Christine: Jennifer, I heard Steve proposed to you and you turned him down?

Jennifer: I did. I feel really bad too.

Christine: I think Steve is a great guy. What were you thinking?

Jennifer: We enjoy each other’s company but I don’t see him as a man.

크리스틴: 제니퍼, 스티브가 프러포즈했는데 거절했다며?

제니퍼: 응. 나도 마음이 정말 안 좋아.

크리스틴: 스티브 정말 괜찮은 거 같은데. 무슨 생각으로 그랬니?

제니퍼: 같이 어울리는 건 좋은데 남자로 보이지는 않는걸.

Source: Joongang Ilbo

Kevin: Steve, how was your date last night? Weren’t you supposed to propose to Jennifer?

Steve: I did. She turned me down.

Kevin: What? Are you serious?

Steve: She said she would rather stay friends with me.

Kevin: That’s too bad.

케빈: 스티브, 어제 데이트는 어땠어? 제니퍼한테 프러포즈한다고 하지 않았니?

스티브: 했어. 그런데 퇴짜 맞았어.

케빈: 뭐라고? 정말이야?

스티브: 그녀가 그냥 친구로 지내는 게 좋을 거 같대.

Source: Joongang Ilbo

Korea will issue a 50,000 won ($35.93) bill in May or June after beefing up anti-forgery works, according to the central bank.

The Bank of Korea (BOK) earlier projected to issue 100,000 won and 50,000 won bills in the first half of this year. On Thursday, it decided to drop a plan to issue a 100,000 won bill at the request of the government amid controversy over its design and effectiveness, but will push to issue the other new bill as planned.

Currently, 10,000 won notes are the country’s highest-denominated bills, followed by 5,000 won and 1,000 won.

“The BOK plans to make public the final version of the 50,000 won bills in February and to put the notes into circulation starting in May or June,” an official at the BOK said.

Shin Saim-dang, a renowned female writer and calligraphist, is to be featured on the 50,000-won bills. Shin was also the mother of Yulgok, one of the most respected scholars of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).

Source: Korea Times

A:Don’t put your hands in your pockets. You could fall down on this icy road.

B:I know it’s dangerous, but my hands are freezing.

A:주머니에 손 넣지 마세요. 이런 빙판길에선 넘어질 수 있잖아요.

B:위험하다는 건 아는데 손이 꽁꽁 얼어서요.

A:What’s wrong with the coffee machine?

B:I put the coin in the slot, and it just came back out again.

A:커피자판기에 뭐가 문제죠?

B:구멍에 동전을 집어넣었는데 그냥 다시 나오네요.

장 소가 어디든 물건을 ‘내려 놓는’ 모든 동작을 put이라고 생각하면 된다. 우리말 ‘넣다’에 해당하는 영어 표현도 역시 put이다. 호주머니(put ∼ in the pocket)나 자판기 동전 구멍(put ∼ in the slot) 등에 ‘집어넣는’ 행위는 무조건 put이며, 이때 짝꿍처럼 같이 쓰이는 전치사는 in이나 into이다. ‘집어넣는’ 공간이 바구니나 상자라면 in을 써 put A in B가 된다. put의 경우는 반드시 전치사와 함께 짝으로 이해해 두도록 하자.

Source:

Thanks to Joe for having me on at Seoulpodcast.com, to discuss Daegu Pockets, Galbijim projects, and a bunch of other stuff. It’s a long one.

Interview on Seoulpodcast.

PS. Scott and I also did an interview with MBC, last week. Supposed to be airing sometime in Feb. Will link to it, when it goes up on their site.

대구종교인평화회의 신년교례회
천주교, 개신교, 불교, 원불교, 유교, 천도교 등 6개 종단 협의체인 ‘대구종교인평화회의’ 신년교례회가 22일 오후 천주교 대구대교구청에서 종단 대표와 관계자 40여명이 참석한 가운데 열렸다. 이날 신년교례회는 조환길 천주교 대구대교구 총대리주교의 환영사와 6개 종단대표의 신년사로 이어졌다.

Keeping with tradition for Korean new years festivities, over 40 representatives of differing religious faiths in the Daegu region, came together for their annual peace conference. Participants included Catholics, Protestants, Buddhiists, Won Buddhists, and Confucianists.

Study the article’s vocab on Quizlet.

Source:Imaeil

Julian: Mom, I am really worried. Our company is going to lay off 50 % of the employees in my section.

Mom: Look on the bright side…. if you do get fired you won’t have to quit your job to apply for your master’s degree, right? They will make that decision for you.

줄리안: 엄마, 저 걱정돼요. 회사에서 우리 부서 인원을 50%나 감원한대요.

엄마: 긍정적으로 생각해. 만약에 해고당하면 석사 지원하려고 회사에 사표를 써야 하는 일은 안 생길 것 아니니, 안 그래? 회사가 그 결정을 내려주게 되겠구나.

※참고 : Look on the bright side는 어떤 좋지 않은 일이나 실망스러운 일이 있을 때 그것으로 인해 생기는 긍정적인 면을 생각하라는 의미입니다.

Source: Joongang Ilbo

The Daegu city government is on high alert after high levels of a cancer-causing material were found yesterday at one of the city’s water purification facilities.

Daegu Metropolitan Waterworks said 1,4-dioxane levels at the Maegok water purification plant rose to 54 micrograms per liter, exceeding the 50 micrograms recommended by the World Health Organization.

A prolonged winter drought and the ensuing loss of water in the Nakdong River, which flows into the purification center, are being blamed as the cause.

The concentration of the carcinogen has continued to rise since Monday last week, with the level soaring to 77.1 micrograms at one point yesterday morning.

“The level at the Maegok water purification plant rose due to inflow of water from the Nakdong River, whose 1,4-dioxane concentration rose to 87.9 micrograms per liter from Thursday and Friday,” said a city water official.

When measured early last week at Waegwan Bridge in Waegwan-eup, Chilgok County, North Gyeongsang Province, the concentration reached 65.3 micrograms and remained there for the following seven days.

Given 1,4-dioxane is not removed through purification, Daegu has asked residents to boil tap water. When boiled for more than 10 minutes, 90 percent of the toxic material is removed.

When the 1,4-dioxane level continues to rise and exceeds 65 micrograms per liter, the city government will restrict water consumption.

In addition Daegu will reduce daily water intake from the Nakdong River to 430,000 tons from 630,000 tons. Daily tap water production from Gachang, Unmun and Gongsan dams will be raised to 350,000 tons from 150,000 tons.

Daegu Metropolitan Waterworks provides a daily average of 780,000 tons of tap water to 880,000 households.

1,4-dioxane is a byproduct of polyester manufacturing. Polyester manufacturers at Gumi Industrial Complex in North Gyeongsang Province have in place wastewater treatment systems that destroy 1,4-dioxane.

Ulsan city authorities suspended water intake from the Nakdong River yesterday after high levels of the chemical were found. Due to a severe drought, the port city had secured 100,000 tons of water daily from the river.

Source: Dong-A Ilbo

“Other migrant workers have lost their jobs, but we’re still working.”

So says 30 year-old Munasic, of Indonesia, busily working a press machine on January 16 at Samwoo Precision Industries in Daegu’s Seongseo Industrial Complex. Eighteen of the automobile engine parts company’s 85 employees are migrant workers.

Hard economic times have meant that irregular and migrant workers are the first to lose their jobs, but the migrant workers at Samwoo Precision Industries, who because of the time limit set on how long they are able to work in the country are irregular workers as well, have been able to keep their jobs with the help of their union.

In December, the company suddenly announced that it would have to let migrant worker employees go because of “difficult company conditions.” Sales in November and December 2008 shrank by 30 percent of what they had been for the same period in 2007, and company executives said they had no choice but to reduce production and the number of employees.

The company’s branch union of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union said it would “absolutely” not permit that to happen. It suggested an alternative — the company’s 40 regular production workers would divide themselves into two groups and alternate taking two-week holidays for the next three months. The company would then be able to apply for government financial assistance designed to help companies keep people in their jobs during temporary work shutdowns, allowing the regular workers to receive 80 percent of their wages during their off-times. The irregular migrant workers who as such are not able to pay into the same “employment insurance” program, and therefore are unable to receive the same assistance, would just keep on working.

Before the year was out, the union and the company had met and decided to put the union’s plan to use. The program of alternating the partial work stoppage went into effect on January 12.

“I was really worried about there being less work,” said Munasik. “It’s really fortunate I can go on working.”

“All we managed to do was prevent layoffs,” said KMWU Chairman Kim Tae-eop. “Now we need to find a better way to deal” with the reduced production. The company and the union are still going to have to find ways to have workers keep their jobs and maintain basic livelihoods at a time when both regular and migrant workers have already seen their actual wages grow smaller.

A Samwoo executive is frank about the company’s choices. “We came up with a temporary plan in response to union demands, but if the situation gets worse we’re going to have to come up with something else.”

The “Samwoo Precision Industries Branch Union of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union” began accepting migrant workers as union members in 2007, after the national union, seeking to embrace irregular workers, called for all workers at the same work site to be part of the same union. This was called the “one union per company principle,” a departure from the practice of having separate unions for migrant and other irregular workers. Migrant workers enjoy the same working conditions as regular employees under KMWU regulations. Last year “Eddie,” a 34 year-old Indonesian worker, was elected to represent the company union at the KMWU’s Daegu region conference.

Source: Hankyoreh

Christine: Jennifer, thank you for inviting us tonight.

Jennifer: It’s my pleasure. I am glad to have a chance to get together for dinner. Please help yourself.

Christine: This meal is great. You are an amazing cook.

Jennifer: Thank you. We should get together more often.

크리스틴: 제니퍼, 오늘 저녁에 초대해 주셔서 고마워요.

제니퍼: 천만에요. 이렇게 함께 식사할 수 있는 기회가 생겨 저도 기뻐요. 많이 드세요.

크리스틴: 음식이 너무 맛있어요. 요리를 정말 잘하시네요.

제니퍼: 고마워요. 좀 더 자주 모여서 함께 식사하시죠.

Help yourself ‘마음대로 양껏 (챙겨주지 않아도 알아서) 드세요’라는 뜻입니다. Christine Ko(중앙일보에듀라인)

Source: Joongang Ilbo