MANNAM: Follow your friend to MANNAM! Not Gangnam!

MANNAM: Follow your friend to MANNAM! Not Gangnam!

 Since ‘Gangnam style’ is popular these days, people all around the world now wonder where Gangnam is. Do you know where it is? It is an area in Seoul. Han River cut across Seoul, so it can be divided into 4 parts. It depends which way from the river you are standing. North, South, East, West of the river indicates Gangbuk(강북), Gangnam(강남), Gangdong(강동), Gangseo(강서). Many of the rich lives in Gangnam, like Beverly hills’ in the states. So if you say you live in Gangnam, it means you are a wealthy person.

 Actually ‘Gangnam’ is in one of Korea’s popular proverbs. Have you ever heard of “친구 따라 강남 간다(Chingu ddara Gangnam ganda)”? Translation is this, ‘follow your friend and go to Gangnam.’ Someone does something because his friend does it, not because it’s logical. In this case, Gangnam is not the place where we looked above. In the past, Korean said ‘the Yangtze’ for Gangnam. Koreans had to walk or sail a long way if they wanted to go to the Yangtze. So, if the place where I am going is farther, you can notice the person who follows his friend to Gangnam is indecisive. So, a person who can’t decide well is a person who follows his friend without his thoughts. Therefore, in this proverb, it asks you to be a person who can decide and speak your opinion! Don’t be a fool and just follow what others say.

You also can learn a different meaning in this proverb. If you are a person who can’t decide well, why don’t you follow a friend who is wiser than you? In this case, the results will be better than what I thought of. So make a good relationship with a good friend that can help you on your way. A wise friend is a precious gift that you can give to yourself. If it is a good case, maybe going to Gangnam with your friend is good after all.

 I have a good friend who led me to MANNAM. And I really appreciate him for doing so. Here, I can volunteer to the people and animal that needs my help without asking anything. Also I can become a really special person by helping others. MANNAM helps people who are in need, but not only them, but MANNAM also helps the volunteers become a necessary human being. Don’t go to Gangnam, come to MANNAM! In Gangnam you may become rich, but in MANNAM you can become rich by in the heart.

MANNAM KOREAN CLASS: The birds and the mice also hear what you say

MANNAM KOREAN CLASS: The birds and the mice also hear what you say

 These days many people don’t use proverbs much like the elders did. Maybe it’s because the words that we use now became very shorten. We use computer, text messages and other things that are important with speed. Although we live in a world that offers speed, why don’t we slow down for a while? To know the wisdom that people used in old times, sometimes that can teach us a lesson in present.

 In MANNAM Korean class, we learned a Korean proverb about birds and mice. It was very interesting and also there were scientific reasons in the word. MANNAM friends who listened to this class said the meaning is very interesting and fun. So I want to share it with others too.

 낮말은 새가 듣고, 밤 말은 쥐가 듣는다(Nat-mal-eun sae-ga dout-go, bam-mal-eun gee-ga dout-nun-da). Have you ever heard about this proverb before? Okay. Let’s figure out one by one.

 First, let’s look one by one with the words.

-낮(Nat): Daytime / 밤(Bam): Night

-말(Mal): words

-새(Sae): bird / 쥐(Gee): mice, mouse

-듣다(doutda): listen

So, if you mix everything altogether it means ‘The birds hear words in daytimes and the mice hear words at night.’ Like what you think, it means ‘Always be careful, someone is hearing what you say.’ Pretty neat, huh? I think this kind of saying came out because, in the past the ancestors live with nature around them.

But, recently the scientist found out that this kind of saying is very scientific. In the daytime, the atmosphere is high so, the sounds go up. On the other side, at night the atmosphere becomes low so, the sounds go down. You can see that birds fly around the sky during the daytime. That is how they can easy hear the sound. And the mice also become active at night. Hearing the sounds that comes from the top is easy to hear.

The main point is we should always be careful what we say. The birds and mice might hear! Thanks to MANNAM I learned this proverb! It has been a good opportunity to know about the wisdom from the past and to learn a tip about words. What to know more? Join MANNAM!

MANNAM International! Let’s plant PEACE seed in the world!

MANNAM International! Let’s plant PEACE seed in the world!

Learning Korean proverb time is back!!

Today’s proverb is ‘콩 심은 데 콩 나고 팥 심은 데 팥 난다(cong sim-eun dae cong na-go pat sim-eun dae pat nan-da)’. It is similar to English proverb  ‘An onion will not produce a rose or As one sows, so shall he reap’.

It means all brings certain results along its root.

It is an easy proverb that you don’t really have to think.

It is a natural situation to get what you plant.

No one expects something different than what they have plant.

It is an impossible thing except in the fairy tale.

However, when people face situation like this proverb, some people don’t understand it.

When people claim only their own opinion, they can’t negotiate, and it will cause argue.

On the contrary, when people try to understand each other and care others, it will make peace.

This is a situation of is ‘콩 심은 데 콩 나고 팥 심은 데 팥 난다(cong sim-eun dae cong na-go pat sim-eun dae pat nan-da)’.

We cannot expect peace being selfish. That is a greed.

If people really want peace in the world, we should work for it so that we can achieve world peace.

How? How about start from volunteering with MANNAM International?

 We gather and volunteer to plant seed of peace in the world.

Let’s make world brighter with the peace plants!

# Korean Proverb

- 콩 심은 데 콩 나고 팥 심은 데 팥 난다

- cong sim-eun dae cong na-go pat sim-eun dae pat nan-da

- An onion will not produce a rose. / As one sows, so shall he reap.

# Korean Vocabulary

-콩(cong) : bean

-팥(pat) : red bean

-심다(sim-da) : To plant

-나다(na-da) : Grow, sprout

-데(dae) : Place, point, location

MANNAM International is a fate to meet each other:)

MANNAM International is a fate to meet each other:)

 

‘옷깃만 스쳐도 인연’ Do you what this proverb means?

It means ‘Even if graze collar of a coat, it is destiny’.

Like this proverb, meeting someone is important things.

There are billions of people living in the world.

Among them, how many people have you met?

About hundreds of people? thousands of people?

It might be hard to meet everyone.

This is why meeting someone is so important and this is why ancestors thought it’s destiny to meet someone.

Also, in MANNAM International, it is destiny to meeting you guys.

For normal people, it’s hard to meet many people from different countries.

However, we MANNAM International friends can meet various people.

Isn’t it destiny? We don’t just meet sometimes, we work together and we share our lights together.

As you know, MANNAM’s slogan is ‘Wen light meets light, there is victory’.

Meeting is not only seeing each other.

When we meet, our lights in us meets together, and through those lights, we make victories in the world.

This why we are MANNAM(meeting in Korean). This is destiny to meeting these friends and work with them. Don't you want to be with us? It might be our destiny:)

 

 

# Korean Proverbs & Vocabulary

옷깃만 스쳐도 인연이다 : Even if graze collar of a coat, it is destiny

 

옷깃 : Collar of a coat

스치다 : Graze

인연 : Destiny

이심전심 in MANNAM International

이심전심 in MANNAM International

In Korea, like the proverbs, Koreans use four-character idioms a lot.

Today, I will introduce one to you

Before that, four character idiom is called 사자성어.

Each character represents meaning and together, it works like proverbs.

Like the title of the article, today’s four-character idiom is 이심전심.

이 means to write, 심 means mind and 전 means to tell or to communicate.

(two 전 in this idiom represents the same meaning.)

All together, it means, instead of writing or saying it, people can communicate with each other’s mind, understanding without the words.

How can this happen? It might look weird, but I think many of you already have experienced this.

Between friends or families, even they don’t say something, by just looking at each other or just know how they feel and what they want.

Also, among the people who look for the same things, because they have the same goal that they are heading to that they know what they need to each other.

One example for this is MANNAM International.

Even though we have different nationalities, religions and gender, when we work together, we know what to do, what we need and what we can do.

Which is sharing love and achieve WORLD PEACE.

Not only between MANNAM members, through volunteering, we learn to understand others

# Korean four-character idiom

-이심전심(i-sim-jeon-sim) : Instead of writing or saying it, people can communicate with each others mind, understanding without the words.

MANNANM! WORLD PEACE is a piece of cake

MANNANM! WORLD PEACE is a piece of cake

There are two korean proverbs that has same meaning with ‘It is a piece of cake’.

One is ‘누워서 떡 먹기’, and the other one is ‘식은 죽 먹기’.

Let’s see why Koreans use these proverbs as ‘It is a piece of cake’.

First, ‘누워서 떡 먹기’ means eat rice cake laying down.

It’ is weird, is’t it? Think about this situation.

It is uncomfortable to eat something when you are laying down.

When you eat something while you are laying down, it easily stuck in you neck.

Then, why this ‘누워서 떡 먹기’ means piece of cake?

Long time ago, Korea was very poor. It was rare to eat rice cake. Nevertheless, people hardly ate three meals in a day. So rice cake was extravagant thing to people. Eating rice cake represent rich to Koreans before. Also, ancestors wish was to laying down in a warm house in the winter. That’s why ‘누워서 떡 먹기’ represent piece of cake. Nowadays, their wish changed and used as piece of cake.

How about ‘식은 죽 먹기’? As it is, When food, porridge has cooled down, it is very easy to eat.

That’s why we call ‘식은 죽 먹기’ to something that is very easy to do.

Many people say there are nothing that is easy. However, on contrary, there are many things that is ‘누워서 떡 먹기’. For example, how about WORLD PEACE? It seems like it doesn’t go with the word ‘식은 죽 먹기’. Then, if WORLD PEACE is very hot and hard to eat it, why don’t we cool it down?

It will be easier to eat it like ‘식은 죽 먹기’.

How? with MANNAM, we can cool it down.

Nowadays, world is so hot with conflicts. There are many troubles in everywhere.

How can we decrease these problems? How about we start from small things?

Like, helping others, sharing love and showing your light of PEACE?

Isn’t it ‘누워서 떡 먹기’ things to do it? Just spend little bit of your time and make small changes in your life, city, country and the world.

Even with something that’s small and easy that is the way to achieve the WORLD PEACE!

If you want to make changes, join MANNAM International. We are ready to do this and we will always welcome you:)

#Korean Expression & Vocabulary

*누워서 떡 먹기(nu-w-seo ddeok muk-gi)

*식은 죽 먹기(sic-eun juk muk-gi)

-눕다(nup-da) : to lie

-떡(ddeok) : rice cake

-먹다(muk-da) : to eat

-식다(sic-da) :cool down

-죽(juk) : porridge

MANNAM International Members! We are “이웃(yi-ut)”.

MANNAM International Members! We are “이웃(yi-ut)”

There is an old English saying, “A good neighbor is better than a distant cousin”. In Korea, there is also a proverb which has the same meaning. That is “가까운 이웃이 먼 사촌보다 낫다(ga-kka-un yi-ut-yi meon sa-chon-bo-da nat-da).” Sometimes, when we have emergencies, our family living distant are too far to ask for a help. Instead, our neighbors can give us immediate help. What we MANNAM International Volunteer Association want to do is to share such neighborly love.

Most MANNAM International members are living in Korea now. As for us, Korea is a foreign country and we are foreigners. Therefore, we have language barrier, cultural divergences, and homesickness. If one of us wants to solve all these problems alone or if the person asks his or her family far away from Korea for help, it must be difficult to receive help.

However, since MANNAM International Volunteer Association, your good neighbor wants to share neighborly love with you, you don’t need to worry about all the problems alone. We can work them out together. As for the first problem, if you have Korean language difficulty, you can take MANNAM International free Korean language classes. What’s more, if you want to learn Korean culture, there are classes such as Korean cooking classes and K-pop classes. Or you can partake in volunteer activities. By visiting a kids’ center, a nursing house, and an animal shelter, you can learn a lot about Korean culture. Also, if you miss your family and friends a lot, we can make all kinds of your country food together and have a party to make you miss your home less.

In a word, whenever you need or want to offer any help, always remember there is your neighbor MANNAM International Volunteer Association right there waiting for you.

@Korean Vocabulary & Grammar

* 가깝다->가까운(ga-kkab-da->ga-kka-un): Form changes. Adjective -> Adverb

* 이웃(yi-ut): neighbor

* -이(-yi): subject marker

* 먼(meon): distant; far

* 사촌(sa-chon): cousin

* 보다(bo-da): comparative marker

* 낫다(nas-da): better

MANNAM! Third Lesson for Korean Proverbs

MANNAM! Third Lesson for Korean Proverbs

#가랑비에 옷 젖는 줄 모른다 (ga-rang-bi-ae-ot-jeot-neun-jul-mo-leun-da)

-Many a little makes a mickle. (or Many drops make a flood)

@ Korean Vocabulary & Grammar

* 가랑비 (ga-rang-bi) :

* 옷 (ot) : cloth

* 젖다 -> 젖는 (jeot-da -> jeot-nun) : To be wet

* 모르다 -> 모른다(mo-leu-da)-> mo-leun-da) : do not know

We had learn word '-에' before, and here is the link for the writing that contains the information and explanation about '-에'

http://mannamgwkorean.blogspot.kr/2013/01/mannam-kc-review-no1.html#!/2013/02/mannam-what-do-you-do-on-weekends.html

 The little drop of water doesn't bother you, but when water drops gather, it makes a mickle or flood.  It is no different in volunteering. When one person carries the coal for his or her neighbor, that is a small kindness. But if many people gather together and carry the coals for people are shivering during the winter, then we can deliver the coals for a small town! That is the power of 'many a little'. It is very easy to make a mickle out of many a little, all you need is to take a action of your motivating mind!

MANNAM! Second Lesson for Korean Proverbs

MANNAM! Second Lesson for Korean Proverbs

#백지장도 맞들면 낫다 (baek.ji.jang.do mat.deul.myeon nat.da)

-Many helps will make the work easier (Even a light paper, it’s better to hold it together)

@Koreans Vocabulary & Grammer

*백지장 : It is a very thin paper attaching to the window to block the window in the olden days. (In this proverb, it represents light paper)

*맞들다 : Lifting together

*낫다 : Better

*~도 : even too

Nowadays, we don’t care about others a lot.

When people do something, they try not to be related to others and work alone.

it might be better to do something alone, but most of the time, working together make synergy!

In different perspective, sometimes, it’s good to work with others.

When people work together, they share thoughts to achieve their goal.

During that time, their could be better ideas coming out from many heads.

In addition, even there is a problem that doesn’t look like to be solved, if you ask help from others, it can be solved like a magic.

You probably have experienced what I am talking about.

Moreover, let’s think about PEACE!

If one person try to achieve peace, that might be impossible.

However, if we, thousands of MANNAM members tries to achieve peace?

It will be possible! It is possible!

If we gather our power, the power will be stronger.

As you know, there are many people came from other countries and also there are some branches in other countries

Why not possible? why will it be impossible to achieve peace?

Like the word ‘백지장도 맞들면 낫다’, Let’s go for it!

MANNAM! Do you know Korean Proverbs? 한국 속담 알아요~?

MANNAM! Do you know Korean Proverbs? 한국 속담 알아요~?

*속담 = Proverb

*뜻 = Meaning

# 천 리 길도 한 걸음부터

천(Thousand) 리(Count Unit of distance) 길(Road,Way)도 한(One) 걸음(Step)부터(From)

Translate : Thousands miles starts from one step

뜻 : Whatever happends, start is important

#티끌 모아 태산

티끌(dust) 모아(collect) 태산(big mountain)

Translate : Collected dust makes big mountain

뜻 : A little makes a lot

*모으다 : Collect

What can you think when you think of peace, love and volunteer?

Things like UN, Nelson Mandela, Olympic...etc?

Being a peacemaker is not hard! Also, making wolrd peace is not just imagination!

If you and I, we, MANNAM starts volunteer works, It will get bigger and bigger and soon, it will change the world

Start doing it might be hard, but world peace starts from your FIRST STEP!

천 리 길도 한 걸음 부터!