Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of Korean music again. It has nothing to do with the recent craze over Boys Over Flowers though, which has been airing on local television (on ABS-CBN) since I detest Tagalog dubbing, no offense. I actually find it quite funny how everyone’s into Boys Over Flowers since it’s technically just F4 all over again, except this time, it’s Korean and not Taiwanese. I’ve been catching Pops in Seoul and Showbiz Extra on our recently returned (but not really returned since we upgraded our cable) Arirang Channel! Yey! It was my ultimate favorite channel back in Elementary when I got exposed to Korean music.
Well anyways, I find it hilarious that I’m listening to Korean music because I’m really into Mandopop (Mandarin pop) and the whole, learning the language thing. When it comes to Korean, I’m just totally lost (save for a few words that I learned a long time ago). When I watch Korean MV’s though, I’m mostly concentrated on the sound of the music and the fashion. As opposed to Chinese/Taiwanese MV’s where I’m not only concentrated on the music and the clothes, but I’m also listening to the words of the lyrics as well. Of course I should, it’s my language and related to my major! Haha. Which brings me to share how a few days ago, a friend asked me to translate something for him from Chinese-English for this job he was doing. It was some freelance work that was super rush-rush, so even his asking me to translate was a super rush as well. He gave me the stuff to translate at around 5pm on Tuesday, and considering travel time going home (plus had to drop off my cousin at this somewhat far-from-home mall), I only began work at 12midnight (I had to have 5 hours of sleep since I only had 2 hours of sleep for that day). I spent the entire night translating,Β doing both simplified reading and traditional-Chinese reading since the text to be translated was in traditional. I can actually read both since I grew up studying traditional Mandarin and have only recently been studying simplified, but seeing as I’ve been studying simplified recently, I wasn’t aware of many of the technical traditional words. It was trying, very, but at the end of it all, I did most of the translation work on my own and only had my dad glance over my work after it was almost all done. π Well anyway, he (my friend) came to pick up the work at 2pm Wednesday, and considering that it was technically “sleeping-time”, I can say I did the translation work quickly enough for someone who isn’t very fluent with the language.
Very proud moment, if I do say so myself. The experience was very educational and I both learned and re-learned a lot of words that I hadn’t thought of studying before. It gave ma a lot of practice as well, since I expect myself to be doing more translation work in the future (both personal and work-related though work-related might be related to helping out the family business).
The China Doll(dalera) 
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That’s quite the achievement. I’m envious. I thankful I can still at least understand Mandarin fluently to balance my horrible spoken Mandarin.
Do you speak Chinese on a daily basis? o3o
I’m the same as well, I too listen to a lot of Mandopop, and I too tend to focus on the lyrics alot when I’m listening.
I’m envious that you can at least balance your understanding the language to speaking it. I can’t say I’m good at either. Kinda sad though, I wish I could say I’m good at at least one.
Sadly, I don’t speak it on a daily basis, though I try to practice speaking when I can, especially if it’s with my friend from the Mainland. π Nice to hear I’m noth the only one who does that when listening to music.
Don’t you speak Chinese with your parents? I thought that would be the best way of practicing.
Yeah, I find it helps learning Chinese words when you listen to the lyrics while you have the lyrics in front of you. That, and I do like Mando songs that carry a bit of meaning. I’m quite fond of what Jay Chou puts out.
PS. That photo taken of the pond is pretty. Love the ripple effects from the rain, it creates a surreal texture on the water surface. =D
@Khyoon: My mom doesn’t know how to speak. My dad does though, and I try to practice with him. π
Jay Chou’s songs have a nice ring to them but most of them are really difficult words though so it takes some time to figure them out. π
Oh can you read both simplified and traditional Mandarin? :3
Haha thanks thanks. Actually, it’s not even rain. It’s just the wind! But the ripple effect is awesome. It’s more awesome in real life though, sadly, I only had my phone cam with me. π