Archive for January, 2009
A group of dedicated foreigners is planning a project aimed at giving Korea an opportunity to improve its tourist attractions.
The “Following the Footsteps of Wonhyo” project is to foster the worldwide trend for pilgrimage journeys and to give Korea an opportunity to improve what it has to offer both Koreans and foreigners.
The project consists of building a pilgrimage trail inspired by the journey of Wonhyo, a Korean Buddhist monk in the seventh century.
The idea of the project was raised in 2007 by a group of foreigners living in Korea. All of them were interested in Korean Buddhism as a way of achieving personal development and they wanted to learn more about the famous monk.
They started to undertake research on the journey followed by Wonhyo from Korea to China in order to study Buddhism. This journey was supposed to start in Gyeongju and to lead to Pyeongtaek, where he achieved enlightenment and where he decided to end his trip and stay in Korea.
The Wonhyo trail will serve as the basis for designing a methodology to build a range of pilgrimage trails as flagship tourist attractions.
A three-year project, it will be supervised by an international preparatory committee, composed of specialists in tourism development, spirituality, pilgrimage, Korean Buddhism and other pertinent areas.
1. The Wonhyo Trail, a flagship Korean tourism attraction retracing the route of Wonhyo, a Korean monk born in 661. It includes numerous temples.
2. A Modern Korean Canterbury Tales, a collective work by professional writers, echoing the spirit of the famous Canterbury Tales of Britian’s Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century, but in 21st century Korea.
3. The World Pilgrimage Trail Network (WPTN) Web site, an international web community for all pilgrims in the world.
Curiously, few people are aware of the exact path taken by Wonhyo on his journey and no one has yet come up with the idea of creating a pilgrimage trail.
That’s what led to the group deciding to design a pilgrimage trail that would follow in the footsteps of Wonhyo in order to offer Koreans and foreign visitors an opportunity to be inspired and to discover the beauty of Korean landscapes while visiting Buddhist temples and hiking in the mountains.
As English-speaking foreigners, they hit on the idea that the pilgrimage experience could be promoted through writings from pilgrims, similar to the Canterbury Tales.
The Canterbury Tales tell the story of a group of Christian pilgrims who met in a tavern before their journey from London to Canterbury and decided to amuse each other by telling stories.
Thus, the group believe that Korea could form the head of a surging worldwide trend for pilgrimage and tourist expeditions to spiritual locations.
Source:Korea Times
포근한 날씨 속에 8일 오후 대구 두류공원에서 65세 전후의 노인들로 구성된 ‘인펀’ 동호인들이 신나게 인라인 스케이트를 즐기고 있다. 대구기상대는 오늘부터 다시 추워진 뒤 다음주 중반쯤 평년 기온을 회복하겠다고 예보했다.
Like-minded rollerbladers congregate for some warm weather fun at Duryu Park, however, the Daegu Weather Office forecasts that this week will see a return to the usual chilly temperatures that the city is normally used to, at this time of year.
Source: Imaeil
A: Hmm… I can’t turn this key in the lock.
B: Oh, this lock often sticks. Let’s see if I can open it.
A: 음…. 이 열쇠가 자물쇠 안에서 안 돌아가는데요.
B: 아, 이 자물쇠가 종종 말을 안 들어요. 제가 열 수 있는지 볼게요.
A: Turn the steering wheel to the right … Yes, very good … Now turn it in the opposite direction.
B: Thanks. I hate parallel parking.
A: 핸들을 오른쪽으로 돌리세요…. 예, 아주 좋아요…. 자, 이제 반대 방향으로 틀어 보세요.
B: 고마워요. 일렬주차 정말 싫어하거든요.
동 사 turn의 기본 의미는 힘을 가해 ‘방향을 바꾸는 것’이다. 사물을 대상으로 할 때는 ‘∼을 돌리다’라는 뜻이 된다. 일상 생활에서 ‘열쇠를 돌리는(turn the key)’ 행위나 ‘자동차 운전대를 꺾는(turn the steering wheel)’ 행위, ‘TV 채널을 돌리는(turn the channel)’ 행위 등을 모두 turn으로 나타낸다.
Source: Segye
Lisa: Excuse me, where are the sneakers you had in the ad? They are supposed to be 30 % off this week.
Clerk: I am sorry but they sold out the very first day.
Lisa: Really? Can I get a rain check?
Clerk: Sure. But you might have to wait for at least 2 weeks.
리사: 실례합니다만, 광고에 났던 운동화는 어디에 있습니까? 이번 주에 30% 할인하는 걸로 알고 있는데요.
점원: 죄송합니다만, 첫날 매진됐습니다.
리사: 정말요? 레인체크 써 주실 수 있어요?
점원: 그럼요. 그런데 최소 2주는 기다리셔야 해요.
Rain check는 야구나 골프 경기가 비로 더 진행되지 못할 때, 관중이 다음 경기 때 돈을 내지 않고 들어올 수 있도록 주는 다음 번 입장 표를 말합니다. 쇼핑에서는 ‘매장에 원하는 물건이 없을 때 나중에 다시 매장을 방문하면 같은 가격에 준다는 표’의 뜻으로 쓰입니다. Christine Ko(중앙일보 에듀라인)
Source: Joongang Ilbo
Foreign teachers are complaining over the government’s new immigration law asking them to submit police background checks and medical documents.
The reaction came after the Korea Immigration Service introduced legislation to ban foreigners with criminal records from getting an E-2 foreign language teaching visa.
So far, the government has required E-2 visa applicants to submit criminal records and health checkups under the immigration regulations since December 2007, just after the arrest of a pedophile suspect in Thailand who had taught children in Korea.
“The law, which will be put into effect from the end of March, will more thoroughly prevent foreigners with criminal records from coming to Korea than just regulations,” said Song So-young, an immigration official.
The official said the growing number of crimes committed by E-2 visa holders has driven the authorities to set the requirements.
Foreign English teachers, however, say while there is a big push by the Korean government to increase the number of teachers, it should realize that such restrictions will keep qualified teachers away.
The Association for Teachers of English in Korea (ATEK) urged the government to scrap the requirements. “ATEK backs Korea’s efforts to simplify the E-2 visa application. Anything that makes it easier, quicker, or more convenient for qualified teachers to come and work is good for both foreign teachers and Korea,” said Tony Hellmann, spokesman for the association.
A Canadian E-2 visa holder who declined to be named, said the law promotes racism and lacks principle of equity with other foreign nationals coming to Korea for other jobs. “It’s not clear that the increase in crimes by foreigners is due to English teachers. It’s not fair that E2 visa holders are discriminated against,” he said
“Above all, if they showed that E2 visa holders indeed were committing more crimes than other visa holders, people would understand. Right now it seems like misplaced outrage or concern. The government’s motivation seems to be confused. Of course, everyone is blaming the Canadian teacher arrested in Thailand last year, but he didn’t have a criminal record anywhere.”
Many other foreign teachers at private language institutes also complain that the government should apply the same visa screening rules to foreign English teachers holding other visas as those applied to other foreigners seeking E-2 visas.
“If the government has decided to tighten the issuance of teaching visas because of increasing number of crimes by foreign teachers, what about other foreign teachers holding other types of visas such as F-2 or F-4?” said an Australian English teacher in Daejeon.
The immigration office said every country has its own right and guidelines to decide who they allow to issue visas to. The number of E-2 visa holders stood at some 20,000 last year.
Source:Korea Times
Been sick with flu, coupled with working 2 jobs and recently finishing map revisions for the Daegu magazine. These are my excuses for allowing the blog posts to fall into arrears. Still on track for a late January launch of our inauguaral Feb edition.
Hope to resume some daily blog posting here shortly, once I get my shit in order.
I’m starting to use a great study aid that I came across recently, called Quizlet. It really helps with the memorization of new vocab. As my Korean studying over the years has been erratic and new words go in one ear and out the other, this (assuming that I use it) will help my vocab retention.
So, on all articles that I translate/discuss new vocab in the blog, I will also enclose links to the Quizlet tool, so myself and others can improve their vocab retention of the passages keywords. I’ll probably also throw in some sentences, so people can see the target vocab in use.
Have you met each other before?
Scott Park: Hi, John. How are you?
John Kim: Fine. How are you, Scott?
Scott Park: Good.
Scott Park: Have you met each other before?
John Kim: I’m afraid not.
Scott Park: Why don’t I introduce you to each other?
Jane, this is John. John, this is Jane.
Jane Hanson: Hi, John. Nice to meet you.
John Kim: Hi, Jane. Nice to meet you, too.
상황설명: 이 상황은 스캇이 자기 친구인 좐을 만나 마침 자기하고 같이 있던 제인에게 좐을 처음으로 소개를 시키는 상황입니다.
두 사람이 전에 서로 만난 적이 있어요?
스캇 팍: 안녕, 좐, 어떠세요?
좐 킴: 괜찮아요. 당신은 어때요, 스캇?
스캇 팍: 좋아요.
스캇 팍: 두 사람이 전에 서로 만난 적이 있어요?
좐 킴: 만난 적이 없었던 것 같은데요.
스캇 팍: 내가 서로 소개 시켜 줄게요.
제인, 이 쪽은 좐이에요. 좐, 이 쪽은 제인이에요.
제인 핸슨: 안녕, 좐. 만나서 반가워요.
좐 킴: 안녕, 제인. 나도 만나서 반가워요.
Source:Segye
