· 5 lists · 200 words
Korean culture and history
Daily life in Korea, holidays, traditions, arts, history, values.
What holds these lists together
Two holidays shape the Korean year, and both follow the lunar calendar: 설날, the New Year, and 추석, the harvest festival in autumn. At New Year children bow to their elders, 세배, and receive money in return, 세뱃돈; everybody eats rice-cake soup, 떡국, and a bowl of it is said to add a year to your age. Some of the most useful words in these lists have no English equivalent at all: 정, the warm attachment that grows between people who spend time together, and 눈치, the knack of sensing what others think without being told. They explain a good deal of everyday behaviour. The lists add the arts and literature, the old kingdoms and palaces, and the things a visitor meets on the first day — 찜질방, 김밥, delivery to the door.
The five lists
Spread across the levels
The category runs across the levels — it is an area, not a difficulty. If you practise it, you can also choose a level at the top of the practice page and then get only the part that sits there.
| Level | Words | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 0 % |
| 2 | 41 | 20 % |
| 3 | 43 | 22 % |
| 4 | 115 | 58 % |
Practise this category
Multiple choice and gaps, across all five lists and all 200 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.