What were the last words to his mother and father of a young Russian soldier in Ukraine?

ANSWER: The Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN reads the young Russian soldier's last text message to his mother and father in front of the UN Assembly in the video below.

 So, Putin's insane war in Ukraine is destroying the lives of both Ukrainians and Russians. This war proves that Putin is crazy, and I wonder how much longer it will take for Russians to realize that.

Who is Ukraine's Minister of Foreigner Affairs?

ANSWER: This guy.

   

Is Putin crazy?

ANSWER: Well, he is talking and acting crazy.

 

Do you feel sorry for these captured Russian soldiers?

ANSWER: Well, I do. This is Putin's crazy war, not the war of these young Russian boys who were lied to.

 

What do these young captured Russian soldiers say about the invasion of Ukraine?

ANSWER: That they were lied to.

Which national flag does this photo remind you of?

HINT: Not the Russian flag.

Did Putin lie to his soldiers?

ANSWER: That is what the Russian POWs are saying. They are saying that they were told it would just be a military exercise, not an invasion.

 

What can the U.S. do to stop Putin?

ANSWER: Well, this is one thing we could do.

 

Does Putin's invasion of Ukraine make any sense?

ANSWER: No, it makes NO sense. It is insane. The only way to explain it is that Putin is crazy. He is killing both Ukrainians and Russians and turning the world and even his own people against him. The invasion is causing only senseless death and destruction.

 

If Putin were smart, what would he do?

ANSWER: He would pull his soldiers out of Ukraine. But the problem is that Putin is not smart; he is crazy, like Hitler was crazy.

Is this Ukrainian politician impressive?

ANSWER: Yes, extremely impressive. She puts most American politicians to shame.

Why am I going to stop posting about the Korean language on this blog?

 ANSWER: Because it seems too insensitive to do so while Putin is killing Ukrainians. The reason I wrote "Putin" instead of "Russians" is that I think Russians are also victims of Putin. It is not their fault that their "Dictator" is a crazy killer, just as it is not North Koreans' fault that their "Dictator" is one, too.

Is Joe Biden an idiot?

ANSWER: Yes, definitely! Are Joe Biden and NATO leaders weak? Yes, definitely! Am I angry that Putin invaded Ukraine? Yes, definitely! Is Putin a war criminal? Yes, definitely! Should the U.S. military help Ukraine fight Putin? Yes, definitely!

We should have at least promised Ukraine air cover. That threat alone would have probably been enough to stop Putin from invading. But, instead, Biden essentially said, "If you invade, we will be very, very angry," which is the same as telling Putin, "Go ahead. We won't stop you."

Biden's sanctions are a joke. You do not put weak sanctions on Putin and then say you will wait a month to see if they are working before deciding on tougher sanctions. A month? In a month, Ukraine will likely be gone and tens of thousands of Ukrainians dead. Again, Joe Biden and his administration are idiots. 

What's your favorite type of Asian girl?

ANSWER: Well, mine would probably be on the nerdy side, but I also like girls with a good sense of humor, like the girl in this video. She's funny. Anyway, this video is great.

 

Do Korean-American kids like going to Korean Language schools in the United States?

ANSWER: I don't know, but I enjoyed listening to these Chinese-Americans talk about their experience with going to Chinese-language school in the U.S, and I suspect that there are Korean-American kids who have similar feelings about going to Korean-language schools in the U.S.

By the way, I'm not sure but it seems that in one part of the video they talk about having the experience of other Chinese telling them, "You speak Chinese like a Korean," which seems to suggest that their Chinese was not very fluent or that they spoke with an accent.

How does Korean historian Mark Peterson explain the history of "Dokdo" (독도)?

ANSWER: By talking about almost everything but the history of Dokdo, which is the Korean name for "Liancourt Rocks." Why does Professor Peterson do that? Because I think he knows deep down inside, somewhere in a place that he does not want Koreans to know about, that Dokdo (독도) has no history in Korea, at least not before Korea stole it from Japan in 1952, something that Korea did in spite of being told by the United States that "Dokdo" was Japanese territory, not Korean. If Professor Peterson does not know that, then he is not a very good Korean historian.

Mark Peterson, who has been described in the "Korea Times" as a Professor Emeritus of Korean, Asian, Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University, has posted a three-part video series on his "Frog Outside the Well" YouTube channel that are entitled "Dokdo and its history." The full titles of the three videos are as follows:

Video 1: "Dokdo and its history, Hideyashi."
Video 2: "Dokdo and its history, Japanese Occupation"

Video 3: "Dokdo and its history, and a proposal for peace"

The problem with all three videos is that none of them really talk about the history of Dokdo. Instead, the "Professor" rambles on and on about evil Japan this, evil Japan that without really saying anything about the history of Dokdo. Professor Peterson then ends his "Dokdo and its history" series by essentially saying that since Japan is so evil, it should just give Dokdo to Korea as a way to help make up for its evilness. Really? This guy is a Korean historian? He does not even speak Korean very well.

The problem for Korean history professors is that they have to back the Korean lie on Dokdo if they want to continue to be Korean history professors. I think this is Mark Peterson's problem, too.

Korea has no old maps of "Dokdo," by any name, nor does it have any old documents showing that Koreans ever travelled to "Dokdo" before Japanese fishermen started taking them there as deckhands on Japanese fishing boats at the beginning of the 20th century. Japan, on the other hand, has many old maps and documents that show Japanese were travelling to Liancourt Rocks ("Dokdo") as early as the 1600s. 

By the way, if you are having trouble sleeping at night, I suggest you visit Professor Peterson's "Frog Outside the Well" YouTube channel and listen to some of his rambling anti-Japanese videos, which seem to be a big hit with anti-Japanese Koreans.

What's the difference between a Chinese groom and a Korean groom, and a Chinese bride and a Korean bride?

 ANSWER: There is no difference between a Chinese groom and a Korean groom since they both use the same Chinese characters (新郞 신랑), which literally mean "new (新) man (郞)," but there is a difference between the Chinese characters used for a Chinese "bride" (新娘 신랑) and a Korean "bride" (新婦 신부), though they both literally mean "new (新) woman (娘 / 婦)."

So, why is the Chinese word for "bride" different from the Korean word? Because if Koreans used the Chinese word for "bride," then in Korean, "bride" (新娘 신랑) and "groom" (新郞) would be pronounced the same since the Chinese characters 娘 (낭/랑) and 郞 (낭/랑) are pronounced the same in Korean while they are pronounced differently in Chinese, at least that is what I suspect is the reason.

In the past, 娘子 (낭자) was a respectful way to refer to "a maiden," "a virgin," "a girl," or "a woman," and 郎子 (낭자) was a respectful way to refer to "an unmarried man," but you would need to see the Chinese characters to know which was which.

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

From 동아 새國語辭典

From Understanding Chinese: A Guide to the Usage of Chinese Characters

What does 말미 mean?

 ANSWER: leave (of absence); furlough; day off

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

The pure Korean word for "leave (of absence)" or "day off" is 말미, and the Sino-Korean word is 휴가 (休暇). And the Sino-Korean word for "to request a leave of absence or time off" is 청가 (請暇) since 청 (請) means "to ask for" or "to request" and 가 (暇) means "leisure time." Right?

Well, this morning I was reading through my Chinese grammar book and noticed the following sentence:

From A Reference Grammar of Chinese Sentences

Notice that the Chinese reads as follows:

The teacher (老師 노사) today (今天 금천)  has (有 유) business (事 사) [and so] requested (請) leave (假).

Notice that the Chinese use "old (老 노) master (師 사)" to mean "teacher," but also notice that instead of using 暇 (가) for "leave of absence" the Chinese used 假 (가), which in Korea means "pretend," "fake," or "temporary," as in 가면 (假面), which translates as "mask" but literally means "pretend (假) face (面)." So, when I saw the Chinese sentence above, I thought to myself, "Aha! I've found a mistake." But to make sure, I looked up the word 請假 (청가) in my Chinese dictionary, and this is what I found.

The Chinese definition can translate as follows:

請假 (청가): to request (請求) for (給 급) a temporary (假 가) rest (休息 휴식) perhaps (或 혹) to take care of (辦理 판리) personal (私 사) business (事).

So, the Chinese word 請假 (청가) seems to be an abbreviation of 請假休息 (청가휴식), which can translate as "to request (請) temporary (假 가) rest (休息 휴식), and that means that the Chinese in my grammar book is not wrong, just weird. It seems that the Chinese just use 假 (가) for "holiday" instead of 暇 (가).

From Understanding Chinese: A Guide to the Usage of Chinese Characters

Here is how Koreans write the Chinese for "leave of absence" and "to request leave of absence":

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

What's the difference between "suffering" (辛 신) and "happiness" (幸 행)?

 ANSWER: just one thin line (一)

The Chinese character 辛 (신) means "spicy hot," but it can also mean "suffering," as in 신고 (辛苦), which means "hardships." And the Chinese character 幸 (행) can mean "happiness," as in 행복 (幸福), which means "happiness." The only difference between the two characters is that the character for "happiness" (幸) has one extra line (一 일) at the top. That one thin line difference between "suffering" and "happiness" is often just a change in attitude.

마음만 바꿔먹으면 고생도 행복이 되네.
"By just changing one's attitude, even suffering can become happiness."

Was "Big Trouble in Little China" a good movie?

ANSWER: No, it was a great movie, and this interview with one of the actors from that movie is a great interview. By the way, watching this video seems like a good way to practice reading Chinese, though the Chinese seems to include some simplified characters. 

 

Does this girl have a good voice?

ANSWER: Yes, a very good voice.

What does 行動電話 (행동전화) literally mean?

 ANSWER: Action (行動) phone (電話) or mobile phone

I have read that cell phones in Taiwan are called 行動電話 (행동전화), which can literally translate as "action (行動) phones (電話)," or, I guess, "mobile phones." I have also read that 大哥大 (대가대) is a commonly used word (俗稱 속칭) for cell phones in China even though it supposedly refers to the old, bulky, brick-style phones of the 1980s.

I am not sure why they called the old cell phones from the 1980s 大哥大 (대가대) since 哥 (가) means "elder brother" and 大哥 (대가) means "eldest brother." It seems a little strange. The video below might explain the origin of the word, but I don't have time tonight to search for it since I have to work tomorrow.

UPDATE: Last night I posted my question about the origin of the word 大哥大 on Qoura HERE and by this morning I had gotten the following response from someone named Twaryguy:

It originated from Hong Kong movies in the 80s. It's not to refer to any kind of handphone but the old kind that looks like a brick.

In the movie it's always used by the Boss of the gangster. So 大哥大电话 means big boss phone easily understood because people watch movie and see it used by the gangster boss. Gradually it become more convenient to call it 大哥大 shorten version。

So, it seems that besides meaning "eldest brother," 大哥 (대가) can also be used to refer to the "big boss" of a gang of gangsters. And the 大 (대) at the end of 大哥大 (대가대) is just the abbreviated form of 大電話 (대전화), which means "big (大) phone (電話)." That means that 大哥大 (대가대) originally meant "the big phone of the big boss."

One commenter also mentioned HERE that the name of her phone carrier in Taiwan (臺灣 대만), I assume, was 大哥大 (대가대).

Is this guy a good teacher?

ANSWER: Yes, he is very good.

By the way, the Korean word for "business card" or "name card" is 명함 (名銜), which literally means "name (名) [and] title (銜)," but the Chinese word for "name card" is 名片 (명편), which seems to be a shortened form of 名片紙 (명편지), and that literally means "name (名) note or letter (片紙 편지)."

When you can get this kind of quality language instruction online, why would anyone waste their money on language courses in college? In fact, I think college classroom instruction is headed for extinction, unless it is hands-on instruction of some kind.

 

Are the videos below a good introduction to Chinese grammar?

ANSWER: Yes, they are a great introduction, especially since they are using traditional Chinese characters instead of the simplified characters.

I love these videos because I have just learned all this grammar and vocabulary in the past couple of weeks from a grammar book I have been reading. As I was watching these videos, I was saying to myself, "I know that. I know that. I know that, too." I just don't know the Chinese pronunciations.

These guys really do a great job of teaching the grammar, which is not very hard to learn. Even though they did say that "measure words" were somewhat confusing, "measure words" are not really that hard for people who speak Korean since Korean also uses measure words. For example, 권 is a measure word, as in the phrase 책 한 권, "one book."

By the way, the Chinese phrase for "Grammar Guide" is 語法指南 (어법지남), where 語法 (어법) means "grammar" and 指南 (지남) means "guidebook" or "to guide." What 指南 (지남) literally means is "to point (指) south (南)," which is something you might do if you were "guiding" someone somewhere. The word 지남 (指南) is even in my Korean-English dictionary.

But I wonder why the phrase is "point (指) south (南)" instead of "point (指) north (北)" or some other direction? In the United States, for example, we think of a compass needle as pointing north, not south.

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

What is the best way to learn Hanja (한자 漢字)?

ANSWER: By learning to read and write Chinese characters in sentences, instead of just words. But learn to read and write the traditional Chinese characters instead of the simplified characters. Why? Because Koreans use the traditional characters, not the simplified ones. That means you should probably get your reading material from places like Taiwan and Hong Kong, where they still use the traditional characters. And you do not have to learn Chinese pronunciations to learn to read Chinese sentences. You can learn to read Chinese sentences using Korean pronunciations. The goal here is to learn to read Chinese, not speak it.

If you want to learn to read Chinese sentences, you will need to learn Chinese grammar, but, fortunately, Chinese grammar is not that difficult. And since Chinese grammar is made up of Chinese characters, when you learn Chinese grammar, you are also learning Chinese characters. And by investing just a little bit of time to learn Chinese grammar, you can learn to read in another language while also learning Chinese characters and reinforcing your understanding of them, and that will help you improve your Korean language skills.

The Chinese use some characters and words that Koreans do not usually use, but it is better to know too many characters than not enough. Also learning characters that Koreans do not use will still help you increase your understanding of Chinese characters in general. 

These days Koreans do not usually write in Chinese (한문 漢文), but they used to, so if you are interested in reading Korean historical documents, you will need to learn to read Literary Chinese, which is an older form of written Chinese, a form that needed fewer characters to write. 

Written Chinese today is based on spoken Chinese, so today a Chinese person can read a book to another Chinese person, and that other Chinese person will be able to understand the story without actually seeing the writing. But written Chinese in the past was meant to be read, not spoken. It was a kind of shorthand for spoken Chinese. A person would have needed to actually see the Chinese characters to really understand the story in the written Chinese of the past. A Chinese person cannot usually just hear the sound of a character and know its meaning since many characters have the same sound, so in spoken Chinese, two- or more characters are usually used together to form words.

The Chinese character for "raven," for example, is 鴉 (아), which is made up of the sound character (牙 아) and the meaning character (鳥 조), which means "bird." so when you see the Chinese character 鴉 (아), you know it is the "bird (鳥) 아," which the Chinese know to mean "raven," not some other 아 sounding character. But what if you cannot see the character? Then you would not know which 아-sounding character it was. So, to express the meaning of "raven" or "crow" in spoken Chinese, the Chinese have added to 鴉 (아) the character 烏 (오), which means "crow," to form the 2-syllable word 烏鴉 (오아), which I think can mean either "crow" or "raven." When you say 烏鴉 (오아), it is like saying "the crow 아," giving Chinese people the clue they need to understand the word.

By the way, the character for "bird" (鳥 조) and the character for "crow" (烏 오) look very similar, so be careful not to confuse the two.

Don't worry about learning to read simplified Chinese. If you learn to read traditional Chinese, then learning to recognize simplified Chinese characters is just a matter of time. And then later, if you want to, you can learn the Chinese pronunciations to learn to "speak" Chinese. In the meantime, you can think of the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese as just another dialect of Chinese. There are many.

 

"Do Koreans really know 'Jokbo' (족보)?"

ANSWER: The real question should be: "Do Koreans, or anybody, really want to know about Jokbo (족보)?" I suspect there are very few who do.

I don't know what professors are teaching their students in Korean Studies these days, but hopefully they are not wasting too much of their students' time and money teaching them about Jokbo and other useless things. Korean Studies professors should give their students the background and language skills needed to learn about that kind of stuff if they want, but they shouldn't bore them with too many details.

 

What? Is this the right dance?

ANSWER: It's different, but I like it.

 

Do some Koreans speak Korean better than others?

ANSWER: Yes, of course.

One of the reasons I like watching the videos of the Korean woman in the first video below is that she speaks in a way that is interesting and easy to understand. She speaks clearly, pauses in the right places, and knows how to change the pace of their speech to keep it interesting. She also seems to use more intonation than many Koreans. She is a good Korean speaker.

Some may say, "Well, of course, she's a good Korean speaker; she's Korean," but not all Koreans speak Korean equally well, just as not all Americans speak English equally well. Some Koreans are better storytellers than others. Some Koreans are better at explaining things than others. And some Koreans speak more clearly than others.

The woman in the first video knows how to tell stories, and she is very good at explaining things. Why? Maybe because her videos focus on explaining learning strategies and materials to primary school children and their mothers. I don't really know. I just like the way she speaks.

Now, on a slightly different topic: Korean teachers today are better than Korean teachers in the past, and Korean students today speak better Korean than Korean students in the past. Korean kids today seem more relaxed, confident, and natural when they speak Korean. Also, Koreans seem to be moving away from the old, stiff, boring, loud, North-Korean-announcer style of oratory to a more relaxed, individual style. 

I probably have not thought about this enough to be posting this, but there is just something different about the way Koreans speak Korean today versus the way their parents and grandparents spoke it 30 or 40 years ago. In the past, Koreans were more group orientated than they are today. Maybe that has something to do with it. Also, they were more imitators than innovators. Today, Koreans are more individualistic and more imaginative. 

In the second video below are examples of the old style of Korean oratory; in the third video is an example of the new style, at least in my mind.

Yes, this is a weird post. I meant to only introduce the Korean woman in the first video, but then I got sidetracked.

 

What does this homeless Japanese girl want in life?

ANSWER: To have a pet cat. Why? Maybe partly because he has no friends and has been disowned by her family. Another goal in her life is to get a job that will allow her help other homeless people like her.

To see the English translation of the girl's sad story, you need to click the "CC" (Closed Caption) button on the YouTube screen. The first video below introduces you to the young girl and her situation, and second video gives you an update on her situation.

Seeing anyone anywhere homeless makes me sad but seeing this young Japanese girl homeless makes me especially sad because she seems so sweet.

These videos are unrelated to the Korean language, but I wanted to share them here anyway.

When I Google "What does 문수 (文數) literally mean?" why does Google link to "Monthly Korean" instead of to my blog?

 ANSWER: I don't know. I wrote that article HERE on this blog, not on "Monthly Korean," which posted my article without even giving the source of the article.

What does 문수 (文數) literally mean?

 ANSWER: Letters (文) [and] Numbers (數)

My Korean-English dictionary defines the Sino-Korean word 문수 (文數) as "shoe size," but it literally means "letters (文) [and] numbers (數)." So, why does "letters and numbers" mean "shoe size"?

Because letters and numbers have traditionally been used to define shoe size: Numbers are used for the length, and letters for the width. 

But that raises the question: If 문수 (文數) is used to mean "shoe size," what is the Sino-Korean word for "bra size"?

In China, the Chinese word for "bra size" is 罩杯 (조배), which can literally translate as "cover (罩) cups (杯)." The Chinese character 罩 (조) is listed under the radical 网 or 罒 (망), which means "net."

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

Who is 那個人 (나개인)?

 ANSWER: He Who Must Not Be Named

Today in the mail I received the traditional Chinese translation of J. K. Rowling's book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. One thing that is in the Chinese version that is not in my English version of the book is a list of the names of the main characters in the book. Why did they include a list of the names of the main characters at the front of the Chinese book? Because I think the Chinese would have had a hard time trying to figure out what all those strange Chinese character combinations were otherwise. I know I would have had a hard time. For example, the Chinese translation for "He Who Must Not Be Named" or "You-Know-Who" is 那個人 (나개인), which literally translates as "That (那個) Person (人)."

So, before you start trying to read the book in Chinese, I would recommend learning the Chinese names of the characters first. Once you have the names down, then it should be easy, right? :)

Here is the full list of the names of the main characters in Chinese:

• 哈利波特 (합리파특) Harry Potter
• 德思禮一家人 (덕사예일가인) The Dursleys
• 阿不思 鄧不利多 (아불사 등불리다) Albus Dumbledore
• 麥敎授 (맥교수) Professor Minerva McGonagall
• 榮思 (영사) Ron Weasley
• 金妮 (금니) Ginny Weasley
• 妙麗 (묘려) Hermione Granger
• 跩哥 馬份 (세가 마빈) Draco Malfoy
• 海格 (해격) Rubeus Hagrid
• 那個人 (나개인) You-Know-Who, He Who Must Not Be Named
• 石內卜敎授 (석내복교수) Professor Severus Snape
• 吉德羅 洛哈 (길덕라 락합) Gilderoy Lockhart
• 多比 (다비) Dobby
• 湯姆 瑞斗 (탕모 서두) Tom Riddle
• 麥朵 (맥타) Myrtle
• 差點沒頭的尼克 (차점몰두적니극) Nearly (差點) Headless (沒頭的) Nick (尼克)

What is a "male-female" (兩性 양성) "relationship" (關係 관계) "like" (猶如 유여)?

 ANSWER: A garden (花園 화원)

Today in the mail I received the traditional Chinese translation of John Gray's book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: Book of Days. The book is a collection of 365 short writings on relationship advice for men and women, one piece of advice for each day of the year. Since I also have the English version of the book, I am going to try to teach myself to read Chinese by comparing the short English readings with the Chinese translations of those readings, doing one reading a day for the next 365 days, if I am diligent.

Here is the Chinese translation of the first sentence of the first reading:

兩性關係猶如花園 (양성관계유여화원).

"A male-female (兩性) relationship (關係) is like (猶如) a garden (花園)."

What is Literary Chinese?

 ANSWER: It is an old form of written Chinese.

Below is the grammar book I am using to teach myself to read modern Chinese. I am currently on page 225, and the last lesson in the book ends on page 337, so I have just a little more than 100 pages to go.

The pronunciations of the Chinese characters in the book are, of course, in Chinese, but I have been adding the Korean pronunciations of the characters as I go along because, at this time, I am not interested in learning the Chinese pronunciations, and one does not need Chinese pronunciations to read Chinese writings.

There are some Chinese words that Koreans do not seem to use, such as 也許 (야허), which can translate as "perhaps" or "probably," but Koreans DO use the Chinese characters that make up the word in other words, so by learning the Chinese word 也許 (야허), I am still learning characters that will help me with my Korean.

I have been studying this book for 3 or 4 weeks straight while ignoring other things that I like to read and study. Why? Because after I get a crazy idea in my head, I need to quickly ride that wave of enthusiasm before it dies out. Surprisingly, even after three or four weeks I am still enthusiastic about learning to read modern Chinese.

I use the phrase "modern Chinese" to distinguish between the way Chinese is written today from the way it was written in the past. Today, the Chinese write pretty much the same way they speak, but in the past, the Chinese had a special way of writing Chinese, a less wordy way, that is referred to as "Literary Chinese." Literary Chinese was meant to be read, not spoken.

When a Chinese person sees an individual Chinese character, he or she usually knows what it means because each character is written differently, but when a Chinese person just hears the pronunciation of an individual character, he or she most likely will not know which character is being pronounced since many Chinese characters have the same pronunciations. That is why spoken Chinese words are typically composed of at least two characters, whose paired pronunciations help the Chinese recognize the spoken word. So, in written Chinese one can convey a meaning with just one character while in spoken Chinese it often takes at least two.

In the past, literary Chinese was a kind of shorthand for spoken Chinese. In the third photo below, you can see the difference between the old style of written Chinese, or "Literary Chinese," and the more modern style, which is based on the spoken language. Both passages are written from top-to-bottom, right-to-left, and both passages tell the same story, but the Literary Chinese version expresses it in fewer characters than the modern Chinese version. That means that in the past you saved ink, paper, and time by writing in literary Chinese. A little over a hundred years ago, many Koreans even wrote in literary Chinese. The following is an example of the difference between the old Literary Chinese style of writing and a more modern style. Notice that the Literary Chinese version is much shorter than the Modern Chinese version.

Literary Chinese 有鴉集庭樹 (유아집정수) There are (有) crows (鴉) gathered (集) [in] a courtyard (庭) tree (樹)

Modern Chinese

有些烏鴉聚在院內樹上 (유사오아취재원내수상) Some (有些) crows (烏鴉) are gathered (聚) in (在) top of a tree in a courtyard (院內樹上).

When Chinese speakers see the character 鴉 (아), they know it means either "crow" or "raven," but to clarify its meaning in spoken Chinese the character for "crow" (烏 오) apparently needs to be pronounced in front of the 鴉 (아) character, forming the word 烏鴉 (오아), which literally means "crow (烏) or raven (鴉)."

Introduction to Literary Chinese, by J. Brandt

Will watching this video make you hungry?

ANSWER: Well, it made me hungry.

What's the difference between the Korean-speaking foreigner in the first video and the Korean-speaking foreigners in the second?

ANSWER: The foreigner in the first video learned Korean pre-Internet, and the foreigners in the second learned it post-Internet. Also, when the foreigner in the first video learned Korean, Koreans had much lower expectations for Korean-speaking foreigners than they do today. In the 1980s, Koreans were often surprised when a foreigner spoke even a little Korean, but these days Korean-speaking foreigners in Korea are a dime a dozen, and their Korean is much more fluent than the Korean of the foreigners in the 1980s.