📚 bibliothecary's bibliophilia 📚

bibliothecary · March 19, 2024, 11:47pm

안나라수마나라

Just me fangirling over 안나라수마나라 S1 | L27?? which I finished recently - I’ve been rewatching certain scenes, listening to the soundtrack, and watching behind the scenes videos and interviews with the cast.

Contains (hidden) spoilers!

About the title

'안나라수마나라’의 뜻은 '수리수리 마수리’처럼 마술쇼를 선보일 때 외우는 주문이라고 전해진다. 이는 아마도 마술을 소재로 한 웹툰이기 때문에 일종의 주문 같은 것을 상징하는 것이라고도 볼 수 있다. ^source

It seems like 안나라수마나라 is a word that was created specifically for the webtoon, and is simply a term used by 리을 when he is performing magic, like “abracadabra” in English.

'안나라수마나라’는 마술사 리을의 마술 주문이다. 뜻을 추측해보기로는 '되거나 말거나’에 가까워보인다. […] 그의 마술은 성공하기도 하고, 실패하기도 한다. ^source

In the show he does say the word in two parts, “안나라… 수마나라”, so perhaps it is derived from real words?

안나라 = 안 (not) + 나다 (to happen) + 라 (imperative? ending)
수마나라 = 수 (數, many) + 마 (魔, magic) + 나다 + 라

I’m not sure…

I think this is my favourite song/scene of the series, 회전목마, which takes place in episode 3. It’s a continuation of 당신 마술을 믿습니까? (it uses the same melody), now with added MAGICAL FLYING CAROUSEL HORSES!!!

The scene of the two flying through the clouds is really magical, and reminded me of Aladdin’s A Whole New World. I guess Mary Poppins, too, since that also includes magical carousel horses that can leave the merry-go-round.

I’m interested to see how the webtoon portrays 아이 and 리을’s relationship; it seems unusual for the male and female leads in a drama to have a platonic relationship (we’ve got a long way to go, huh…), especially when there are scenes that resemble something that you would associate with romance, such as 리을 riding the carousel horse behind 아이 during this song.

It seems as though 리을 doesn’t have any romantic feelings for 아이, which is a relief since she’s a highschooler and he’s a middle aged man. 아이 does seem a little jealous when she sees a young pregnant woman bringing 리을 homemade food, but that little flicker of emotion is the only suggestion of potential romantic interest. However, there is speculation and suspicion from her classmates that 리을 is 아이’s sugar daddy, and 일등 is very obviously jealous when he sees them together, which just highlights how unusual their relationship is.

It’s really refreshing that this isn’t a romance (there is some implied romance between 아이 and 일등), but that the main male and female characters form a strong bond and help heal each other’s wounds through friendship and emotional intimacy.

Anyway, here are all the songs from the series:

And the full album including instrumentals is available as well:

bibliothecary · March 24, 2024, 3:04pm

I think I’m addicted to making lists! I’ve made quite a few Korean lists recently, some of which are the winners of specific prizes.

Here’s a couple of YA award lists:

This award I though was similar to the previous two, but the books are actually written by young authors:

These are the three most prestigious awards for Korean literature (a bit above my current level, but may be useful for others):

I like the design of the Modern Literature Award winners, but the Lee Sang covers are not appealing at all…

I may have a look for other awards, because making lists is fun.

I feel like I’ve watched a lot of Korean shows this month - according to my stats, I’ve already watched 50+ hours so far, which averages a couple of hours a day. On the other hand, I haven’t been reading much - only 107 pages…

Basically I’ve just been focusing on Korean, all the other languages are languishing by the wayside. Maybe one day I’ll master the multi shadow clone jutsu and finally be able to learn all the languages simultaneously…

HopeWaterfall · March 24, 2024, 3:35pm

That’s the struggle of learning multiple languages at once, one of them is always going to be at the forefront at any given point, except it’s not necessarily going to be the same one. Although, with shadow clones… I might still end up focusing mostly on one language, because I have very little self control. At least my learning speed would be faster.

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bibliothecary · March 25, 2024, 1:20pm

Joined an exclusive club! Visited the site every day for a year.

eefara · March 25, 2024, 1:30pm

Ugh, I’ve been gunning for that one for a while.

Megumin · March 25, 2024, 2:33pm

Every time I go to Japan, since it’s a 20h+ trip between connections I fuck it up

bibliothecary · March 28, 2024, 4:36pm

I’ve been watching 웰컴투 삼달리 S1 | L27??, which is set in 제주, so I’m learning a bit of 제주방어.

It’s given me the chance to have a look through Jejueo: The Language of Korea's Jeju Island | L30, which has been sitting on my shelf untouched for a long time. 제주’s government website also has a dialect dictionary, which has been helpful.

In the 제주어 textbook, it mentions that this dialect isn’t intelligible to speakers of other dialects: an experiment was carried out where speakers of different Korean dialects listened to a recording of a story told in 제주어 and were tested on their comprehension. The 제주 participants scored around 90% correctly, those from 서울 about 10%, and those from 여수 and 부산 about 5%. The participants also took a self-evaluation of their understanding of 제주어 on a scale of 0-10, before and after the experiment: those from 제주 rated themselves 8.0 before, rising a little to 8.3 after; 서울 1.8 before, falling to 0.4 after; 여수 1.7 to 0.3; 부산 1.2 to 0.8.

I think that since the series is aimed at a general audience, they’ve included enough dialect to give the feeling of it being set in 제주, but still made it easy enough to understand for standard Korean speakers. For example, although there are words that are completely different from standard Korean, these haven’t been included; instead, there is a lot of vocabulary and grammar endings used that are slightly different from standard Korean but still recognisable within the context of the sentences.

These are some examples of the differences I’ve noticed in this particular drama; it’s not comprehensive, but hopefully it might be useful if you’re planning on watching the show (I’ll include the info when I write a review, too).

The ‘ㅇ’ (이응) sound is often added to the end of words ending in a vowel:

바당 (바다)
왕 (와, from 오다)

Familial terms are shortened, with the ‘ㅇ’ sound added:

할망 (할머니)
아방 (아버지)

Some common, short words are slightly modified:

무시 (무슨)
기 (그래)

Pronouns are sometimes slightly different:

느 (너)
야이 (이 사람)
가이/갸이 (그 사람)
자이/쟈이 (저 사람)

And the formal imperative ending is a bit different:

읍서 (오다)

Although the plot is just okay, learning a little dialect and seeing the beautiful 제주 scenery is making it an enjoyable watch.

bibliothecary · April 2, 2024, 1:28am

It’s April already…

The past month I’ve pretty much just been watching Korean dramas - 77 hours worth!

I spent last week binging the entirety of 웰컴투 삼달리 S1 | L27?? and learning some 제주어.

I haven’t been particularly interested in 사투리 before, but I actually found that it added to my enjoyment of the show. I’ve found some other series that are set on 제주도, so I made a list:

I’ve started watching 제주어 드라마 어멍의 바당 S1 | L30?? (the whole series is available on the KBS제주 youtube channel) because the title gives away that it definitely contains 제주어 and is about 해녀 (another reason I loved 삼달리). It’s interesting that it includes hard subs when characters speak in 제주어, but they don’t match the audio - they’re translations(?) into standard Korean (although sometimes the differences are so minor I wonder why they changed them, such as the dialogue containing “진짜” but the subs using “정말”). I would have preferred accurately transcribed subs, but oh well…

Another new list! I thought I might as well add the films that are available to watch from the Korean Film Archive to Natively - they’re free on youtube, and I think they all have full Korean subtitles. Can’t speak to the quality, though.

I think I’ll take a break from setting goals and recording all the media I’ve finished each month. I start out with the best of intentions, but somehow my attention always gets pulled in another direction… So I’m just gonna go with the flow.

bibliothecary · April 7, 2024, 6:40am

It suddenly occurred to me while watching 어멍의 바당 that perhaps the reason I enjoy learning about 해녀 so much is that it’s basically the closest a person can possibly get to becoming an actual mermaid. Food for thought.

When watching low-budget shows like 어멍의 바당, I like to play “spot the crew” - the mirrors always get them!

Got the lighting guy and his light!

I’ve also just started 숨, 나와 마주 서는 순간 | L30??, which is written by a journalist who worked in 서울 but returned to her hometown in 제주 and took an interest in the lives of the local 해녀, which sounds like a cross between 웰컴투 삼달리 and 어멍의 바당 but real - just what I’ve been looking for.

While reading said book, I came across a middle dot (interpunct) which I had never seen used in Korean writing before (it’s used for short lists, such as 사과·바나나·수박). So I had a little look at the wiki page on Korean punctuation and came across this interesting tidbit:

Modern Korean is typically written horizontally using European punctuation. However, when it is written vertically, Korean writing tends to follow East Asian punctuation which includes 고리점(。) as a period, 모점(、) as a comma, and 겹낫표(『』) as quotation marks.

Which made me wonder, when is modern Korean ever written vertically? I had a look at the namu wiki 세로쓰기 article, and vertical writing was the norm until the following started using horizontal writing:

1945: textbooks (postliberation)
1948: North Korea completely switches over to horizontal writing
1961: official documents (typewriters made it more efficient)
1970s: publishing industry
1990s: newspapers (computers started to replace letterpress printing*)
- all newspapers used horizontal writing by the end of 1999
- there was one newspaper that used horizontal writing starting in 1947, but people couldn’t get used to it, so it switched to vertical writing in 1956

* Which reminds me, Korea has a long history of letterpress printing, as “metal movable-type printing technology was developed in 1234”.

Koreans used metal movable type 234 years before Gutenberg, and this is an opportunity to let the world know that it was Korea that invented the movable metal type printing and that it had been used since the Goryeo Dynasty [918-1392], 200 years before the West. (source)

Anyway, back to vertical writing: basically, it’s rarely used in modern Korean except in design and traditional 한글 calligraphy. I’m slightly disappointed; the wiki article made it sound more common than that.

In other news, I have made a total of 38 Korean lists so far.

Most of the recent ones are top-rated or popular TV shows and movies, for example:

I think I’d like to make some lists of interesting documentaries. I’ve already found a couple looking around the KBS제주 channel: 이상, 제주 is a look at how climate change is affecting everyday life on the island; and Coming Home (English subs available):

In Jeju, there exists a place once known as the ‘execution ground.’ It is the current site of Jeju Airport. Recently, excavations have begun unearthing remains buried in the firm soil. An 88-year-old man, after 76 years, has found the skeletal remains of his brother, who was buried beneath the airport. Slowly, he breathes in the scent of his hometown, longing to lift his brother from the dark, damp, and suffocating earth.

I’m already tearing up at the description of that one.

Since I’m already looking at 제주 (and 해녀) stuff, I might as well just carry on with the theme - seems like there’s lots of documentaries about them on youtube (will be relying on auto-generated subs for most of them, probably). A couple of stations have youtube channels for their documentaries:

Speaking of documentaries, after finishing 마법의 시간여행 1 | L20 I ended up looking up some stuff about dinosaurs, and came across Prehistoric Planet which I had never even heard of before and wow it looks amazing!!! Not really anything to do with Korean though, since I doubt it has a Korean dub, but… Dinosaurs!!!

Mermaids and dinosaurs, what a random update LOL. Stay tuned for the next episode: unicorns and robot pandas!

bibliothecary · April 11, 2024, 7:47am

I started watching 어쩌다 전원일기 S1 | L30?? on Netflix with audio description (화면 해설) - I didn’t realise it was available for Korean shows; this is the first time I’ve seen it as an option. I’m going to use it for this series to see if I like it; it seems like it would be useful for language learning since it describes what is happening on-screen, but I’m not sure if it’ll affect my enjoyment of the story. Still, it has really opened my eyes to just how much screen time there is without dialogue in dramas - establishing shots, lingering looks between characters, action scenes, moments that build tension… I like the idea of getting more language exposure in the same amount of time, and I’m hoping that I find it useful rather than distracting, but we’ll see.

I had a look to see if I could figure out where 제주어 드라마 어멍의 바당 | L27?? was filmed - because it’s a low-budget drama, there’s not a lot of information about it online, and exploring random islands on google maps wasn’t giving me much luck. I checked back to the drama itself, and noticed an information board behind one of the characters in the first episode.

It is set on 비양도, the smallest of 제주’s inhabited islands, consisting of only 50 households.

It looks like such a beautiful place!

I came across an article that describes the island’s shape as resembling the boa constrictor that swallowed an elephant in The Little Prince.

Funnily enough, the island does have an “elephant rock” (코끼리 바위)!

More images are available on the Visit Jeju website. There are quite a few tourist vlogs featuring the island, and the one below is mostly drone footage.

There’s also a 다큐멘터리 3일 | L30?? episode about the island from about 10 years ago available on the KBS documentary channel, featuring 해녀!

So I’ll definitely be watching that in full soon! Straying from popular K-dramas does mean I have to add a lot of info to TMDB, though…

bibliothecary · April 12, 2024, 7:27pm

So I watched the KBS documentary on 비양도 I posted above, which was really interesting. Most of the show focuses on the 해녀 - the oldest at the time (it was made in 2014) was 90 years old, and the youngest 47. They talk about how many women they worked with have died while diving, and some were lost at sea. While the 해녀 grow older and die, there aren’t any young women taking their place. During filming there were only four children attending the island’s elementary school, but they of course have graduated, and it has since closed. It’s a fascinating insight into island life and the work of 해녀, but it is a little sad to witness the end of that way of life.

In one scene, we get a brief glimpse of a commemorative reel for 봄날 | L30??, which seems to be the first TV drama to use 비양도 as a filming location. I’ve already mentioned 제주어 드라마 어멍의 바당 | L27??, but apparently 우리들의 블루스 | L30?? was also filmed there (at least partially).

Here’s the playlist for 봄날, which is available from the SBS drama archive youtube channel. From a cursory glance most of the uploaded series seem to be from the 90s and 00s, so it might be interesting to have a little look into Korean life (and fashion!) from the recent past.

An interesting little fact: there’s a shrub known as 비양나무 and the only place it grows in Korea is on 비양도!

On a different note, after four episodes, I’ve dropped 어쩌다 전원일기 | L27?? - it was just too painful to watch. I had a look at the reviews for this drama on MDL, and most of the comments are positive (an enigma in itself), but even those that criticise the show still give it high ratings - one commenter dropped it because they felt it had a lot of problems and they weren’t enjoying it, but still gave it 7.5/10, and there are people wondering why the current rating is “so low” at 7.9/10. I’m genuinely confused as to why people don’t seem to understand how a ten-point scale works… The prime example is of course Viki, where everything is rated between 9.0 and 9.9 out of 10.

If there’s one positive to take from watching that show, it’s that I fell in love with audio description - I feel much more engaged while watching if there’s commentary where there isn’t any dialogue. I’ll definitely be using it whenever it’s offered for Korean shows, and it just so happens that the next show I started has audio description available!

나빌레라 | L30?? is the story of an elderly man finally pursuing his dream of learning ballet. I am loving it so far!

The drama is based on a web comic of the same name, which has been translated into German and French (no plans for an English translation as far as I can tell).

There was also a musical adaption!

Anyway, that’s all for today. TTFN!

NihongoLearner19 · April 12, 2024, 8:59pm

I adore 나빌레라!! I read the webtoon in English a few years ago (it’s on Tapas) and I watched the drama last summer. It’s a beautiful story, the music is great, and Lee Chaerok is very handsome as well, haha. I didn’t know there was a musical and now I want to watch it too! Also, if you like 나빌레라 I recommend Reply 1988. I can’t remember if you’ve seen it or not, but they have similar vibes and are two of my favorite K-dramas.

HopeWaterfall · April 12, 2024, 9:55pm

That picture with the yellow flowers and the stone wall reminds me of 구멍놀이 친구 | L19 . I wonder how common those flowers are to 제주도.

bibliothecary · April 13, 2024, 12:16pm

Nice!

I’m planning to watch it at some point - it was such a huge hit at the time, I feel like I have to see what all the fuss is about!

Same!

I had a little look, and although they look like 유채꽃 (rapeseed flowers), they’re actually 산동채꽃 (couldn’t find the English name, but it’s closely related as they’re both in the cabbage family). Apparently there used to be a lot of 유채 on 제주, but they’ve been replaced by 산동채 for a few reasons:

유채 tends to be sensitive to the cold; the stalks freeze and won’t bloom
유채 has a distinctly rotten smell - while it keeps away pests, it’s unpleasant for tourists
유채 can grow to the size of a person, while 산동채 usually only grows to around waist height at most, which makes it easier to walk around in for tourists

Both 유채 and 산동채 are grown all over Korea, but the yelllow fields do seem to be associated with 제주, probably because it’s so touristy.

제주 also seems to be the only place in Korea known for using 돌담 (dry stone walls), known as 바람 그물 (wind nets). They are made from basalt stone (현무암), and there are several names for them:

제주의 돌담은 용도에 따라 이름도 달리 불렸답니다.
집을 둘러싼 외벽에 쌓은 축담
초가집으로 가는 골목길에 쌓은 올렛담
밭의 경계를 구분지어주기 위해 쌓은 밭담
밀물에 들어온 물고기를 가두기 위한 원담
해녀들의 탈의실이었던 불턱
가축을 방목하기 위한 잣담
무덤을 지키기 위한 산담

제주도돌담 were named one of the 100대 민족 문화상징 (100 Korean cultural symbols), and people are trying to have them registered as 무형문화재 (intangible cultural assets).

Interesting stuff!

bibliothecary · April 18, 2024, 3:33pm

German

I’m listening to a few different translations for the 🧙 Multilingual Harry Potter Book Club 🪄 Home Thread ( ), which has prompted me to read some more in German.

I’m currently reading through the https://learnnatively.com/series/4799fb9624/ books, which are a comfortable level for me and pretty fun. The free audiobooks on Spotify are abridged, so I’ll listen to them after finishing each volume. The author also has another similar series, https://learnnatively.com/series/5c7bd15ba1/, which I may have to check out at some point. So there’s your unicorn update!

No robot pandas (so far…), but I’m also reading through https://learnnatively.com/series/aebae69333/ along with the audiobooks. Again, they’re at a comfortable level and are fairly enjoyable, so I’ll probably continue on with the series.

I’ve also been listening to some Disney Hörbücher | Spotify, which are easy enough to follow if you’re familiar with the films.

I’m continuing with Hueber Lese-Novelas | L17??, which are short, easy graded readers with audio. I’m over halfway through the series, and although they’re not exactly thrilling, they don’t take long to read.

Since I’m enjoying listening to stories I’m familiar with (HP, Disney) while doing other things, I’ve also started listening to the audiobook for Buch 1 von 3: Der Herr der Ringe | L30?? (55 hours long!). It’s more difficult than the the other stories I’ve been listening to, but I can roughly follow it so far (2+ hours in and we haven’t even left the Shire yet). I’m considering this a preview of sorts, as I’m planning to read & listen concurrently at some point down the line.

Korean

I’ve only got a couple of episodes left of 나빌레라 | L27?? - I’ve been really enjoying it, although I have shed a few tears at parts…

I’ve got the first five volumes of 마법의 시간여행 | L20, which I’m reading after the German translations - currently I’m on the second book.

TTFN!!

HopeWaterfall · April 18, 2024, 4:41pm

Quick question, where did you manage to find them? I’ve been attempting to buy the books, or even ebooks or audiobooks, either one, but I can’t find them anywhere that’ll let me do that from outside of South Korea.

bibliothecary · April 18, 2024, 4:46pm

I buy most of my (new) Korean books from Books on Korea

They sell them individually or in box sets.

HopeWaterfall · April 18, 2024, 5:22pm

Thank you! They have so many books! I even found the full set of all the 이상한 과자 가게 전천당 books there, plus the series’ guide.

It’s like this website is built to bleed me dry however. That price, plus shipping and potentially customs… So I can see why I hadn’t looked much at their website before, the shipping is expensive (I’m sure that some stores have even more ridiculous shipping fees, but still, it comes out to around $20 per kilogram for me at best). Also, do you know if there are often some customs fees to pay in addition to the shipping fees?

bibliothecary · April 18, 2024, 6:19pm

The ebooks are available on Google Play, which is probably cheaper.

Yeah, the shipping is a bit frustrating, because although they use DHL, they don’t seem to follow DHL’s shipping prices - rather, they seem to charge per item. I would buy so much more from there if they calculated shipping correctly.

I’ve never had to pay any (in the UK), but these things vary by country.

mic · April 18, 2024, 7:49pm

Speaking of Germany:

What you pay is called import VAT. It usually is the same rate that you‘d pay if you bought the book at home, so that buying it somewhere else doesn’t mean an advantage or disadvantage.

At Amazon.jp e.g. you have to pay it together with the book. So it seems that there is no tax at all, but it is hidden in the invoice. That’s why their packages usually get through without much problems. Sometimes customs want to see that invoice just to make sure Amazon did it right, then they wave it through anyway.

At other firms, like e.g. CDJapan you can choose between them collecting it for you, or you paying it at customs. I choose to pay at costumes directly as CD Japan does not seem to know that books have a reduced tax rate in Germany.