I have been looking at Korean children’s videos and songs. My son, Phoenix, we’ve discovered, likes to watch Pororo (뽀로로) without subtitles (he’s 6) and we can both pretty much understand what’s going on. (I always get super happy when I hear words I understand, of course!!) It’s a great learning tool. So, I stumbled upon several videos sung by the same group of characters and I am loving the simplicity and the learning they provide. The first I’m going to talk about is called “곰 세마리가” (Three fuzzy bears!)
So, what are they singing?
곰 세마리가 한집에 있어 Kom se-ma-ri-ga han-chib-e iss-eo
Three fuzzy bears live in a cabin
아빠곰 엄마곰 애기곰 A-ppa gom, om-ma gom, ae-gi gom
Daddy Bear, mommy bear, baby bear
아빠곰은 뚱뚱해 A-ppa gom-eun ttung-ttung-hae
Daddy bears is big and fat
엄마곰은 날씬해 om-ma gom-eun nal-ssin-hae
Mommy bear is slim and trim
애기곰은 너무 귀여워 Ae-gi gom-eun no mu gwi-yo-wo
Baby bear is such a cutie pie
히쭉히쭉 잘한다 Hi-ssuk Hi-ssuk, chal-han-da
Tee-hee tee-hee, there you go
Literally translated, it doesn’t sound so fun:
The three bears in a house
Daddy bear, Mommy bear, baby bear.
daddy the fat
The thin mommy
Baby bear is too cute
hee hee good
And that is one of the challenges of learning any language. Working out the finer points of the things that are being said. Is it a house? Or a cabin? How do we know? Is mommy bear thin? Slim? Slim and trim? I guess these things come in time and learning context and so forth…
