Hello, I found this wonderful learning resource the other day while looking around for an answer key to Wheelock.
I’m learning Latin just for my own interest and to learn the proper pronunciation of my first name (Marcus). There aren’t too many Latin learners here in Korea so I’m forced to study by my self. Luckily there are great resources like TextKit to help me.
I’m only at chapter 2 in Wheelock but it’s great fun so far.
I came to Korea nine years ago and last March became a citizen. Apparently I’m the only Canadian-Korean in existence.
Nice to meet you all and I hope you’ll help me with my Latin learning.
Hi Marcus! Welcome to Textkit!
You’re not the only one from South Korea here, mingshey is from Seoul and he keeps complaining that not many people in Korea are interested in ancient Greek .
Just ask your latin related questions on the latin board.
How did I fail to welcome you? maybe I was busy like a stoker of the hell recently. Welcome!
Where in Korea do you live? I live in Kwangmyung, very close to Seoul. Actually across a small stream that flows into Han-gang.
Yes, my ID is Korean. My Korean name, in fact.
I live in a very small village about three hours east of Seoul but I am moving to Sokcho next March.
I’m an English tutor. What are you doing in Korea? Or are you from Korea?
An extraordinary name it is, really. But I like it. Though I can imagine many Koreans find it funny. Few have the courage to choose such a nice name. Even about me, I have made a deal with my country’s common (lack of)sense and cut my daughter’s name down to ‘Nau’ from my first idea to name her ‘Nausicaa’.
I work for a CDMA handsets company. I do software porting ang debugging. But I’m considering about applying for a teacher’s position.
Sokcho’s a very beautiful city. Full of resorts. Good for you!
And you are the first one who lives in Korea that I see in Textkit. Really glad to see you!
Yes, a few people have sniggered when they heard my name but it’s because they are jealous and ignorant. Masuro is 馬秀露. 빼어난 이슬 might be a little bit silly (or nonsensical) but I’ve like the name Suro ever since I read Samgukyusa and learned about Kim Suro, the Gaya king. He had an international marriage, like myself. ^^ Masuro is easy to pronounce (many Korean male names are jawcrackers) and I like the sound of it. I chose the Chinese characters myself. It was either ‘elegant dew’ or ‘water road’ so I went with elegance. ^^
I like your daughter’s name. Very beautiful. What does it mean? Something about water or oceans?
Yeah, western culture is bonsai’ed in Asia. but it hasn’t taken root here. Like Classical Chinese, Greek and Latin are invaluable portkey to the treasures of the old. People are too obsessed in earning money today but they don’t think about the preparation of Tomorrow. The fundamental power to think up for the unknown future can be found in the world’s heritage. These cannot be reinvented easily once lost. If it is not practical for everybody to learn the Eastern and Western classics, somebody should keep them for any future needs.
It’s my 1st first time seeing chinese character in Textkit . Exactly it means ‘elegant dew’ but not ‘water road’ and u do go with elegance .
To masuro and mingshey:
Could u tell me what’s the relationship between a Korean name and its counterpart chinese character? Which will be named first? Generally, a strict transliteration or u can choose any character as u like?
Korean names are generally the strict transliteration of the chinese character. Japanese people use the characters more freely and in much flexible a way. To say, ‘露’ could be read as ‘ro’ or ‘dew’ in the Japanese way. But in Korea it is always read ‘ro’ only. The only exception is when it comes at the first syllable. ‘r/l’ is changed to ‘n’ or lost at the beginning of a word to ease the pronunciation.(Korean ‘r/l’ phoneme is a tongue roller.) And it becomes ‘露天;nocheon=open sky(in contrast to ‘under the roof’)’ And 柳(Ryu) often becomes just ‘Yu’ when it’s used as a surname(which is mine).
By the way Koreans have another difficulty in choosing their (child’s) name. A very nice, beautiful name can be a joke when it comes with a certain surname. (Korean names are generally made of 3 syllables. A surname of a syllable comes first- yes there are surnames of two syllables, too, bur they are rare - and then comes personal name of generally two syllables(there are names with one or three syllables too but they are less common) ). In case of Masuro, “Suro”'s a beautiful name. But ‘Masuro’ sounds a bit like '맛으로(by taste)" in Korean. I suspect this as the reason they sniggered at your name. Many Korean names, too, are not comepletely free from being made a joke. My daughter’s name ‘Nau’ with the surname ‘Yu’ would be ‘yu-na-u’. When you pronounce it backwards(Korean characters are syllabic clusters and when it’s read backwards, it is read backwards in syllabic units), it becaomes ‘unayu’ and it becomes ‘Are you crying?’ with the questioning particle in Chungchong dialect. So I might better urge her to stick on ‘Ryu’ in writng the surname. Or just let her carry on with that element of joke.
People have sniggered because of the pun on ‘by taste’ (I used to be a reporter on an MBC TV program where I travelled to different restaurants and sampled the fare. People said my name was really suitable. ). They also laugh because ‘Ma’ was originally a family name of slaves and lower class people.
Really? what was the title of the program? I don’t watch TV very much except for news and documentaries, and movies from time to time. You must have got much of the geography of Korea through the travelling.
It was a ten minute section of the program “Hometown is Great!” (고향이 좋다). It was produced by Daegu MBC so you wouldn’t have seen it up in Seoul. It was very popular in Kyeongbuk Province. People recognised me everywhere I went. Very strange. And a bit scary.
There aren’t too many Latin learners here in Korea so I’m forced to study by my self. Luckily there are great resources like TextKit to help me.
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. Exactly it means ‘elegant dew’ but not ‘water road’ and u do go with elegance .