Korean Through Music: "The Three Bears" Song
The Beginner I Korean class learning the lyrics and motions to “The Three Bears” song. 📸: LanGo Institute.
Learning a language through music is an excellent idea for many reasons. First, music is sticky! Ever had an "earworm", i.e., a song stuck in your head? We all have! That's because music sticks in your brain. The repetition of words and phrases accompanied by a catchy tune can be the perfect formula for learning new vocabulary in a way that’s not only fun but also memorable. Second, music is portable! Once you have a song committed to memory, you can recall it and hum or sing it anytime. Finally, learning language through music gives you valuable context for new vocabulary and how it's used in real life situations. After all, learning a bunch of words won’t help you actually do things in your target language if you don’t know when and how to use them.
To learn language through music, we recommend the following steps:
Find a song in your target language that you really enjoy.
Listen to the song a few times while reading the transliterated or romanized lyrics.
Break the song down into manageable chunks and figure out the meanings of all the words by looking them up in a language dictionary, or by asking your language teacher or a native speaker.
Actively listen to the song, paying close attention to the words, pronunciation and cadence of the lyrics.
SING! Once you've practiced the pronunciation and understand the meaning of lyrics, don't just listen... sing! Just like the best way to learn a language is to speak it, the best way to learn the song is to sing it.
On the blog today, we highlight the popular Korean children's song 곰 세 마리 (gom se ma-ri) ‘The Three Bears’ as a fun example of how to learn and practice a target language through music. The song comes from the story of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” and is often taught to Korean children along with its accompanying dance motions (see the video linked at the end of this post). Many Korean drama fans will also remember that it was featured on the KBS drama sitcom 풀하우스 Full House (see below).
We first present the Korean lyrics and the romanization, before providing the meanings of the words and the English translation. So let's look at (and sing) this super fun, super catchy K-song together!
"The Three Bears" 곰 세 마리 (gom se ma-ri)
Korean lyrics
곰 세 마리가 한 집에 있어
아빠 곰, 엄마 곰, 아기 곰!
아빠 곰은 뚱뚱해
엄마 곰은 날씬해
아기 곰은 너무 귀여워
으쓱! 으쓱!* 잘한다!
*Note: Some versions of the song use 히쭉! 히쭉! (hi-jjuk hi-jjuk) 'heehee' (the sound of giggling) here instead.
Romanization
gom sae ma-ri-ga han ji-be iss-eo
a-ppa gom, eom-ma gom, a-gi gom!
a-ppa gom-eun ttung-ttung -hae
eom-ma gom-eun nal-ssin-hae
a-gi gom-eun neo-mu gi-yeo-wo
eu-sseuk! eu-sseuk! jal-ran-da!
Vocabulary
세: three (Note: 셋 is the basic counting form for three in the Sino-Korean number system, and 세 is an allomorph of 셋 that occurs in open syllables.)
마리: counting word for animals
한: one
집: house
~에 있어: is at some place
아빠: daddy
엄마: mommy
애기: baby (Note: 아기 is the most common word, but many people also say 애기)
뚱뚱해: be fat
날씬해: be slim
너무: too much, a lot
귀여워: cute
으쓱으쓱 : the sound of moving one's shoulders up and down (i.e., shrugging) as part of a dance move
잘한다: good job, lit. ‘well done’
English translation
There are three bears in a house
Daddy bear, Mommy bear, Baby bear!
Daddy bear is fat
Mommy bear is slim
Baby bear is too cute
Shrug! Shrug! <<the sound of the baby dancing>> Good job!
Got the hang of the pronunciation and the vocabulary? Now try singing the song in Korean and adding these adorable dance moves!
Though infinitives might seem like a small grammar point, a good understanding of infinitives is critical for proper acquisition of your target language.