S3 Ep 7: Story | My mom’s birthday 우리 엄마 생일

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시즌3, 7화. 이야기편 | 우리 엄마 생일
Season 3, Episode 7 – Story | My mom’s birthday

안녕하세요? 잘 지냈어요? It’s your host of the Korean study café, Vanessa.

Today we will listen to a story about how a Korean daughter is preparing for her mom’s birthday.

Then Now, shall we listen to the story?

Script

내일 모레는 우리 엄마의 생일이에요. 그래서 지금부터 저는 엄마 생일 파티를 준비해야 돼요. 저는 엄마 생일날 아침에 미역국을 끓여주고 싶어요. 그래서 오늘 마트에서 미역국 재료들을 살 거예요. 

사실 한국에서는 생일에 미역국을 먹어요. 미역은 혈액 순환을 돕고 몸에 좋은 영양소가 많아요. 그래서 한국 여자들은 임신과 출산을 하면 꼭 미역국을 먹어요. 이렇게 생일과 미역국은 깊은 관련이 있어요. 그래서 생일마다 나를 낳아준 엄마에게 감사하기 위해서 미역국을 먹어요. 

그리고 저는 미역국 외에도 또 다른 선물을 준비할 거예요. 내일 백화점에서 진주 귀걸이를 살 계획이에요. 분명히 엄마에게 아주 잘 어울릴 거예요. 사실 이 진주 귀걸이는 제 인생에서 엄마에게 주는 첫 선물이에요. 그래서 정말 떨려요. 제가 준비하는 생일 파티를 엄마가 좋아하면 좋겠어요.

English Translation

The day after tomorrow is my mother’s birthday. That’s why I am starting to prepare for my mother’s birthday party. I want to prepare seaweed soup on the morning of her birthday. So, I plan to stop by the grocery market today to buy some ingredients to cook seaweed soup.

It is common to have seaweed soup on their birthday in Korea. Seaweed helps to improve blood circulation and has lots of excellent nutrition for our bodies. As a result, Korean women have seaweed soup during pregnancy and after delivering a child. Hence, birthday and seaweed soup are deeply associated in Korea. So Koreans have seaweed soup on their birthday to appreciate their moms who gave birth to them.

Also, I plan to prepare another gift apart from seaweed soup. I plan to buy pearl earrings in a department store tomorrow. I’m sure it will look amazing on my mother. In reality, these pearl earrings are my first gift to my mom. Therefore I’m very nervous. I hope that my mom loves the birthday party that I’m preparing. 

How was it? Were you able to understand the story? Even if you didn’t, it’s fine because we will see the meaning together now.

Then, let’s check out some useful vocabulary and expressions.

내일 모레는 우리 엄마의 생일이에요. 그래서 지금부터 저는 엄마 생일 파티를 준비해야 돼요. 저는 엄마 생일날 아침에 미역국을 끓여주고 싶어요. 그래서 오늘 마트에서 미역국 재료들을 살 거예요. 

In this part, let’s break down the word 생일 birthday, which means 생 being alive, life, 일 day.

This syllable 생 is used a lot to create words related to the meaning of life. The real meaning of 생 is 목숨(a state of being alive), So if you see the word 생일 closely, you can notice that it means the day you begin to have a life. 

Then now, let’s see the words that used this syllable 생.

• 탄생 being born / 출생 being out to the world with life. These are the synonyms to say “being born.”

• 생명 life / but specifically, it means “energy to breathe and move.”

  • i.e.) 그 수술이 그 여자의 생명을 구했어요. The surgery saved her life.   

• 생존 survival / a status that maintains life / being alive

  • i.e.) 전쟁 때는 무엇보다 생존이 우선이에요. In wars, survival matters the most than others.

• 인생 a person’s life

  • i.e.) 그 때는 제 인생에서 가장 행복한 시간이었어요. That was the happiest time in my life

• 생활 life / a status that lives and does various activities. 

  • i.e.) 저는 학교 생활을 싫어했어요 I hated school life

• 평생 One’s whole/entire life

  • i.e.) 그건 제가 평생 모은 돈이에요. That is the money I saved for my whole life

• 생물 organism, living things, creatures, life / Things that can maintain their lives by themselves with life.  

How was it? Every word here is very related to one another, right? It will help you to memorize these words much easier.

Then now, let’s see the main vocabulary words used in this part.

• 준비하다 to prepare

• 끓여주다 It’s a compound word of 끓이다 to boil liquid 주다 for someone 

• 재료 ingredient

사실 한국에서는 생일에 미역국을 먹어요. 미역은 혈액 순환을 돕고 몸에 좋은 영양소가 많아요. 그래서 한국 여자들은 임신과 출산을 하면 꼭 미역국을 먹어요. 이렇게 생일과 미역국은 깊은 관련이 있어요. 그래서 생일마다 나를 낳아준 엄마에게 감사하기 위해서 미역국을 먹어요. 

생일 birthday in Korea is very deeply associated with food called 미역국 seaweed soup. As the story said, since seaweed is well-known for having loads of good nutrition such as iron and folic acid for pregnant women and women who delivered a baby, we have this custom of eating seaweed soup when women do so. In this sense, for Koreans, seaweed soup is deeply rooted in birthdays. Whenever we think of seaweed, it reminds us of a birthday.

This seaweed soup is nutritious as it is usually cooked with beef, abalone, clam, shrimp, etc., which can supplement protein. So why don’t you try to cook 미역국 on your next birthday or for someone’s birthday for whom you care so much?

Then now, let’s see the main vocabulary words used in this part.

• 혈액 순환 blood circulation

• 돕다 to help

• 영양소 nutrition

• 깊은 관련이 있다 to be deeply associated with

• 낳아주다 It’s a compound word of 낳다 to give birth 주다 for someone

그리고 저는 미역국 외에도 또 다른 선물을 준비할 거예요. 내일 백화점에서 진주 귀걸이를 살 계획이에요. 분명히 엄마에게 아주 잘 어울릴 거예요. 사실 이 진주 귀걸이는 제 인생에서 엄마에게 주는 첫 선물이에요. 그래서 정말 떨려요. 제가 준비하는 생일 파티를 엄마가 좋아하면 좋겠어요.

In this part, let’s check out the difference among the words meaning “first” in Korean. In this part of the story, we heard the sentence “사실 이 진주 귀걸이는 제 인생에서 엄마에게 주는 첫 선물이에요 In fact, these pearl earrings are the first gift that I give to my mom in my life” You heard it? 첫 선물 the first gift. As you hear here, 첫 means first, but this word should always be combined with another word. This word 첫 alone can not be used.

On the other hand, 첫째 also can be translated into English as “first,” but it slightly means different. 첫째, to be more exact, it means” the first one,” so this word is often used to say “the firstborn or the eldest child in a family.” For example, 제가 우리 집의 첫째예요. I’m the eldest child in my family.

Also, this word 첫 번째 means “the first one.” But this word has a slightly different nuance than 첫째. 첫 번째 is used to describe the first one in a series, so something you can expect that there will be similar ones coming up.

For this reason, when k-pop singers indicate their albums, they say 첫 번째 앨범 the first album to put a nuance that more albums will be coming out in the future.

Lastly, we have the word 처음, which is also translated as “first,” but to be more exact, this means “the first time.” So it is used for connective words like 처음에 at first, 처음으로 for the first time. Also, it’s used to say, “It’s my first time to do something.” something 하는 것은 처음이에요.

Then now, let’s see the main vocabulary words used in this part.

• 선물 gift, present

• 백화점 department store

• 진주 pearl

• 귀걸이 earrings