having to try to remember grammar rules.

So how can you most quickly build these new networks for English? It depends on three things: your attitude towards studying English, the amount of time you spend on English, and how efficient your study method is. It does not depend on teachers or tests. You have to realize that your thoughts and actions are what will most influence the development of these new networks in your brain. How well and how quickly you learn is up to you"

AJ의 블로그를 통해 (언어학자)에서:

왜 당신의 영어를 증진하고 싶다는간는 중요하지 않다. 중요한 게 증진할수는 있을 거다. 사실 아주 바르게 증진할수 있는데 제대로만 한다면.

대부분의 사람은 언어를 잘못된 방법으로 공부한다. 교과서나 흥미없지만 사진많고 문법과 퀴즈가 풍분하는 교통 규육 체계에서 공부하곤 하다. 이러한 교육이 성공할 거 같지만 대부분의 사람에게 서공하지 못한다. 재미없고 효과적이 아닌다. 대부분의 사람이 바르게 전진하지 않고 자기의 언어 학문에 만족하지 않다. 그들은 흥미를 잃고 시험만 때문에 공부한다.

이건 이해한다. 성공이 없어 뭘 종사하는 거 어렵다. 언어를 어떻게 익힐 방법을 알을 필요가 있다.

새 언어를 익힐 때 당신의 뇌가 바꾸기 시작한다. 영어처럼 언어로 작용할 수 있게 하기 위해 뇌는 뉴런의 네트워크를 만들기 시작한다. 문법을 알기 때문에 창문하게 될 거지 아이다. 뇌가 자연스럽게 영어 이해할 능력을 발달시키면서 창문하게 될 거다. 문법 규칙을 기억해보는 것 없이 당신의 생각이 영어로 정확히 공식화하면서 창문하게 될 거다.

이게 3 것에 따라 다른다. 영어에 대한 태도 그리고 영어에 얼마나 시간 보내는 것과 연습방법이 얼마나 능률적인 것에 따라 다른다. 선생이나 시험에 따라 다르지 않는다. 당신의 생각과 행동이 당신의 뇌에 있는 이 네트워크의 발달에 가장 강한 영향을 미칠 거다. 얼마나 잘.바르게 익힐 걸 완전히 너한테 달려 있다, 마음대로 골라라.

TOEIC in Korea

2005-12-06T19:35:00.000+07:00

Number of TOEIC Takers Reaches World's Highest

In 2004,

Korea 3.8% [pop. 48 million, 1.83 million TOEIC takers]

Japan 1.12% [pop. 27 million, 1.43 million TOEIC takers]

Taiwan 0.22% [pop. 22.5 million, 50,000 TOEIC takers]

China 0.002% [pop. 1,29 million, 30,000 TOEIC takers]

The wave of foreign firms accelerated the globalization of the Korean economy and dramatically increased the need for English. Korean companies are becoming increasingly international and more of them are requiring their employees to strengthen their practical English skills...

As TOEIC doesn't test practical English skills (and therefore nor do TOEIC teachers need to teach them), why take this test then?

To impose or not

2005-11-28T22:36:00.000+07:00

I've been enamoured with Bhutan ever since I saw the superb film Travellers and Magicians at the Pusan International Film Festival two years back, and took part in the question and answer session with the director - dressed in his monk's robes.

2년전에 부산국제영화제에서 매우 뛰어난 <여행자와 마법사>란 영화를 보고 (승님의 옷을 입는) 감독과 문답 회의에 참가했을 때부터는 부탄에 반했다.

Now here's something else to think about from the mountain kingdom.
여기 산맥에 있는 왕국에서 생각할 만한 게 일어났다.

Is it democratic to impose democracy? Can you choose not to choose your government? These paradoxical conundrums are usually confined to discussions involving drunken students and tiresome academics (or is that the other way round?). But now they have emerged for real in Bhutan, where the Wangchuk dynasty has ruled as an absolute monarchy since 1903.

The Dragon King, Jigme Singye Wangchuk, announced earlier this month that he wants to give his people the gift of a democratically elected parliament. The trouble is, they don't want it. Where now they have a united country with a widely loved leader, they fear they will get a divided country with parties and factions pursuing their own interests. Looking at western democracies, they have a point.

So it seems whatever happens, the country will have a legitimacy gap. Keep the monarchy and the people will not have any choice about what policies their leader pursues; impose democracy and they will have been denied their choice of political
system. Whatever you choose, you have no choice.

Countries visited / 가본 나라들

2005-11-26T21:42:00.000+07:00

Obviously not my main reason for going, but two weeks in China dramatically changes this map, doesn't it?

물론 간 주요한 이유가 아닌데 중국에 이주일 있는 게 이 지도를 극적으로 바꾸는다, 그렇지?

(create your own countries visited map)

The age-old adage that 'a change is as good as a rest' is so beautifully true.^^

'변화는 휴식만큼 좋다'라는 속담이 정말 사실이네.^^

Vibes / 느낌

2005-11-16T18:09:00.000+07:00

Before you teach a class, or write a report card, or give a presentation, or step out the door, take in something positive and uplifting.

수업을 가르치거나 성적표를 쓰거나 보고하거나 방에서 나오기 전에 긍정적이고 정신을 앙양시키는 걸 받아들여라.

Try a quick dip into one of the following. (Please, don't start reading through everything, it only waters down the individual messages. Be different: try thinking about one thing at a time, in some depth.)

다음은 좀 해봐라. (모든 걸 읽지 말고 한 번에 하나씩 신중히 생각해라.)

InspirationPeak / WorldOfInspiration

Have a great day, wherever you are.

여러분 어디든지 있어도 좋은 하루 보내라.

a far more interesting place for world news

2005-11-09T16:51:00.000+07:00

Wednesday November 2, 2005
Shocked Englishman Steve Windless found doctors had left more than a metre of wire in his body during surgery 10 years ago after a bit suddenly poked through the side of his neck as he was driving.

Tuesday October 18, 2005
An Austrian resort claims bookings have flooded in after it banned young children - while still letting dogs in. Hotel Cortisen owner Roland Ballnere said dogs were better trained and did not vandalise his hotel.

Friday October 14, 2005
Chips that store music could one day be built into breast implants. One breast could hold the MP3 player and the other the music collection. BT futurology, who developed the idea, say it could be available within 15 years.

Visit Oddspot.

Two Giant Fat People / 두명의 거대하고 살찐 사람

2005-11-08T12:28:00.000+07:00

If I were Jesus, nothing would rub me up the wrong way more than all those people doing idiotic and cruel things "in the name of Jesus Christ". No, I'm not religious, though I do have a set of personal principles I live by. That said, I love this uplifting little poem by the Persian poet Hafiz.

"Two Giant Fat People"

God

And I have become

Like two giant fat people

Living in a

Tiny boat.

Keep

Bumping into each other and

하나님과

내가 아주 작은 배에서

살고 있는

두명의 거대하고 살찐 사람처럼

되었는데

우리

서로 계속 중돌하고

웃

곤

한

다

EFL - Ice-breakers

2005-11-08T12:03:00.000+07:00

Breaking the ice with some classes might require a sledgehammer, but I find that the sooner learners in a class feel comfortable with each other, knowing that their opinions will be valued and mistakes tolerated, the sooner they can start enjoying the class.

I find most of my students seem to have no desire at all to hang out with their classmates outside class (too busy, terrible at socialising, "But I'm here to learn, not meet people!" and similar excuses) and given half a chance ignore them in class too. However, if learners in a classroom don't make the effort to get to know each other, there's little a teacher can do with the class.

Given the fundamental importance of the ice-breaking stage, my general rule is to spread it over two classes (I see classes for 50 minutes every day.). Everyone has their own little stash activities for this. Here's mine.

Day 1
Preparation: gather together about half a dozen things you feel say something interesting about you. (I use things like my Korean cookbook (in Korean), the capo for my guitar (What is it??), a handful of postcards from back home, a novel in French, and (low denomination!) banknotes from some of the countries I've visited.)
1. Basic Introductions: everyone's name, jobs or degree courses, main interests and whereabouts they live. All this information should be written clearly (and in bright colours!) on folded pieces of paper that will be kept on the table for the next few lessons. To be friendly and co-operative, they can work in pairs to make these for each other; and then introduce each other to the class.
2. Hand out the objects you've prepared and get them into small groups to discuss what they think each thing says about the teacher. After they've passed round all the objects, ask the class for suggestions (most objects aren't difficult to figure out, but accept all guesses as possible). When you've had all comments in, better point out which guesses were right and which wrong, otherwise you might end up with misconceptions from the start. (Like the one student of mine who for two months thought I was actually French!)
3. If you have long enough you could go into a Needs Analysis discussion from here, or ask them to write about that individually for homework.

Day 2
Preparation: make a sheet of intriguing questions! (One each or one between two. If you like, you can collect these in after the class so as not to waste paper.) The questions should all be up-beat and show real curiosity about the other person's values, interests and feelings. They can also be cheeky, flirtaceous, philosophical, whatever does it for you. (Lots of examples below.) About a dozen should give plenty of choice and ample opportunities to talk themselves and learn about each other.
1. Introduce this as an antidote to the tedious "Where are you from? What do you do?", and that they'll be rated on two things while they're getting to know each other better: listening and how much they can remember about their classmates, and the use of follow-up questions to keep the conversation going. Give out question sheets and don't interrupt unless called. This activity works best in small groups or pairs.
2. When they've had sufficient time, they can take it in turns telling the class the most interesting things they've learnt about the person/people they've talked to. If you have time, others can ask follow-up questions. Recommend that people who have something in common, or even the whole class, should go for a coffee (or tea) afterwards.

~~~~~~~~~~
Example questions (Choose about a dozen. Tailor them to your class. Change wording or add definitions at the bottom of the question sheet if needed. Questions alone look dull - add a few pictures.)

What's your earliest memory?

Do you cry at sad films?

What's your worst habit?

In your opinion, what's the most important thing the opposite sex needs to learn?

What's your favourite thing to do to have fun and what attracts you to it?

A genie grants you one wish - what would it be?

What do you think is your most attractive feature?

Choose two words to describe yourself.

Who do you admire most in the world and why?

Which sense is most important to you?

Do you believe monogamy works?

What's your favourite thing to do on a date?

What's your biggest ambition?

What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

I'm very slim. How can I put on weight?

What type of guy/girl do you go for?

Do you often get drunk?

What do you think of acupuncture?

What do you want for Christmas?

What's your favourite season, and why?

What comes to mind when I say "vacations"?

You fall in love with someone from another country - would you consider marriage?

Do you keep many secrets?

What comes to mind when I say "culture"?

What's your favourite TV in your country, and what's your favourite foreign one?

Are there any attractive men/women in your workplace?

How do you like to spend quiet time by yourself?

Would you date yourself?

If you could be the star of a film, what kind of film would it be?

Can you lend me a dollar?

What would you most like to find out?

Did you ever go on a school trip when you were younger?

What's your favourite place to eat?

Have you ever had a pen pal? Would you like one?

What were you like when you were younger?

Describe your ideal day.

What can you tell me about your country's culture?

What's the furthest you've ever been from home?

Do you have any role models?

What can you tell me about your best friend?

What comes to mind when I say "love"?

Tea or coffee?

군대 / We're in the army now

2005-11-05T20:54:00.000+07:00

I've officially been on holiday since Wednesday. So for the last few days I've had the time to flick through the pages of my Korean newspaper of choice, the Hankyoreh. I've especially been following an intelligent four-part special report on the socio-psychological effects military service (2 years; compulsory) has on Korea's young men.

‘군대를 갔다 와야 사람 된다’는 말이 있다. 과연 군대는 우리나라 젊은 남자를 어떻게 변화시킬까?

실제 조사를 해 보니 군대는 이들을 더욱 보수적으로 만들고 가부장적인 사고방식을 강화하는 데 영향을 주는 것으로 드러났다. <한겨레>는 임상심리학연구소 ‘더 트리그룹 리서치클리닉’(대표 조용범)과 함께 군대 경험이 심리·사회적 영역에서 한국 남자에게 어떤 영향을 끼치는지를 분석하고자 최근 두 달 동안 20대 남성 240명을 대상으로 다양한 심리검사를 벌였다. 이런 경험과학적 연구방법을 통한 조사는 우리나라에서 처음이다.

There's a saying that, "Going to the army makes you a man." In reality, how does military service affect the young men of Korea?

In fact, upon investigation it has been found that the effects of the army are that it makes them all the more conservative and intensifies patriarchal views. For the last two months the Hankyoreh, with the co-operation of a research centre for clincal psychology, The Tree Group Research Clinic, has embarked on a socio-psychological examination of 240 men in their 20s, for the purposes of analysis, on the influences the military service experience imparts on Korean men. This investigation is the first in Korea to address this experience using scientific methods of enquiry.

For anyone interested, the above extract is from the first article of the report "The Army makes (Conformist and Patriarchal) Men", and today's piece "the experts talk" was a solid summary:

권인숙 명지대 교수(여성학) ‘대한민국은 군대다’ 저자
“군기 때문에 인권침해 안돼…성희롱 ‘왜’ 안되는지 이해시켜야”

조용범 박사(임상심리학) 더 트리그룹 리서치클리닉 대표
“조직에 순응 ‘단지 귀찮아서’…지적욕구 저하는 국가적 손해”

정곤양 대령 국방부 인사근무과장
“제대뒤 원만해지고 EQ(감성지수) 높아져…민간협력으로 문제 풀 것”

Kwon In-suk, professor of Gender Studies at Myeongji University and author of 'Korea is an Army': "We must not allow human rights infringements for the sake of military discipline ... must make it clear why sexual harassment is wrong"

Dr. Jong Yong-beom, clinical psychologist and representative of The Tree Group Clinic: "They conform in organisations 'only because it's a hassle' ... that intellectual appetites fall is a national loss"

Colonel Jeong Gon-yang, head of personnel at the Ministry of Defence: "After being discharged they are more well-rounded and their EQ is higher ... we'll sort out the problems through civilian co-operation"

Hmm, for some reason I prefer this stuff to the slushy Korean pop and sleep-inducing business news in the Korea TimesHerald.

EFL - Exhuming Sapir and Whorf

2005-11-04T19:35:00.000+07:00

This time an article entitled "Why we are as good or bad as our language" from the Guardian Education pages. (Link at bottom of post.)

I disagree with parts of the article, but I've picked out what could be of use to me and my learners.

All of us have ways of identifying someone as "arrogant", "serious", "nice", gifted with a "sense of humour" or "dull", "boring". ... The point is, we have ideological codes for distinguishing between "good" and "bad" language use. ... [for evaluating] ways of using language: on particular genres and styles, varieties, accents. ... [A] variety of English that would carry prestige in Nairobi can carry stigma in London or New York.

Stressing cultural differences is rarely productive, above all as it tends to create a gap between 'us' and 'them'; and where English is concerned it also raises the issue of cultural and linguistic imperialism. But also unhelpful is simply ignoring how people use their languages, the pronunciation and tone of voice, which words/phrases are appropriate in different contexts. Exploring why differences in use exist can help learners gain a deeper insight into other cultures and develop their socio-pragmatic skills.

I've always been fascinated by the way people's body language, intonation, choice of words, and even the overall personality they give off tend to change when they switch from one language to another, or from one social group to another. Our identities, it appears, are our way of fitting in.

Full article.

EFL - Anti-TOEIC rant / 反TOEIC

2005-11-04T19:05:00.000+07:00

The TOEIC test...

Does it help learners gain confidence in using English?
Does it help them lower their anxiety and relax?
Does it motivate learners in a positive and constructive way?

Does it help them relate to the language, making the content of their learning relevent and interesting?
Does it cater to all learning styles and provide a good variety of input material?
Does it raise interest in the language, people, cultures, and in learning?

Does it improve cultural awareness or socio-pragmatic skills?
Does it help learners build an understanding of which words and phrases are appropiate in given contexts?
Does it enable learners to deduce the meaning of new words from a clear context?
Does it allow them to learn words related to their own needs and interests, so they can use it to communicate on these topics?
Does it give them practice of negotiating meaning, or of conversation strategies?

Does the over-enunciated speech (free from background noise) in the listening section help learners understand real, unscripted speech at a natural speed?
Does this emotionless speech improve their recognition of tone of voice and thereby the feelings of the speaker?
Does it help them understand and produce nuances of intonation?

Does it help learners express themselves in the language?

~~~~~~~~
As far as I can tell, the TOEIC doesn't measure any of the above skills, thus there is logically no reason for teachers to cover them in a TOEIC class or for learners to try to learn them while studying for the test. However, these skills are ones the average Korean language learner is desperately missing - in my opinion, largely due to very limited knowledge of modern teaching methods and the persistance (and widespread misuse) of godawful tests such as the TOEIC.

I would suggest that for the vast majority of Koreans this test is simply a huge waste of time, money and effort, and any serious language learner would do well to avoid it like the proverbial plague.

The people I've met with the highest TOEIC scores almost invariably speak a stilted and completely unnatural variety of English which in real-life may be an obstacle to effective communication. They also tend to have either low self-confidence or an over-inflated sense of their English ability.

In the short-term, TOEIC might get you a job but, as bad language and learning habits from it become fossilised, it may damage your chances of aquiring a good level of natural and useable English.

My other article on the TOEIC is here.

EFL - Ironing out the wrinkles

2005-11-04T18:16:00.000+07:00

There are a few problem words my students get stuck on time and time again. Here are a few of the most common ones:

blame and critise

A common Korean problem is the use of the word blame, when the speaker means criticise. We can blame the makers of Korean-English dictionaries.

CRITICISE verb - to express disapproval of someone or something.
BLAME verb - to say or think that someone or something did something wrong or is responsible for something bad happening.

나무라다 (tell someone off)
비난하다 (criticise)
[실수.잘못에 대해] 책망하다 (blame)

fun and funny

So many EFL learners get these two confused, especially the main meaning of each. Not surprising really as they're very similar-looking!

FUN noun [U] - pleasure, enjoyment, amusement
FUN adjective [before noun] - enjoyable
FUNNY adjective - amusing; causing laughter

즐거움 / 재미 (fun - noun)
즐거운 / 유쾌한 (fun - adj)
우스운 (funny)

examples
Have fun (= Enjoy yourself)! 즐겁게 지내!
I really enjoyed your party - it was such good fun. 재미있었네!
She's great fun to be with. 그녀는 같이 있으면 진짜 재미있어.
It's no fun/not much fun (= not enjoyable) having to work on Saturdays.
a fun-loving girl 잘 노는 여자 / 장난기가 있는 여자
There are lots of fun (= enjoyable) things to do here. 여기 할 즐거운 게 많다.
Do you know any funny jokes?
It's a really funny film. 진짜 웃기는 영화다!
It's not funny - don't laugh! 우습지 않는 것인데 웃지 마!

lecture and class

I get mildly offended every time I get a well-meant compliment from students on my 'lecture'. I assure you I try my upmost not to lecture anyone. In English these have very different connotations.

CLASS noun -
1 a group of students who are taught together at school, college or university:
2 a period of time in which students are taught something:
LECTURE noun -
1 a formal talk on a serious or specialist subject given to a group of people, especially students:
2 an angry or serious talk given to someone in order to criticize their behaviour

수업 (class)
강의 / 강연; 설교 (lecture)

Which class are you in this year?
She gave the whole class extra homework for a week.
My last class ends at 4 o'clock. 4시에 내 수업이 끝나는데.
I was told off for talking in class. 수업 중에 나는 떠들었기 때문에 꾸짖받았다.
I missed my aerobics class yesterday. 어제 에어로빅 강좌에 결석했다.
We went to a lecture on Italian art.
Who's giving the lecture this afternoon?
My dad gave me a lecture on the evils of alcohol last night.

Hiking in Korea

2005-11-03T14:28:00.001+07:00

Autumn's here. The leaves are reluctantly changing to match the colourful fashions of the season. Soon the numbers of hikers on every mountain in the city will surge. Hence this quick rundown of essential hiking wear in Korea, just so you don't feel left out...

Soft, professional hill-walking boots. (2nd best: trainers.)
Brightly-coloured knee-length socks. (Optional.)
Loose tracksuit-like trousers (perhaps tucked into socks).
A tight long-sleeved T-shirt with a multi-pocketed body warmer over the top.
Gloves. (Even in summer.)
Ski-pole style adjustable professional walking pole. (Don't worry that it's more of a hassle than a help - it looks the part!)
A small, school-trip style rucksack.
Professional sports sunglasses. (Optional.)
For men, a baseball cap and (optionally) a towel hanging round your neck.
For any woman over 35, a welding mask,... I mean, huge sun visor.

EFL/Korean - Anatomy 102

2005-11-03T13:26:00.000+07:00

Here's the second half of the anatomy class I started last Sunday. Thank you for your patience, folks! 지난 일요일 시작된 해부학 수업(!)의 후반부는 여기다. 기다려서 감사합니다,에~

to arm
to provide yourself or others with a weapon or weapons: [누굴] 무기로 무장시켰다
Nobody knows who is arming the terrorists.
I armed myself with a baseball bat and went to investigate the noise.
They are currently arming for war.
NOTE: The opposite is disarm.

to provide yourself or others with equipment or knowledge in order to complete a particular task: 대비하다 / 준비하다
She armed herself for the interview by finding out all she could about the company in advance.
I went to the meeting armed with the relevant facts and figures.

to arm-wrestle 팔씨름(을) 하다
play a game where two people place the elbows of their right arms on a table, hold hands and then try to push the other person's hand down onto the table

to elbow DISAPPROVING
to push someone rudely with your elbows so that you can move or have more space: [남]을 팔꿈치로 밀어제치다 / 밀어내다
He elbowed his way to the front of the crowd.
They elbowed the onlookers aside.

to hit someone with your elbow, sometimes as a sign to make them notice or remember something: [무엇을 기억나기 위해] 팔꿈치로 남을 치다
She elbowed me in the ribs before I could say anything.

to hand [+ two objects]
to put something into someone's hand from your own hand: [무엇]을 넘겨 주다 / 건네 주다
The waiter smiled politely as he handed me my bill/handed my bill to me.
Please read this memo carefully and hand it on (to your colleagues).

to hand-pick
carefully choose for a special job or purpose: 엄선하다 / 정선하다
a hand-picked audience

to palm
to make something seem to disappear by hiding it in the palm of your hand as part of a trick, or to steal something by picking it up in a way that will not be noticed: [무엇]을 손바닥에 숨기다
I suspected that he had palmed a playing card.

palm sth off phrasal verb
to give away something, or persuade someone to accept something, because you do not want it and you know it has no value: [나쁜 물건]을 [누구]에게 떠맡기다
She tried to palm her old car off on me.

to knuckle down phrasal verb INFORMAL
to start working or studying hard: 열심히 일하기 시작하다
You're going to have to really knuckle down (to your work) if you want to pass your exams.

to finger
to touch or feel something with your fingers: [무엇]에 손가락을 대다
She fingered her necklace absent-mindedly as she talked.

to thumb a lift INFORMAL
to stand near the edge of a road and hold out your hand with the thumb raised as a signal for a vehicle to stop and take you somewhere: 히치하이크(를) 하다
We thumbed a lift to London.

thumb through sth phrasal verb
to turn the pages of a book, magazine, or a document quickly and only read small parts of it: [무엇]을 급히 훑어보다
"Have you read the report?" "Well, I thumbed through it quickly on the train."

thumb your nose at sb/sth
to show a lack of respect: [남]을 비웃다
He has thumbed his nose at authority all his life.

to stomach [usually in negatives, 주로 부정문에서]
to be able to accept an unpleasant idea or watch something unpleasant: [무엇]을 참다
He can't stomach the idea that Peter might be the next chairman.
She found the violence in the film hard to stomach.

to skin
to remove the skin of something: [짐승]의 가죽을 벗기다 / [무릎.손]을 생채기내다
The hunters skinned the deer they had killed.
I skinned my knee (= hurt my knee by rubbing skin off it) when I fell down the steps.

to flesh sth out phrasal verb
to add more details or information to something: [무엇]을 더 충실하게 만들다 / 구체화하다
These plans need to be fleshed out with some more figures before the committee votes on them.

to bum around phrasal verb INFORMAL
to spend time being lazy and doing very little: 빈둥거리며 세월을 보내다
I wish you'd stop bumming around and start looking for a job.

to bum around/about (somewhere) (TRAVEL) phrasal verb INFORMAL
to travel around in different places or in a particular area, with no plans, no job and little money: 빈둥거리며 여행하다
After college she spent a year bumming around the States.

to bum SLANG
to ask someone for something without intending to pay for it: [누구]에게서 담배를 얻어 피우다 / 차를 얻어 타다
Could I bum a cigarette off you?

butt in phrasal verb INFORMAL
to interrupt a conversation or discussion or someone who is talking: 주제넘게 나서다
He kept on butting in with silly comments.

to balls (sth) up phrasal verb (UK 英) OFFENSIVE
to spoil something by making a mistake or doing something stupid: [무엇]를 완전히 망치다
Trust me to balls up the interview!

to cock sth up phrasal verb (UK 英) SLANG
to do something wrong or badly: [무엇]를 실수하다 / 망치다
David cocked up the arrangements and we ended up missing the reception.
"How did the exam go?" "Terrible - I panicked and really cocked it up."

to leg it (UK 英) INFORMAL
to run away in order to escape from something: 급히 걷어 도망치다
They legged it round the corner when they saw the police coming.

to knee
to hit someone with your knee: [누굴] 무릎으로 치다
She kneed him in the groin.

to shin up
to climb something such as a tree, using your hands and legs to move along quickly: [나무]에 기어오르다
Several of us shinned up lampposts so that we could see over the crowd.

to foot INFORMAL
to pay an amount of money: [셈]을 치루다 / 부담하다
His parents footed the bill for his course fees.
They refused to foot the cost of the wedding.
The company will foot her expenses.

to toe/tow the line
to do what you are ordered or expected to do: [통제.명령.당규]에 복종하다
He might not like the rules but he'll toe the line just to avoid trouble.
Ministers who refused to toe the Party line were swiftly got rid of.

to sole (a shoe)
to put a new sole on a shoe [구두에] 새 밑창을 대다

to heel [Heel!] [개를 향해] 따라와!
exclamationsaid to a dog to order it to come and stand next to you or to walk close beside you as you walk

~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, I'm aware there are more, mainly of a sexual nature. On that note, I'd recommend a trip to Amsterdam...

Cidade de Deus / 시티 오브 갓

2005-10-31T17:11:00.000+07:00

Last night one of my students and a friend of hers took me to see a film - Cidade de Deus (City of God), 2002. I'd heard of it while I was in Aussie, including that it being critically acclaimed. (It was nominated for 4 Oscars in 2004 - Best Cinematography; Best Director, Fernando Meirelles; Best Editing; Best Screenplay Based on Previously Published Material, from Paulo Lins's book of the same name.)

It was an amazing experience! OK, I really dislike violence and there was more than enough to turn any stomach; however, being based on fact and being also superbly acted and directed, I turned my mind to the poignant and incredible story that underpins the film. The story follows a young man, Buscapé, as he grows up against a background of escalating gang violence in possibly the world's most dangerous slum, the City of God, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro.

Admittedly, it was on the long side, and the slang-laden Brazilian Portuguese was really tough to follow (maybe 40% comprehension), causing the other foreigners in the cinema to leave fairly early on. I found my eyes bouncing around the Korean subtitles - beginning, end, then middle - to match the order of the Portuguese I was hearing, and this combination (alongside the emotive acting) thankfully pushed my level of understanding up to around 80 percent.

~~~~~~~~~~
Meirelles is also the director of a newly-released film, The Constant Gardener (again based on a book - John Le Carré's), starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for it when it hits Asia.

EFL/Korean - Anatomy 101

2005-10-30T11:16:00.001+07:00

In an effort to expand a few people's vocabularies in a useful (and hopefully useable) direction, and at the same time to demonstrate how 'verbed' English is, let's do a quick tour of body parts you can 'verb'. 사람이 몇 명의 어휘력을 쓸모있(고 쓸 수 있)는 방위로 확장하고 영어가 얼마나 '동사'된 언어이기 위한 노력으로는 '동사'할수 있는 몸의 일부들을 한 바퀴 돌자.

to head
to go in a particular direction: (…으로) 향하다
I was heading out of the room when she called me back.
We were heading towards Kumasi when our truck broke down.
He headed straight for (= went towards) the fridge.
I think we ought to head back/home (= return to where we started) now, before it gets too dark.

to hit a ball with your head: (공을) 헤딩하다
Owen headed the ball into the back of the net.

to be at the front or top of something: 첫머리에 (…을) 싣다
The Queen's carriage headed the procession.
Jo's name headed the list of candidates.

to be in charge of a group or organization: …을 지휘하다
She heads one of Britain's leading travel firms.
Judge Hawthorne was chosen to head the team investigating the allegations of abuse.

to head off (JOURNEY) phrasal verb
to start a journey or leave a place: 출발하다
What time are you heading off?

head for sth phrasal verb …할 나쁜 운명이다
to be likely to experience a bad situation soon, because of your own actions or behaviour:
They're heading for disaster if they're not careful.
The country is heading for recession.

to head-butt 박치기(를) 하다
to hit someone violently on the head or in the face using the front of your head

to eye (eyeing or US ALSO eying, eyed, eyed)
to look at someone or something with interest: 눈으로 보다
I could see her eyeing my lunch.
She eyed me warily.

eye sb up phrasal verb INFORMAL
to look at someone with sexual interest: 추파(를) 보내다
That guy in the grey jacket has been eyeing you up all evening.

eye sth up phrasal verb
to look closely at something that you are interested in: …에 눈독(을) 들이다
I saw you eyeing up that chocolate cake.

to eyeball INFORMAL
to look closely at someone: 빤히 쳐다보다
He eyeballed me across the bar.

to cheek UK INFORMAL
to be rude to someone: …에게 건방진 태도를 취하다
He's always getting into trouble for cheeking his teachers.

to nose
to (make a vehicle) move forwards slowly and carefully: 근소한 차로 이기다
The car nosed out of the side street, its driver peering anxiously around.
He carefully nosed his lorry into the small gap.

to look around or search in order to discover something, especially something that other people do not want you to find: (…을) 꼬치꼬치 캐다
There were some journalists nosing about/around.
The police came in and started nosing into drawers and looking through papers.

to mouth (a word)
to form (words) without actually speaking: 잠자코 입술로 표시하다
It looks to me as if the singers are only mouthing the words (= forming them with their lips without making any sound, 립 씽크(를) 하다).
She mouthed a hello to me across the crowded room.
[+ speech] "Can we go?" mouthed Mary.

mouth off (about sth) phrasal verb INFORMAL DISAPPROVING
to express your opinions too loudly and publicly: (…에 대해) 시끄럽게 떠들어 대다 / 떠벌리다
I had to listen to Michael mouthing off about the government all through lunch.

mouth off (to/at sb) phrasal verb INFORMAL DISAPPROVING
to speak in a rude or offensive way to someone: 말대꾸하다
She's a typical teenager, coming home late at night and mouthing off to her parents.

Chin up! INFORMAL
something you say to someone in a difficult situation in order to encourage them to be brave and try not to be sad: 힘내! OR 기죽지 마!
Chin up! It'll soon be the weekend.

to neck COLLOQUIAL 단숨에 들이마시다 / 원샷하다
to drink a glass of alcohol in one go

to neck with sb OLD-FASHIONED INFORMAL 애무하다
to kiss and hold a person in a sexual way

shoulder the blame/burden/responsibility/cost, etc.
to accept that you are responsible for something bad or difficult: (책임·부담 따위)를 떠맡다
It is women who mainly shoulder responsibility for the care of elderly and disabled relatives.
Teachers cannot be expected to shoulder all the blame for poor exam results.

~~~~~~~~~~
Most English definitions from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Anatomy 102 to follow...

Relaxing in Hurry-up Land / 빨리빨리 나라엔 쉬는 것

2005-10-29T01:56:00.000+07:00

Ah, the holidays are a-comin'. Having been at this institute for 6 months now, it's time for me to take a vacation. If I can get all the visas sorted out fairly smartish, I'll soon be setting off from the Land of the Hurry-Up People (aka Korea) to the Middle Kingdom (aka China) for a couple of weeks of travelling and relaxing.

아, 휴가이 온다. 지금 이 학원에 6개월 있었으므로 휴가할때다. 비자들을 빨리 해결할수 있다면 몇 주간의 여행이랑 편히 쉬기 위해서 곧 '빨리빨리 사람들'의 나라(즉, 한국)에서 중국에 갈게.

Until things start moving, I'll leave you with a few words of eternal advice:
비자 상황이 바꿀 때까지 여기 영원의 충고 몇 마디다:

Talk to your colleagues, neighbours and friends, rather than bashing out e-mails and SMSs.
이메일하고 문자하는 대신에 동료이랑 이웃집 사람, 친구랑 말해봐.
Turn off your computer, TV and mobile.
컴퓨터랑 텔러비젼, 휴대폰을 꺼라.
Find pleasure taking public transport.
대중교통을 즐겨워 가봐.
Read a book a week.
일주에 책 한 권 읽어봐라.
Smile more often.
미소를 더 자주 쳐라.
Cook at home.
집에 요리해봐라.
Live life in the slow lane.
저속 차선처럼 천천히 살아가봐.
Think about your values when you buy.
무얼 살때 여러분의 가치관을 생각해라.
Be good to others.
남에겐 잘 대해 줘라
Notice how great your friends are.
친구들이 어떻게 좋은지 알아차려라.
Smile.^^
미소쳐라.^^
Laugh.^^*
웃어라.^^*
Keep things simple.
간소하게 해봐라.
Always think positively.
긍정적으로 생각해라.
Dance.
춤을 춰라.
Sing.
노래를 불러라.
Drink as much water as you can.
될 수 있는 한 물을 많이 마셔봐라.

UPDATE:

Don't just read the list and think about it...

A moment's relaxation - Korean films / 한국영화

2005-10-24T19:31:00.000+07:00

OK, for no other reason than I need to take a bit of a break (and that, even living in Busan I managed to miss the famous Film Festival this year), here are my top 6 Korean films at the moment. I'll willingly take recommendations - I'd like to make this into a top 10. 지금 내 가장 좋아하는 한국 영화들은:

1 - <살인의 추억> English title: Memories of Murder
2 - <말아톤> English title: MaRathon
3 - <바람난 가족> English title: A Good Lawyer's Wife
4 - <엽기적인 그녀> English title: My Sassy Girl
5 - <스캔들> English title: Untold Scandal
6 - <올드보이> English title: Oldboy

if I were given unlimited funds...

2005-10-24T18:48:00.000+07:00

British film director, Ken Loach, in an interview with The Guardian newspaper on 15th September, notes that if he had unlimited funds, he'd spend the money "demolishing all the postwar town centres and out-of-town shopping malls, and resurrect the nation's town centres on a human scale, with proper shops", comprising the best of contemporary architecture, on a human scale, with proper green spaces and decent transport.

Town centres should be places with dignity, and a sense of public importance, where it's nice just to sit around, have a drink, read the paper, and buy what you want to buy.

For me, I'd plow huge amounts into education, as I believe this to be the most viable solution to so many of the world's problems. To raise the quality and range, ensure everyone falls in love with learning and make it the respectable profession it again deserves to be. Then there might be a little cash left over to revamp public transport and market it as the enjoyable, affordable and sociable way to travel it should be.

What would you do with unlimited funds?

For those of you familiar with Korea...

2005-10-22T22:45:00.000+07:00

On Friday, thanks to the helpful Korean student of a Canadian co-worker, we were finally able to put a long-standing urban legend to rest. For details, see Wikipedia about so-called "Fan Death". There's a similar article in Korean over at Wikipedia Korea, called <선풍기 사망 사고>.

21일에 캐나다 동료의 한국 학생의 덕택에 오랫동안 계속되는 속설을 우리가 잘 해결했다. 더 자세한 사항은 Wikipedia(위키백과)의 "Fan Death(선풍기 사망 사고)"에 대한 글을 읽을 것.

~~~~~~~~~~~
With a nod to Gumbi, who got there first again.

Western Values / 서양의 가치관

2005-10-22T21:40:00.001+07:00

From a thought-provoking article (깊이 생각하게 하는 글) from the Guardian, Sunday 16th October, entitled "Why Muslims reject British values"<이슬람교도가 영국 가치관을 거절하는 이유>:

But the greatest threat to Western values arises from globalisation and market fundamentalism, changes that affect personal morality. For the market reduces even personal relationships to a cash nexus. And the transition from welfare to market state has made corporations rather than people the priority of government, which, in turn, replaces moral values with commercial values, caring with indifference, altruism with selfishness, generosity with greed.
하지만 서양의 가치에 가장 큰 위협이 세계화와 시장 근본주의에서 일어나는데 사적인 도덕성에 영향을 미치는 변화들. 시장은 사적인 관계들도 돈의 연계로만 줄이기 때문이다. 그리고 복지국가에서 시장국가에의 변천은 사람들보다는 큰 회사들을 정부의 최우선 사항으로 만들었고 도덕적 가치관을 상업 가치관으로, 보살핌을 무관심으로, 이타주의를 이기심으로, 광대함을 탐욕으로 대신한다.

Englishes / 영어들

2005-10-18T13:39:00.000+07:00

Spot the difference. 이것들 사이의 차이를 알아봐라.

Textbook English [교과서 영어], also too many teachers
Slowly, and with each word carefully enunciated
"The price of five dollars was acceptable, and I decided to purchase it."

Spoken English [구어 영어], also most movies and TV shows
at a natural speed
"It was, like, five bucks, so I was like 'okay'."

It's amazing how few people realise the difference between written language and spoken language. (소수의 사람이 문어랑 구어 사이에는 차이가 있는지 정말 놀라울 정도다.) It's surprisingly similar in every language I've come across. Language learners in a classroom environment and doing little outside class are most likely to be ignorant of this fact and also have little opportunity to notice. Is it any wonder so many of the language learners have difficulty speaking naturally and often use stilted, overly-formal vocabulary?

Many's the time I've overheard language learning cassettes and been dismayed at how forced and scripted the speaking sounds. (여러 번 언어학습 카세트를 귓결에 듣고 부자연스럽고 대본을 읽는 듯한 말소리로 실망시키곤 한다.) If students take the English they hear on these cassettes as examples of authentic English, won't they be completely lost in a situation where real interaction is taking place between fluent speakers?

I came across this article arguing that textbooks could benefit greatly from using corpora in their choices of words and phrasing; and that until this happens, language learners could benefit from the opportunity to notice the difference between textbook English and real English by comparing two texts of similar content of the two styles. For a wonderful example, of the two texts below, which is the authentic one? (다음 둘 대화 중의 어느 거 진짜인가?)

Text 1:
[At a local café]
Tom: Hey, Helen! Karini!
Helen: Oh, hello Tom.
Tom: I can't understand this menu. What's an aubergine?
Helen: Er, it's a kind of vegetable. It's long and round, and purple. In America you call it an eggplant.
Tom: Eggplant? Oh no, I don't like eggplant. What's a ploughman's lunch?
Karini: It's got a slice of bread, a piece of cheese, and some lettuce…It's sort of salad.
Tom: Salad ? That's rabbit food! Isn't there any real food? What's a black pudding - an ice cream?
Helen: No, it's a kind of sausage, Tom. It's made of blood…
Tom: Oh, that's gross!
Helen: Come on, I'll show you the local café.

Text 2
1 Does anyone want a chocolate bar or anything ?
2 Oh yeah yes please
3 Yes please
4 [laughs]
5 [laughs]
6 You can have either a Mars Bar, Kit-Kat or erm cherry Bakewell
7 Oh erm it's a toss-up between [laughs] the cherry Bakewell and the Mars Bar isn't it ?
8 Well shall I bring some in then cos you might want another one cos I don't want them all, I'm gonna be
9 Miss paranoid about weight aren't you ?
10 Yes but you know
11 You're not fat Mand
12 I will be if I'm not careful
13 Oh God
14 I ate almost a whole jar of raisins this weekend [laugh] my mum gave me all these
15 Look at her, look
16 She goes oh [inaudible]
17 What was that about, you said about you and your Mum don't get on [laugh] I'd say you got on all right with that big wodge of food there
18 We can relate to chocolate…I think they're the little ones actually so you can have one of them and one of them if you like
19 Oh those cherry Bakewells look lovely
20 They do don't they ?
21 Oh they were…gorgeous…did you say you'd like a cup of tea ?
22 Yes
23 All right then
24 Sound like a right mother don't I ?
25 You do
26 But they would go smashing with a cup of tea wouldn't they ?
27 They would yeah
28 Cup of tea and a fag
29 Cup of tea and a fag Misses, we're gonna have to move the table I think

Some familiar features of real spoken English (진짜 구어 영어의 여러 특징):
ellipsis (생략),
back-channelling (되돌아옴),
hesitations (주저),
ungrammatical forms (비문법적인 말),
informal colloquialisms (회화의 구어적 표현),
incomplete utterances due to interruptions and overlaps in turn-taking (불완전한 말),
rapid topic shifts and recycling as new topics are constantly introduced and recycled (빠른 화제를 바꾸고 다시 쓰임)

These lend fluidity to the conversation which makes it natural compared to Text 1 where there are no topic shifts thus forcing the conversation to sound very unnatural and rigid.

~~~~~~~~~~
Fluency and being able to negociate meaning are of course important in language learning, but isn't it also vital to know if a particular meaning of a word is appropriate in a given context?
(see article for a corpora activity)

Life of Pi / 파이 이야기

2005-10-10T21:14:00.000+07:00

On Friday I finally finished my latest 'subway book', the book I've been reading whenever waiting for and riding the underground. Life of Pi. By Yann Martel. Quite, quite interesting. And despite everyone I've spoken to about it saying they didn't like the ending, it made me chuckle loudly for a good few minutes, which I always appreciate. (I was simultaneously thinking "That's so sneaky!" and "Fair play to him!") If you haven't read it, it's definitely worth a look.

금요일엔 마침네 최근의 내 '하절책'을 읽어버렸다. 얜 마텔의 <파이 이야기>다. 너무 재밌었다. 또는 이 책에 대해 얘기한 아무 사람이나 엔딩이 좋아하지 않았음에도 불구하고 나는 몇분 동안 웃고 있었다. (동시에 "은밀했네!"라고 "공정했네!"라고 생각했지.) 못 읽었다면 읽을 만하다.

*Favourite quote: the "sweaty, chatty Son" of God.*
*좋아하는 인용: 하나님의 "땀을 흘리며 잡담을 좋아하는 아들".*

*Favourite illogical quote: "Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer."*
*좋아하는 비논리적인 인용: "사랑은 믿기 힘든데 아무 애인이나한테 물어보세요. 인생은 믿기 힘든데 아무 과학자나한테 물어보세요. 하나님은 믿기 힘든데 아무 신봉자나한테 물어보세요."*

And then pick up Martel's earlier book, Self, which I reckon is far more intriguing!
그러고 나서 흥미를 더욱 끄는 얜 마텔의 이전 소설인 <자아>를 찾아라!

연애의 목적

2005-10-10T21:01:00.000+07:00

A few weeks ago now I saw the Korean film To do or not to do [연애의 목적]. I know, the English title leaves a lot to be desired, but it's a curious film about two teachers at a Korean high school who have a bit of a fling, even though the guy has a girlfriend and the woman is engaged.

몇주전 한국영화인 연애의 목적[영어 이름: To do or not to do]을 봤다. 맞다, 영어 이름은 부족하지만 한국 고등학교에서 남자는 여자친구 있고 여자는 약혼한데도 불구하고 짧은 성관계를 하는 두 선생에 대한 진기한 영화다.

He comes across as a childish moron with sex on the brain and not a clue how to communicate with women; she seems calm, collected, rather sad but looking to be loved. Like so many romances, it's really hard to see what she sees in him.

그는 섹스만 생각하고 여자랑 말할지 전혀 알지 못하는 유치한 멍청이라는 인상을 주는데 그녀는 태연자약하고 퍽 슬프지만 사랑을 찾고 있어 보이다. 아주 많은 연애처럼 그녀는 그의 어디가 좋은 걸 보기 진짜 힘들다.

Also, even after having been in Korea a while now, I had a lot of trouble trying to understand the attitudes portrayed on the screen. Why is it such a problem for the school that two single adults are sleeping together? And why is it any business of their superiors to interfere? Is it really so hard just to be happy for them?

난 한국에 한동안 있었지마는 스크린에 등장하는 태도을 잘 못 이해했다. 둘 독신 성인이 같이 자는 건 학교에게 왜 큰 문제인가? 그들의 상사들이 상관할 바인가? 그들의 관계 때문에 행복하는 거 안 될까?

However, far more scandalous than their love affair are the scenes of the male teacher violently beating students with a two-inch-thick plank of wood and threatening to kill them and their parents too...

그렇지만 이 정사(情事)보다 훨씬 더 언어도단인 게 남성 선생은 두께 2인치의 판자로 격렬하게 학생들을 연달아 치고 그들도 자기의 부모들도 죽이겠다고 위협하는 것인데.

Monk

2005-10-10T20:24:00.000+07:00

Having missed out on a weekend of films due to a number of factors including a heavy workload last week and simply having a lot on my plate outside work too at the moment, when I finally made it to the box office to chose a film to see, all but the dozen least appealing films of the festival were fully sold out.

So, to raise my spirits a bit, I parted with a little of my money for a Thelonius Monk DVD. I admit that Monk's not to everyone's taste, but I've been a big fan for a while. (Dad, there's the CD of Live at the It Club tucked away in my collection at home if you're interested.) It gives a new dimension to his music to hear him speak (a man of scarce few words) and dance around the stage in his inimicable fashion, at the exciting pinnacle of the jazz era.

For some reason his playing reminds me too of one of the other little-appreciated geniuses of piano music who never fails to inspire me, Béla Bartók. His 3 Piano Concertos are, to my mind, magnificent in their rhythms and complexity and energy - though a lot of people can't seem to get over the lack of hummable tunes in his work.

Maybe that's why Monk and Coltrane went so well together: the lyrical saxophonist and the thoughtful, rhythmic piano player. Must put him on again tonight and jive along...

The Importance of being... Patient.

2005-10-10T19:18:00.000+07:00

Finally I have time to write about this learning experience.

A student managed to offend me deeply last week. I knew she was having a hard time understanding what I said in class, but still, when she said something which implied I'm narrow-minded and know little about the world, instinctually my hair started bristling and alarm bells started ringing in my head. It took about two minutes of actively suppressing my anger, probing the student with, to be honest, fairly blunt questions about why she'd said such a bizarre thing bang out of the blue... to find out she'd misunderstood something I'd written on the board regarding light-emitting objects. Somehow she'd understood this as meaning 'recommending something enlightening' (or something along those lines) and was trying to give an example, wanting to say, "If you meet someone who is narrow-minded..."

The after-effects are that I'm still a little suspicious of her (really can't help it) and I'm making more effort to understand what learners are trying to express, instead of listening mainly to what they actually do say.

Very Korean

2005-10-07T19:52:00.000+07:00

I've just been out and bought myself a yo, a traditional Korean sleeping mat: pure soft, warm, inch-and-a-half-thick, sleep-inducing cushiness! I'm almost looking forward to turning on the ondol, heated floor, in the winter and going into semi-hibernation.

방금 전통적인 한국식 '요'를 샀는데 부뜨럽고 따뜻하고 두껍고 참 오게 하는 편안함이네!

I bought it mainly because I have a visitor coming over from Europe this month, but also out of curiosity. It gets the official road-test tonight and I'm looking forward to it immensely!!

__________

One more Korean word while I'm here. I keep coming up against this one and I've just looked it up in an online Korean dictionary:

자상한 남자 ja-sang-han nam-ja

a man who’s generous, understanding and ever-considerate

orso polare / 북극곰

2005-10-01T18:01:00.001+07:00

"Foto del giorno" over at Italy's Corriere Della Serra newspaper.

이탈리아의 <꼬리에레 뗄라 쎄라> 신문엔 오늘의 포토.

Punctuate this

2005-09-29T22:05:00.000+07:00

I've just put down the book Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss. I'd have to say, it's easily the most enthusiastic and humorous account I've read of the curly-tailed world of punctuation; however...

방금 란 책을 읽어버렸다. 구두법에 대한 책중 쉽게 가장 열광적이고 유머러스한 걸 말할수 있는데...

Punctuation, as she quotes in her introduction, is "a courtesy designed to help readers to understand a story without stumbling".

There's a surprising amount of emotion here too: the expectation of semi-colons; the elaborative, 'surprise-me' colon; the music of the bracket, the question mark and the exclamation mark; the lift-out italics; the dramatic whisper of the dash and the friendly inclusiveness of the double dash; the seemingly ill-starred hyphen; the intriguing trail-off of elipses...

I particularly like this:

"In the family of punctuation, where the full stop is daddy and the comma is mummy, and the semi-colon quietly practises the piano with crossed hands, the exclamation mark is the big attention-deficit brother who gets over-excited and breaks things and laughs too loudly."

The short discussion at the end on the effects the electronic age, Netspeak and emoticons ("a paltry substitute for expressing oneself properly") are having on the language is also worth a look, or a re-read.

EFL - Shaking her pen defiantly,...

2005-09-29T21:43:00.000+07:00

Writing. I've been doing a lot of it with my classes this month. Three writing classes in fact, and the marking's been unenviable. However, a few interesting ideas have come out of this.

쓰기. 이번월 수업들에 이걸 많이 했다. 사실, 쓰기 수업 3개 있으므로 채점이 부럽지 않았다. 그렇지만 몇몇의 좋은 생각이 일어났다.

Sporting the slogan "where getting your daily writing 'fix' is considered much more important than fixing your writing", I find the site Writing Fix a great source of inspiration for creative writing, whether it's personal or for the classroom.

The most successful activity so far has been the writing storms. Taking a simple starting phrase, students have just 3 minutes to write the next section of the story. After they've written 3 or 4 of these, you might like to ask them to choose their favourite and expand on it for home work. Some example starters follow. I find the best way to catch imaginations in this activity right from the word go is to present an unfinished sentence, rather than simply a title or full first sentence.

On the highway between the two towns,...
Among the crowd of onlookers,...
Next to the button on his shirt,...

Hurrying away and looking directly at no-one,...
Stretching his neck to see better,...
Looking towards the vast horizon,...

After the search party had checked the field,...
As soon as the bell stopped ringing,...
Until the plane touched down,...

Bringing in pictures as prompts works well, but I find Korean learners need a fair amount of practice of creative thinking before this is tried.

Used as a warmer (or even in the last few minutes of class), this fast activity reinvigorates, keeps them on their toes and keeps those creative juices flowing!

~~~~~~~~~~
Also, I adore the section on 'persuasive voice': the art of using intelligent reasoning, facts and feelings to convince someone to do something. However, they're not of the banal "Convince your boss to give you a raise" variety. Clicking the sentence generator yields such gems as "Convince your brother to grow a beard", "Convince a space alien to join a dance troupe" and "Convince your teacher to buy you an elephant".

EFL - Piff!

2005-09-29T16:01:00.000+07:00

The time has come once again to revel in the pre-year-2000 romanisation of the name of this city. The Pusan International Film Festival, PIFF, is coming to Busan once again from 6th-14th October. Apparently films have been selling out much faster than usual this year as many detestable souls have been buying up tickets to sell off at inflated prices on auction.com.

On the theme, here are a couple of tried and tested class ideas tenuously related to Asia's best* and biggest film festival (*Time Asia, Nov. 2004):

Brainstorming/writing movie outlines.

1. Pick up a copy of the movie listings for the festival. Select a handful of film titles that could be interpreted in various ways and write these on the board. Some examples from this year are: The Child, Big River, One Summer with You, Reaching Silence, Ghosts, Love is a Crazy Thing, Waiting, Five is Too Many, The Shoe Fairy, Writing on the Earth, The Hero, Holiday.

2. In small groups, students should agree on one of the titles that inspires them. From this, they can brainstorm ideas, choosing one they feel they can adequately flesh out, and create an outline or storyboard.

3. With the rest of the class listening interestedly as the film company execs, each group in turn should make a short presentation (the more dramatically performed, the better) to try sell their idea for big bucks. The film execs can say yay or nay, or give suggestions for further development.

Mix and Match.

Following the same broad plan as above, in pairs or small groups, students should choose a number of elements from each of the categories below (again, mainly from the PIFF screenings guide) and weave them together into a possible film outline or storyboard. Of course, they're free to throw in their own ideas too.

Possible Characters -- an ageing shopkeeper, a man just out of prison, a high-flying professional woman, a small dog, a famous singer, a political activist, a hot-shot reporter, the mummy of an ancient queen of China, a woman in a wheelchair, a transvestite, a stripper, a wise old man, the President, a pair of lovers, a busker, a theif, a monster, a reluctant hero,...

Possible Happenings -- an adopted baby, a fierce war, New Year's Eve, a gunshot in the night, a bombing at a nightclub, a daring robbery, a life-changing journey, a theft, a suspicious phone call, a duel, a boxing/sumo match, a marriage of convenience, explosions, a car chase in [insert city of your choice here], a bank robbery,...

Possible Themes -- love, hope and destiny; loneliness; fear; desire; the chaos of life; displacement and foreignness; freedom; personal and social responsibility; marriage; the importance of community; changes in life; journeys; language barriers; eternal love;...

Oily Korean - 느끼-하다

2005-09-29T14:58:00.000+07:00

느끼-하다 neu-kki ha-da
very oily, unrefreshing and disagreeable
Usage: most commonly used as 느끼해(요), neu-kki hae(-yo).
Egs:
To me, French sounds slimy.
That Elvis impersonator is so slimy/sleazy.

~~~~~~~~~~
Some similar English words:

Literal translation: greasy - covered with or full of fat or oil
Collocations: greasy food/dishes/skin/hair

oily - Literal translation: 2 covered in oil or containing a lot of oil:
an oily rag; oily fish
Eg. I've got oily skin (= it produces a lot of oil).
3 too friendly and polite in a way that is not sincere

sleazy - dirty, cheap or not socially acceptable, especially relating to moral or sexual matters
Eg. This part of town is full of sleazy bars and restaurants.

slimy - DISAPPROVING If you describe a person or their manner as slimy, you mean that they appear to be friendly but in a way that you find unpleasant
Eg. He was the very worst sort of slimy salesman.

seedy - looking dirty or in bad condition and likely to be involved in immoral activities
Collocations: a seedy hotel; the seedy characters (hanging around outside the bar)

indecent - morally offensive, especially in a sexual way
Collocations: an indecent act/photograph
Eg. She accused him of making indecent suggestions to her.

smutty - DISAPPROVING related to magazines, books, pictures, films, jokes or conversations which offend some people because they relate to sex
Eg. I was really embarrassed by his smutty jokes.

등산 / Hill walking

2005-09-18T22:37:00.000+07:00

Today, for the very first time, I hiked my way up to the top of one of Busan's most well-known hills, Mt. Hwang-nyeong (황령산 - 427m), and then across the ridge to Mt. Geum-nyeon (금련산 - 417m). I've been meaning to do this for ages in fact, especially as I now live at the base of Hwang-nyeong and look at the multi-coloured broadcasting tower on its summit as I walk home each evening. The climb is steep, slippery (wear sensible shoes) and heart-pounding, but the views out over the winding sea of apartments which is Busan are quite spectacular. I feel quite invigorated! Must do it again soon.

If you're interested, there are a few suggested routes here.

오늘 나는 처음으로 부산의 유명한 산들 중 하나인 황령산의 정상에 등반하곤 산등성이를 따라 금련산까지 걸었다. 사실 오랫동안 이걸 할 작정이 있었었는데, 특히 지금 황령산의 산기슭에서 살고 있고 저녁마다 집으로 걸어가는 길엔 정상에 있는 다색의 방송탑(?)을 보기 때문이다. 기어오르기가 험준하고 미끄럽고 가슴이 쿵쾅 뛰게 하지만 아파트의 친친 감기는 바다인 부산의 전망이 훌륭하다. 기운이 솟는다! 곧 다시 해야지.

thoughts

2005-09-17T01:27:00.000+07:00

The person I'm writing this for should understand my reasons...

Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a teardrop. - Anonymous [사랑이 미소부터 시작하고 키스와 커지고 눈물로 끝난다.]

'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. - Alfred Lord Tennyson [전혀 사랑한 경험이 없는 것보다는 사랑해서 실연하는 편이 낫다.]

Him that I love, I wish to be free -- even from me. - Anne Morrow Lindbergh [내가 사랑하는 그는 자유로워지기를 바란다. 나에서도.]

The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost. - G. K. Chesterton [뭘 사랑하는 방법은 그것을 잃어버릴 수도 있을 것을 깨닫을 것이다.]

There is no remedy for love but to love more. - Henry David Thoreau [상랑은 더 사랑하는 수밖에 치료법이 없다.]

(For those of you who have sent me concerned e-mails, thank you for your consideration, but it's about a poor little lost dog...)

Very Korean 4

2005-09-16T20:57:00.000+07:00

A few more useful Korean phrases:

잘-나다 [-라-] jal-la-da
This is most commonly heard as 잘났다, meaning something like an ironic "Great!" or "Oh, well done!"

길치 gil-chi
A person who has absolutely no sense of direction.

몸치 (춤치) mom-chi (chum-chi)
A person who has two left feet. An abysmal dancer.

음치 eum-chi
A person who's tone deaf.

기계치 gi-gye-chi
A person who's terrible with machines.

~~~~~~~~~~

왕자병 (환자) wang-ja byeong (hwan-ja)

Literally, (a person suffering from) "prince sydrome". A derogatory name for a man who acts as though he's under the illusion that he is a great and noble prince.
Eg: 와, 철수 왕자병 심하다. Wow, Cheol-su's seriously stuck up. OR Cheol-su's on a serious ego trip.

공주병 (환자) gong-ju byeong (hwan-ja)

Literally, (a person suffering from) "princess syndrome". A derogatory name for a woman who acts as if she's under the illusion that she is a great and noble king. A completely stuck up or self-important girl or woman.

꽃미남 ggom-mi-nam

A man who looks 'beautiful like a flower'. A guy who looks very effeminate. A pretty boy. A fop.

붕어 bung-eo

Literally, a fish. A singer who usually mimes [mouths along / lip-synchs] to songs.

Eg: 저 가수 또 립싱크를 하다니 완전 붕어야. [That singer is miming again - what a complete phoney!]

Rules for Better Writing^^

2005-09-16T11:28:00.000+07:00

I forget where I first came across this, but I've been reminded of it recently as I'm teaching a number of writing classes at present.

Rules for Better Writing
Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
The passive voice is to be ignored.
Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary.
Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
No sentence fragments.
Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
Be more or less specific.
One should never generalize.
Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
Avoid cliches like the plague.
Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
Don't use no double negatives.
Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
Kill all exclamation points!!!
Who needs rhetorical questions?
If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: resist hyperbole.
Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
Puns are for children, not groan readers.

Poem for Chuseok

2005-09-15T22:37:00.000+07:00

Korea's Harvest Moon Festival, Chuseok, is just about here. It's the most important holiday of the year for most Koreans, and a time to kick back and relax for all us expats here. Here's a thought to lead the way:

Leisure

WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

___- W. H. Davies

여 유

그게 무슨 인생이겠는가, 근심만 가득 차
멈춰 서서 바라볼 시간이 없다면

양이나 젖소처럼 나뭇가지 아래 서서
물끄러미 바라볼 시간이 없다면

숲을 지나면서 다람쥐가 풀밭에
도토리 숨기는 걸 볼 시간이 없다면

한낮에도 밤하늘처럼 별 가득 찬
시냇물을 바라볼 시간이 없다면

미인의 눈길에 돌아서서 그 아리따운
발걸음을 지켜볼 시간이 없다면

눈에서 비롯해 입으로 곱게 번지는
그 미소를 기다릴 시간이 없다면

참 딱한 인생 아니랴, 근심만 가득 차
멈춰 서서 바라볼 시간이 없다면

___- W. H. 데이비스

Debating - Baby Steps

2005-09-15T13:26:00.000+07:00

I'm being asked to do more debates with my classes, so I thought I might share some of my thoughts and ideas on the subject with the wider teaching community.

This encapsulates my opinion of debating fairly well:

"At a time when issues to do with war, terrorism and civil liberties are so prominent, it’s essential for people to be able to reflect carefully on their opinions and argue rationally," says Waikato University [NZ] debating society vice-president James Anderson.

I also love the analogy [from Select Readings, OUP] that a Japanese/Korean conversation (and, by association, debate) is like baseball and a US/British conversation is like tennis. In Korea, if a topic is presented for debate, it tends to turn into a slow and disjointed affair where one person gives their general opinion on the topic (often with little tangible details or evidence). Then another person gives their general opinion of the topic, with little if any reference to the person who spoke before - like one batsman after the other taking it in orderly turns. On the other hand, Anglophones tend to play off each other, hitting the ball of the debate back and forth as they agree or disagree directly with their counterparts, having to defend their opinions and backhand volleys.

0. introduction
Perhaps help learners come up with some useful phrases for expressing their opinions - In my opinion/view,... I believe/think/feel,... I've heard/read that...
Also bring up possible expressions for agreeing and disagreeing - I agree; you see, the fact is... That's right, because... I don't agree; I think... I understand what you're saying; however... I can't argue with that, but... (It's the continuation that's vital to keeping the debate going, I feel.)
The range of this vocabulary is not too important at this point as the main focus is on the process of debating - these structures are just there to enable learners to practise this skill.

It can be very helpful to give a simple topic for a practice debate - ie. a topic on which people's views are easily polarised. Depending of course on the class, this could be along the lines of "ghosts exist" or "Korean films are better than US ones" or "dogs are far better than cats" or "prostitution should be legalised here".

Hold the debate. Note down any problems in learners' debating techniques (please don't overlook the positives!) and you might also want to take notes on the language used and how it might be reformulated.

Possible steps for further debates:

1. agree on a topic
Many debates are on current hot topics, so recommend that learners should keep themselves informed on current domestic and international events if they are to take part fully. Or, at least give them time to research the topic for themselves.

2. divide learners into two (or possibly more) teams
Because debating is a team event it is important that the the members of each team work together. One team will try to prove why the topic is true/positive and the other will try to prove why it is false/negative.

3. presentation and rebuttal
Each team presents points in favour of their case, giving examples, relevant facts and evidence (organisation and use of facts is also important); and then criticises the (main/central) arguments presented by the other team. Logical arguments are important - showing WHY the other team's main argument is wrong or does not make sense. This takes quick thinking and a sharp eye to spot the opposition's main argument.

Note also the importance of eye contact, body language and tone of voice.

In my experience, in a classroom environment it is useful to find out who holds what opinions and occasionally ask them to argue the opposite of their views. I reckon it can help to open their eyes to others' views of the world.

For a fuller exploration of the topic, see the link here.

~~~~~~~~~
a few transcripts:
The first Bush vs. Kerry debate
(spoof Bush-Kerry debate)
Kenneth Clarke vs. Iain Duncan Smith

And a few topics: The Times Debates

Very Korean 3 - 고소하다.백수.쭉쭉빵빵.방콕

2005-09-12T21:49:00.000+07:00

고소하다 (go-so-ha-da)
(맛이나 냄새가) 볶은 참깨나 땅콩의 것과 같다 (a taste or smell) like roasted sesame or peanuts
(USAGE: Koreans traditionally seem to think this is deliciousness incarnate)
It can also mean something like "Serves you right!"

~~~~~~~~~~
Searching for something entirely unrelated on Korean web browser 'Naver', I happened across a page (or, more precisely, many pages) on current Korean buzz words, yu-haeng-eo. (Link at bottom of post.) There's a LOT of information there, so may I recommend that you start at the end - page 107 at the last count - as you're more likely to come across words you've already been using.
한국 웹 브라우저인 <네이버>를 사용해 관계가 없는 걸 찾으면서 한국어의 유행어.신조어에 대한 페이지 (보다, 몇 페이지)를 마주쳤다. 거기 정보는 많는데 벌써 써 오는 단어를 마주칠 가능성이 훨씬 높으니까 난 끝(지금은 107쪽)까지 시작하도록 권한다.

I also hope that, by translating some of these, I can help those Koreans out there who are learning English find a way to express their everyday thoughts in English.
이렇게 이들 중 일부를 번역함으로써 영어를 배우는 한국인들은 자기의 일상 생각을 영어로 표현하게 도와 주기도 바란다.
Some examples / 예:

백수 (baek-su)
A jobless person. As this is a fairly informal term, perhaps it would be useful to translate it as "I'm between jobs." or "I'm out of work." The female equivalent is 백조, baek-jo, which also means 'a swan'.

쭉쭉빵빵 (jjuk-jjuk bbang-bbang)
A student with a perfect/ideal body. Tall and slender with long limbs and full-bosomed.
Eg. 내 걸프렌드는 쭉쭉빵빵이야. (My girlfriend's seriously hot.)

방콕 (bang-kok)
Nothing to do with the Thai capital, this is a person who lives walled up in their room (방에 콕 쳐박혀 사는 사람); or the situation itself of being walled up at home.
Eg. 너 방학동안 방콕했지. (You stayed cooped up at home all through the holidays, then.)

히키코모리(引きこもり) (hi-ki-ko-mo-ri)
In Japanese, this is when a person confines themselves to their room, withdrawing from the real world into their own cocoon. It is a recent Japanese term, defined by the Japanese Ministry of Health as "an individual who refuses to leave their parent's house, and isolates themselves away from society and family in a single room for at period exceeding six months, though many such youths remain in isolation for a span of years, or in rare cases, decades." They avoid family, sleep in the daytime and, like owls, wake at night and watch the TV and video, or surf the Internet. For food they will often search out food made by their family or often instant meals. They have no job. [Probably best expressed in English as "acute social withdrawal".]
Eg. 지난 한해동안 히키코모리로 폐인생활을 했다. (During the last cold snap I lived a castaway's life, shut away from the world.)

Link - click <유행어,신조어>.

Very Korean 2 - 말.대충대충.빨리빨리

2005-09-12T15:43:00.000+07:00

높임말 no-pim-mal
an honorific (expression, word)
가리키는 사람이나 사물을 높이는 뜻으로 일컫는 말.
speaking highly of a designated person or revering the their property.

반말 / 낮춤말 bam-mal / nat-chum-mal
(to friends) use a friendly tone; (to elders) show disrespect
듣는 이와 말하는 이와의 관계를 분명히 하지 않을 때나 또는 친밀한 사이에 쓰이는, 높이지도 낮추지도 않는 말. 종결어미 ‘-아/어’, ‘-지’ 따위가 쓰인다.
Used when the relationship between the listener and the speaker is not obviously close or for friendly or close distance, showing neither honour nor lowering. (Using the terminative endings '-a/-eo', '-ji' and so forth.)

~~~~~~~~~~
대충대충 dae-chung dae-chung
여럿을 다 대충. ～ 끝내다.
adv. (do something to) a large number very cursorily
(USAGE: similar to "Keep it short.")

빨리빨리 bbal-li bbal-li
① 걸리는 시간이 아주 짧게.
taking a very short time, briefly
② 움직이는 도수가 아주 잦게.
moving a number of times very rapidly
(USAGE: a Korean expression of impatience, similar to "Get a move on!")

달콤한 인생 / A Bittersweet Life

2005-09-12T09:32:00.000+07:00

Over the weekend, I borrowed a number of DVDs, among them the Korean film "A Bittersweet Life".

There's a scene where the white-haired gang boss succintly sums up my past and present experience of the Korean management style:

"오야가 누군가에게 실수 했다고하면 실수한 일이 없어도 실수한 사람은 나와야 되는거죠. 간단하게 끝날 일인데." (If the boss says you're wrong, then you're wrong, even if you didn't really do it. Then it's over. Period.)

~~~~~~~~~~
The story's about a vengeful psychopath (in a film full of vengeful psychopaths) who shows one iota of human warmth and is punished violently for it. The moral seems to be two-fold: never show mercy to anyone; vengeance is the only way to resolve your troubles. Very bleak, but the acting is notable.

Two, difficult, too difficult tonguetwisters

2005-09-09T23:08:00.000+07:00

Courtesy of Fuzzy.

Three witches watch three Swatch watches. Which witch watches which Swatch watch?

Three switched witches watch three Swatch watch switches. Which switched witch watches which Swatch watch switch?

Go and open the door / 가서 문을 열어라

2005-09-06T16:48:00.000+07:00

A good friend is heading off to London tomorrow for a number of months (typhoon permitting) and so this poem by Miroslav Holub (and my attempt at a translation) is dedicated to her.

Go and open the door.
___Maybe outside there's
___a tree, or a wood,
___a garden,
___or a magic city.

Go and open the door.
___Maybe a dog's rummaging.
___Maybe you'll see a face,
or an eye,
or the picture
__________of a picture.

Go and open the door.
___If there's a fog
___it will clear.

Go and open the door.
___Even if there's only
___the darkness ticking,
___even if there's only
___the hollow wind,
___even if
________nothing
______________is there,
go and open the door.

At least
there'll be
a draught.

가서 문을 열어라.
___아마 밖에
___나무나 숲,
___공원이나
___불가사의한 도시가 있는지도 모른다.

가서 문을 열어라.
___아마 개가 뒤져찾고 있는지도 모른다.
___아마 얼굴이나
눈이나
한 그림의
_______그림을 볼지도 모른다.

가서 문을 열어라.
___안개가 있으면
___걷힐 것이다.

가서 문을 열어라.
___비록 똑딱거리는 어둠만
___있을지라도
___비록 싱거운 바람만
___있을지라도
___비록
_______아무것도
______________없을지라도
가서 문을 열어라.

적어도
외풍은
있을 것이다.

LEARNING RESOURCES

2005-09-01T16:05:00.000+07:00

Having spent far more time than necessary on the 'Net, I can assure you there are plenty of websites that allow you to study English. However, for those of you who want to move away from the too often forced and unnatural English found in textbooks, study tapes and classrooms and into the real world, here are some links for those of you who actually want to learn.

나는 인터넷에 너무 많은 시간을 보냈으니 장담컨대 study할 수 있게 하는 웹페이지가 충분하다. 그렇지만 교과서와 공부 카세트와 교실에서 발견 된 너무 자주 억지로 만드고 부자연스러운 영어에서 빠져 나오고 싶은 여러분 위해선 여긴 진짜 learn하고 싶은 여러분 위한 링크들이 있다.

to listen to online radio
Browse the listings and choose your genre

UK________Australia
New Zealand_ Canada
USA (New York City - FM and AM)

Popular genres:
News / Talk - 뉴스 / 대화
Sports - 스포츠
Hit Radio / Top 40 - 히트 음악 / 톱 40
Contemporary - 현대 음악
Rock / Alternative - 록 / 올터너티브

to watch online TV

to talk about
for intriguing and bizarre world news
for thought-provoking conversation questions

~~~**~~~
common Korean problems
blame/criticise, fun/funny, lecture/class

to learn/practise phrasal verbs (with sound)

Learning Korean 한국말 배우기 - all articles

2005-09-01T13:40:00.000+07:00

Anatomy 101 / Anatomy 102 - English body parts you can verb, with Korean equivalents

Oily Korean - 느끼하다
Tonguetwisters
'Flirting' in Korean

Very Korean 1 - 정 한 왕따 눈치
Very Korean 2 - 말 대충대충 빨리빨리
Very Korean 3 - 고소하다 백수 쭉쭉빵빵 방콕
Very Korean 4 - 잘났다 길치 왕자병

Crème de la Crème des 'Weblogs'

2005-09-01T01:11:00.000+07:00

Although I know those blogs with ten links per paragraph are a huge turn-off, this entry is just a select list of interesting links, a handful of the best weblogs I stop by on a regular basis. (In the order I discovered them.)

LANGUAGE and/or KOREA

David's TEFL Smiler

Steve Kaufmann's The Linguist on language

Ed's Gumbi and Marley

EFL Geek (The artist formerly known as Blinger)

Jiri's Czech EFL (The artist once known as Truly Bohemian)

AJ's Effortless Acquisition
(and hence the ever-inspiring Creating Passionate Users)

Marco Polo's Autono Blogger

Brett Moller

Where is everyone? / 모두 어디지?

2005-08-29T19:47:00.000+07:00

The extra-terrestrial has spawned good books, mediocre art and bad movies; provoked serious speculation and a new science called astrobiology; and triggered a 400-year religious and philosophical debate, all without putting in a single appearance.

외계인들이 좋은 책과 평범한 미술과 나쁜 영화를 낳았고 진지한 심사숙고과 우주 생물학이라는 새로운 과학을 자극하고 400년의 종교상.절학 토론을 일으켰다. 그리고 한 번도 왔음 없다.

If life exists on Earth - a nondescript planet orbiting an undistinguished star in a neither-here-nor-there galaxy in an ordinary corner of the universe - then it ought to exist on at least some other planets around a proportion of other suns in at least a selection of other galaxies. There are at least 200bn galaxies, and each may be home to 200bn stars. Even if the evolution of a sentient, intelligent, technologically-aware civilisation is rare, the firmament should still be fizzing with life.

우주 의 보통의 구석에 있는, 별 문제 아닌 은하계에 있는, 눈에 띄지 않는 별의 둘레를 도는 특징 없는 행성들 중 하나인 지구에 생명이 있니까 적어도 몇몇의 다른 은하계에도 몇몇의 다른 행성들에도 생명이 있어야 한다. 적어도 2천억의 은하계들이 있고 각각 2천억의 별이 있는지 모른다. 느끼고 지적이고 기술상으로 알아차리는 문명은 드물더라도 생명 때문에 하늘이 쉿쉿거리고 있어야 한다.

But, as Fermi's Paradox asks: "Where is everybody?"

하지만 페르미의 패러독스가 묻다. "모두 어딜까?"

Sadly... [trying to commincate across these distances,] any signal dissipates as the square of the distance. By the time you get to Pluto, it's already vanishingly faint. So you send an ultra-powerful signal as a focused laser beam. How much energy would that take? How long could you afford to transmit? How many directions must you point the transmitter to cover the whole sky? (The answer to that one is 100,000 trillion). And what chance a citizen of an alien civilisation is tuned in when your one-second message whistles by at the speed of light?

Full article here.

Still, one in 100 Americans believe they have been abducted, cue for a short lecture on sleep paralysis, which manifests itself in pressure on the chest and the experience of being taken away [- known in Korean as a "scissor dream"] ...

그럼에도 불구하고, 100중의 한 미국인은 외계인으로 유괴한 걸 믿는데 가슴에 압력과 떠나가는 경험으로 나타내는 면마비(眠痲痺)?에 대한 짧은 강의를 하여 [한국말로 "가위눌림"] ...

EFL - Hot or hotter?

2005-08-24T19:49:00.000+07:00

Browsing a couple of new sites, I've come up with perhaps an interesting new way to practise comparitives and superlatives. Let's call it Hot or not? after the original website of this kind.

Do you remember Hot or not? It was really big a few years ago. The idea is that you upload a photo of yourself, or more probably a friend, and users rate the attractiveness of the person in the photo on a scale of 1 to 10. Ten is 'hot'; one is, well, 'not'.

http://www.cutelittlekittens.com/ has a lot of super-cute little felines, especially in the section labelled "cutest kittens", and it wouldn't be too hard to print out a copy of a few of them and have learners vote on which of two is cuter than the other, and which is the overall cutest of the bunch.

For less sensitive classes (read: ones that won't get offended judging people), there are lots of pictures of guys and girls over at http://www.hotornot.com/ just waiting for your learners to tell them who's better looking than who, and who's the most attractive.

Even Good Guys have Bad Weekends

2005-08-21T18:30:00.000+07:00

Woke with a headache on Saturday after sleeping off a number of nights of too little sleep. Dragged said headache the 20 minutes down the road to the local Carrefour supermarket as my fridge was looking empty and I have some new Korean recipes to try. (Someone who knows me very well was thoughful enough to buy me a fun cookbook for my birthday on the 12th. "The 4800won Cookbook Series: Feel-good Meals for Singles.") On the way there, my not fully cheerful mood counted a whole 16 cars parked obstructing pedestrian crossings, 6 cars turning without signalling, and 1 car and 2 motorcycles going the wrong way up a narrow one-way street. Why does no-one enforce traffic laws here?

몇 밤의 부족한 잠으로 잊어버린 후, 토요일에 일어나서 두통이 있었다. 냉장고가 비고 요리 해볼 한식 요리법들이 있으니까 그 두통 있으며 나는 20분의 거리에 있는 지역 수퍼마킷인 "까르포르"으로 갔다. (너를 아주 잘 아는 사람이 나에게 재미있는 요리책 사 줬다. "4800원 요리책: 싱글들의 기분 좋은 법식.") 가는 길에 보통 명랑한 내 기분은 16 대의 자동차가 횡단 보도들에 주차해 길을 막기도, 6 대의 자동차가 방향 지시등을 켜지 않고 돌기도, 1 대의 자동차와 2 대의 오토바이가 좁은 일방 통행로에 틀린 방향으로 가기도 봤네. 여기 교통법을 왜 아무도 집행하지 않을까?

Arrived at the supermarket with a long mental list of ingredients. (I'd had my head on straight enough to take along my rucksack and my "Go Green" fabric shopping bag as usual - even a short trip to Australia will see you as an anti-plastic bag convert.) Had an dummy spit [arguement] with the greeter, who insisted I couldn't take my shopping bag into the store and would have to leave it in a locker, then another with the checkout assistant, who insisted that I couldn't take the hand basket I'd had to use past the checkout - no, not even just as far as the lockers. How is a person supposed to avoid plastic bags in this place?

내 머리속에 쇼핑 품목 있어 수퍼마킷에 도착했다. (배냥와 "환경 보호 해라"라는 직물 쇼핑백을 가져 올 걸 잊지 않았는데. 호주에 좀 갔다 온다면 비닐 봉지에 반대해 변환시킬 거다.) 쇼핑백을 수퍼마킷에다 가면 반드시 안 돼서 보관소엔 놓아야 한다는 인사하는 사람과 작은 말싸움을 하고서, 손바구니를 계산에서는 보관소까지도 가면 계산 반드시 안 된다는 계산 사람과 작은 말싸움을 했다. 그곳에 어떻게 하면 비닐 봉지를 피한가?

I feel bad about the argueing, but perhaps I needed it.

말싸움이 안 좋지만 아마 나에게 필요했는데.

Spent a number of hours chopping, measuring, pouring, cooking and arranging... with the A/C on "turbo". Summer's just about over, but it's still so humid. Felt muuuuuch better.

다지고 재고 쏟고 요리하고 맛있어 보이도록 하며 몇 시간을 보냈는데 그동안 에어콘 "터보"라는 설정기능에 불었다. 여름이 거의 끊났지만 요즘 몹시 습하다. 기분이 많~이 조아졌다.

~~~~~~~~~~

There are two inconsiderate idiots here in the allegedly non-smoking section of this Internet gaming cafe puffing away on cigarettes and it's making me nauseous. I'm off before I do something I regret. Why does no-one enforce the no smoking rules in these places?

벽에 이는 "금연 구역"이라는 표지 있는 여기는 남을 배려하지 않는 두 백치가 담배를 피우고 있어서 구역질이 나게 하고 있다. 나는 유감스러운 걸 하기 전엔 떠날게. 이런 곳들에 금연 법을 왜 아무도 집행하지 않을까?

Was Darwin Wrong?

2005-08-21T16:58:00.000+07:00

I'm fed up with this "intelligent design" pseudo-science trying to roll back scientific knowledge to a hundred years BCD (Before Charles Darwin).

Darwin, as a theologist, was fully aware of how his revolutionary theory of 'evolution through natural selection' would impact on humanity's view of its place among Earth's 5 million or more living species. For this reason he delayed publishing it for two decades while he checked his facts. (Moreover, during this time, another researcher, Charles Lyell, came up with a very similar theory independently.) As such, the book presents painstakingly detailed scientific evidence (unlike the "intelligent designists") of how diversification in nature happens. The ideas presented in it are now supported by overwhelming scientific evidence and "one would be hard pressed to find a legitimate scientist today who does not believe in evolution." (National Geographic, 18th October, 2004)

Scientific evidence shows that the universe was actually formed about 13.7 billion years ago, while the Earth was formed around 4.5 billion years ago. The first humans date back only a hundred thousand years or so.

Yet, in a 2001 Gallup poll, 45 percent of U.S. adults said they believe evolution has played no role in shaping humans.

~~~~~~~~~~
National Geographic published an all-encompassing special feature on "Was Darwin Wrong?" back in November 2004:

"[R]elativity as described by Albert Einstein is "just" a theory. The
notion that Earth orbits around the sun rather than vice versa, offered by
Copernicus in 1543, is a theory. Continental drift is a theory. The existence,
structure, and dynamics of atoms? Atomic theory. Even electricity is a
theoretical construct, involving electrons, which are tiny units of charged mass
that no one has ever seen. Each of these theories is an explanation that has
been confirmed to such a degree, by observation and experiment, that
knowledgeable experts accept it as fact. ...
"The essential points are slightly more complicated than most people assume, but not so complicated that they can't be comprehended by any attentive person. Furthermore, the supporting evidence is abundant, various, ever increasing, solidly interconnected, and easily available in museums, popular books, textbooks, and a mountainous accumulation of peer-reviewed scientific studies. No one needs to, and no one should, accept evolution merely as a matter of faith."

And, from New Scientist and, bizarrely, the 24 eyes of a box jellyfish, here's an intriguing glance at Darwin's famous little problem with... eyes.

Marital Rape

2005-08-18T10:27:00.000+07:00

An article on the front page of the Korea Times has appalled me. I only hope I'm reading it wrongly.

Lawyers Oppose Bill on Marital Rape

The Korean Bar Association (KBA) has opposed a bill designed to severely punish spouses committing "marital rape", claiming that it may accelerate the breakdown of the family if legislated.

"The bill may allow law enforcement authorities to excessively intervene in family affairs, resulting in family collapse or obstructing the recovery of conjugal relations," the KBA said in the statement. It also said that making a married couple’s sexual relations a matter of criminal activity is not desirable, and that current criminal laws about rape can punish a spouse for sex with violence or threat.

Why shouldn't the law be able to intervene in cases of rape?
What hope is there really of the couple 'recovering conjugal relations' after such a violation?
Does the KBA really see no difference between 'sexual relations' and 'marital rape'?
Current criminal laws may have that capability, but is it actually used for that?

The association also claimed the bill does not stipulate whether only husbands are punished for forced sex with violence or both husband and wife are. It added the concept of "forced sex with violence" is too ambiguous.

How often does rape happen 'the other way', especially in a marriage? Be serious.
As for ambiguity, how much clearer can you get? The dictionary definition of rape is "the crime of forcefully having sex with someone when they are unwilling, using violence or threatening behaviour".

"...The government did not intervene in domestic violence in the past, saying it was a family affair, but it actively intervenes now that domestic violence has become more serious," Bae Keum-ja, a lawyer, said. "If the government fails to deal with the marital rape issue in the name of protecting rivacy, a husband’s privacy may be protected while the wife's will not be," Bae said.

...not recognizing marital rape violates the equality between married women and single women, and infringes on married women's rights to have sex at their own will.

Full article here.

The following from a May article:

Marital rape had not been officially recognized in the nation until last August. In 1970, the Supreme Court ruled "rape does not exist between married couples as they agree on sexual intercourse through marriage."

Thirty-four years after the ruling, however, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced a 46-year-old who battered and raped his wife to two years and six months in prison with a three-year suspended sentence last August.

And the following is intelligent, if dated (1996 - full article):

In 1994 the nation had its first sexual harassment trial, when a young woman graduate assistant at Seoul National University brought charges against her professor for firing her when she resisted his advances. This succession of
incidents made the people aware of the reality of sexual violence and started them thinking about the need for correct sex education and the establishment of a healthy sexual culture.

Traditionally, Korean boys and girls were forbidden to sit together from the age of six. This division between the sexes was believed to be necessary for a healthy society, but on the contrary, it has prevented natural relationships among boys and girls, and distorted values and culture, making male-female relations a matter of curiosity. In a situation where no adult is providing answers to their questions, children and youth have turned to easily available pornographic videos and other materials, along with stories and rumors passed along by friends, and thus acquire distorted views about sexual matters.

And finally, this is from the US State Department's 2004 Report on Human Rights:

Violence against women remained a problem. The Ministry of Gender Equality, established in 2001, reported that more women were coming forward to report abuse. The Prevention of Domestic Violence and Victim Protection Act defines domestic violence as a serious crime and enables authorities to order offenders
to stay away from victims for up to 6 months. Offenders may also be placed on probation or ordered to see court-designated counselors. The law also requires police to respond immediately to reports of domestic violence.

Rape remained a serious problem. From January 1 through September 1, 3,914 cases of rape were reported, and 3,630 cases were prosecuted. Many rapes were believed to have gone unreported because of the stigma associated with being raped. The activities of a number of women's groups increased awareness of
the importance of reporting and prosecuting rapes, as well as of offenses such as sexual harassment in the workplace. According to women's rights groups, cases involving sexual harassment or rape frequently went unprosecuted, and
perpetrators of sex crimes, if convicted, often received light sentences. The penalty for rape is 3 years' imprisonment; if a weapon is used or two or more
persons commit the rape, punishment may be a maximum of life imprisonment.

7 in 10 Singles Willing to Marry NK Women

2005-08-16T20:11:00.000+07:00

From the Korea Times last week:

About 70 percent of South Korean single men are willing to get married to a North Korean woman, according to a local matchmaking agency Tuesday.

45.1 percent said that NK women are not as sophisticated as their South Korean counterparts.

28.9 percent cited their "natural beauty"

13.6 percent said that they would be more obedient to their husbands

Regarding the preferred place to take a North Korean woman on a date, 24.7 percent picked an amusement park, followed by movie theater and downtown.

In contrast to South Korean male singles, female singles in the South showed less interest in a North Korean spouse. Only 13 percent of female respondents said they would get married to a North Korean man.

Full article here.

Harry (bloody) Potter

2005-08-16T16:45:00.000+07:00

This weekend, amongst divers others things, I read (compulsively!) the first of the Harry Potter series. The American edition that's been staring at me, since a close friend started the latest one a few weeks ago. I read a few pages of it a couple of years ago and didn't think much of it, but there's nothing like a recommendation to get you to give it another try, is there.

Why the title of the book had been changed from the original The Philosopher's Stone to The Sorcerer's Stone is beyond me. According to Wikipedia's definition, the Philosopher's Stone is "a mythical substance that supposedly could turn inexpensive metals into gold and/or create an elixir that would make humans immortal". This is how it's used in the novel, too. Yet the American edition of the book (mistakenly and for no apparent reason) renames this the Sorcerer's Stone. How bizarre.

There were also references to "soccer", "bangs" and "Jell-O". (Would Americans really not understand if these were left as "football", "fringe" and "jelly"?) And certain spellings were changed, such as "centre" and "realised" becoming "center" and "realized". Again, why?

Neruda again / 다시 네루다

2005-08-13T19:22:00.000+07:00

Poema 13 - Pablo Neruda

He ido marcando con cruces de fuego el atlas blanco de tu cuerpo. Mi boca era una araña que cruzaba escondiéndose en ti, detrás de ti, temerosa, sedienta.

Historias que contarte a la orilla del crepúsculo, muñeca triste y dulce, para que no estuvieras triste. Un cisne, un árbol, algo lejano y alegre. El tiempo de las uvas, el tiempo maduro y frutal.

Yo que viví en un puerto desde donde te amaba. La soledad cruzada de sueño y de silencio. Acorralado entre el mar y la tristeza. Callado, delirante, entre dos gondoleros inmóviles.

Entre los labios y la voz, algo se va muriendo. Algo con alas de pájaro, algo de angustia y de olvido. Así como las redes no retienen el agua. Muñeca mía, apenas quedan gotas temblando.

Sin embargo, algo entre estas palabras fugaces, algo canta, algo sube hasta mi ávida boca. Oh poder celebrarte con todas las palabras de alegria. Cantar, arder, huir, como un campanario en las manas de un loco. Triste ternura mía, qué te haces de repente?

Cuando he llegado al vértice más atrevido y frío mi corazón se cierra como una flor nocturna.

~~

Poem 13

I have been marking the white atlas of your body with fiery crosses. My mouth went across: a spider, trying to hide. In you, behind you, timid, driven by thirst.

Stories to tell you at the edge of twilight, sad and gentle doll, so that you might not be sad. A swan, a tree; something far away and happy. The season of grapes, the ripe and fruitful season.

I who lived in a harbor from which I loved you. The solitude crossed with dream and with silence. Walled up between the sea and sadness; soundless, delirious, between two motionless gondoliers.

Between the lips and the voice something goes on dying. Something with the wings of a bird, something of anguish and forgetfulness; the way nets cannot hold water. My toy doll, hardly any shivering drops are left.

Even so, something sings in these fugitive words. Something sings, something climbs to my ravenous mouth. Oh to be able to celebrate you with all the words of joy. Sing, burn, run away; like a bell tower in the hands of a madman. My sad tenderness, what comes over you all at once?

When I have reached the most awesome and coldest summit, my heart closes like a nocturnal flower.

~~~~~~~~~~
To here a spoken version (and for a Portuguese translation), try this link.

Learning Korean - 발음하기 어려운 문장 / tongue twisters

2005-08-08T14:04:00.000+07:00

The first one was told to me by my students, who rolled about in stitches when I tried to say it...

▶ 간장공장 공장장은 강 공장장이고, 된장 공장 공장장은 장 공장장이다.
The owner of the soy sauce factory is called Gang and the owner of the soybean paste factory is called Jang.
[Transliteration: gan-jang gong-jang gong-jang jang-eun Gang gong-jang-jang i-go dwayn-jang gong-jang gong-jang jang-eun Jang gong-jang-jang i-da.]

▶ 강낭콩 옆 빈 콩깍지는 완두콩 깐 빈 콩깍지이고, 완두콩 옆 빈 콩깍지는 강낭콩 깐 빈 콩깍지이다.
The empty pod beside the kidney bean is the pod shelled of split peas, and the empty pod beside the shelled pea is the pod shelled of kidney beans.
[Transliteration: gang-nang-kong yeop bin kong-kkak-ji-neun wan-du-kong kkan bin kong-kkak-ji i-go wan-du-kong yeop bin kong-kkak-ji-neun gang-nang-kong kkan bin kong-kkak-ji i-da.]

▶ 내가 그린 구름 그림은 새털구름 그린 그림이고, 네가 그린 구름 그림은 뭉게구름 그린 그림이다.
The cloud picture I painted is a picture of a downy cloud and the cloud picture you painted is a picture of a cumulus cloud.
[Transliteration: nae-ga geu-rin gu-reum geu-rim-eum sae-teol gu-reum geu-rin geu-rim i-go ne-ga geu-rin gu-reum geu-rim-eum mung-ge gu-reum geu-rin geu-rim i-da.]

▶ 한영양장점 옆에 한양양장점, 한양양장점 옆에 한영양장점
A semi-western boutique in front of a semi-British boutique; a semi-British boutique in front of a semi-western boutique.
[Transliteration: han-yeong yang-jang-jeom yeo-pe han-yang yang-jang-jeom, han-yang yang-jang-jeom yeo-pe han-yeong yang-jang-jeom]

▶ 멍멍이네 꿀꿀이는 멍멍해도 꿀꿀하고, 꿀꿀이네 멍멍이는 꿀꿀해도 멍멍한다.
(pig and dog noises)

▶ 저 철창의 쇠창살은 새 쇠창살이다.
The steel bars of that prison are new steel bars.
[jeo cheol-chang-e swe-chang-sal-eun sae swe-chang-sa-ri-da]

▶ 저기 저 말뚝이 말을 맬 수 있는 말뚝이냐? 말을 맬 수 없는 말뚝이냐? 말을 못 맬 말뚝이냐?

▶ 저 분은 백 법학박사이고 이 분은 박 법학박사이다.
That guy is Baek LL.D and this guy is Park LL.D.

▶ 저기 가는 저 상장수가 새상장수냐? 헌상장수냐?

▶ 작년에 온 솥장수는 새솥장수이고, 금년에 온 솥장수는 헌솥장수이다.

▶ 상표 붙인 큰 깡통은 깐 깡통인가? 안 깐 깡통인가?

▶ 서울특별시 특허허가과 허가과장 허과장
Head of the special permission section of Greater Seoul
[Transliteration: seo-ul teuk-byeol-shi teu-keo heo-ga gwa heo-ga gwa-jang heo-gwa-jang]

▶ 앞 집 팥죽은 붉은 팥 풋팥죽이고, 뒷집 콩죽은 햇콩단콩 콩죽이고, 우리집 깨죽은 검은깨 깨죽인데사람들은 햇콩 단콩 콩죽 깨죽 죽먹기를 싫어하더라.

~~~~~~~~~~
And a few English ones:

Betty Botter had some butter, "But," she said, "this butter's bitter!
If I bake this bitter butter, it will make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter, that would make my batter better!"
So she bought a bit of butter -better than her bitter butter-
and she baked it in her batter; and the batter was not bitter.
So 'twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter!

Seventy seven benevolent elephants.

Black background, brown background.

Red lorry, yellow lorry.

She said she should sit.

~~~~~~~~~
And from the land of the Magyars:
Legkedvesebb megegészségesedésedre!
[(One of many Hungarian forms of) Bless you.]

Öt török öt görögöt dögönyöz örökös örömök között.
[Five Turks massage five Greeks among perpetual pleasures.]

And three I learnt on the language course in Debrecen:

Gyere, Gyuri, a gyufagyárba, gyertyát gyújtsunk!
[Come to the match factory, George, let's light a candle!]

Fekete bikapata kopog a patika pepita kövezetén.
[Black bull hoofs are knocking on the pharmacy's checquered stone floor.]

Sárga bögre, görbe bögre.
[Yellow mug, dented mug.]

Ádám bátyám Uncle Adam
pávát látván seeing a peacock
száját tátván with mouth wide open
lábát rázván shaking its leg
pávává vált. turns into a peacock.

Delayed Reply No. 1

2005-08-07T19:37:00.000+07:00

As a reply to the comment by Sebastian Koch on Korean metaphors and idioms, I know some of you out there are already familiar with the book How Koreans Talk. My copy's home in central England right now, but there's a copy at work I've been leafing through lately.

I have a feeling this is the book Sebastian was referring to: "Me han dicho, que en el Kyobo Bookstore se puede comprar un libro sobre frases hechas koreanas con explicaciones en inglés... Desafortunadamente no sé koreano." [I've been told you can buy a book on Korean set phrases from Kyobo bookstore. But unfortunately I don't speak Korean.]

Although I disagree with some of the transliterations in the book and most of the phrases come across as being rather negative, aggressive or resigned, it's a good collection. As usual though, the best way to pick up phrases/idioms like these is probably to actually talk to Korean speakers themselves.

Emmenez-moi

2005-08-04T14:38:00.000+07:00

Emmenez-moi au bout de la terre. Emmenez-moi au pays des merveilles. Il me semble que la misère serait moins pénible au soleil.

from "Emmenez-moi" - Charles Aznavour

(나를 세상의 끝으로 데려가다오. 나를 신비한 나라로 데려가다오. 내게있어 비참함은 태양 아래에서 덜 고통스럽다오.)

I've always liked this song: listen.

July of '83

2005-08-04T14:10:00.000+07:00

I love discovering other webloggers. A new one by the name of July of '83 popped up to post a one-and-a-half-word comment here a few days ago, and I finally got round to reading the blog today. Who would have thought that Existentialism, Soviet history and Seinfeld go so well together?^^

There's a provocative little extract from Nietzsche's The Wanderer and his Shadows that I love:

Hundred-year quarantine. Democratic institutions are quarantine arrangements to combat that ancient pestilence, lust for tyranny: as such they are very useful and very boring.

And I'd also like to say a huge thank-you for reminding me of one of my all-time favourite films, Isabel Coixet's eloquent and heart-breaking My Life Without Me. Yes, I love the rain, too.

Here's the link: July of '83.

태극기 휘날리며 / Taegukgi (released internationally as "Brotherhood")

2005-08-03T21:46:00.000+07:00

I loathe war films. They leave me feeling nauseous, frustrated and, above all, angry.

This particularly horrible Korean war film is a gesture towards the sheer sickening idiocy of war and the horrific illness of the mind that invented machine guns. And continue to dream up ever more brutal weapons.

Thoroughly steeped in irrational military violence and graphic special effects, with the occasional swing to über-sentimental flashbacks, the film tells the story of two brothers forcefully abducted into the war, and also of the millions of others (on BOTH sides of the ideo-geological divide) compelled to fight a war few of them really wanted.

난 전쟁영화를 혐오한다. 구역질 나고 좌절하고 무엇보다도 화나는 느끼게 한다.

이번 특히 끔찍한 한국전쟁 영화는 전쟁의 순전하고 넌더리나게 하는 백치 그리고 기관총을 발명한 지독한 정신중병 표시다. 그리고 더욱 더 비인도적인 무기를 계속 발명한다.

철저히 도리를 모르는 군인의 폭력과 생생한 특수 효과에 배어 있으며 이따금 몹시 감상적인 플래시백으로 바꾸며 그 영화는 전쟁에다 강력하게 납치당한 두 형제의 얘기를 한다. 그리고 거의 아무도 원하지 않은 전쟁을 해야 한 수백만 명의 사람(관념적.지리적 분리 양측이 다)의 얘기.

DVDs

2005-08-03T21:36:00.000+07:00

Since picking up a cheap Sony DVD player from Hi-Mart a fortnight ago, I've been trying to cram a few movie-watching sessions into my busy timetable. A few recent ones of note:

2주일 전에 하이마트에서 싼 DVD플레이어를 산 후에 영화볼 몇 차례 내 바쁜 시간표에다 끼워봐 온다. 주목할 만한 최근의 것:

MaRathon [말아톤] - (Korea, 2005)
A funny and very enjoyable film somewhere along the lines of Rainman or Le Huitième jour [The Eighth Day]. When a loveable autistic guy (acted with surprisingly sincerity) learns to find self-fulfillment from running and signs up for the Chungcheong Marathon, his mother sets about getting his coach into shape.

The President's Last Bang [그때 그사람들] - (Korea, 2005)
Who would've thought you could make a comedy about the assasination of Korea's dictator from 1961 to 1979, Park Chung-hee? This isn't laugh-out-loud stuff, but it does clevery poke fun at the idiocies of the era and the people involved in the killing and its aftermath. The (rather slow) storyline follows the head of the Korean Intelligence Agency and his two closest aides through that inevitable day.

"Chinese" / "중국어"

2005-08-03T11:55:00.000+07:00

Once again, strolling the streets as is my fashion, I've noticed the plethora of signs for language institutes claiming to teach "Chinese". Is it only me that finds this remarkably odd? I've not once seen signs for "Mandarin" or "Cantonese" or in fact any other dialect spoken in that vast and populous country up north. Only "Chinese".

~~~
From ChinaLanguage.com
Chinese has seven major language groups of which the Mandarin language group forms the largest group. The Mandarin group consists of a wide range of dialects in the northern, central, and western regions. The Cantonese dialects are spoken in Hong Kong, Guangdong, Southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, parts of Hainan, Macau, and in many overseas settlements. The Hakka (Kejia) languages are spoken in Guangdong, southwestern Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hainan, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, many overseas Chinese communities, and in pockets throughout Southeast Asia.

(And that's not to mention the Xiang dialects, the Min dialects, the Gan dialects, and the Wu dialects.)

~~~
From an English-Korean dictionary:
Mandarin 베이징 관화(官話) [The standard language of Beijing]
Cantonese 광둥(廣東)어 ['Guangdong lanugage']
Hakka 하카어 ['Hakka language']

See, Korean does have words for all of them!

~~~
Or from Wikipedia:
The Chinese language (汉语/漢語, 华语/華語, or 中文) is a tonal language and a member of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. Although Chinese is often regarded for cultural reasons as a single language, its range of regional variation is comparable to or greater than that of the Romance languages.
China ... maintained a common written language throughout its entire history, despite the fact that its actual diversity in spoken language has always been comparable to Europe.

~~~
From a Korean dictionary:
中國語 <명사> 중국 사람들이 쓰는 언어. 중국 본토와 주변 지역을 중심으로 한민족(漢民族)이 써 오는 고유한 언어로, 고립어에 속한다.
Chinese noun. The language used by Chinese people. Pertaining to the isolating language particular to the Han peoples of mainland China and surrounding areas.

~~~
I can only assume they mean Mandarin.
In that case, where can folks go to learn Cantonese round here?

Hae-un-dae Beach, this weekend / 이번주말의 해운대 해수욕장

2005-08-01T15:25:00.000+07:00

Haeundae Beach, the St. Tropez of Korea. That is, it's nothing spectacular by way of surf, sand or scenery, it's small, crowded and expensive, but it has THE name. Only 30 minutes from central Busan on the underground [subway] and around 4 hours from Seoul on the new KTX bullet train, this has long been THE area to see and be seen during the summer season in Korea. Every weekend through the summer, people from all over the country, but Seoulites in particular, swarm in, swim around and swan back up to the capital sporting summer tans.

한국의 <생 트로페>인 해우대 해수욕장. 즉, 파도.모래.풍경에 의해 특별한 곳이 아니고 작고 붐비고 비싸지만 이름이 있다. 지하철로 부산 중심부에서 30분만 걸리고 새로운 고속철도인 KTX로 서울에서 4시간쯤 걸리는데 한국의 여름철에 무조건적으로도 보고 보일 곳이다. 여름엔 주말마다 전국 사람들고 특히 서울 사람이 몰려들고 수영하고 여름 썬탠을 뽐내어 수도에다 돌아간다.

Good dog.

2005-07-22T21:06:00.000+07:00

Preguntas / 질문들

2005-07-22T19:10:00.000+07:00

As a follow-up to the poem by Pablo Neruda that I posted here in April (link below), here's a little something for all you budding philosophers and poets out there:

4월달에 빠블로 네루다의 시 한 편(아래 링크 보시오)의 후속편으로 여기 여러분중의 신진 철학자와 시인을 위해서 조그만 거 하나 준비했다:

Based on El Libro de las Preguntas by Pablo Neruda

How come you cannot see the air?

왜 공기를 볼 건 불가능한가?

Why does the moon follow you? What does it want, anyway?

달이 우리에 왜 뒤따르는가?

If shoes could talk, what would they say?

만약 신발들이 말할수있다면 뭘 말할건가?

Do clouds sleep?
구름이 잠자는가?

What have you come into this world to make happen?
뭘 일어나게 하기 위해선 당신이 태어났는가?

Who decided to put thorns on the rose bush?

가시를 장미나무에는 누가 놓았는가?

Does water feel anything when it is made to boil?

물이 꿇게 하면 어느 느낌이 드는가?

Is 4 the same four for everybody?

사(4)는 모두에게도 똑같은 사인가?

Why do we not have Thursday come after Friday every once in a while?
때때로 목요일이 금요일에 잇따르는 게 어떤가?

How did the abandoned bicycle win its freedom?
유기된 자전거가 자유를 어떠게 이겼는가?

Why do clouds cry so much? What is going on up there anyway?

구름이 왜 그만큼 눈물을 흘리는가? 천국에서 무슨 일이 일어나고 있는가?

How many churches are there in heaven? Or mosques? Or temples?

천국에는 교회 몇 개 있을까? 그러나 모스크? 그러나 사원?

Why do trees hide their beautiful roots?

나무가 자기의 아름다운 뿌리를 왜 숨기는가?

Why do leaves commit suicide when they feel yellow?
나뭇잎은 기분이 황색되면 왜 자살하는가?

How many years are in a month?

한 달에 몇 년 있을까?

And here's that poem again / 다시 그 시:

Muere Lentamente <천천히 죽는 것>

EFL - British Accents / 영국어 발음 듣기 위해

2005-07-19T21:32:00.000+07:00

Something very interesting from the Beeb:
BBC에서 관심을 끄는 것.

A survey (and PLENTY of examples) of the range of British accents.
You'll also find a quiz on indentifying British accents, and interesting articles on politeness and 'grammaticalness'.

영국 영어의 폭의 관찰이 있다. 영국의 지억 사투리들을 확인하는 질문 및 예절바름과 문법에 맞음에 대한 글도 여기서 찾아낼 수가 있다.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/

"Suggesting that only Standard English forms are correct is like saying that you shouldn't differentiate between formal and informal situations."
"표준 영어만 옳음을 암시하고 있는 것은 틀에 박힌 상태와 회화의 상태를 구별하지 말다는 것 같다."

EFL - Metaphorically Speaking

2005-07-18T21:13:00.000+07:00

For a little taste of something new, how about metaphors? A lot of the descriptions are adapted from Wikipedia.com.

To get learners thinking about (appropiate) metaphors:
(from Five-Minute Activities by Penny Ur)

1. Give them a subject and a number of possible metaphorical comparisons. For example:
a student: a flower, an artist, a climber, a hunter, a puppet, a lump of clay, a soldier, a philosopher
a family: a house, an octopus, a fire, a garden, a bed, a hand, a river, a chain
a teacher: a film director, a book, a counsellor, a police officer, a car, a manager, a signpost, an artist, a key, a walking stick
an office worker: a puppet, a pebble, a cog, an ant, a page in a book, a carpet

2. Ask them individually to choose the one they think most appropriate. Explaining their choice, they should compare answers with a partner.

A metaphor is an implicit comparison of two things, technically saying one thing IS another. If you take it literally, you might get a little confused!
e.g. "Life is theater", "Love is a journey", ""We are but a moment's sunlight, fading in the grass", "All the world's a stage...", "Life's a bitch", "The world's my oyster", "She's the apple of my eye".

A simile is an explicit comparison (with a word such as "like," "as," or "than") to another subject. "The snow was like a blanket."

Notable Similes (from Wikipedia)
"A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle." —Irina Dunn
"As good as gold." —Charles Dickens
"Solitude... is like Spanish moss which finally suffocates the tree it hangs on." —Anaïs Nin
"A mouth drawn in like a miser's purse." —Émile Zola
"Death lies on her, like an untimely frost." —William Shakespeare
"Death has many times invited me: it was like the salt invisible in the waves." —Pablo Neruda
"Idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean." —Samuel Taylor Coleridge

~~~~~~~~~~
For more advanced learners:

A mixed metaphor is one that leaps to a second comparison/identification which is inconsistent with the first.
eg. "Clinton stepped up to the plate and grabbed the bull by the horn", "That wet blanket is a loose cannon", "Strike while the iron is in the fire".

A dead metaphor is one in which the sense of a transferred image is not present.
eg. "money", so called because it was first minted at the temple of Juno Moneta. Though, to most people, "money" doesn't evoke images of the temple. People are typically unaware of the origin of words.

An absolute or paralogical metaphor (sometimes called an antimetaphor) is one in which there is no discernible point of resemblance between the idea and the image.
eg. "The couch is the autobahn of the living room."

A complex metaphor is one which mounts one identification on another.
eg. "That throws some light on the question." Throwing light is a metaphor and there is no actual light.

A compound or loose metaphor is one that catches the mind with several points of similarity.
eg. "He has the wild stag's foot." This phrase suggests grace and speed as well as daring.

~~~~~~~~~~
Personally, I try to encourage learners to be creative with their use of language. It makes their English more interesting and eliminates cliches. Using metaphors and similes is just one way to achieve this.

Let's think about our readers, eh?

2005-07-17T10:26:00.000+07:00

Reading a link on Gumbi's site, I couldn't help but agree with this:

The problem with this layout is that there's too much shit to click on. Seriously, who's ever going to click on all those links? The worst blogs are the ones that make every other word a hyperlink to another website so by the time you finish reading this sentence, you've forgotten what you were reading, or why you were reading it in the first place. Hey, this article is great but you know what would make it better? If I could read another article in the middle of it. Great design, morons.

Just to be slightly hypocritical: for Gumbi's place click here.

Day off / 휴일

2005-07-15T10:25:00.000+07:00

Time for a bit of me again.^^
나 자신의 때 다시 됐네.

Working 10 hours a day last week I felt absolutely shattered by the week's end, so this week, with my daily schedule down to a more manageable 9 hours, I'm trying to be a little more creative with my time.
지난주에 날마다 10시간의 일을 하기 때문에 주말이 되면 완전히 지쳤다. 그러니까 이번주 매일의 내 스케줄이 더 처리할 수 있는 9시간으로 내려서 내 "게으른 시간"(^_^*)을 최대한으로 활용해 보고 있다.

Yesterday, I met up with an ex co-worker who's big into rock-climbing and, borrowing a pair of snug-fitting climbing shoes from him, tried my hand on an indoor climbing wall for the first time.
어젠, 암벽 등반이 맘에 드는 전의 동료와 만났고 꼭 맞는 암벽등반 신발을 빌려 실내 암벽등반을 처음으로 시도했다.

This morning my forearms and fingers are moaning at me, but I enjoyed it a lot (my parents know what a monkey I was as a child) and am planning to go again soon.
오늘 아침에 내 팔뚝과 손가락이 약간 아프지만 (내 부모님은 전 어렸을땐 원숭이 같은 걸 알고 있지) 즐겨서 다시 해보려고 한다.

~~~~~~~~~~
On an unrelated note, on the way to the institute just now my ex boss, a corrupt and contemptible man I had no intention of ever setting eyes on again, lurched past me near Bujeon subway station, not his neck of the woods. A shiver of disgust slid up my spine as I avoided his eye and strode past.

Hmm, Tests

2005-07-12T11:05:00.000+07:00

This from the Korea Times

Shocking Test Scores - Incompetent Teachers, Wrong Methods Ruin English Education

The average score of 272 middle and high school teachers who took the [TOEIC] test last year was 718. ... In yet another indication of the problem, 39 teachers failed to earn 568 points, the average for middle-school students who took the test.

The TOEIC test exists in such a parallel reality that, as more and more companies are realising, a person with a super-high score may well not actually have a very good grasp of English. For that, I hereby award it the prize for World's Most Useless English Language Test. (The statuette is in the shape of a chocolate teapot.)

TOEIC may not tell all - but it may say a lot about teachers’ overall linguistic proficiency and Korea’s English education. ... Some say TOEIC is not a comprehensive gauge because it focuses only on reading and listening comprehension.

To be honest with you, I'd say it says pretty much the opposite: it has next to nothing to say about a person's linguistic proficiency. And the fact that the results are understood as if they do only says that Korea's English education is overly reliant on the TOEIC test, right?

Today's reply said this:
Who Is to Blame? - by Lena K. Swiadek, Pundang

[M]y spouse was asked by the principal (who, by the way, does not speak English) to employ methods straight from the Middle Ages, based on the assumption that ... repetition is the mother of learning. Also, the materials chosen for teaching are not stimulating enough, not to say simplistic; while the number of books covered in a term is mistakenly taken for the sign of progress.

Your turn to comment.

EFL - Phrasal Verbs

2005-07-10T12:16:00.000+07:00

So far, even with a lot of leafing through coursebooks, resource books, Internet sites and nearby teaching brains I've yet to come up with anything of much worth for successfully helping learners out with phrasal verbs. It's an important part of everyday speech and shouldn't be left out of our teaching. Not one for giving up, I thought I'd try out some of my own ideas this coming month.

First a few resources:

Some ideas from OneStopEnglish.
Teaching phrasals with music from iTESLj.
On food-related phrasal verbs (knock it back, bolt it down, pig out) from iTESLj.
An interesting dialogue from ManyThings - you could use this in class.

LB: " ... TV programs, radio interviews and pop music are a wonderful source for phrasal verbs. I think one of the best ways of learning them is in everyday contexts. One good one is people's daily routine. We 'get up' in the morning, we 'put on' our clothes and 'take off' our clothes at the end of the day, we 'turn on' the coffee maker or the TV set... After we eat we 'clean up.' If we're concerned about our health, we go to the gym and we ... "
RS: "Work out."
LB: "There you go. Another wonderful context for phrasal verbs is traveling.
What does an airplane do?"
AA: "It 'takes off.' "
LB: "It 'takes off,' that's right. And lots of phrasal verbs connected with hotels. So when we get to the hotel we 'check in,' and you can save a lot of money if you ... "

~~~~~~~~~~
Most sources advocate learning phrasal verbs as any other part of vocabulary, though an introduction to them could certainly help students recognise them when they turn up. Here's a short version:

"Phrasal verbs are (usually common) verbs followed by what is sometimes called a 'particle'. This 'particle' is either a preposition or an adverb, or possibly one of each. The most important thing is that learners should understand as many phrasal verbs as possible and be able to use them. Fluent English speakers use them all the time." (adapted from English in Valencia)

We use phrasal verbs in three ways:

1) to describe an action literally.

He went out of the room.

The neighbours have gone away on holiday.

Sit down and have some tea.

She walked past him without saying a word.

The majority of phrasal verbs are like this. The meaning is the combination of the two words. This shouldn't be too problematic.

2) to intensify or emphasise an action.

You're not going out until you've eaten up your dinner.

It's been pouring down with rain all day.

Don't fill it up completely! I only want a little.

He can add up easily but he can't subtract, multiply or divide.

This is less common. Sometimes the meaning is literal - the rain pours down - and sometimes it isn't - you eat up your dinner. However, the general meaning is the same as if you're using the verb alone (eat your dinner, pour with rain, etc).

3) as verbs with a special meaning.

I'll look after the children if you want to go out.

I've applied for hundreds of jobs, but they always turn me down.

I had plans to go to university, but they fell through.

Her daughter was run over while playing in the street.

These are the phrasals that are 'greater then the sum of their parts'. Knowing what the individual parts mean is of little help in deciphering these verbs. It's necessary to learn the meanings of each of this type of phrasal verb as a whole.

~~~~~~~~~~
Furthermore, there are four types:
Type 1 - take no object:

The plane took off two hours late.

He left his wife and children and went away.

There was a horrible smell in the fridge because the chicken had gone off.

All right, I don't know. I give up.

Type 2 - object can go after the phrasal verb or between the two parts:

(If the object is very long it will probably sound better after the verb.)

I must put up those shelves this weekend.

I must put those shelves up this weekend.

He turned off the TV and went to bed.
He turned the TV off and went to bed.

If you use a pronoun, put it between the two words of the verb.

I must put them up this weekend.

(NOT I must put up them this weekend.)

He turned it off and went to bed.

(NOT He turned off it and went to bed.)

Type 3 - object (pronoun or not) must go after the verb:

My sister takes after my mother.

(NOT My sister takes my mother after.)

My sister takes after her.

(NOT My sister takes her after.)

I'm looking for my credit card. Have you seen it?

(NOT I'm looking my credit card for. Have you seen it?)

I'm looking for it. Have you seen it?

(NOT I'm looking it for. Have you seen it?)

Type 4 - like Type 3, but three words instead of two. Object goes after the verb:

I'm looking forward to the holidays.

I'm looking forward to them.

Do you get on with your neighbours?

Do you get on with them?

Get on with your work!

Get on with it!

~~~~~~~~~~

I agree with the author: trying to memorise verb lists (by main verb [look up, look up to, look down, look down on, etc.] or according to the particle [let down, turn down, sit down, put down, etc.]) is a 3D job - difficult, dull and disheartening. It's better to learn them for different situations (eg. telephoning: put through, hold on, hang up, get through, cut off, speak up, etc.).

Even easier is to treat them as you treat any other vocabulary you learn. Don't think of them as a special subject that has to be learnt. They're only words! If you find a useful phrasal verb, learn it like you would learn the word for 'table' or 'ashtray' or anything else. But make sure you write down the structure. Even better would be to note down a couple of sentences using the verb so that you have a context to remember it in.

~~~~~~~~~~
For practice, some web sites just don't hold with phrasals; some dish them out. Sadly, I haven't been able to get hold of any good sources yet.

There's a complete and easy-to-use Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs over at Cambridge Dictionaries. Recommended.

London

2005-07-08T14:15:00.000+07:00

7th July 2005
The first device exploded at 8.51am on a Circle line train between Aldgate East and Liverpool Street stations. Seven people were killed.

At 8.56am
a second device exploded on a train between King's Cross and Russell Square, killing 21 people.

At 9.17am there was another blast on a train at Edgware Road station which blew a hole through a wall into another train on an adjoining platform. Two other trains were affected and seven people were killed.

At 9.47am a fourth blast blew the top off a doubledecker bus in Tavistock Square, central London, possibly killing more than a dozen people.

I have nothing to say except to ask "Why?".

살인미소 - Sarin Miso

Le Retour / 귀가

Unfortunate Names

Readying for the World Cup / 월드컵 준비하기

World Baseball Classic

Ways to Demonstrate Respect at Work and in Class

Controversial Two

Cliché-free Similes

Convincing Others

Quick Idea - Grouping

EFL - all articles

Moving from Linguistics to Language (a response to AJ)

Starting Conversations

Two Jokes

Back to the wall

Korean name?

thee dickhead soh faar

Fabulous Start to 2006^^

on being fabulous and romantic

Controversial? / 논쟁적인가?

Dumb? Are you?

Appropriate Management

For TOEIC the Bell Tolls / <토익을 위하여 종은 울리나>

recommended ELT reading

Conversations with Larry King

Learning Resources - online video/TV

Godawful December

EFL - Practise your phrasal verbs here! - 구동사를 여기 연습하세요

Learning Resources - Online Radio / 온라인 라디오

Not a fan of capes, but...

To my December classes...

TOEIC in Korea

To impose or not

Countries visited / 가본 나라들

Vibes / 느낌

a far more interesting place for world news

Two Giant Fat People / 두명의 거대하고 살찐 사람

EFL - Ice-breakers

군대 / We're in the army now

EFL - Exhuming Sapir and Whorf

EFL - Anti-TOEIC rant / 反TOEIC

EFL - Ironing out the wrinkles

Hiking in Korea

EFL/Korean - Anatomy 102

Cidade de Deus / 시티 오브 갓

EFL/Korean - Anatomy 101

Relaxing in Hurry-up Land / 빨리빨리 나라엔 쉬는 것

A moment's relaxation - Korean films / 한국영화

if I were given unlimited funds...

For those of you familiar with Korea...

Western Values / 서양의 가치관

Englishes / 영어들

Life of Pi / 파이 이야기

연애의 목적

Monk

The Importance of being... Patient.

Very Korean

orso polare / 북극곰

Punctuate this

EFL - Shaking her pen defiantly,...

EFL - Piff!

Oily Korean - 느끼-하다

등산 / Hill walking

thoughts

Very Korean 4

Rules for Better Writing^^

Poem for Chuseok

Leisure

Debating - Baby Steps

Very Korean 3 - 고소하다.백수.쭉쭉빵빵.방콕

Very Korean 2 - 말.대충대충.빨리빨리

달콤한 인생 / A Bittersweet Life

Two, difficult, too difficult tonguetwisters

Go and open the door / 가서 문을 열어라

LEARNING RESOURCES

Learning Korean 한국말 배우기 - all articles

Crème de la Crème des 'Weblogs'

Where is everyone? / 모두 어디지?

EFL - Hot or hotter?

Even Good Guys have Bad Weekends