Tae Kwon Do

[maxiewawa]

I told a friend about KClass, and that I was learning Korean. He grinned, and said that he'd learned some Korean at his Tae Kwon Do classes. Whenever they bow, or do any exercises the accompanied shouting is all done in Korean.

But when he recited what he said to me, I couldn't understand a word. I couldn't even recognise it as Korean!

I suppose that it's just as likely that between his Chinese 跆拳道 teacher's terrible Korean and his terrible memory that they've both stuffed up the Korean as I didn't understand, but it occured to me that one of the most common ways that foreigners come into contact with Korean is through Tae Kwon Do. Maybe we could have a lesson describing all the vocabulary one might hear in a Tae Kwon Do bout, and during training?

[steved]

Funny, Korean martial arts classes here speak pretty unidentifiable Korean. I think it has been past from one non-Korean speaking person to another so many times that is just a jumble. To someone that doen't know any better it just has that "foreign" feel to it but to someone that does know better it is just sad.
The vocabulary used is fairly limited in an American class. I think it would be easy to create a list...

[Keith]

Maxie!

Again, thanks for the wonderful suggestion! I think that would be a great culture class because just as you said, many people start their interest in Korea and Korean through TaeKwonDo. And maybe I can record a video of me and Seol sparring as well

But somehow I don't think she'll want to take part in that one

We will definitely add it to the list of culture classes that we have planned

[maxiewawa]

No problem, I'm looking forward to it!

[turpie]

A lesson on Taekwondo terminology would be great. Our instructor learnt his from a Hungarian with a thick accent. Recently we had a korean guy join for while who corrected a few of common terms.