Episode 30.5 : Korean Pop Music & the Language
SEP 24, 2021
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You'll find that the structure of this episode, Ep. 30.5,  is quite different from what you are used to (that is if you're a regular listener of our podcast :)  It was recorded in the car, so the audio quality is not going to be amazing to say the least, but hopefully you’ll find something useful and educational. I also did some light post production editing just to make it easier to listen to, so you’ll hear some cuts here and there...

You’ll hear two songs in the background. The first song is “그때 그 아이 Someday The Boy” from the K-drama, Itawon Class, aired in 2020; and the second song is “소리 Sound" from Mr. Sunshine, aired in 2018. (As of now, yes, both of these ARE available on Netflix! )

The main points we wanted to get across through today’s episode was idiosyncrasies of the Korean language by examining semantics and pragmatics of K-pop lyrics: For example, the term 그대 or 당신 is translate as ‘you’ in English. They are however not part of daily conversation, but rather mostly used in artistic or literary texts, evoking romantic emotions. This probably explains why you see these terms in Korean love songs so frequently. I also brought up a new speech style, called the plain style. It is used when presenting someone's own thoughts to oneself or talking to oneself. 

Ok, with those pointers in mind, please enjoy the lesson! 


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