Korean for Dummies 101

Ok, so whenever I tell someone I'm stuidying Korean one of the most common questions I get (besides the regular "Why???") is "Is it hard?", well, maybe a little...specially if you are learning "on your own" for whatever reason (time, money, school availability, etc)...

I suscribed to Koreanclass101.com a couple of months ago because I just wasn't comfortable when I was going to group-classes, even thou it was Korean for newbies seemed like everyone already knew so much and I just couldnt keep with it... it was HARD!!! I felt so dumb because I didn't know the name of the letters (signs??) and because I didn't know any word in Korean except for annyeonghaseyo (안녕하세요!), so then I decided to hire a personal teacher...Good idea! at least for a while but it was really expensive so......the best method for me (at least!) it was the internet, I've found great websites with pretty good lessons, most of the times I use koreanclass101.com but Talk to me in Korean  is also agood resource, and actually the 2nd site was created by Keith a former koreanclass101 "teacher".

easy??   O_o

okokokok enough! it's time for the 1st class!! get ready to learn how to say HELLO and Nice to meet you (basically an Introduction) in Korean (I told you it was Korean for dummies!! lol)

Hello = annyeonghaseyo  - 안녕하세요
Nice to meet you = cheoeum boepgesseumnida - 처음 뵙겠습니다 (HAAAAAAARD!!! lol well...not so much)
I am ____ = Jeoneun (or more like choneun) Gisela-imnida - 저는 <--Jeoneun

so it wil be something like this:

annyeonghaseyo! Jeoneun Gisela-imnida. Cheoeum boepgesseumnida
Hello!, I am Gisela. Nice to meet you.
안녕하세요!, 저는 Gisela-입니다. 처음 뵙겠습니다      (right? hehe)

*Cheoeum boepgesseumnida literally means "I'm meeting you for the first time" but is translated as "It's nice to meet you" and it is used when meeting someone for the first time

(here comes the complicated part!)
so, why do we add an "imnida" after the name??...
The verb expressing "to be" - is 다 (ida). When 다 is conjugated in the present tense and
expressed for use in a formal context, it changes into 입니다 (imnida).

다 (ida) is the Korean affirmative copula. And is roughly equivalent to the English verb "to be. 다 (ida) is the most useful and basic way to identify people and object.

O_O I think  that would be enough for this lesson lol ....
At least now you can say "Hello, I am ____. Nice to meet you" right?....right??!!!!!!

So stay tuned for more lessons (or not)... or.. go to Koreanclass101/TalktomeinKorean n_n 


Annyeonghaseyo!!!!!!

-Gisela V.