learn korean : the lazy way

you may have already been in that situation where you’re trying to communicate with a native korean via texts but somehow aren’t able to distinguish some words because they’re written a certain way. well as well as in english or any other languages korean also has its lazy way of using it. we’ll see some words in their correct form and then in their “lazy/text” form.

이렇게 (like this) : 이러케

그렇게 (like that) : 그러케

어떻게 (how) : 어떠케, 어케

왜 이/그렇게 (why are u so…) : 왤케

그렇구나 (i see) : 그러구나

~고 싶다 (to want) : 고시퍼

귀엽다 (to be cute) : 겹다

• conjugated : 귀여워->기어워/여워,키여워/어워

괜찮아 (its okay) : 괜차나,갠차나

싫어 (to hate) : 시러

맞아 (to be right, correct) : 마자

전화 (phone) : 저나

~잖아:자나

미안해 (to be sorry) : 미아내, 먄

ㄱㄱ (고고) : let’s go

ㄴㄴ (노노) : no

ㄷㅊ (닥쳐) : shut up

ㅇㅋ (오키) : okay

ㅂㅇ (바이) : bye

ㅎㅇ (하이) : hi

ㅇㅈ (인정) : i admit

ㄱㅅ (감사) : thanks

asks open

hi feel free to ask me anything concerningkorean or anything else,i’ll do my best to answer and help!

have a good day, night ♥︎︎︎︎

I looked back at my blog archive and was surprised to see that my last music recommendations post was in November 2020—almost a year ago! Well I did have my Mandarin Music March challenge, but I’m not counting that. Here’s an update on what I’ve been listening to the last 6 months or so.

蔡健雅 / Tanya Chua
I have included Tanya Chua in past recommendation posts and featured a few of her songs on my blog, but I’ve been listening to her constantly this year, so I wanted to highlight her amazing music again. I am not a huge ballad/slow song fan, but I love hers. And she does great upbeat pop songs too.
Favorite album: 双栖动物（2005）
Favorite songs: 原谅、达尔文、坐立不安、无底洞、生锈游乐场

沈以诚 / Eason Shen
Have you ever wondered what country-inspired Mandopop would sound like? Well you can find out right now. I discovered Eason Shen during my August challenge. He also has more typical pop songs, from slow and calm to uptempo to soulful.
Favorite album: 玩家（2020）
Favorite songs: 牛仔、寻宝、巴赫旧约（翻唱）、15楼窗外、形容
*First two songs are the ones with country influence.

林宥嘉 / Yoga Lin
Yoga Lin is another artist I’d heard of but overlooked for whatever reason. I checked out one of his albums during my August music challenge and instantly fell in love. He’s already become one of my top 10 most played artists of 2021. I would describe a lot of his music as pop rock.
Favorite album: 大小说家（2012）
Favorite songs: 白昼之月、唐人街、感同身受、慢一点、4号病房

莫文蔚 / Karen Mok
I made the mistake of not checking out Karen Mok earlier because I assumed most of her music was in Cantonese—she has actually released more Mandarin albums than Cantonese! Her older albums have some great rock-leaning and almost grungy tracks, and I love some of her more recent slow songs.
Favorite album: 如果没有你（2006）
Favorite songs: 境外、溜溜的情歌、懒得管、薄荷、女朋友的男朋友

张惠妹 / A-Mei
A-Mei is a Mandopop legend. She has a very powerful voice that works well for slow, emotional ballads and face-paced rock songs alike. I see her songs covered on various singing shows often as well. I particularly enjoy her more bombastic ballads and the rock tracks from her AMIT albums.
Favorite album: 阿米特（2009）
Favorite songs: 也许明天、装醉、开门见山、血腥爱情故事、我最亲爱的

徐佳莹 / LaLa Hsu
I’ve known about LaLa Hsu for years, but I never explored her music much until more recently. I was pleasantly surprised by the versatility of her voice and the diversity of her discography! It’s been about 4 years since her last album, so I’m hoping she has something in the works.
Favorite album: 心里学（2017）
Favorite songs: 你敢不敢、到此为止、理想人生、现在不跳舞要干嘛、灰色

陈势安 / Andrew Tan
I first heard of Andrew Tan through a cover of his song 天后 by Jeno Liu 刘力扬. Both versions are great, and I recommend you give both a listen. Anyway, Andrew Tan has a very deep, rich voice with a lot of soul. His newest album has some great pop hits that I can’t get out of my head.
Favorite album: 唯一想了解的人（2021）
Favorite songs: 唯一想了解的人、兜圈、天后、我们都伤、势在必行

田馥甄 / Hebe Tien
Hebe is another artist I neglected to check out sooner because I had heard her song 《不醉不会》 years ago and didn’t care for it. However, her latest album really struck a chord with me, so I’ve been going through her discography. She has some fantastic slow, emotional songs and some stuff with more edge too.
Favorite album: 无人知晓（2020）
Favorite songs: 讽刺的情书、底里歇斯、终身大事、人间烟火、小幸运

李荣浩 / Li Ronghao
Watching Li Ronghao on 青春有你3 inspired me to finally check out his music. I definitely get the hype. His style is pretty distinctive (but I honestly don’t think I can describe it well) and he releases a lot of long 4:30-5:00+ minute songs, so he’s not for everyone, but I saved at least a couple songs from all of his albums.
Favorite album: 嗯（2017）
Favorite songs: 戒烟、不将就、李白、满座、老友谊

陈奕迅 / Eason Chan
I’ve just started exploring Eason Chan’s discography, but so far there’s a lot to like. As a Hong Kong singer, he has Cantonese and Mandarin albums (and some albums with both languages), but I’m just sticking to Mandarin for now. I can’t wait to hear more soon!
Favorite album (so far): 认了吧（2007）
Favorite songs (so far): 烟味、让我留在你身边、快乐男生、放弃治疗、陪你度过漫长岁月

Other songs I’ve been loving:

• 黑色天空 - 路嘉欣 / Jozie Lu
  Angsty, brooding, emo perfection.
• 蓝莲花 - 许巍 / Xu Wei
  A grand rock song that builds.
• 冰川 - 曹方 / Cao Fang
  True to its name, feels cold and apathetic like ice
• 温室狂花 - 艾薇 / Ivy
  Loud and in your face, but in a good way.
• 燕尾蝶 - 梁静茹 / Fish Leong
  Rock-infused song filled with emotion.
• 小娟 ( 化名 ) - 谭维维 / Sitar Tan
  This song packs a punch as powerful as its message.
• 强求 - 李佳薇 / Jess Lee
  A dark song for singing your heart out.
• 幽默感 - 范晓萱 / Mavis Fan
  Casual and gritty but with a delicate bounce.

This is a followup to my post Chinese Surnames You Might Be Pronouncing Wrong, but now the focus is on given names. Technically, some of the characters below can be surnames, but they’re uncommon, so you will likely encounter them given names more than as surnames. Most of the characters below have multiple pronunciations, and their typical pronunciations as part of a given name might not be what you’re accustomed to. So let’s begin!

兴 - Like me, you probably first encountered this character in words like 高兴 and 兴趣. But then I learned the word 兴奋…and here it’s xīng not xìng!!! 兴 with the first tone can be a surname, but it’s rare. But you will definitely encounter it in given names.
Example: 周兴哲 (Zhou Xingzhe/Eric Chou)

一 - You have probably read about tone changes for this character that result in it being pronounced yì or yí. This also applies to names! It becomes yì before 1st/2nd/3rd tone, becomes yí before 4th tone, and remains yī at the end.
Examples:
Idol and actor 王一博 (Wang Yibo) ← before 2nd tone
SIS member/TCO3 contestant 洪一诺 (Hong Yinuo) ← before 4th tone
Singer/Produce Camp 2019 contestant 李鑫一 (Li Xinyi) ← end

少 - We all know shǎo. But do you shào as in 少年, 少女, 少林, etc.? Now you do. When 少 is used in names, I’ve only ever heard it pronounced shào.
Example: Actor 余少群 (Yu Shaoqun)

乐 - This one is kinda complicated. First we have 快乐的乐 and 音乐的乐. Both pronunciations can be surnames, but they are not so common (Baike says Yuè is more common). When this character is used in given names, I’ve only heard it pronounced lè. But there could be someone out there who says it as yuè. 
Example: NCT member 钟辰乐 (Zhong Chenle)

茜 - This character can be pronounced xī or qiàn. It seems qiàn is the standard pronunciation for names. According to MDBG, the xī pronunciation is used in transliterated names. Interestingly, I noticed while watching the Olympics that gymnast 唐茜靖 is Tang Xijing and not Qianjing, but looking at her Baike entry seems to confirm that xī is not the standard pronunciation in names.

Example: Actress 万茜 (Wan Qian)

燕 - 1st tone Yān is a surname, but it’s not that common. 4th tone yàn is what you’ll find in given names.
Example: Singer 孙燕姿 (Sun Yanzi/Stefanie Sun)

柏 - This character in given names, in my experience, is always bó. The character can also be pronounced bǎi in Mainland China, and Bǎi can be a surname. But in Taiwan, it’s always pronounced bó (according to MDBG).
Example: Singer/Rapper 潘玮柏 (Pan Weibo/Wilber Pan)

蔚 - Apparently this character can be the surname Yù, but it’s not a very common surname, so I’ve only been exposed to this character in the word 蔚蓝 and in names. In these cases, it’s pronounced wèi.
Example: Singer 莫文蔚 (Mo Wenwei/Karen Mok)

露 - By now you may have noticed that a lot of characters can be surnames (but are pretty rare). This is one of these characters as well. It can be pronounced lòu or lù. Lù is the pronunciation as a surname and in given names.
Example: Actress 赵露思 (Zhao Lusi)

为 - I’m sure I’m not the only one who sometimes gets a headache over how to pronounce this character. It’s not hard to remember the difference in meaning between ​​wéi and wèi, but sometimes in the middle of long, complex sentences, I have trouble telling which pronunciation/meaning is being used until the end of the sentence. Anyway, in names, this character is ​​typically pronounced wéi.
Example: Actor 佟大为 (Tong Dawei)

强 - You are probably aware that this character has multiple different readings/meanings. The most common is probably qiáng, but I encounter qiǎng a lot too (poor jiàng is rare), so I thought this character was worth including. In names, it is pronounced qiáng. This becomes pretty clear when you think about the difference in meaning between the two pronunciations.
Example: Chinese premier 李克强 (Li Keqiang)

媛 - This character has two readings, yuán and yuàn. The two meanings are also similar, with both relating to beauty. In names I have only ever heard the yuán pronunciation. 媛媛 is itself a fairly common name.
Example: Wife of Xi Jinping, 彭丽媛 (Peng Liyuan)

靓 - This one is tricky. The character can be pronounced liàng or jìng. I wasn’t able to find a definitive answer about how it is usually pronounced in names. However, I noticed in a cross-strait dictionary that for several words that use the liàng pronunciation in Mainland China, the jìng pronunciation is used in Taiwan. I found several Taiwanese actors/singers with 靓 in their names, and they all appeared to use the jìng pronunciation. Also, I have read that several words pronounced with liàng in Mainland China are borrowed from Cantonese. So, if you meet someone from Taiwan with this character in their name, it’s probably pronounced jìng. If you meet someone from Mainland China, I would guess liàng. But be prepared to be mistaken just in case.
Examples:
Singer 张靓颖 (Zhang Liangying/Jane Zhang)
Actress 阳靓 (Yang Jing/Peace Yang)

Now for a few some cross-strait differences!

妮 - This character can be found in female given names. In Mainland China it is pronounced nī; in Taiwan it is ní.
Example: Actress 倪妮 (Ni Ni)

薇 - This character is used in a lot of female names too. Like the similar character 微, this character is pronounced wēi in Mainland China but wéi in Taiwan.
Example: Actress 赵薇 (Zhao Wei)

夕 - I mentioned this character in my post about characters pronounced differently in Mainland China and Taiwan. It is xī in Mainland China and xì in Taiwan.
Example: Acclaimed songwriter 林夕 (Lin Xi)

汐 - You can probably guess from the character above how this character is pronounced. Yep, it’s xī in Mainland China and xì in Taiwan.
Example: Actress 任素汐 (Ren Suxi)

锡 - This character is pronounced xī in Mainland China but pronounced xí in Taiwan.
Example: Global Times Editor-in-Chief 胡锡进 (Hu Xijin)

In Mandarin Chinese we say “再见 (zài jiàn)” as “goodbye” or “farewell”, which roughly translates to “see (见) you again (再)” and I think that’s beautiful, because that means there is no true goodbye in the Mandarin Chinese language, and we only ever part ways for the time being.

Submitted by @fawn-ly

[resources:bab.la,Collins Dictionary,Yabla,Purple Culture,Han Trainer DictionaryandPin Pin Chinese]