In this episode, I speak with Dr. Young-Key Kim-Renaud, a theoretical linguist and Professor Emeritus at George Washington University, on King Sejong the Great and his invention, the Korean script.

Join us as we explore why even after more than a millennia of using Chinese characters to notate the Korean language, we needed our own writing system and how King Sejong went about to create it.

Links

Show Notes: http://fluentkorean.com/king-sejong-and-the-invention-of-the-korean-script

Instagram: @fluentkorean @fluentfools

Website: fluentkorean.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fluentkorean.substack.com

In this episode, I talk to JuanJo Baiardi, a Global Korea Scholar, about moving from Paraguay to Korea for his Master's Degree in Global Affairs.

He walks us through the entire process from applying to the three-year all-expenses-paid scholarship, getting special permits to leave his country, arriving in Incheon and the special protocols involved, getting tested, to life in the mandatory two-week quarantine. 

Useful Links

• Scholarship Information - studyinkorea.go.kr/
• JuanJo's Instagram - @juanjobairardi

Show Notes

• fluentkorean.com/podcast
• fluentkorean.com/traveling-to-korea-during-a-global-pandemic
• Instagram - @fluentkorean @fluentfools

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fluentkorean.substack.com

When the ancestors of the Korean people migrated southward from what is now Siberia thousands and thousands of years ago, they arrived in a beautiful peninsula covered in mountains. Since then and throughout our history, the Korean people have had a spiritual connection to and an unrelenting love for the land we call home. This relationship with nature is the basis of Korean Shamanism, our original culture. Shamanism didn't come to Korea the way Confucianism, Buddhism, or other ideologies were imported. Shamanism arrived with the first Koreans. Because 70-80% of Korea is mountainous, Sanshin or mountain spirits became a primary deity and continues to be actively worshiped today. The Legend of Dangun is a Shamanic creation and sovereignty myth that tells the story of the king who establishes Korea's first kingdom and goes on to become the most famous Sanshin of them all.

Join us as we dive into Korean Shamanism, mountains and their spirits, the Legend of Dangun, the origins of Korean culture and society, and how it's progressed and been preserved to today.

Special Guest: Professor David A. Mason
Professor of Cultural Tourism at Sejong University
http://san-shin.org

Show Notes: http://fluentkorean.com/the-origins-of-korea
Instagram: @fluentkorean @fluentfools

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fluentkorean.substack.com

Because "one who learns language without learning culture ends up becoming a fluent fool."

I'm Korean. But I've lived most of my life outside of the peninsula. And while I can speak Korean (somewhat fluently), there's definitely a lot of things I missed during my time overseas.

This show is about bridging the gaps in our understanding of Korea by exploring the language, culture, history, society, and current events happening in the Land of the Morning Calm and around the world.

Join me on my quest to go from fluent fool to fluent Korean!

For more information:
fluentkorean.com | IG @fluentkorean

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fluentkorean.substack.com