Why are Korean Names Two Syllables?

(To read more about Korean names, here is a list of all posts related to Korean names.)Dear Korean,I want to know what the deal with the two syllable names. After almost 8 months of teaching and living here in Korea 99.9% of the names I come across are two syllable names. Why the two syllables all the time? And why is it ok to break that rule sometimes?Jo-AnnaJo-Anna is correct that most Korean names...

Your One-Stop Guide to Korean Dialects

Dear Korean,Could you give us a primer on the dialects of South Korea's provinces/areas?Cactus McHarris Certainly! Korea is known as a very homogeneous country, and to some degree it is true. It has been a single country for thousands of years, and it is mostly comprised of a single ethnicity. Yet in other respects, Korea...

Ten Most Influential Korean Movies

Dear Korean,What are the ten most influential Korean movies?Sam J.This highly worthy question has been languishing for years in the Korean's inbox for one simple reason: the Korean is not a big movie person. Sure, he likes movies, and Korean movies. But he cannot write about Korean movies in a way that he could write about,...

Can Non-Asian Foreigner Succeed in the K-pop Scene?

Dear Korean, How ready do you think Korea is for a foreigner in the K-pop scene? My definition of a foreigner in Korean market would be someone who isn't Korean and does not look visibly Asian. Maria J.The Korean would point out the vaguely racist quality of this question first. "Foreigner," from the perspective of Koreans, has its own definition: anyone who is not Korean. The Korean has no idea...

Looking for Korean Language Tutor in Washington D.C.

Dear Korean,I am learning Korean and my formal classes at the Korean Cultural Center begin later this year. In the meantime, I would like to immerse myself in dialogue outside a class/ study environment and in the casual setting of the summer social scene. I am outgoing & meet lots of young-adult Korean-Americans but they do not speak Korean. Am I correct to assume that newly arrived Korean-speaking...

Good Korean Beer is Just Around the Bend

The Korean just returned from another trip to Korea, and he is ready to make a bold prediction:  good beer from Korea is just around the bend. If the Korean were asked to pick the most significant change in Korea in the past five years, he has an easy winner:  coffee. In the last five years, Korea's coffee went from the range of terrible-to-average, to the range of average-to-pretty-darn-good....

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Time Expressions in Korean

Dear Korean,Anyway I'm after some metaphors involving the concept of 'time' in the language. So far I've gathered:시간에 쫓기다: 'to be chased by time'때를 놓치다: 'to miss an opportunity'The idea behind the sentences is that Korean views time as something to capture or be chased by, likened to an animal in a prey-predator relationship. Can you think of any other examples along the same vein?Cana X This is...