Hello! This is Admin Sun here. Today I’ll introduce some idiomatic expressions! There are a lot of Idioms (관용구) and these are some of the most frequently used expressions.  

✎뒷북치다: to hear about a certain thing late and react / make a fuss after the event is already over

Literal translation: to beat a (back/rear) drum (*the literal meaning hardly makes sense, ‘뒷북’ literally would mean ‘back drum’.)

Ex) 나는 늦게 그 농담의 의미를 깨닫고 뒷북을 쳤다. (I understood the joke late and reacted late)

✎말은 쉽다:Easier said than done. / Easy in theory

Literal translation: talking is easy

Ex) 그가 하고자 하는 것은 말은 쉽다. (What he wishes to do is easy in theory)

✎뒤통수치다: to betray someone (usually when they do not expect it)

Literal translation: Hit the back (of someone)

Ex) 나는 그녀가 뒤통수 칠 줄은 몰랐다. (I did not know she would betray me)

✎기가 죽다:to lose one’s confidence or energy, to become depressed or feel inadequate

Literal translation: Losing(dying) Energy

Ex) 나는 선생님의 말에 기가 죽었다. (I lost my confidence at my teacher’s words)

✎꿀 먹은 벙어리:someone who does not/cannot say anything (tongue tied)

Literal translation: a mute who ate honey

Ex) 그는 억울한 상황에 꿀 먹은 벙어리가 되었다. (He became tongue tied at the unfair situation)

✎봐주다: to cut some slack for someone

Literal translation: to see (for someone)

Ex) 너가 처음으로 잘못한 거니까 봐줄게. (I will cut you some slack because this is your first mistake)

✎오리발 내밀다: to lie when someone inquires you about something you did;feigning innocence of a deed

Literal translation: to stick out a duck’s foot

Ex) 그가 범죄를 저질렀음에도 불구하고 오리발을 내밀었다. (Though he committed the crime, he denied it)

✎입을 모으다: Many people having the same opinion and saying the same thing. Voicing the same opinion / agreeing

Literal translation: gathering mouths

Ex) 손님들은 입을 모아 그를 칭찬했다. (All the guests praised him)

✎한눈팔다: to get distracted, not concentrating at the task at hand

Literal translation: selling an eye

Ex) 영희는 한눈팔다 번호를 까먹었다. (Getting distracted, 영희 forgot the number.)

✎수박 겉핥기: to do something superficially / superficial, shallow

Literal translation: Licking the outer of a watermelon

Ex) 그의 지식은 수박 겉핥기에 불구하다. (His knowledge is superficial at best)

✎속을 썩이다: to cause trouble and worry

Literal translation: to make the inside rot

Ex) 그 문제아는 부모의 속을 썩였다. (That problem child caused his parents grief)

✎생각이 짧다: to act/speak without thinking, to act/speak inconsiderately

Literal translation: thought is short

Ex) 내 생각이 짧았던 것에 사과했다. (I apologized for my brash actions)

✎벼락치기: cramming (before a test), hastily preparing

Literal translation: lightning striking

Ex) 나는 벼락치기로 겨우 88점을 받았다. (By cramming I narrowly got an 88(points))

✎모르는 게 약이다: Ignorance is bliss / better off not knowing about something

Literal translation: not knowing is medicine

Ex) 묻지마, 모르는게 약이야. (Don’t ask, it’s better if you don’t know.)

✎말을 돌리다: changing the topic of a conversation, going off topic

Literal translation: Turning talk

Ex) 그는 현실을 부정하고 싶은지 말을 돌렸다. (He changed the topic as if he didn’t want to face reality)

✎말도 안 되다: nonsense, being absurd or impossible

Literal translation: Not even a word / talk

Ex) 나는 당황해서 말도 안 되는 소리를 했다. (I talked nonsense as I was flustered.)

Well that’s it for the idioms! I hope this was of some help :D happy studying and stay safe everyone!

-Written by Admin Sun

hansuuki:

버스 지나간 후에 손들기 - Raising hands after the bus has passed. 

원님 떠난 뒤에 나팔 분다- Blowing the trumpet after the village headman left

한 번 엎지른 물은 다시 주워담지 못 한다 - One can’t put spilled water back.

소 잃고 외양간 고치기 - Fixing a barn after losing a cow. 

Resources I’m using right now to study Korean by myself (Sept. 2021)

Vocabulary

Korean Vocabulary by Evita (link)

(this link goes to her Anki page that you can download and import on your own anki to use it)

What I personally did was import it into my anki, export it as a txt. file and then pasted it on an excel file.
So in that way I have the list of all the vocabulary for a better self-control and I copy them in my memrise deck.
On excel I highlight in yellow the words I already know and in green the ones I don’t know and I need to add to my vocabulary deck.

This deck has over 5000 words so you will use it for a good while hahah.

Grammar

Talk to me in Korean (TTMIK) Lessons

I was using the Korean in Grammar In Use books (I finished the first one and I started the first chapter of the second one) and I highly recommend them but right now I’m really busy with college so I had to squish my time to study Korean. That’s why I decided to use the lessons TTMIK offers since they are short and I can do them faster.

Extra

Daily Routine in Korean by TTMIK

I finished this book a few days ago and it was really helpful now that I’m more advanced in my learning (I tried to use it when I just started and it was impossible for my brain to remember the phrases and make them make sense).

Resources made by me

Vocab deck (link)

This deck is made by me with all the resources I have used so far for vocabulary til now. The levels are divided in 1000 words each cause I think that helped better with my organization. If you decide to use it, I hope it can be helpful for you ^^

Hanja deck (link)

I made this one using the guide of Hanja made by How To Study Korean (link). It’s a great guide, and I recommend it if you are interested on learning some hanja.
My deck has 260 hanjas that I found the most useful and interesting. Right now I’m not studying hanja anymore cause I think the ones I learned are enough according to the level where I am now, and I wanna use that time to learn more things in Korean properly. That’s why, if you wanna learn them all I recommend you the guide made by How To Study Korean.

I hope this can be truly helpful for anyone who needs it.
I will try my harderst to post more often, specially lessons and vocabulary lists.
Thank you to everyone who follows the blog, I hope it can be useful to yall. And also thank you for everyone who follows me on Instagram (@/itslostfocus) where I post daily pics -not so daily, sorry I’ve busy- of my progress learning Korean.

Happy learning everyone! ^^