About lucky draw.

안녕하세요-

오랜만에 글 남깁니다.

As you noticed, we stopped doing our lucky draw for about 2 weeks.

Since last December, we hardly get reviews from our lucky draw winners.

Also we have noticed that some of the applicants applied on several lucky draws regardless level of the book.

Some of the applicants did not give us url of their blog/FB/twitter so we were not able to check whether they fulfilled condition of applicant.

 

In this regards,

we hope not to be strict on our lucky draw applicants but we may have to do.

Our new lucky draw would be started when we collect all the reviews from our lucky draw winners.

We haven’t sent any email to our winners yet about the review.

We would start to send emails tomorrow. (Hopefully get the reviews soon)

 

바쁘시더라도,

약속 하신 거니까,

꼭 지켜주시길 부탁드립니다.

 

In April,

we are planning to update books especially on reading material (novels, essays, elementary school textbooks, comic books, …, etc.).

Hope you all like our new selection.

 

Have a lovely night & day!

[39th Lucky Draw] The winner is….

안녕하세요-

Before we announce the winner, we feel sorry that we cannot hold 40th Lucky Draw this week.

We have sent books but we have received only a few reviews.

We decided to take a week off and get some ideas on this matter.

(** Please send us reviews..T-T)

Well,

anyways, let’s find out the winner!

** Person who got 당첨! is the winner. (This random picker is called 사다리타기)

The winner!! -> Please send us details of shipping information to us. :)

Thanks for applying for the Lucky draw.

Hope you all have a great day and hope you could win next time. :)

와 주셔서 감사합니다.

다들 행복한 하루 보내세요-

Next lucky draw would be posted soon.

** Some of the winners do not send us email with shipping info.

The person may not check our posts.T-T

In this case, we would redo the lucky draw if the winner does not send us shipping info within a month.

We do not notify. If you do not check, your luck would go away.

The person who won but did not send us shipping info within a month won’t be able to apply for other lucky draws permanently.

3·1절 [三一節] March 1st Movement (Samil Movement)

안녕하세요.

오늘은 3·1절(삼일절)입니다.

일본 식민지배하에서 대한독립을 외친 유관순 열사 외 우리 선조들의 뜻을 기리기 위한 날입니다.

두산백과 사전에 따르면,

3·1절 [三一節]

919년 3월 1일, 한민족이 일본의 식민통치에 항거하고, 독립선언서를 발표하여 한국의 독립 의사를 세계 만방에 알린 날을 기념하는 날.

매년 이맘 때가 되면 전국에서 수천명의 사람들이 만세운동을 재현하기도 합니다.

특히, 유관순 열사와 같은 나이인 18살 소녀들의 참가가 두드러집니다.

* To commemorate, many of Koreans including 18-year-old girls (same age as Yu Gwan Soon) participate flag parade at various places.

 

가정에서는 집집마다 태극기를 달아서 삼일절을 기념하기도 해요.

기회가 되신다면, 도보행진에 참여해보시는 것도 좋을 것 같아요. :)

For readers who speaks english…

The Samil Movement came as a result of the repressive nature of colonial occupation under the military rule of the Japanese Empire following 1905, and the “Fourteen Points” outlining the right of national “self-determination” proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference in January 1919. After hearing news of Wilson’s speech, Korean students studying in Tokyo published a statement demanding freedom from colonial rule.

On march 1st in the year 1919, 33 brave activists gathered in Seoul to cry out against Japan’s oppressive rule of the Korean Peninsula. They formed the core of the Samil Movement by signing and reading aloud the Korean Declaration of Independence. The proclamation provided a catalytic momentum for the Korean Independence Movement, that would eventually include the participation of some 2 million people nationwide. Japanese authorities worked to regain tight control, by acting with brutality. They finally put down the movement 12 months later, resulting in about 7,000 people killed and 16,000 wounded according to Korean figures. Among those that died was 18-year-old Yu Gwan-soon. She was one of the leaders of her town in Chungnam. Her strong passion and conviction inspired many to join the independence rallies. Although the March 1st movement didn’t bring an end to Japan’s occupation of Korea, it was significant in strengthening national unity, leading to the birth in Shanghai of the Korean Provisional Government, and drawing attention from around the world.

 

[독도의 날] Day of Dokdo Island of South Korea.

안녕하세요.

오늘은 대한민국 섬 독도의 날 입니다.

독도의 날을 기념해 독도에 관한 한국어 영상이 올라와 있어 포스팅합니다.

This video would be translated into English soon.

** Facts about Dokdo (source from http://en.dokdo.go.kr)

[한글날] 오늘은 한글 반포 567주년 입니다.

안녕하세요-

오늘은 세종대왕이 한글을 반포한 지 567주년이 되는 날 입니다.

Let’s firstly learn about what is the “Hangeul Day”.

Hangeul Day commemorates the creation and distribution of the Hunminjeongeum by King Sejong at the beginning of the Joseon dynasty. This day was established in 1926. At first, based on the records in the Wangjosilnok (vol. 113, September, 28th year of King Sejong (Byeongin Year)), which states, “At last, the Hunminjeongeum has been completed this month,” the last day of September in the Lunar calendar–the 29th–was titled and commemorated as Gagya Day.
In 1928, its name was officially changed to Hangeul Day, and in 1931 Hangeul Day was re-set to the Solar calendar, adjusted to conform to the Julian calendar, making it October 29th. In 1934, however, the Solar calendar used in Korea was, based on the views of the Gregorian calendar, once again changed from “September 29th of the Lunar calendar in the 28th year of King Sejong” to “October 28th, 1446 A.D.” In July 1940, an original copy of the Hunminjeongeum was found in Andong City, North Gyeongsang Province, which contained the words, “The beginning of September of the eleventh year of Jeongtong” On this basis, after Korea’s restoration of independence in 1945, the last day of the beginning of September –September 10th–was recognized as the day Hangeul was distributed, and converted to the Solar calendar; Hangeul Day was fixed to October 9th, 1446 A.D.
In 1946, commemorating the 500th year since the distribution of Hangeul, Hangeul Day was made a legal holiday. However, from 1991, it has since been excluded as a legal holiday. In December of 2005, it was elevated to the status of national holiday.

** source: 한글박물관 http://www.hangeulmuseum.org

세종대왕 (King Sejong)

Hunminjeongeum was commissioned by the great King Sejong.
He was born on May 15th 1397 (6th year of Taejo’s reign) as the third son between Taejong, the third King of Joseon dynasty, and Queen Wonkyung. In 1408 (8th year of Taejong’s reign) he was designated as Chungnyeong-gun, and in 1413 as Chungnyeong-daegun, and he became the crown prince in June 1418. In August of the same year he succeeded his father Taejong as the fourth King of the Joseon dynasty.
King Sejong was benevolent and diligent by nature, very fond of learning, talented in many ways and he enjoyed various hobbies. He administered state affairs based on his love for the people, he had deep compassion for the people’s suffering and he paid great attention to the people’s welfare.
The era of Sejong was politically stabilized, so political, economical, social and cultural frameworks were established in this period. The Joseon dynasty was firmly established as a nation state through the invention of Hunminjeongeum, development of agriculture, science and technology, regulation of medical, pharmaceutical, musical and legal practice, legislation of taxation, and territorial expansion, etc. during his reign. This era achieved the most brilliant Confucian politics and culture.

** source: 한글박물관 http://www.hangeulmuseum.org

훈민정음 (Hunminjeongeum)

There are two things with the same name Hunminjeongeum. One is the name of an alphabet and the other is the name of a book.
Hunminjeongeum, the alphabet, is the initial term which indicates the Korean alphabet. The term Hunminjeongeum was coined by King Sejong, who invented Hunminjeongeum which means, “The proper sounds for the instruction of the people.”
There were other names for the Korean alphabet, including Jeong-eum, Eon-mun, and Guk-mun in late Joseon dynasty. At present Hangeul is widely used.
Hunminjeongeum, the book, was published on September, in the 28th year of King Sejong’s reign (1446 A.D.), by the lunar calendar and consisted of a book printed from wood blocks and contained 33 sheets. Hunminjeongeum is divided into two parts: Ye-eui (例義) (precedents and definition) and Hae-rye (解例) (explanations and examples). Ye-eui was made by the king and Hae-rye by 8 scholars including Jeong In-ji. Hae-rye was discovered at Andong, Kyeongsangbuk-do in 1940 and is retained at the Gansong museum (located in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul). It is designated as the national treasure number 70. It was registered as a UNESCO Memory of the World on October 1, 1997.

** source: 한글박물관 http://www.hangeulmuseum.org

*** Please visit [Want to know about Hanguel?] page to find out more about Hangeul. (written in English and Korean)

1. Individual Letters of Hangeul and Its Principles

2. The Background of Hangeul Invention

3. Hangeul in the World

4. The Providing Process of Hangeul

5. Different Names for Hangeul

6. The Origin of Hangeul Day

 

** Drama 뿌리깊은 나무 is deeply related with Hangeul but it contains fiction in it.

Still very useful to understand basic of Hangeul.

Dear. Applicants on lucky draw.

안녕하세요.
As all you know, we hold book review lucky draw.
We pick the winner through random program to give fair opportunity to everyone.
We request some condition to all applicants such as sharing the post or liking our Facebook page.
However, some of the applicants are commenting on the post only.

We are sorry to say this but applicants who did not satisfy condition of applicant won’t be accepted as applicant.

If you shared on your blog(except wordpress) or Facebook, please let us know the url so we could check. (Unless we cannot accept your application)

Thanks for your understanding and have a good day.

Book recommendation for Beginners who barely knows Korean language(Hangeul).

안녕하세요-

Today,

we are going to introduce and recommend some books for basic learners who barely knows Korean language.

Please find your current status first.

1. I’m like a baby. I can speak Annyeonghaseyo(안녕하세요) but I cannot read or write the word.

– We recommend you to start with the books containing how to read/write Hangeul.

– If you click the picture of the book, product detail page of our store would be opened.

You can see the preview images of the book.

A. Korean Made Easy – Starter

This book teaches you how to write and read Hangeul.

It’s like english version of Hangeul learning book written for Korean children.

When you complete this book, you can move to higher level of this book series.

Korean made easy Starter -> Korean made easy for beginners -> Korean Made Easy for Everyday Life

All written in English.

B. 열린한국어 입문서

This book is a bit lighter than Korean made easy Starter.

It also focuses on “How to read and write Hangeul”.

Available in English, Chinese, and Japanese.

C. 들으면서 쓰는 한국어 펜맨십 (Step by Step Korean Penmanship)

This book is more focusing on how to write Hangeul.

The book contains cassette tape so that you can listen and write Hangeul.

All written in English.

At this stage,
purchasing Korean notebooks would be helpful.

This is a notebook made for Korean children for practicing Hangeul writing.

The notebook has 4 types which are 8칸 쓰기, 10칸 쓰기, 8칸 국어, 10칸 국어.

8칸 쓰기, 10칸 쓰기 are having bigger space and it is suitable for very first stage.

Korean elementary students uses 8칸 국어, 10칸 국어 notebooks to write in class or doing their homework.

2. I know how to write and read Hangeul but my vocabulary is humble and I don’t know about grammar.

– At this stage, it is important to learn basic grammar.

– You can start memorizing vocabulary with flash card but make sure that you know all the words in the book you are using.

A. Korean Grammar in Use_Beginning

This book is one of the bestsellers among Korean grammar books.

It starts with tenses and the book covers basic grammars that you need to know.

If you complete this book you could continue to intermediate level of the book.

Knowing grammar is important so we put this book at the first.

Available in English, Chinese, and Japanese.

B. Korean made easy for beginners

This book contains basic communication dialogue with little bit of grammar. Words are very practical so you can use them when you visit Korea for example.

All written in English.

C. Cours de coréen – niveau debutant

If you speak French, this is the one you should consider first.

This book contains most of the grammars and includes workbook as well.

All written in French.

D. Books written by universities.

– New Sogang Korean ( 서강한국어 1A ~ 5B)

– Ewha Korean ( 이화 한국어 1-1 ~ 6)

– Yonsei Korean ( 연세 한국어 1-1 ~ 6)

– SNU (한국어 1~ 5B) -> would be re-issued from August.

Books written by universities are the textbooks used in class of each university’s language course.

Thus, if you are planning to study alone, it would be much better to purchase workbooks.

Workbooks are mostly thicker than student’s books and it is important to practice with workbook.

3. I know how to write and read Hangeul. I want to improve communication skills in Korean rather than learning all the grammars.

– Here, we would like to introduce books not much focus on grammar but more focus on practical expressions.

A. Hello Korean with Jun Gi Lee ( 이준기와 함께 하는 안녕하세요 한국어)

This book is recorded with the voice of Jun Gi Lee.

It does not containing many of grammars but easily written.

Also it is available in Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese.

This book has 3 levels but final level is in the progress of making.

B. Fast & Fun Korean

Contents are similar to “Hello Korean with Jun Gi Lee” but a bit easier.

Maybe good if you have friends to study with.

Available in English and Japanese.

4. I know how to write and read Hangeul and I need to learn simple Korean words for my business.

Korean Language for a Good Job

This book is written for person who work at Korean company.

Not much focus on grammar but on practical expressions for doing business.

It contains very basic conversations and the book continues to level 2.

All written in English.

5. Okay. Now I got an idea of what book I need to have.
Then, would you recommend books for improving my vocabulary?

At the basic level, we would recommend flash card rather than textbook format.

Palm Space: 기초 영단어 800 Words

This is originally made for Korean elementary students who study English.

This contains over 800 words with picture on it.

When you complete this, there are much more flashcards you could try.

From many of flashcards, “사자성어” is quite good.

Find out more flashcards published by 손바닥공간.

Last question,

Would you recommend books to practice my Korean writing(penmanship) ?

짱! 한글 Series is quite good for practicing Korean penmanship.

It is written for native Korean children age 4~7.

It has 6 levels and level 5-6 also contains grammar lessons.

This book is good for enhancing vocabulary skill as well.

If you were looking for TOPIK books for beginners,

it is better to complete the books above first.

It’s too early to start TOPIK.

The next recommendation on books would be the grammar.

Thanks for reading such a long post and hope it helps you. :)

About Special Order…

Did you know that twoChois.com also accepts special/personal orders too?

If you haven’t heard of it, today is the day you would get to know about our Special Order System. :)

1. What is Special Order?

– twoChois.com proudly introduce our “Special Order” service to our customers.

This is customized order for individual customer.

Things only available to purchase inside of South Korea can be yours!

We order goods on behalf of our customers and send them to their home/office.

2. What can I order via Special Order?

– Basically anything you want to buy from Korea.

* food, cosmetics are not available to ship outside of Korea due to quarantine issue.
** We only accept special orders on legal and official goods.

3. How can I place my order then?

• Find the item.

We recommend you to visit online shopping malls of Korea through Google Chrome and use translation function.

• Submit the “Special order request” on our store.

Information you need to include: name of the product, brand, size, color, photo, etc.
One of our staffs would write a reply regarding your request.

• Find your name at “Special order category” and Pay!

If the item is available to purchase, your requested item would be seen on the category with your name on it.

Then, wait until the product arrives at your home!

4. How much do I pay?

Price of special orders are configured as follow…

Total payment = primary payment + accompanying payment

1. Primary payment = original price of the item + domestic shipping fee

2. Accompanying payment = International shipping fee + Service fee* + gift wrapping(upon customer’s need)

* Service fee is 15% of the original price of the item.
However, items under $100, $15 of minimum service fee would be applied.
Service fee includes payment transaction fee.

**Any customs and duties are not included in the final cost.
Each customer has responsibility on any customs and duties that may occur.
Please contact to your national customs office regarding any of possible taxes.

Prices would be calculated in US Dollar.(We apply buying $ exchange rate of the day)
We accept paypal and credit cards through paypal system.
(Customers who does not have paypal account can pay by their credit cards.)

5. How do you ship my items?

We ship via Airmail, EMS, DHL, and FEDEX.

* Orders over $100 cannot be shipped by airmail.

** Insurance fee is free up to $500 per order on EMS.

*** If customer does not specify shipping method,we ship through EMS.

6. Would you recommend some Korean e-commerce stores?

Sure-

Please refer the sites below.

1. Department store

Lotte.com: http://www.lotte.com/

Shinsegae Mall: http://mall.shinsegae.com/

Hmall: http://www.hyundaihmall.com/

GSshop: http://www.gsshop.com/

AKmall: http://www.akmall.com/

2. Official site of Brands

MCM: http://www.shopmcm.com/

J.estina: http://www.jestina.co.kr/

Bean Pole: http://www.beanpole.com/

NII: http://www.10q.co.kr/

Couronne: http://www.couronne.co.kr/shop/main.jsp

Lovcat: http://www.lovcatmall.com/

Pancoat: http://shop.pancoat.com/

Brunomagli: https://www.kumkangmall.com/Mall/Product/brunomagli.asp

Mandarina Duck: http://www.mandarinaduckmall.co.kr

Customellow: http://www.customellow.com/shop/main.jsp

Lucky chouette: http://www.luckychouette.com/

Steve J & Yoni P: http://www.steveyoniworld.com/

Magarin fingers: http://www.margarinfingers.com/

3. Official site of K-pop Stars

YG Entertainment: http://www.ygeshop.com/shop/

CJES Entertainment: http://www.cjesstore.com/

SM Entertainment: currently not available

FNC Entertainment: http://www.fncstore.com/

DSP Entertainment: http://www.sendmall.co.kr/

Cube Entertainment: http://www.cubee.co.kr/

4. Idea products

1300k: http://www.1300k.com/

10 by 10: http://www.10×10.co.kr/

Try our Special Order Service today. :)

** Please share this post.  >_<

Guest post for “Korean Notebook”

안녕하세요? (Hello~)

I hope this finds you well.
This is 1Choi from twoChois.com.

Today, I am glad to write a guest post on Kay’s blog.

Here,

I’d like to introduce about our store and blog. :)

Store: http://www.twochois.com

Blog: https://twochois.wordpress.com

Kakaotalk: twoChois

E-mail: twochois@twochois.com

Located in Seoul

What is twoChois.com?

– twoChois.com is an e-commerce selling Korean products to people living outside of South Korea.

twoChois means:

a. two Chois (1 choi, 2 choi)

b. two Choices

The latter means that we sell products with our selection (1st choice), and customers buy with their own choices “Special order” (2nd choice).

What we sell?

1. Goods you can buy directly from our store (1^st Choice)
   – Books especially Korean learning books, Stationary, Accessories, etc…
   – Customers can request to add products here.
   
2. Goods you can order via “Special Order”(2^nd Choice)
   – Basically anything you want except some limitation; copycats, foods, electronic goods, etc.
   – Name the product or give us link. We will order and send it to your home for you.

Why shop at twoChois.com?

1. Previews available
   – We requested to Korean publishing company to give us good quality preview for our customers who may not have a chance to see the actual books.
   – Some of the books are not providing previews due to Intellectual Property Right(IPR) issue. We hope you could understand.** Example of our preview page from “Grammar in Use Korean”
   
2. Place your own order
   – Customers can order anything on Korean e-commerce site through “Special Order Service”.
   – Now you can shop like Koreans!
   ** Some products may not be able to purchase.
   
   
3. We provide tracking number
   – Don’t worry about your package anymore. We give you tracking number on every shipment. In most countries, it is able to view tracking status.
   – Shop with confidence!
4. We accept PayPal and Credit cards.
   – PayPal system is our main payment gateway.
   Customers who do not have PayPal account can also pay with their credit cards without creating PayPal account.
   – We never collect any of credit card information on our store.
   Enjoy secured shopping with us.
   ** When you proceed checkout without creating PayPal account,
   You cannot use an e-mail address or card number that belongs to an existing PayPal account. If you do not want to log-in to your PayPal account while procceding checkout,
   please use the email address and credit or debit card which do not belong to Paypal account.

   

5. Be the winner of the lucky draw for reviewing books!
   – To provide more active book reviews, we give an opportunity to receive a free book to our customers. The winner gets free book and is responsible for writing a review of the book within a month after receiving the book.
   – “Liking us” on our Facebook page. That is the first step. :)

Please visit our WordPress blog.

– Our blog is made for Korean language learners to provide information regarding Korean study. 받아쓰기(Dictation) would be held regularly.
If you don’t want to miss, follow us on WordPress.

Wow-

It’s almost done!

Please stay with us. The most important part is starting now!

Special offer

We’d like to give you “Special offer”.

One of these little cute notebooks is yours with your purchase over $30 at twoChois.com.
We randomly send a notebook, please leave your preference in advance.

This is it!

Thanks for reading a long~ post.

Hope to meet you soon. >-<

Thanks, Kay :)

We are taking a break at the moment.

블로그를
가을이 오면
다시 시작하려고 했는데,
시간이 조금 더 필요할 것 같아요.

내년에 돌아올게요.
모두들 행복한 하루 보내세요.

그리고 늦게라도 후기 꼭 올려주세요.

[6.23 ~ 7.11] We go on a vacation.

안녕하세요-

Finally it feels like SUMMER here. :)

We had early vacance last year and we go for a vacance this summer again. (꺄아~~~)

We won’t be able to respond or ship orders during June 23 to July 11.

Orders placed by June 18 could be shipped before we leave.

Please send us a email for the urgent requests. ( twochois@twochois.com)

For the missing shipments on previous orders, please contact to your regional post office first.

(This is the fastest way to find your package.)

We appreciate on your understanding and hope you all have a good day-

감사합니다.

[.005] TwoChois, 사랑해요!

This gallery contains 2 photos.

Originally posted on It's Hanguk Time:
Short post just to show you my second parcel from TwoChois that arrived today :) Did I say already how much I love TwoChois?? They’re AMAZING! They’re the best online store I ever tried! If you haven’t bought from them yet, you’re now probably asking why the hell I love…

Download K-Wave Magazines

Korean Vitamin linked K-Wave Magazine. Check and download ! :)

[Korean Audio Book] 전래 동화 (Korean Folktales for Children)