How I learn Korean on Duolingo

 I thought I would never learn to read or hear or speak Korean. I am still struggling with pronunciation.  I am listening to the sound on Duolingo and copying it by repeating it aloud every time. 

SEOUL

Seoul (/soʊl/; Korean: 서울; IPA: [sʌul] ^ⓘ; lit. 'Capital'), officially Seoul Special City, serves as the capital of South Korea,

The word for Seoul, the capital, starts with a curve like an upside down v, or the Chinese word for person. The word consists of several shapes. But when I am matching pairs, only one of the sets or words has the curve at the start and several shapes. 

However, to my surprise the recognition of both individual letter shapes and sounds, and multiple syllable words with several shapes is going well. I am doing it by trying to imagine a picture to match the shapes.  

For example the G sound looks like a gun, a vertical and horizontal. 

The word for milk has a double o, which reminds me of two breasts. 

The word for cucumber has n o on the left and a line like a vertical straight l on the right. So I imagine ti cross section of the cuumber and the length of the cucumber. 

The word for reoul starts with what look like an s/ R and s are adjacent letters of the alphabet  so I remember the successive letter of the alphabet, r is s.

Yes and oh are the same symbol. It looks like the letter o attached to the right hand half the letter H. It is pronounced oh! Think of oh, yes!

Useful websites

https://www.duolingo.com/alphabets/ko/hangeul

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_language

https://www.duolingo.com/characters

https://translate.google.com

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Bright Red Rice Wine From Korea

 

Korea's toe in the far south has an area called Jindo where they have been making a folk liquor for 1,200 years. The red colour of this rice wine is attractive, but what is it. A bit like sake, the alcohol comes from distilling rice. But what is the origin of the colour, and the distinguishing feature. It is made with the added ingredient of a local perennial, herbacious plant which grows wild in the mountainous area. It is bottled in a curvy, stout, broad-shouldered bottle, transparent so that you can appreciate the colour.

Cheongju (청주; 淸酒; literally "clear wine"), sometimes romanized as Chungju, is a clear, refined rice wine of Korean origin.

Names

The word cheongju (청주; 淸酒) consists of two characters: cheong (청; 淸) meaning "clear" and ju (주; 酒) meaning "alcoholic drink".

It is bottled in several sizes. The smallest is 200 ml, whilst the largest is 700 ml. Most of the bottles are clear glass. The red colour of the contents attracts the eyes.

However, equally intriguing are the black, or white, porcelain bottles. The bottles are teardrop shape, or you might say pear shape.

How do you drink this charming drink?  In a clear tumbler glass which curves out slightly, gently at the top. 

The density of the drink enables you to create and sunrise, (or sunset )contrast by pouring the red rice wine, ever so slowly, on top of yellow beer or yellow cider.

Andong Soju

Another Korean use of white porcelain bottles, and one style a lady's face and a man's face, is Andong Soju. However, equally attractive are the opaque white porcelain bottles of the Andong Soju. I especially liked the ones with the lady's face. The one with the man's face is a bit scary.

More details below.

Korean Folk Liquor. Photo by Angela Lansbury taken at ProWine Expo Singapore in April 2023. Copyright.

Photo of  white teardrop bottles and green face bottles of Soju in Wikipedia.

The letters kr, of course, stand for Korea.

The Republic of Korea.

(South Korea)

tel: 061-542 3399.

The flag of South Korea.

Useful websites

www.e-hongju.co.kr

https://www.foodandwine.com/cocktails-spirits/korean-soju

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andong_soju

Preventing and Dealing With Crowd Control and Disasters

New Year's Eve in Singapore

I have been at two potential crush events. The year 2000 in Singapore I want to see the Harley Davidson bike parade along Orchard Road. Pedestrians were flowing freely with plenty of space. Then, just before the parade, ribbons barriers were put up to keep pedestrians out of the road. 

I tried to get back to the MRT station to leave, I was swept along, packed in like a sardine. Being small, I was almost crushed. It was claustrophobic and scary. 

New Year's Eve In London

My second experience was in London on New Year's Eve at a bar-restaurant near Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus. Although we waited until gone midnight, about 12.15 to leave after the crush, we hoped, the nearby station was cordoned off and an airport style queue (Americans say line-up) was being controlled by police. They and signs told us for faster entry, to use different entrances, or different stations. We went back to the bar, ordered more drinks, and tried again at 12.30 and after a wait, were able to get the train and journey home. 

Lessons Learned

What are the lessons learned? On major national holidays you can either have ticketed and seated events, and crowd control with policed barriers in narrow streets and building entrances, one way systems, and entrances and exits of stations. Yes, it costs money, so does calling police in at the last moment and dealing with disasters later.

Korea

Police were deployed for Halloween in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. But they were unable to control the crowd. How can you prevent this? You need a gap along one side for police and emergency access only. You need sign-ups, even for free events.

Do you have any other suggestions? Please tell me and the forums and the authorities.

Xmas and New Year

We have Xmas and New Year ahead. I am now more conscious of crowd control being necessary, booking in advance, planning timing. The safest place is at home watching on TV.

What kinds of control are possible?

1 Number estimates from previous events.

The Koreans had figures from pre-Covid. They underestimated the surge in post-Covid crowds.

2 Ticketed counting and limiting

This is often done at indoor events. Fire regulations and insurance require limits to the numbers of people allowed in. We are familiar with this - in London at art galleries, exhibitions. Banks do it. Singapore does it in government offices. Singapore Airlines does it in their office issuing tickets and dealing with queries. Eventbrite issues tickets for free events. At Toastmasters International club meetings, speech contests, we in the audience are sometimes asked to sign up so that the organizers can manage catering.

Sign-ups and tickets.

3 Zig Zag Barriers

I recall going to Disney in America and seeing the S snaking lines. That was new. Not known in the UK. Now we have these at Heathrow airport at security.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_control#:~:text=Crowd%20control%20is%20a%20public,cause%20many%20hundreds%20of%20fatalities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_human_stampedes_and_crushes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seoul_Halloween_crowd_crush

https://eumeainfo.motorolasolutions.com/safe_stadiums_solution_brief

Please share links to your favourite posts.  

Flags of Korea

The flag of South Korea



The Flag of North Korea



Useful Websites
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-commonest-name-in-south-korea.html

Duolingo.com

About The Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

The Commonest Name in South Korea?

Flag of South Korea from Wikipedia.

According to Wiktionary:
The most common Korean surname (particularly in South Korea) is Kim, followed by Lee (Rhee, Yi) (second most common) and Park (Pak) (third most common). Together, these top three surnames make up slightly more than half of the Korean population (based on South Korea).

That makes it easy to remember people's names.

South Korea has a rule that you do not marry within your group. So the first question a Korean asks a potential date is their name. No point in wasting time chatting up somebody who will refuse a romantic date and won't marry you.

If you date and marry somebody from another culture, that's one problem you won't have to worry about. 

Many Koreans are Christians. My experience of Christians in Singapore and elsewhere in Asia is that they are very devout.

Useful Websites

About the author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

What to See in Seoul, South Korea: Museums show Handbags, Teddy Bears and Turtle Ships

What to see in Seoul?
Classic and Historical Sights

Two Korean Palaces and
The Secret Garden where royals were hidden.

Seoul, South Korea.

Landmarks :
1 Seoul Tower

2 The Namdaemun Gate

3 Statue of Admiral Yi Sun-Sin, at Sejong no, Seoul, South Korea.
He was the national hero who designed the turtle ships, early defended ships to protect the country.

Statue of Admiral Yi Sunsin by Author HNC197, in Seoul, South Korea.

See models of his ships in the
War Memorial Of Korea Museum.

Lotte World Folk Museum.
The Lotte World Folk Museum was hard for me to find. It was in the basement of the Lotte World Department store, maybe undergoing renovation. Now it has the latest technology to show you the scenes of Admiral Yi Sunsin fighting. Plus a wedding venue, and other historical and cultural scenes

Two Funky, Modern and Unusual museums:
1 The Teddy Bear Museum
If you want real life bears you should go to America or Canada or Romania. If you prefer the fantasy kind they are all here, in snow scenes and kitchen. Some are small size and others are life size so you can have a photo of yourself with a teddy bear chef.
In the shop you could buy a blue or pink teddy bear.
You can buy a combined ticket for entry to the Teddy Bear Museum and the next door Mirror Museum, cheaper than the entry fee for the Teddy Bear Museum alone.

2 Simone Handbag Museum

My favourite bag is the one designed like a red telephone. Another oddity is the football.

Another memorable novelty is the bag shaped like a dog. I remember when these were all the rage as unique Christmas gifts in New York.

This is not the only handbag museum in the world. If you are going to Europe there's another handbag museum in Amsterdam, Holland, The Netherlands. (Holland is one area of The Netherlands.)

Luxury Souvenirs:
Amethyst, ginseng, Han Bo traditional clothes.

Alternatively buy fridge magnets in traditional clothes.

Fridge magnets showing men and women in traditional dress. A gift from a Korean family. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

In shopping malls, the expensive restaurants with waiter service are at the top of the building or upper floors. The cheaper places are in the food courts on the ground floor or basement. That's the same as in Singapore.

What's the best bargain? A cup of Ginseng tea. And in restaurants no tipping is necessary!

What else can you do? Karaoke, singing.   Or Tae Kwan Do martial arts.
For an unusual event, there's the Korean Mud (slinging) festival in mid-July.

Useful Websites
www.SimoneHandbagMuseum.co.ko
http://blog.funtastickorea.com/teddy-bear-museum-teseum-mirror-maze-seoul-review/
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/index.kto
https://www.koreanair.com/global/en.html

Author Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts. 

South Korea Going 'Coin less' not Chinless - I typed c o i n l e s s

Problem
South Korea is trying out a no coin system. This will make your wallet and pocket lighter. Fewer coins to have to recognise. Less embarrassment

On the other hand all those coins you find in pockets and bags and down the back of the sofa will be worthless.

Even if they refund the money at a central bank, the cost of going there will outweigh the fare money.

As for those jars of coins with the word for tips, or the charity boxes in which you can slip the odd coin, the collect of the pennies at charity shops were everything is priced at something and 99p as a marketing ploy to make it sound cheaper, and the customer says, Keep the Change.

All the items with prices pre-printed will need new packaging.

I used to wonder why some book printing systems would not allow you to print the price on the cover. I thought, 'but the customer wants to know the price and doesn't like to ask. The customer is more likely to buy if the price is marked and sounds cheap.'

Beggars will now be asking for a dollar.

You will no longer have coins for your coin collection.

Will they still issue high value commemorative coins? We will be watching the results of the experiment in Korea with interest.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.