Being fascinated of the East Asian Culture at a young age, I always wanted to study Chinese and/or Korean and/or Japanese languages. Luckily, my elective in college was Japanese and being a 90’s kid in the Philippines, I got used to watching Anime during afternoon and was already being introduced in the Japanese Culture. It was during the summer of 2003, when the cartoons from Japan were being replaced by Chinese TV Drama shows such as “Meteor Garden”. It was a crazy era for teenagers like me. I was one of those fans who would eager to memorize lyrics, sang and watch the F4 MTVs played on MYX and collected mementos. Although, at first I was a fan and I liked the premise of Meteor Garden more I began to became curious of another rival show. You see, what really strikes my attention was the familiar story line – it’s like Slam Dunk meets a love story, that’s what “My MVP Valentine” is about. The show didn’t have the beautiful casts as promoted by Meteor Garden but what caught my attention simply because of its OST (comprises of Chinese Songs, Korean Songs, Japanese Songs).
My MVP Valentine OST is a two-disc OST produced by Avex Trax-Taiwan. The first disc contains four songs from 5566, the lead cast, while the second disc is a compilation of various J-pop and K-pop songs.
- Wu Suo Wei (無所謂；Doesn’t Matter) – 5566
- Wo Nan Guo (我難過；I’m Sad) – 5566
- Tiao Bo (挑撥；Instigation) – 5566
- Zen Yang (怎樣；What’s Up) – 5566
- Break! Go! – DA PUMP
- So Tell Me – Heartsdales
- Tangerine Dream – Do As Infinity
- FAT FREE – hitomi
- BOY MEETS GIRL – TRF (DJ KOO Remix)
- Gamble Rumble – move
- SEVEN – Mariko Ide
- The Shining – K Dub Shine
- Perfect Man – Shinhwa
- Shout – Shinhwa
- Sea Of Love – Fly to the Sky
- No.1 – BoA
- Neul.. (늘..；waiting…) – BoA
Some songs not included in the official OST include:
- “i will” – Namie Amuro
- “injury” – HAL
- Dearest – Ayumi Hamasaki
- Every Heart – BoA
I am a music enthusiast who is fond of listening to new melodies and I got addicted to listening to BoA’s Neul (Waiting..). I still own the original CDs which I bought at the Odyssey for Php 350 and those CDs will always be a special memorabilia of my teenage years. As my curiosity grew larger, I started downloading songs in Kazaa and Limewire from the artists in the OST (for eg. BoA, Shinhwa, Do As Infinity). What really made a mark on my heart was the singer BoA. She had two songs on the OST – a Korean Song (Waiting) which is credited in the OST and a Japanese song (Every Heart) which is not credited but was also used in the show. I downloaded most of her songs, made mixtapes of it and burned it on CD and listened to her mostly during my teenage years.
As you can see the impact of the show “My MVP Valentine”, can surely be seen until now. I am still a BoA fan for more than a decade and has collected memorabilia from Korea and Japan because of my obsession. Being a fan of hers, I have been introduced to the Korean Music and has a vast collection of different genre from Korean Hiphop – Epik High, to Korean Pop – Bigbang (my boyband Bias since 2006) to Korean Indie – 10cm. I also witnessed the rise of the 2nd generation girl groups which unfortunately 80% has already disbanded (2NE1,Wonder Girls, KARA, Miss A). I still credit BoA for introducing me to JPOP and Japanese Hiphop such as Utada Hikaru, Ayumi Hamasaki, Koda Kumi, TVXQ, M.Flo, Daichi Miura and etc. She was the core of everything and it just spawns to different things such as my curiosity for Korean Culture and Japanese Culture. She has became my role model for speaking Korean and Japanese fluently.
So if you’ll ask me why I studied Japanese / Korean? Simply the real reason was to understand her songs.
This 2018, my goal is to take at least one language class and take the TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean) again. I was able to passed the TOPIK back in 2012 but since the validity is 2 years, I plan to take it again. According to KCC, the next TOPIK examination will be on May 20, 2018 – TOPIK Announcement.
Where to Study Asian Language Classes in Manila?
- Korean
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- UP Arirang Org
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This is run by Students who give free Korean Lessons once you signed up for their registration. They will accept 100 registrants but only 60 would qualify for the class. The class is fast paced so it’s good of if you could attend the 10 sessions religiously. I would recommend this for a refresher as well as those who have already a background on Korean language.
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Facebook Link – https://www.facebook.com/uparirang/
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Fee: Free
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- Korean Cultural Center of the Philippines
This is where I studied back in 2012 for Elementary Korean 1. The place is in BGC, near St. Lukes Hospital. I would definitely recommend especially for beginners to try enrolling here. Unfortunately due to high demand in the Korean Language studies, the online slots were usually closed right after opening. The 2018 schedule is already posted on their FB Site / Official Website so bookmark if you plan to study next year.
Official Website – http://phil.korean-culture.org/
Facebook Link – https://www.facebook.com/KoreanCulturalCenterPH/
Fee: Beginners Korean – (Php 2000), Elementary 1 & 2 (Php 2500), Intermediate 2 (Php 3000), Conversational Korean (Php 2000) – Inclusive of Books and Workbook
- Asian Languages
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- Extramural Classes – Department of Linguistics (University of the Philippines)
There is a wide variety of Asian Languages being offered by the Department of Linguistics – University of the Philippines. However, I was not yet able to successful enroll on one of its classes. I am still wait listed for the Japanese Class (Saturday Classes) and according to them the slots will free up by Jan 3. They have an online registration which is to be used for enrollment and there is a designated slots for each class. Usually its 24 students on each class and they even offer higher levels of languages (the highest is for Korean and Japanese which is 9, I think).
Official Website – https://uplinguistics.wordpress.com/
Facebook Link – https://www.facebook.com/uplinguisticsextrams/
Fee: Classes (Php 3500)
The above list were just a few classes that I was able to attend and hoping to attend in the future. As you can see, there are still classes out there which I may not know or you may suggest so please post it on the comments below. Make sure they are also affordable.
The Non-Conformist Girl 