Trustworthy Korean online shopping sites are a lifeline for those who yearn for newest Korean fashion, cosmetics, clothes, or something a bit more traditional like Korean food, books, stationery and crafts – but don’t live in Korea or close to a Korean community. Since I’ve spent last four years struggling with finding reliable Korean stores with…
In the first part of how to learn Korean vocabulary, I gave tips on extracting and learning Korean words from sources that might be fun for you and showed how that extra bit of fun might aid your memory. And there is no denying that Korean export which millions of people around the world find fun…
Learning even the basic vocabulary of Korean language can, and usually does, take years, so it makes sense to carefully choose which words to learn first. After all, what use is it that you know how to name all the bones in human body in Korean when you can’t even greet someone yet (unless you’re…
Favorite Kpop song poll that started a week ago has ended yesterday. INFINITE “The Chaser” won with a big lead, taking 42% of all the votes. More than 1100 people voted for it! I knew Kpop is popular, but I was really shocked by the turnout. Especially considering that I never wrote about Kpop before,…
Moakey is a Korean keyboard for touchscreen devices. If you are planning to download Korean keyboard for Android I recommend you try this one out. It is rather different, and more fun if I may say, than the usual kind of Korean (and Latin) keyboards where you hit the keys as the letters come one…
Those that follow this blog regularly might have noticed that it’s been quite a while since the last time I wrote anything. And they may think I have given up. Well, you won’t get rid of me that easily :) I didn’t get discouraged because of the breakup nor did I get tired of writing…
Practicing typing Korean has been the easiest part of learning Korean language for me so far, and the one where I could see the improvement the fastest. Hangul, the Korean alphabet, has only 24 letters so it’s pretty straightforward to input it with any keyboard. The difficult part is learning to not type the way I did –…
I’ve been planning and organizing my Korean language learning for years now. When I first started learning Korean I thought I just needed to memorize the words, learn the rules for forming sentences and that would be it. Then, when I proudly stood in front of Kimchi Man and spat out a sentence in Korean…
As I went through the photos he made publicly available on Interpals, I had noticed there were quite a few photos of him in a military uniform. He didn’t strike me as a military type of guy so I asked him about it. He had explained right away that South Korea has mandatory military service…
It’s been a rough couple of days. It’s difficult smiling. And it’s difficult getting used to not having him in my life. I’m still not there yet. Actually, we have stayed in touch but it’s so different now. So… official. It’s been a whole week. It seems much longer. I thought the fact we both…
Kimchi Man and Oegukeen are no more. We broke up. I know many people are going to ask “What happened!?” Nothing happened, really. Which I guess was the problem. Both of us got very ill, at different times and from different illnesses, but with the same results: our lives were put on hold. And in…
Are Korean men more aggressive and violent compared to Western men? Do Korean men beat their wives? This is the latest concern one of our readers is having. Lily asked: Hey! I’ll start off by saying your blog is extremely helpful and comforting so thank you! :) I actually have a question about…
<- Your Korean love stories #2 Few months ago we started a new Your Story section where people who don’t have any questions to ask about the dating scene with Korean guys but would like to share their romantic or heart-breaking stories can do so. We’ve been getting many stories with amazing variety of happy…
This morning a Korean pronunciation book I’ve ordered has finally arrived. I was so excited to open the package and finally take a look at the book after the whole Kindle fiasco. But I haven’t even set the package on the table and the doorbell rang again. Mailman must have forgotten something. But no, this time…
Having a Korean boyfriend means getting a few question asked over and over again, every time people find out who you are dating. “Is he from North or South Korea?”. South of course. “Aren’t they really poor there?” You’re thinking of North again. “Are Koreans Buddhists?” Most are atheists actually, but there is fair share…
Marina T. 真理菜 asked: Hi you two love birds ^^ I’m curious about something. I live vegan, I guess you know what that means, so I was curious how Korean guys see all this. I’m always imagining that Koreans (man or women) wouldn’t want to be with a vegetarian or vegan person, since they/we don’t…
South Korean flag consists of four black trigrams and um-yang (음양) symbol called taegeuk in Korean (태극) lying on a white background. The meaning of elements of Korean flag are explained in the infographic: Click on the image to see the South Korean flag infographics in larger size. You might also like: What…
The most amazing thing happened on Friday to Loving Korean: our latest article “Is it normal to talk to strangers in Korea?” got featured on a tbs eFM radio’s 1013 Mainstreet show. In Korea! I accidentally found out on Saturday and even though I was really happy and thought it’s so cool I felt a bit…
Get tips for sending mail to Korea, find out about Korean address system, how to send packages and envelopes, and see examples of proper addressing. My fingers were trembling with excitement as I pried opened the package. The package that had been sitting on his desk in Korea just a few days ago. Now it…
Is it tradition in South Korea for woman’s family to pay large dowry when couple gets married, even if the bride is a foreigner, one of our readers is wondering. Missy asked: I am surprised to read when a Korean couple married, the bride family have to fork out certain amount of money to…
Get to know how to call to Korea for free and how to text or chat with your Korean friends, boyfriend or girlfriend for free. Free text and call functions are crucial when making a long-distance relationship bearable. Whether it is love or friendship, communication is the only thing that can bridge all those miles…
With Christmas, New Year and other holidays coming soon, your desktop should be decorated to fit the festive mood. Of course, it wouldn’t be Loving Korean if every wallpaper didn’t have a hint of Koreanness in it. Over the last few years I saved every ribbon that Kimchi Man sent with the packages from Korea. When I chose…
M asked: I´ve heard that Koreans do texting a lot more than for example me (European girl). Is that true? Because when I texting a guy very much it´s because I like him. So how would I be able to know if a Korean guy that is texting me a lot likes me or is…
“… he is a Korean but he doesn’t speak Korean.” The first thought that popped into my mind when I read that was that the man is mute. When I scanned the rest of the comment which that sentence was a part of, my hasty conclusion didn’t seem to fit the context. So I came…
Dating Korean guys is not much different than dating other people, but here are top 5 things about Korean guys that are good to know: Korean Age Korean age is calculated differently than international age. When they are born, they are one year old (approximation for the 9 months they have spent in their mother’s belly).…
“Korean men are men before they are Korean” is a phrase I first read over at fellow blogger’s Ask a Korean. Since then I have seen it parroted out by many who think they are being progressive and seeing beyond someone’s nationality. While I completely agree with its premise, that our culture has very little influence on our…
G’Luck asked: Dear Oegukeen and Kimchi Man, I have been admiring your little work here for quite a long time. I enjoy reading the questions and shouts for help that people give to you two. And I have to say that you deal with them pretty well. I never had the courage to talk about…
One of the first things I found out about Kimchi Man when we met is that he owns a dog. The cute little white fluff was right there among his profile pictures. Underneath it said that it was a Korean Jindo dog. I have never heard of that breed so I searched online for any…
Azzie asked: I have been a fan of Korea for a long time now, ever since before I was a teenager. Their culture and everything just blew my mind, in a good way, haha. It’s always interesting to read about its culture, what’s new in the music industry, sit back and watch their drama’s. Though,…
Jessica asked: So I have a question : Do Korean people value and respect more Europeans (more specifically continental Europeans) than us, Americans or British folks? At my University, me and my buddies befriended few Korean exchange students (1 girl and 2 guys). The other day we were talking about Europe. At one point I…
Loving Korean | Boyfriend in Korea 