I was working really hard to stay focused and do what I can. I’m really glad that it worked out. I stayed calm and did my job.- Dawid Kubacki (the winner of the 68th Four Hills Tournament 🥇
I’ve made a guide for those of you who are still learning the Korean alphabet. Please be aware that I do not encourage the use of romanization. I’ve included it in here because I received a number of asks asking about a post like this. There are so many different ways of pronouncing the same letters or words that all of you may read the words above completely differently from how I do.
My best advice would be to download an app on your phone or watch a youtube video in order to learn how to pronounce each letter properly. This romanization is a rough guide, and I’ve written it to how I read it in my head. I believe you will find that they are the letters that you will most commonly find being used to represent each Korean letter. After a while, you’ll find you won’t even need romanization to help you along! :-)
Memorizing and learning the Korean alphabet is one of my most frequently asked questions. Today let’s review strategies on how to master hangeul (한글)!
First, it’s useful to set up the alphabet in a table like this where you have consonants (자음) on the left side going from top to bottom, and vowels (모음) at the top of the page from left to right.
Most Korean alphabet sheets are set up this way and I’ll be using the first 3 consonants (ㄱ/g, ㄴ/n, ㄷ/d) and first 3 vowels (아/a, 야/ya, 어/eo) in the following examples to demonstrate why as well as why this makes learning the alphabet easy.
Let’s take the first consonant ㄱ(g) and first vowel 아(ah). Right away we notice that the intersection of those letters is 가 (ga). We know this because:
ㄱ(g) + 아(ah) = 가.
This can be done with the following consonant as well where we see that:
ㄴ(n) + 아(ah) = 나.
This can be repeated for all 14 consonants as you move vertically down the line.
So, if you know that ㄱ(g) + 아(ah) = 가(ga), do you know what sounds make 갸? Yes! Because just as we got:
ㄱ(g) + 아(ah) = 가(ga), the same rule applies where
ㄱ(g) + 야(ya) = 갸(gya), and ㄴ(n) + 야(ya) = 냐(nya).
“So how should I practice?”
Well, now that we have the basics down, you can learn the alphabet quickly by practicing writing out each consonant and vowel combination together 10 times saying them aloud as you write.
First write down each consonant:
ㄱ(g): ㄱ ㄱ ㄱ ㄱ ㄱ
ㄴ(n): ㄴ ㄴ ㄴ ㄴ ㄴ
ㄷ(d): ㄷ ㄷ ㄷ ㄷ ㄷ
etc.
Then write down each vowel:
아(a): 아 아 아 아 아
야(ya): 야 야 야 야 야
어 (eo): 어 어 어 어 어
etc.
Then put them together:
가(ga): 가 가 가 가 가
나(na): 나 나 나 나 나
다(da): 다 다 다 다 다
etc.
Within no time you’ll have mastered the alphabet and will be able to read anything you see!
On June 14, Maria turned 19 year old. Many years later, a story was published in one of the Western Romanov biographies* about a guard named Shorokhodov, who smuggled in a cake for Maria’s birthday in June if 1918, and was consequently dismissed from his post, after being caught in a “compromising position” with Maria. This narrative must be addressed, because there is absolutely no first-hand evidence that anything like this ever happened. The story of the cake seems to have originated with one of the executioners, Pyotr Ermakov, whose accounts have subsequently been proven to be unreliable. Ivan Sokorokhodov was indeed a guard at the Ipatiev House, but he left due to illness and hospitalization rather than dismissal. In early July, the new commandant Yakov Yurovksy installed a different guard team team at the Ipatiev house, which led to hyper-monitoring of fraternization between the guards and prisoners in their final days. Breaking any rules, no matter how minor, resulted in the violator being immediately thrown in a local jail. This is another reason that makes the “cake” story unlikely.
The “cake” myth also served as a basis for stories about Maria being “shunned” or “frozen out” by her family members for her alleged inappropriate behavior, but once again, there is no evidence for this whatsoever. Parts of a note written by Yakov Yurovsky about a conversation with visiting clergy, which was cited as a source for this, have been misconstrued and used to imply something untoward happened between Maria and a guard. It was quoted that the priest who conducted the last service for the family stated that “one must give a pass [for inappropriate behavior] to an imperial soul.” However, the original Yurovsky note mentions nothing of the sort–the pertinent part reads: “I invited the Priest and the Deacon. When they had got dressed in their vestments in my commandant’s office, I told them that they could perform the Service according to custom, but warned there must be no conversation. The Deacon declared, ‘This is what happened before and not with such important people. If one messed it up, it can cause a scandal, but in this situation, we can sort it out in good spirit.’” It is unclear what the myth of Maria’s inappropriate behavior and consequent shunning was based on other than perhaps faulty translation in the original publication that referenced the alleged incident.
The same book also used the recollections of V.N Netrebin, another guard at the Ipatiev house, as a source of this pervasive myth.
*’The Fate of the Romanovs’ by Greg King & Penny Wilson is the book in question that perpetuated this myth. It was repeated as fact in ‘The Last Days of the Romanovs: Ekaterinburg’ by Helen Rappaport (author of “The Romanov Sisters”, also known as ‘Four Sisters’). It is no doubt why the Netflix docudrama “Last of the Czars” included a sex scene between Maria and a guard.
happy christmas to all those celebrating with me, and to the rest of you, i hope you’re still enjoying a winter holiday from school! didn’t ask for anything this year, and yet my mom knows me too well 🥰
