Are crows unlucky?

 ANSWER: Not according to the Chinese father below:

吉凶(길흉)

“Good Fortune (吉), Bad Fortune (凶)”

 

有(유)鴉(아)集(집)庭(정)樹(수). 引(인)頸(경)而(이)鳴(명). 兒(아)叱(질)之(지).
There are (有) jackdaw crows (鴉) gathered (集) [in a] garden (庭) tree (樹), stretching out (引) [their] necks (頸) and (而) cawing (鳴). A child (兒) shouts (叱) [at] them (之).

父(부)曰(왈), 是(시)何(하)害(해)?
[His] father (父) asks (曰), “How is this [what they are doing] (是何) harmful (害)?

兒(아)曰(왈), 常(상)聞(문)人(인)言(언), 鵲(작)鳴(명)吉(길), 鴉(아)鳴(명)凶(흉). 今(금)鳴(명)者(자)鴉(아)也(야). 故(고)叱(질)之(지).
The child (兒) says (曰), [I have] always (常) heard (聞) people (人) say (言) [that when] magpies (鵲) cry (鳴), [it is] lucky (吉), [but when] jackdaw crows (鴉) cry (鳴), [it is] unlucky (凶). Now (今) those that are crying (鳴者) are jackdaw crows (鴉), so (故) [I] shouted (叱) [at] them (之).

 

父(부)曰(왈)人(인)之(지)智(지)識(식)遠(원)勝(승)於(어)鳥(조). 尙(상)不(불)能(능)預(예)知(지)吉(길)凶(흉). 而(이)況(황)鳥(조)乎(호).
The father (父) said (曰), “People’s (人之) wisdom (智識) is far (遠) superior (勝) than that (於) [of] birds (鳥), yet (尙) [people] cannot (不能) foresee (預知) good fortune (吉) [or] bad fortune (凶), much less (而況) birds (鳥乎).

Does 不見夫鷄乎 (불견부계호) mean "a" or "b"?

a. "Do you not (不) see (見) that (夫) chicken (鷄乎)?"

b. "Have you not (不) seen (見) a rooster (夫鷄乎)?"

夫 (부) can supposedly mean either "man / husband" or "that."

From Introduction to Literary Chinese, by J. Brandt

What does 사시나무 떨 듯 literally mean?

ANSWER: like a trembling aspen tree

사시나무 is the pure Korean word for "aspen tree," 떨다 means "tremble," "quiver," "quake," "shiver," or "shake," and 듯 can translate as "like," so 사시나무 떨 듯 literally translates as "like a trembling aspen tree."

One characteristic of the aspen tree is that its leaves shake easily in the wind, partly because the leaves are light and thin and partly because the stems of the leaves are flat and are relatively long compared to the leaf itself. Another reason that the leaves shake easily in the wind is that they do not like to get too much sun, which can actually hurt the process of photosynthesis.

There are a lot of aspens in Korea, and Koreans have noticed how their leaves seem to shake or tremble in the wind more easily than those of other trees, so Koreans have come to use the expression 사시나무 떨 듯하다 (Tremble like an aspen tree) to compare the trembling of people and things to the trembling leaves of an aspen tree.

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

 

Which came first, the camel or the camel bird?

 ANSWER: The camel bird?

The Sino-Korean word for "camel," is 낙타 (駱駝), which literally means "camel (駱) camel (駝)," and the Sino-Korean word for "ostrich" is 타조 (駝鳥), which literally means "camel (駝) bird (鳥)." 

From what I have read, the ancestors of camels appeared about 40 millions years ago, but there are fossils that suggest that the ancestors of ostriches appeared about 50 million years ago, which would mean the "camel bird," or ostrich, came before the camel.

"Latest Ostrich Theory: ‘Backwards’ Evolution"

How do you curry favor with a Korean?

ANSWER: Apparently by scratching his testicles (불알을 긁어 주다).

Okay, but how would you curry favor with a Korean female?

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

By the way, I came across the above expression while looking up the word 불야성 (不夜城), which literally means "a nightless (不夜) castle (城)" or "a nightless city."

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

Are there more mountains than rivers in China and Korea?

 ANSWER: I guess there are.

雨積千江肥, 葉落萬山瘦 (우적천강비, 엽락만산수)

[When] the rain (雨) collects (積), a thousand (千) rivers (江) get fat (肥); [when] the leaves (葉) fall (落), ten thousand (萬) mountains (山) get thin (瘦).

What do dogs (犬 견) and fire (火 화) have in common?

 ANSWER: Three dogs (犬 견) can make a "whirlwind" (猋 표), and three fires (火 화) can make one, too (焱 혁/표).

Which word in the Korean poem below is not a pure-Korean word?

 ANSWER: All the words in the following Korean poem are pure-Korean words, except 내일 (來日), which means "tomorrow" but literally translates as "the coming (來) day (日)." If he travels the same path everyday, why would it be a new path each day? Because even though the physical path is the same, each day is different, so the things he sees, hears, smells, and feels on the path each day are different, making it a new path. The English translation is mine.

"새로운 길," 윤동주 "A New Path," by Yun Dong-ju

내를 건너서 숲으로

고개를 넘어서 마을로

When I cross the stream to the woods,

When I cross the ridge to the village,

어제도 가고 오늘도 갈

나의 길 새로운 길

The path I took yesterday,

The path I'll take today,

Is a new path.

민들레가 피고 까치가 날고

아가씨가 지나고 바람이 일고

Dandelions bloom,

Magpies fly over,

Young girls pass by,

Wind stirs the air.

나의 길은 언제나 새로운 길

오늘도, 내일도

My path is always a new path,

Again today, again tomorrow,

내를 건너서 숲으로

고개를 넘어서 마을로

When I cross the stream to the woods,

When I cross the ridge to the village.