So it begins

Last night mom and I were talking how some of Korean institutions translate their names so ridiculously in English. For instance Keukdong (극동) University should have left its name alone rather than literally translating its name into Far East because a name is....

A name is what?

The word I was looking for was goyou-myeongsa (고유명사), which is a noun that is particular to something and therefore should not be translated. It's the same reason we call CERN (Conseil Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire) as it is rather than its English equivalent.

I felt so ashamed that I couldn't remember what the word was in English even after teaching grammar for a couple of years. My mom couldn't recall either, and she had taught English for so much longer. I later looked it up in the dictionary and eventually found that what I was looking for was a PROPER NOUN, but I still remember the shock and disbelief that hit me. The deterioration has begun.

I always think of skyping my friends but I never get the time. I'm always so tired after work and in the weekend I pretty much spend both days sleeping. This blog is the only thing that's keeping my written English proficiency to a certain level. Sigh.