Korean Kids Song Sunday: Korean Alphabet to the tune of Doe a Dear

Most American children grow up learning the same ABC song (which incidentally has the same tune as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star).   I don't know what is considered the most popular Korean alphabet song (가나다송), but there are a few on you-tube, some which are more simple, some more complex and some with a catchy tune and others that I can't seem to follow.

One of the more complex and fun Korean alphabet songs is this one to the tune of Doe a Deer (from Sound of Music....I love this musical!):




This cute song is featured on an iphone app called Ding Dong Deng - Han-Geul (딩동댕 한글-동물편).

There are free and paid versions of both the iphone app and the ipad app.  The free version allows all the games, matching, writing exercises, etc for only ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ.

Here's the lyrics in hangul to the cute alphabet song where each letter represents a different animal (there are 14 consonants in the Korean alphabet and their are 7 notes in do re mi fa so la ti, so it's a perfect fit!)
ㄱ 기역 멍멍 강아지
ㄴ 니은 잘생긴 너구리
ㄷ 디귿 꾸울꿀 돼지
ㄹ 리을 꽥꽥 오리
ㅁ 미음 영차 물개
ㅂ 비읍 삐약 병아리
ㅅ 시읏 어흥 사자
사이 좋은 동물 친구들

ㅇ 이응 똑똑한 원숭이
ㅈ 지읒 귀여운 다람쥐
ㅊ 치읓 째액짹 참새
ㅋ 키읔 코가 큰 코끼리
ㅌ 티읕 깡총 토끼
ㅍ 피읖 멋있는 펭귄
ㅎ 히읗 뚱뚱한 하마
동물 친구들이 좋아요


Translation in English:
ㄱ woof woof puppy
ㄴ good looking raccoon
ㄷ oink oink pig
ㄹ quack quack duck
ㅁ (strong) sea lion
ㅂ cheep cheep chick
ㅅ roar lion
Animal friends with a good relationship

ㅇ smart monkey
ㅈ cute squirrel
ㅊ cheep cheep sparrow
ㅋ big-nosed elephant
ㅌ hopping rabbit
ㅍ handsome penguin
ㅎ fat hippo
I love my animal friends!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

In honor of our Thanksgiving holiday I thought I would leave you with a joke/pun. In order to understand it you need to know that 까불다 (ggah-bool-dah) means to mess around.



행복한 추수 감사 날 보내세요!!

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In the news - Apps for kids: Tools or Trouble?

As I'm enjoying reading the news on my new iPad (after downloading some fun Korean ipad games), I came across this article from the Washington Post: Kids Apps explode on smartphones and tablet.  But are they good for your children.

The entire article along with a few of the comments are a good read, but here are some tidbits:

 Experts estimate that tens of thousands of kid apps are offered on Apple and Google Android devices, with titles such as BabyPlayFace and Elmo’s Birthday.  That worries some educators and child-development experts who view the flood of baby and toddler apps with trepidation. They warn that children already spend too much time in front of TVs, DVD players and computers. For children 2 or younger, all those screens can have a negative effect on development, according to a recent statement by theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics. If you really want to help boost brain power, the best solutions can be found with unstructured play, the academy said .

 I've mentioned my concerns on this blog that I worry our kids get too much screen time - too much computer, DVD, movies, TV shows, iphone, ipad, etc.  At the same time, we're preparing to make a DVD recording for our daughter so she can see our faces and hear our voices while we are waiting to bring her home from Korea.

Oh, and by the way, BabyPlayFace (as mentioned in the article) is a cute app and it comes in Korean.  The app allows your child to poke the baby in its face, which it will wiggle then say the term in the language you select.  There are about 7 features: eyes, forehead, hair, ear, cheek, nose, mouth, chin.  And you can select the baby face that looks Asian.

A few comments regarding ipad/iphone apps:

• I realized that there are different apps available to you based on what country code your itunes is set to.  I'm in the US, but some Korean app-makers have made it possible for us in the States to download (maybe it has something to do with their ability accept payment from itunes in US dollars)
• I think a lot of these apps are great for adults and children a like.  If I wanted to learn the names of facial features in Mandarin, I would totally use the BabyPlayFace app...because it's cute and fun (rather than a boring flashcard app).
• As the article states, I agree that baby's need laps not apps, but I think that there could be great learning and interaction with a baby on your lap playing an app. =)

Blog shout outs

I started this blog earlier this year with the hope of containing and organizing my growing personal interest in teaching our future children to be somewhat multilingual.  Being still child-less? child-free, I knew I'd have a bit more time and the necessity of a hobby of sorts to get me through this wait until Baby came home.  We are in the process of adopting our first child from Korea.  We hope she'll come home to us next year.  So, besides my obsession with all things Korean kids, I'm also obsessing over all things Korean adoption.

One of the first bloggers that I read who was Korean-American adopting from Korea was Grace at Chois-R-Us.  Her fun writing style and her oh-so-cute son are positively addicting.  She passed on this neat little blog award to me.  And I'm going to pass it on.  Thanks G!



The Liebster Award spotlights up and coming bloggers who generally have less than 200 followers. Upon receipt of the Liebster Award, there are a few very simple rules:
1. Copy and paste the award on your blog
2. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you
3. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
4. Hope that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.


Top 5 Picks (in no particular order, and probably breaking the under 200 followers rules since I don't really know how many they have)
1) The Korean Way - Korean cultural resources for adoptive families by an adoptive family
2) For These Children I Have Prayed - A fellow adoptive mom who knows pretty much everything Korean adoption and is a very eager Korean-language learner herself.  If I ever have a question about Korean adoption...she's my go-to gal.
3) On Becoming a Good Korean (Feminist) Wife -  This blogger may be the exact "opposite" of me: She's Canadian-Korean, I'm Korean-American; she's fertile, I'm not; she's pantheistic or monotheistic (not sure what that means), I'm an evangelical Christian; etc.  I find her insights and experiences fascinating and I'm sure you will too.
4) Bringing Home Mercy - This fellow Korean-American family share about the joys and challenges of bringing home their 2nd adopted child from Korea.
5) Near His Heart - This Asian-American family is being stretched as they grow their family through adoption.  It is obvious that they are growing near the heart of God as they bring their girl home from China next year.

iPad apps: Baby School

Yup. That's right. Now I'm downloading iPad apps too because the Husband bequeathed me one for our 6th anniversary!

So I'm taking this baby for a test run. First thing I did was to search for Korean kids iPad apps. What fun!

For parents without the iPhone or iPad, I commend you. These gadgets are amazing time and attention suckers of children. Besides having food and a good nap, I know a 18 month old who would be perfectly content to be playing with either one. As a parent to be, I do fear the amount of screen time our kids will get, but the fun learning and interactive enjoyment of these gadgets is phenomenal.

Take for example this app: Baby School.
This free version is great, but once the little one comes home next year I would buy the paid version.



I'm guessing by the British flag that the developers of this app are from Hong Kong (big assumption made here), so they call the airplane an "aeroplane." They translated the materials to be available in Korean, Chinese, Cantonese, and Japanese. I believe they have free and paid versions of each of the languages.  I may need to download them all.

The free app has 4 sections:
1) The ABC section (fun and interactive, but not useful in teaching Korean. Now if it was the hangul alphabet, that would be awesome!!)
2) Baby Piano (actually quite fun! They have a separate paid and free Baby Piano app too)
3) Foods
4) Animals



The food section says the item in English and In Korean. It gives the handful and the romanization (unfortunately the romanization isn't very clear as watermelon is pronounced su-bahk not subag. The pear is also incorrectly pronounced.



The awesomest section is the animals. Tapping the icon will give you the English, Korean AND a recording of the animal sound! What kid would not enjoy that!!!

I now know what a camel sounds like.

I will be following their blog to see what other apps they will develop:

To download the app, do a search for app creative or Baby School.

So the consensus is that the iPad is awesome and why does it seem that my iPhone just shrank! I do believe I have been ruined.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Korean Kids Songs: iphone app: 꼬마송

Every once in a while, I will do an App search for "Korean" or "아이" "우아" "동요" "동화" to see what apps have been newly released.  I'm pretty sure I have most of the free ones and a few of the paid ones.  I'm a klepto like that, but Husband doesn't protest since they're FREE!!!  This is what my "Korean page" of my iphone looked like once upon a time.  I think it's overflowed onto a second page now.

Interestingly, this blog is the landing page for people searching for the cute Korean Number Song (숫자송) which I translated here.  Well, if you want to be able to listen to that song along with the other cute comic songs  (엽기송) that are on you-tube and yahoo!kids Korea.....download this free app:

There are no bells and whistles.  It's just a music player.  But it's got the carrot song, number song, milk song, health song, rice grain song, cucumber song, etc.

You can play the songs while using another application.  Did I mention its free?  Really can't complain about that.

It's good listening for the shower.

Korean Kids Song Sunday: Pororo Theme song (Season 1 &2)

I don't think that Pororo the Little Penguin needs an introduction.  But, just in case...Pororo is one of the most popular children's cartoon in Asia.  Pororo began as a Korean creation but has expanded and is translated in multiple languages and is shown in over 80 countries.   Kids love Pororo!!!
Any Korean grocery store here in the states is going to carry Pororo merchandise for kids and any Korean video store will likely carry pirated versions of the DVD series (with or without subtitles).  

Pororos theme song was the first song in a CD block of 100 Korean kids songs that I borrowed.  Pororo is crazy popular.  I wonder if there was a loveability contest between Pororo and Elmo, who would win?

Lyrics in Korean
야! 뽀로로다
노는 게 제일 좋아.
친구들 모여라!
언제나 즐거워
개구쟁이 뽀로로

눈 덮인 숲 속 마을.
꼬마 펭귄 나가신다
언제나 즐거워.
오늘은 또 무슨 일이 생길까?

뽀로로를 불러봐요. 
뽀롱뽀롱 뽀로로 뽀롱뽀롱 뽀로로
뽀롱뽀롱 뽀롱뽀롱 뽀롱뽀롱 뽀롱 뽀로로

노는 게 제일 좋아.
친구들 모여라
언제나 즐거워
뽀롱뽀롱 뽀롱뽀롱 뽀로로

Transliteration
yah! Pororo-da!
noh-neun geh jeh-eel joh-ah
chin-goo-deul moh-yuh-rah!
un-jeh-nah jeul-guh-wuh
geh-goo-jeng-ee Pororo!


noon dup-eun soop sohk-mah-eul
ggoh-mah peng-guin na-gah-shin-dah
un-jeh-nah jeul-guh-wuh
oh-neul-eun ddoh moo-seun eel-ee seng-gil-ka?

Po Ro Ro bool-uh bah-yoh
Porong Porong Porong Porong Porong Porong Porong Porong Po Ro Ro

noh-neun geh jeh-eel joh-ah

chin-goo-deul moh-yuh-rah!

un-jeh-nah jeul-guh-wuh

Porong Porong Porong Porong Po Ro Ro!

Lyrics in English:
Hey! It's Pororo
I love to play all day
Come join me all my friends
Always happy,
as can be Little Penguin, Pororo

Snow covered wonderland
Make way for Pororo
Always happy, as can be
Everyday a new adventure waits for me

Call for him my Little Penguin
Porong Porong Porong Porong Porong Porong Porong Porong Po Ro Ro

I love to play all day
Come join me all my friends
Always happy, as can be
Porong, Porong, Porong, Porong, Po Ro Ro

Korean Bookstore Find: Bilingual Toddlers Bible 아자아자 성경

I recently found this bilingual Toddlers Bible at my local Korean bookstore.  Unfortunately, I cannot find the publisher nor the book online.  Found it online here.  I wonder if larger Korean churches with "bookstores" would also have a copy.  The Bible was shrink wrapped but I think I chose a good one.
If you see it and want a great Bible to read to your toddler...buy it!  Here's why I think it would be perfect for me and our future child:

• Each Bible story is about 4 pages so it's just short enough to keep the attention span of a wiggly 2 year old.
• Bible Stories span from the Old Testament to New Testament
• Illustrations are very cute and colorful
• Story sentences are very simple in English AND in Korean.  Since the translation follows pretty close, it's also a great way to learn Korean.    And since the Korean is simple, even I could read it...not so fluently, but with practice, I'm getting there.

I look forward to establishing a bedtime routine of reading the Bible (Husband reads in English, me in Korean), singing a song about God and saying a few prayers in Korean and in English.

Front

Back

Sample page from "Noah Builds A Big Boat"

TTMIK quiz: Konglish words

Maybe it's because I haven't been in school in a while, but I keep wanting to take Talk to Me in Korean's Quizzes (THE best Korean language learning website, by the way).  This one was on Konglish terms.  Konglish tends to mean the creation of Korean words based on the English term.  For example, 주스 (joo-seu) is juice and 포크 (poh-keu) is fork.  These konglish terms were a lot more difficult to guess because it's more "contemporary" terms like digital camera.  Camera is "cam-a-ra' but I just learned that digital camera is "di-ca."  The Korean language is so crazy sometimes.   

I copied and pasted my answers below:

Incorrect Q.1) What do you call a "group blind date" in Konglish? A. 그룹 블라인드 데이트 [geu-rup beul-la-in-deu de-i-teu] B. 미팅 [mi-ting] (Correct Answer) C. 단체 블라인드 데이트 [dan-che beul-la-in-deu de-i-teu] D. 소개팅 [so-gae-ting] (Your Answer)

Correct

Q.2)	What is an 오토바이 [o-to-ba-i]?
	A.	Automatic door
	B.	Stroller
	C.	Electric wheelchair
	D.	Motorcycle (Your Answer)

Correct

Q.3)	What is a 비닐하우스 [bi-nil-ha-u-seu]?
	A.	Greenhouse (Your Answer)
	B.	House that sells plastic bags
	C.	Vinyl bag
	D.	Plastic house

Correct

Q.4)	How do you say "rear-view mirror" in Konglish?
	A.	리어뷰미러 [ri-eo-byu-mi-reo]
	B.	뒤를 보는 거울 [dwi-reul bo-neun geo-ul]
	C.	백미러 [baek-mi-reo] (Your Answer)
	D.	뒤 거울 [dwi geo-ul]

Correct

Q.5)	What is a 츄리닝 [chyu-ri-ning]? Hint: It's something that you can wear.
	A.	Swimming suit
	B.	Spacesuit
	C.	Training suit (Your Answer)
	D.	Tuxedo

Correct

Q.6)	When taking tests, some students will get caught for doing 컨닝 [keon-ning]. What does 컨닝 [keon-ning]mean?
	A.	Texting
	B.	Cheating (Your Answer)
	C.	Being late
	D.	Sneaking out

Correct

Q.7)	핸드폰 [haen-deu-pon] is something that you use to talk to your friends. What is 핸드폰 [haen-deu-pon]in English?
	A.	Cellphone (Your Answer)
	B.	Walky-talky
	C.	Intercom
	D.	Pager

Correct

Q.8)	What is a 원룸 [won-rum]?
	A.	A big room
	B.	Biggest room in the house
	C.	Circle shaped house
	D.	Studio apartment (Your Answer)

Incorrect

Q.9)	What is a 디카 [di-ca]?
	A.	Digital camera (Correct Answer)
	B.	Digtal car
	C.	Decaffeinated coffee (Your Answer)
	D.	Calculator

Correct

Q.10)	How do you say "marker" in Konglish?
	A.	매직 [mae-jik] (Your Answer)
	B.	두꺼운 펜 [du-kkeo-un pen]
	C.	하이라이터 [ha-i-ra-i-teo]
	D.	마크 [ma-keu]

Correct

Q.11)	What is a 샤프 [sha-peu]?
	A.	Pencil sharpener
	B.	Mechanical pencil (Your Answer)
	C.	Sharpened pencil
	D.	Shark

Correct

Q.12)	Sometimes in restaurants, you get some 서비스 [seo-bi-seu] when you order a lot or when you go there with a large group of people. What is 서비스 [seo-bi-seu]?
	A.	Kind service
	B.	Professionalism
	C.	Fast serving
	D.	Free food (Your Answer)

Correct

Q.13)	What is an 애프터서비스 [ae-peu-teo-seo-bi-seu]?
	A.	Delivery service
	B.	Warranty service (Your Answer)
	C.	Refund service
	D.	Free service

Correct

Q.14)	What is a 가스렌지? Hint: You can find one in most kitchens.
	A.	Stove (Your Answer)
	B.	Microwave
	C.	Gas pipe
	D.	Chopping board