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Translation Challenge #1 - Fated To Love You - Ailee's Only You

As you can see, this blog is slowly becoming a FTLY fan blog hahaha. I'm absolutely in love with the show!! 

I'll be back with book reviews / Korean lessons soon, but for now, thought it'll be fun to post my first translation piece! Translated Ailee's Only You (working title), which is my favourite song from FTLY's ost, a couple of days ago just to put my Korean to the test. I think the song will be released tomorrow so I'll be able to compare my translation to the more "professional" ones to see how good (or lousy) my Korean is now.

Korean lyrics (based on the video above):

Goodbye my love

가슴은 알고 있나봐 

터질듯한 이 그리움 

감춰봐도 감출 수가없는

내 심장이 된 그대

Oh you

가질수 없어도

만질수 없어도

그래도 난 관찮아

한 없이 아파도

또 눈물이 흘러도

그대만 행복하다면

웃을수 있다면 난

지울수록 더 그리워지겠죠

오늘보다 더 눈물 흘리겠죠

운명처럼 내겐 다시 없을

단 하나 only you

언젠간 만날 그날을 그대를 

기다려요 

잠시 안녕처럼

Goodbye my love

눈물은 기억하나봐

그대 자릴 또 채워와

지워봐도 지울수가 없도

내 전부가 된 그대

Oh you

볼 수가 없어도

들을 수 없어도

그래도 난 괜찮아

이별이 슬퍼도

가슴이 시려도

그대만 행복하다면

웃을 수 있다면 난

지울수록 더 그리워겠죠

오늘보다 더 눈물 흘리겠죠

운명처럼 내겐 다시 없을

단 하나 only you

눈물 많은 그대 행복하길

한번쯤은 나를 생각하겠죠

가끔씩은 우리 추억하겠죠

그거면 돼

또 언젠간 만날 그날을 그대를

기다려요

잠시 안녕처럼

Goodbye my love

Translation:

Goodbye my love

I guess my heart knows

This yearning that is bursting

Even if I tried, I can’t hide

You who are in my heart

  Oh you

Even if I can’t have you

Even if I can’t touch you

Even then, I’m still okay

Even if it hurts a lot

Even if tears fall again

As long as you are happy

I will be able to smile

  The more I try to forget, the more I long for you

I will probably cry more than I did today

As if by fate, the only thing I will never have again is you

  I am waiting for the day when we will meet again

Just like a moment’s goodbye

Goodbye my love

  I guess my tears remember

You coming again to fulfill your place

Even if I tried, I can't forget

You who became my everything

  Oh you

Even if I can't see you

Even if I can't hear you

Even then, I'm still okay

Even if this star is sad

Even if my heart grows cold

As long as you are happy

I will be able to smile

  The more I try to forget, the more I long for you

I will probably cry more than I did today

As if by fate, the only thing I will never have again is you

  With my tears, I wish you happiness

Think of me at least once

Reminisce about us sometimes

Even if it becomes like that

I am waiting for the day when we will meet again

Just like a moment’s goodbye

Goodbye my love

[inspiredlivin]

Step aside 2Jang. 2Hyuk is here. Hehehe <3

[inspiredlivin]

I am so addicted to the drama, the OST, basically EVERYTHING. I already loved the taiwan version so much, but this korean version is aaammmaazzzing. So so so so much love for Jang Hyuk and Jang Nara.

[inspiredlivin]

I wasn't avoiding you because I didn't like you. I felt sorry until I was ready, so I was preparing myself to go back to you... Thank you for waiting for me, and... for staying beside me. 

[inspiredlivin]

[REVIEW] Survival Korean

Survival Korean is slowly becoming my favourite Korean travel / daily life guide book. Even though I haven't travelled to Korea with it, I can already picture how useful the book will be when I do!

Produced by two very popular Korea related english sites, TalkToMeInKorean and Seoulistic, Survival Korean is perfect for English speakers who want to pick up Korean that can be used for every day conversations. It also has some explanations of the culture in Korea (eg. Korea does have a tipping culture), which can be very useful for those who are new to Korea. 

I wouldn't call this a proper textbook though... Because it lacks a lot of explanations on the grammar used in the phrases. However, it was never intended to be one, and should not be used as one. In fact, I think the lack of grammar explanations and other linguistics makes this guide book even better. It actually makes the book a lot more focused on its purpose - to teach people phrases that will help them survive in Korea, and to make their Korean more naturally.

I'm not sure if there's anyone like me, but I often feel that even though I've passed the beginner's TOPIK exam (Level II), I am far from being an actual Level II speaker in my daily life. This is because (let's be honest here), there are techniques that you can use to pass and do well in the TOPIK - without actually being at the supposed standard. This is why I think its very important to go beyond "textbook knowledge" and to think about how to apply what you learn in your daily life (and this goes for everything! Not only Korean!). What use is a language if you can't use it to communicate with others! And this is why I love Survival Korean - it acts as a perfect complement to my other Korean textbooks and helps me put into context the things I've learnt, helping me to use what I've learned to communicate with other people.

So... let's look at the structure of the book: 

As you can see, it's very nicely structured by themes, which is very helpful when you are in a particular situation, say shopping, and want to know how to bargain. Or when you're in a restaurant want to know how to order food. 

Also, I am usually not a fan of romanisations, but I think it can be pretty helpful in this case, especially for those who are not familiar with 한글. Imagine asking for directions in Korea and having to slowly decode the phrase you see in your book syllable by syllable... I wouldn't recommend, as always, for people to rely too much on romanisations though! Learning and memorising 한글 is like the building block your Korean learning journey... you wouldn't go far if you don't do it.

(HyoJin and Keith are so cute!! Hahaha!)

Overall, Survival Korean is a very good at what it does. And I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn every day Korean phrases and those who want to well... survive in Korea. The size of the books is perfect for traveling as well (about the size of a lonely planet), so if you're heading for a trip to Korea soon, you might want to grab a copy for your trip!

If you liked this book, get your copy today here :)

And if you liked this book review, and want to read my other reviews, go to my Korean Language Resources page :)

Edit: Literally a minute after I posted this, TTMIK tweeted about their ebook version of this, which would be even more perfect for traveling! You can get the ebook version in the above link too :)

Edit 2: I just downloaded both the PDF and epub version of the ebook, and the PDF version is so much better! The epub version lost quite a lot of the formatting of the book (at least on my iPad) :( The PDF version, however, is just like the actual book ^^

[inspiredlivin]

An identity or a career cannot be built around what you don't want. We have to shift from a negative identity, or a sense of what I'm not, to a positive one, or a sense of what I am. This takes courage.

- Meg Jay, Defining Decade

A very timely reminder as I learn to live in the space in between, where uncertainty thrives. Crossroads after crossroads, I will have to learn to choose. I will have to build the identity I want to identify myself with. I will have to make career choices and not just leave it in the open any more. 

Growing up is never easy. But I must.

[inspiredlivin]

Learn Korean #3 - Roommate: 청춘은 다시 오지 않는다

Sorry for the lack of updates! World Cup consumed my life over the past few days. Hehe.

Today's lesson is on a phrase I think is really meaningful. It's a piece of very good advice from 이덕화 (Lee Deok Hwa) to the 11 roommates and I guess to all of us as well.

So let's break it down!

Vocab:

청춘 (cheong-chun): youth

다시 (da-shi): again

오다 (o-da): to come

않는다 (a-neun-da): to be not

Grammar:

은/는 are topic marking particles. They are used to highlight the topic of the sentence, and are used after the topic nouns.

In this case, 은/는 is marking 청춘, so we know the rest of the sentence must be saying something about 청춘.

~지 않는다* is the verb ending we use to form negative sentences.

To use ~지 않는다, we simply add the verb stem before ~지 않는다.

Hence, 오지 않는다 means "to not come".

*For action verbs such as "오다 (to come)", "가다 (to go)", "먹다 (to eat)", ~지 않는다 is used. For descriptive verbs such as "귀엽다 (to be cute)" "비싸다 (to be expensive)" "크다 (to be big)", ~지 않다 is used instead.

If we put it all together, we get "Youth does not come again", or more naturally, "Youth never comes again".

Indeed, youth never comes again. So let's live our lives to the fullest :)

If you liked this lesson, please reblog <3

& follow me on twitter: jing_il

[inspiredlivin]

Learn Korean #2 - My Love From Another Star

별에서 온 그대 (My Love From Another Star) is one of my favourite dramas!! I especially loved the epilogues at the end of each episode. And this is my favourite epilogue scene!

The scene is perfected with the background music - 효린’s 안녕, which also happens to be one of my favourite songs :) I will be going through the chorus of 안녕 today and if there is more requests, I'll go through the entire song in future posts :) Leave a comment or an ask if you want me to go through the rest of the song!! 

The chrous: 

사랑이 왔는데 그댄 떠난대 기다렸는데 더 볼 수가 없대 늘 바보처럼 흐르는 눈물이 말해 안녕 이젠 Goodbye

Let’s break it down line by line.

사랑이 왔는데

Vocab:

사랑: love 

와다: to come (왔 is the past tense form)

Grammar:

-는데 is used to link a contrasting result or situation from the previous action or situation (ie. But, however)

Therefore, 사랑이 왔는데 means “Love came, but…”

그댄 떠난대

Vocab:

그댄: short form of 그대는, which means you

떠나다: to leave

Grammar:

-(ㄴ/는)대요 is the short form of -(ㄴ/는)다고 해요, which is used to quote someone else saying they did something

So, 그댄 떠난대 means “you say you’re leaving”

기다렸는데

Vocab:

기다리다: to wait (기다렸 is the past tense form)

Grammar:

-는데 (see above)

So, 기다렸는데 means “I waited (for you), but….”

더 볼 수가 없대

Vocab:

보다: to see

더: more

Grammar:

수: idea, way

없다: to not exist, to not have

Hence, the grammar ending -(으)ㄹ 수 없다 literally means, to not have a way (to do something), or more naturally, “cannot do (something)”

-(ㄴ/는)대요 (see above)

Therefore, 더 볼 수가 없대 means “you say I can’t see you anymore”

늘 바보처럼

Vocab:

늘: always

바보: fool

Grammar:

-처럼 is a particle added to nouns to mean “to be like noun”

Therefore, 늘 바보처럼 means “Always like a fool”

흐르는 눈물이 말해

Vocab:

흐르다: to flow (흐르는 is the adjective form of흐르다)

눈: eyes

물: water

눈물: tears

말하다: to tell, to speak (말해 is the present tense form of말하다)

Hence, 흐르는 눈물이 말해 means “The flowing tears tell me”

안녕 이젠 Goodbye

안녕: Goodbye (could also be Hello, depending on the context)

이젠: Now

And so, 안녕 이젠 Goodbye means “Goodbye, now, goodbye”

So... if you put it all together, you get:

Love came But you say you're leaving  I waited for you But you say I can't see you anymore Always like a fool The flowing tears tell me Goodbye, now, goodbye

Beautiful lyrics isn't it! 

If you liked this lesson, reblog!! <3

[inspiredlivin]

Learn Korean #1 - EXO 사랑하자!

I’ve started a Korean Scrapbook! I found Ari’s blog a couple of days ago and fell completely in love with it. She reblogs some of the best resources to learn Korean and I wanted to reblog a lot of them, but didn’t want to clutter my blog so I started a new one to reblog them – My Korean Scrapbook! I will also be reblogging other materials that I’ve found useful for my learning too ^^

  Alongside my new scrapbook, I will be starting a new series – Learn Korean! Everyday I will (try) to post a picture / GIF / infographic and explain a phrase related to it.

  So, today’s GIF!

EXO 사랑하자! (EXO sa-rang-ha-ja)

Any EXO fan would be familiar with this, but what does it actually mean? Let’s break it down.

  사랑 (sa-rang): Love (noun)

하다 (ha-da): To do (verb) 

Together, they form the verb “to love”.

Note that 사랑하다 is a dictionary form*. This means that if you try to find “To love” in the dictionary, 사랑하다 will appear, not 사랑 (sa-rang) or 사랑해요 (sa-rang-hae-yo), the present tense form of 사랑하다.

  *Dictionary forms of verbs always go in this pattern: verb stem (eg. 사랑하) + 다

Now, let’s look at the grammar ending ~자

  This is an informal / casual (반말) way of “Let’s”. To use this grammar pattern, simply add the verb stem of any verb before 자

Examples:

가자 (ga-ja): Let’s go

사자 (sa-ja): Let’s buy

먹자 (Meok-ja): Let’s eat

  So if you put it altogether, EXO 사랑하자 means “EXO, let’s love (each other)”

  IMPT: Note that the grammar ending ~자 is extremely informal / casual, which means you won’t want to use it with strangers (unless you are wayyy older), people older than you, people with respectable statuses, or in business situations.

  Hope you enjoyed this and if you did, reblog!! 

[inspiredlivin]

[Fan Account] 140523 Tohoshinki: Tree Tour

I headed to Tokyo Dome shortly after I landed and dropped my stuff off at the hotel.

By the time I went there, there were already so many people! Most people were either queuing for concert goods or Big East goods. I must say that SM entertainment / Avex has one of the best concert management. The queues for fan goods were so well managed. Before lining up, you’d already know which items were sold out, which items were left etc. There were also sufficient counters to serve fans, which made the queue move pretty quickly. This was totally different from Junsu’s concert at Osaka Jo-hall where the entire concert goods queue was in a mess :< and the thing is, Tokyo Dome has a capacity of 50000 while Osaka Jo-Hall has a capacity of about 16000!

Didn’t see anything I really wanted, so only got the towel – which I thought was so cute!! Towels and pen lights are my must-collect items when I got for concerts hehe. I didn’t buy a penlight since I already received one with my Big East concert ticket :)

Went in super early since it was my first time in the arena! Wanted to take pictures and well…. feel the atmosphere… hahaha

(Cr: Playground Max)

The concert started with Champion and oppas in cloaks looking like cult leaders hehe. Why does Kpop always make me feel like I’m in some kind of cult!! After Champion was Scream, Disvelocity and then their first ment. Cheering and Ai o Motto followed. As expected, oppas were flawless in their performances and like they said themselves, seeing 50000 red pen lights waving to a song like Champion really gives you goosebumps.

One of my favourite segments of the concert was the I Love You, With All My Heart and Wedding Dress segment. The stage was so pretty!! There were even fountains <3 <3 They were also wearing blue which made the stage just shine. Just look at this!!

  (Cr: Playground Max)

The skit before Suri Suri and Something was pretty awesome too. Both of them are seriously such 바보s They have come so far in showing their acting talents during concerts hahaha. Tohoshinki concerts used to be so serious – which I loved since there their singing and dancing is so amazing, but this new added fun element to their concert is pretty cool too. Love how they try to get closer to their fans through this tour!

  (Cr: Playground Max)

The last song of the concert (before encore) was Tree of Life and I must say their leaf-y outfit was terrible… The song, however, was amazing. Tree Of Life is probably one of my favourite songs off their new album and to hear it live <3 <3 The stage was really pretty too. I swear Tohoshinki have the best live stages – they have some of the best dancers, band members, stage crew, lighting people, art director (Sam-san!!) etc.

The last segment of the concert was the encore – Miss You, Sweat, Ocean!!!, Somebody to Love, Goodbye for Now. Changmin was soo tired by the time it was the encore. He sat down so many times!! No wonder Yunho lost weight but Changmin gained weight hahaha. Clearly not running as much as his hyung :P He was so very much in a hurry to leave the stage when the concert ended! Hahaha! 

I really enjoyed the concert :) Even though I really wished I went for the ones in Kyocera Dome too! The last concerts are always the best. Just like Nissan. But, still, thankful for the chance to see them again. Their stage presence is second to none and their performances are always so awesome. Can't wait for the next tour already!!

PS: I didn't take any photos in the concert hall since I was really scared of getting thrown out (they do that if they find you taking photos!). I've credited the photos used here to their respective owners // The photos I took before the concert can be found here // Also, some of the photos may be from other concerts apart from the Tokyo Dome one I saw.

[inspiredlivin]

Tohoshinki Time Tour // 23rd May 2014 // Tokyo Dome

Will post fan account soon x

[inspiredlivin]

[REVIEW] Kpop to Ktalk

Found out about Kpop to Ktalk recently and I'm liking it more and more each week.

Kpop to Ktalk is a website where you can find translations to your favourite Kpop songs. However, what's special is that they not only do simple translations, but very detailed ones, breaking down songs lyrics to very basic words and grammar forms. Each song is introduced in 4 posts across the week and each post has a section of the lyrics broken down into nouns, adverbs, grammar and verbs/adjectives. By explaining each word / grammar pattern separately, they help you better understand the lyrics (than simply reading translations), and more importantly, learn new words and grammar patterns. Just like what they say, I find using Kpop songs to learn new words / grammar patterns very useful because of repetition! Every time you listen to a Kpop song and sing along with it, you'll be re-emphasising the stuff that you've learnt - what an efficient and fun way to learn Korean :)

I highly recommend Kpop to Ktalk to anyone studying Korean :)

[inspiredlivin]

Jing // 菁 // 징 Singapore // London // Seoul

Follow me now!! 

[inspiredlivin]

Hard Choices...

This inspired me. I hope it inspires you too.

[inspiredlivin]

여름이 와다

The long days and awesome weather is making me really happy :) Even though I am still busy with work, I feel so much better that I can go out after work and enjoy the sun till 9/10 in the night. I’ve been meeting lots of friends too, thanks to the weather. Everyone wants to go out and it’s great  because I haven’t had much of a chance to meet up and hang out with my friends ever since I started working.

  Work is getting better too. I’m starting to enjoy “networking” events more, mainly because it’s summer and the events are cooler (not just drinking events!!). Project wise, I’m starting to appreciate the project I’m on – great people, great client, even though my day-to-day tasks may not be very exciting. But then again, can the corporate world even be exciting to begin with?? It seems like very soon I’ll be at the crossroads again and I’ll have to choose again if I want to go down this path or if I want to make a 180 degree change to my career choice. But till then…

  Studying is getting better too. Instead of hiding in my room to study (depressingly), I can now go out to cafes and all to study. Because of this, my productivity has increased by so much!! I can now study for almost 5 hours a day during the weekends, a lot more than my previous attempts to fit in 1/2 hour studying sessions… I am now halfway into TTMIK’s level three and I think I could probably finish the rest alongside the workbook in the next two weeks ^^ I’ve also started going through TTMIK’s My Weekly Korean Vocab ^^ And I am still keeping up with my The Heirs comic readings ^^

  Amongst other things, I am also preparing for my CFA this coming December. Not looking forward to the exam, but being able to revise / learn new things in Finance/Economics feels great. Hehe. #geekforlife

And I'm done with Snowing in Bali! Highly recommend it. Look forward to my review of it in my books page :) 

PS. while trying to tag this post, I realise that this is possibly my first time writing a post without a specific topic. leave a comment on what you think of writing such random posts!!

[inspiredlivin]

Lately

So as you can see, I've been busy updating my blog - new pages are up now :) 

About me: http://inspiredlivin.tumblr.com/aboutme

My book shelf: http://inspiredlivin.tumblr.com/books

My Korean Language resources (with reviews): http://inspiredlivin.tumblr.com/languageresource

My fav. Korean dramas and movies: http://inspiredlivin.tumblr.com/favdramas

Drop me comments if you have any! hehe :) 

[inspiredlivin]

My Book Shelf!

Created this page to share my favourite books and the books I am currently reading with everyone ^^ 

For now, just got descriptions off Goodreads, but will slowly start reviewing all the books and adding more books :)

http://inspiredlivin.tumblr.com/books visit the page now!! :)