What does 餓鬼 (아귀) literally mean?

 ANSWER: hungry (餓) ghost (鬼)

Since it is getting close to Halloween, here is a short Chinese ghost story from the Chinese grammar book Schaum's Outlines: Chinese Grammar. I did, however, add the Korean pronunciations to the Chinese characters from the book.

城(성)西(서)邊(변)有(유)一(일)所(소)房(방)子(자). 房(방)子(자)又(우)大(대)又(우)老(노). 沒(몰)有(유)人(인)住(주).
On the town’s 城 west side 西邊 there is 有 a 一所 house 房子. The house 房子 is both 又 big 大 and 又 old老. No one 沒有人 lives 住 [there].

有(유)人(인)說(설)房(방)子(자)裏(리)有(유)鬼(괴). 還(환)說(설)如(여)果(과)你(니)要(요)跟(근)鬼(괴)做(주)朋(붕)友(우), 你(니)得(득)拿(나)飯(반)進(진)去(거)給(급)鬼(괴)吃(흘).
Some people 有人 say that 說 inside the house 房子裏 there are 有 ghosts 鬼. [They] also 還 say that 說 if 如果 you 你 want to要, with 跟 the ghosts 鬼, make 做 friends 朋友, you 你 must 得 take 拿 food 飯, go inside 進去, and give it 給 to the ghosts 鬼 to eat 吃.

妹(매)妹(매)和(화)我(아)都(도)聽(청)說(설)了(료)這(저)個(개)故(고)事(사), 想(상)要(요)看(간)看(간)鬼(괴).
Younger sister 妹妹 and 和 I 我 both 都 had heard 聽說了 this 這個 story 故事 [and] wanted 想要 to see 看看 the ghosts 鬼

我(아)們(문)問(문)媽(마)媽(마)鬼(괴)喜(희)歡(환)吃(흘)什(십)麽(마)? 他(타)說(설)他(타)們(문)喜(희)歡(환)吃(흘)米(미)飯(반), 也(야)喜(희)歡(환)吃(흘)餃(교)子(자)和(화)豆(두)腐(부).
We 我們 asked 問 mom 媽媽, “Ghosts 鬼 like to 喜歡 eat 吃 what 什麽?” She她 said 說 they 他們 like 喜歡 to eat 吃 rice 米飯 and also 也 like to 喜歡 to eat 吃 dumplings 餃子 and 和 tofu 豆腐.

他(타)們(문)還(환)喜(희)歡(환)吃(흘)麵(면)也(야)喜(희)歡(환)喝(갈)酒(주)和(화)可(가)樂(락).
They他門 also 還 like to 喜歡 eat 吃 noodles 麵 and also 也 like to 喜歡 drink 喝 wine 酒 abd 和 so cola 可樂.

所(소)以(이)我(아)們(문)做(주)了(료)紅(홍)燒(소)豆(두)腐(부)另(령)外(외)包(포)了(료)很(흔)多(다)餃(교)子(자).
So所以, we 我們 made 做了 simmer-fried 紅燒 tofu 豆腐 and also 另外 wrapped 包了 a lot of 很多 dumplings 餃子.

我(아)們(문)還(환)買(매)了(료)酒(주)和(화)可(가)樂(락).
We我們 also 還 bought 買了 wine 酒 and 和 cola 可樂.

等(등)到(도)天(천)黑(흑)了(료), 我(아)們(문)就(취)到(도)那(나)所(소)房(방)子(자)去(거)了(료).
Waiting until 等到 it became dark 天黑了, we 我們 then 就, to that house 到那所房子, went 去了.

進(진)了(료)房(방)子(자), 妹(매)妹(매)就(취)問(문)你(니)想(상)鬼(귀)今(금)天(천)會(회)喝(갈)酒(주)還(환)是(시)喝(갈)可(가)樂(락)?
[We] entered 進了 the house 房子, [and] younger sister 妹妹 then 就 asked 問, “Do you 你 think 想 the ghosts 鬼 today 今天 will 會 drink 喝 the wine 酒 or 還是 drink 喝 the cola 可樂?”

忽(돌)然(연)我(아)們(문)聽(청)見(견)一(일)個(개)聲(성)音(음), 好(호)像(상)跟(근)人(인)說(설)話(화)一(일)樣(양), “酒(주)還(환)是(시)可(가)樂(락)都(도)好(호). 我(아)們(문)也(야)喜(희)歡(환)渴(갈)水(수).”
Suddenly忽然 we 我們 heard 聽見 a 一個 sound 聲音 as if 好像 someone 跟人 were saying 說話 this 一樣, “Wine酒 or 還是 cola 可樂 both 都 are good 好. We 我們 also 也 like to 喜歡 drink 渴 water 水.”

餃(교)子(자)和(화)酒(주)都(도)掉(도)在(재)地(지)上(상).
The dumplings餃子 and 和 wine 酒 both 都 fell 掉 to the ground 在地上.

我們跑出房子去了, 又跑回家了.
We我們 ran out of 跑出 the house 房子去了 and 又 ran back home跑回家了.

第(제)二(이)天(천)回(회)房(방)子(자)裏(리)一(일)看(간).
The next day第二天 [we] returned 回 to look inside the house 房子裏一看.

在(재)房(방)子(자)後(후)頭(두)找(조)到(도)了(료)幾(기)個(개)酒(주)甁(병), 全(전)部(부)是(시)空(공)的(적).
Behind the house在房子後頭 [we] found 找到了several 幾個 wine bottles酒甁, and they were all empty 全部是空的.

地(지)上(상)有(유)一(일)封(봉)信(신)說(설) “謝(사)謝(사)你(니)們(문)給(급)我(아)們(문)菜(채)和(화)酒(주).” 我(아)們(문)以(이)後(후)再(재)見(견).
On the ground地上 there was 有 a letter 一封信 that said 說, “Thank you for 謝謝你們 giving 給 us 我們 food 菜 and 和 wine 酒. We 我們 will see you later 以後再見.”

Before the invention of Hangeul (한글), how difficult would it have been for Koreans to learn Chinese without a pronunciation guide?

ANSWER: Very difficult.

I have always suspected that the Korean language was originally just an old Chinese dialect instead of some unique language with unknown origins, as many scholars seem to suggest. There are just too many similarities between the Korean and Chinese languages. Moreover, Korea is just too close to China geographically to have been able to avoid the influence of the Chinese language over the past few thousand years. 

Anyway, the video below made me wonder how Koreans learned to pronounce the tens of thousands of Chinese characters before the invention of Hangeul (한글), the Korean alphabet. They would have had to either hear the Chinese pronounce the characters and then try to remember the thousands of different pronunciations, or they would have had to learn the meanings of the different characters and then assign their own pronunciations, something that I think would have been less likely. But what I am really curious about is how the Chinese came up with their pronunciations of the characters. 

Chinese characters are normally just one syllable. Does that mean that all Chinese words in the past were just one syllable? I kind of doubt it. Because even with the four Chinese tones, the Chinese would have had a hard time communicating with just one-syllable words. So, how did they come up with the pronunciations for the tens of thousands of characters they have? The way I think they probably did it was to take just one syllable of a multisyllable Chinese word and assign it to a unique character with the meaning of that multisyllable word. The Chinese would generally not have been able to understand the word by hearing just the one syllable, but they would have been able to understand the word if they saw the unique Chinese character assigned to that syllable. In other words, they would have been able to read it.

Anyway, all of this is probably explained somewhere by someone who knows what they are talking about, but I have not read anything about it, so all of this is just my talking out loud to myself.

Is the Korean word for "rearview mirror" 룸미러, 백미러, 인사이드미러, or 리어뷰미러?

 ANSWER: All of the above.

Why are the Korean words for "rearview mirror" all Western loanwords: 룸미러 (room mirror), 백미러 (back mirror), 인사이드미러 (inside mirror), and 리어뷰미러 (rearview mirror)? Instead, why not use the Chinese word 後視鏡 (후시경), which literally means "rear (後) view (視) mirror (鏡)"? There is also the rarely used Sino-Korean word 後射鏡 (후사경), which literally means "rear (後) reflecting (寫) mirror (鏡)."

Today, I was reading something in Korean and, for the first time, came across the word 룸미러 (room mirror), and I am still shaking my heard wondering how and why Koreans came up with such an odd word for "rearview mirror."

For some reason, it bothers when I read something in Korean that is full of awkward-sounding Western loanwords. And the problem just seems to be getting worse and worse.

When did the Chinese start to switch over from writing in literary Chinese to writing in spoken Chinese?

ANSWER: Sometime around May 4, 1919.

The May Fourth Movement in China, which started with protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919, is generally regarded as when the Chinese began to switch over from writing in literary Chinese to writing in spoken Chinese. The difference between the two is essentially that to understand something written in literary Chinese people would need to see and read the Chinese characters themselves, but to understand something written in spoken Chinese, people could either read it themselves or just listen to someone read it to them. So, after the Chinese started writing in spoken Chinese, even illiterate people could enjoy newspaper articles and novels when those newspaper articles and novels were read to them.

The Chinese slogan that was used at the time to describe writing in spoken Chinese was 我手寫我口 (아수사아구), which literally means "My (我) hand (手) writes (寫) my (我) mouth (口)." I mention this because this morning I came across the following song that uses that old Chinese slogan as its theme.

What is the Chinese for "worthless"?

ANSWER: 不値一文 (불치일문), which can translate as "not (不) worth (値) one (一) red cent (文)."

The character 文 (문) is an old counter for coins, so 一文 (일문) would be similar to the Korean 한 푼. By the way, you can switch the order of the characters and say 一文不値 (일문불치) without changing the meaning.

The Korean translation of the expression would be as follows: 한 푼의 값어치도 못됨
   

How do we know that Russia's (俄 아) goose (鵝 아) is cooked in Ukraine?

ANSWER: Because people on social media in China, Russia's ally, have given Russia the nickname 菜鵝 (채아), which means "weak (菜) goose (鵝)."

The Chinese word for "Russia" is 俄羅斯 (아라사), but the first character 俄 (아), by itself, can also mean "Russia." The Chinese character for "goose" is 鵝 (아), which is pronounced the same as the Chinese character for Russia. So, "weak (菜) Goose (鵝)" has the same pronunciation as "weak (菜) Russia (俄)," which is what the Chinese are implying.

The character 菜 (채) means "vegetable," but the Chinese also use it to mean "weak."

By the way, the Chinese word for "rookie" or "beginner" is 菜鳥 (채조), which literally translates as "weak (菜) bird (鳥)." And since a goose is also a bird, the Chinese may be implying that the Russian military are a bunch of "rookies." The following "Newsweek" article was published in October 2022.

"Chinese Social Media Brands Russia 'Weak Goose' After Ukraine Failures"

What is a good Korean-Korean dictionary for foreigners studying Korean?

ANSWER: I like this one. It is fun and easy.