Wiki: List of songs that are useful for learning Korean

Question

Please add one song per answer, including

• A link to the song
• A link to the lyrics
• Reasons why you think it is a good song to learn from

Answer 1

PSY - Gangnam Style (강남스타일)

lyrics

Arguably, any ≥intermediate Korean learner should know and understand a song this famous! It's also good for practicing adjectives (형용사) and adjectival phrases.

Answer 2

Epik High - Love Love Love

better quality sound, but not official video

lyrics

Excellent for learning the '~을 해본 적' construction meaning 'I have experienced', or (in this song) 'have you ever experienced...'

Answer 3

이소라 Lee Sora - 바람이 분다 Wind blows

lyrics

This song was selected as one of the seven songs with the most beautiful lyrics by 14 Korean poets in 2014.

Related Huffington Post (Korea) article titled "시인들이 뽑은 가장 아름다운 노래가사는 (The most beautiful lyrics chosen by poets)"

Other songs selected:

김광진의 '편지', 브로콜리너마저의 '보편적인 노래', 델리스파이스의 '고백', 김윤아의 '봄날은 간다', 루시드폴의 '물이 되는 꿈'

Answer 4

요조 Yozoh - 우리는 선처럼 가만히 누워 We lie quietly like a line

Lyrics

This song was selected as one of the seven songs with the most beautiful lyrics by 14 Korean poets in 2014.

Related Huffington Post (Korea) article titled "시인들이 뽑은 가장 아름다운 노래가사는 (The most beautiful lyrics chosen by poets)"

Other songs selected:

김광진의 '편지', 브로콜리너마저의 '보편적인 노래', 델리스파이스의 '고백', 김윤아의 '봄날은 간다', 루시드폴의 '물이 되는 꿈'

Answer 5

나얼 Naul - 바람기억 (Memory of the Wind)

lyrics

Great song with slow tempo and useful Korean idiomatic expressions. The Youtube video has English + Hangul + Romanization subtitles.

Answer 6

EXO - Moonlight

The link is a video with lyrics, romanization and translation.

I think this song is good because it has a mix of sentence forms, including:

• informal intimate sentences the persona wishes to say to the other person (the one he loves?): verse two, later half of the bridge, and the recurring 그 날개가 젖으니
• artistic descriptions of imagery: pre-chorus
• direct expression of personal experiences and feelings: verse one, chorus, first half of the bridge

Feedback please :-)

Answer 7

마시따 벤드 (Masitta Band) - 돌멩이 (Stone)

lyrics

Our life is metaphorically expressed as '돌멩이 (stone)' and we can learn a lot of metaphorical and idiomatic expressions.

Answer 8

버스커 버스커 (Busker Busker) - 벚꽃 엔딩

Lyrics¹

As one of the most popular songs among the South Korean public, this is good to catch some important points on pronunciation:

• 벚꽃 잎이 [벋꼰니피]
• 흩날리는 [흔날리는]
• 알 수 없는 [알ː쑤엄는]
• 네 as [니]² (incorrect but common in colloquial language)
• 겹쳐 as [겹처]
• 많아요 as [마ː나요]
• 많군요 as [만ː쿤뇨]³ (incorrect but common in colloquial language)

By the way, you can ignore the symbol, ː, as most Koreans do.

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¹ Reading English Translation won't really help you understand the lyrics because of some parts including 울려 퍼질 and 흩날리는. They are difficult to translate.

² [네] only is correct, but many songs will pronounce 네 as 니 and even have 니 in their lyrics because lots of Koreans cannot differentiate 네 (your) from 내 (my).

³ [만ː쿠뇨] only is correct.

Answer 9

여자친구(GFriend) - 시간을 달려서¹

Lyrics

Several usage points can be found:

• ...헤매이고² 있어 (present progressive)
• 좋아하지만, 해 봐도, 헤매여도³, and 그렇지만 (contrast or concessive)
• ...하면 할수록 ("the more ... try to ...")
• ...만날 거야 (future or guess)
• 기다릴게 and 잡아 줄게 (promise or determination)
• 언제까지나 ("until whenever")
• ...될 수만 있다면 ("If only ... could be(come) ...")
• 어리긴 한가 봐 (emphasis on 어리다 and guess)
• 꿈처럼 and 기적처럼 (simile)
• 서툴기만 한대도⁴ (emphasis on 서툴다 and concessive)

There are words for advanced learners:

• 끗
• 평행선

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¹ Please be aware of some mistranslated lines especially in Chorus.

² 헤매이고 is incorrect; 헤매고 is correct.

³ 헤매여도 is incorrect; 헤매도 is correct.

⁴ 한대도 is incorrect; 하대도 is correct.