What do you ask your idol about their music?
A letter full of compliments reads like every other letter. A question reads like a conversation, even if the answer never comes back. Questions also show what you actually noticed: a lyric, a performance, a song they keep mentioning.
Questions are where translated fan letters most often slip into the wrong register. Most of the 28 languages we translate from have no polite verb ending at all, so a word-for-word Korean version comes out as 반말, the casual form you use with close friends. Every question in this post stays in the polite 요 form. There is good news for handwriting too: a Korean question uses exactly the same letters as the statement. 좋아해요 is 'I like it' and 좋아해요? is 'Do you like it?'. Nothing new to write, just the question mark.
- What were you thinking about when you made this song? — 이 노래 만들 때 무슨 생각을 했어요? Make this into a card
- What song are you listening to most these days? — 요즘 제일 자주 듣는 노래는 뭐예요? Make this into a card
- How do you feel right before you go on stage? — 무대 올라가기 직전에는 어떤 기분이에요? Make this into a card
- Is there one line in your lyrics you treasure most? — 가사 중에 제일 아끼는 한 줄이 있어요? Make this into a card
What do you ask about their day?
In Korean, asking whether someone has eaten is a way of saying you care, not a request for a menu. 밥 먹었어요? is what family and close friends ask each other. The lines below do the same with sleep, days off and bad days: small questions that say 'I hope you are okay' without saying it.
- Did you eat well today? — 오늘 밥은 맛있게 먹었어요? Make this into a card
- What do you usually do on your days off? — 쉬는 날에는 보통 뭐 해요? Make this into a card
- Are you sleeping well these days? — 요즘 잠은 잘 자요? Make this into a card
- How do you lift your mood when things get hard? — 힘들 때는 어떻게 기분을 풀어요? Make this into a card
What do you ask about what comes next?
Future questions are the easiest to personalize: 우리나라 means my country (literally our country), and 십 년 is ten years, so put your own country and your own number in their place. One handwriting detail: write numbers out in Korean letters, 십 년 rather than 10년. The practice grid and the card keep only Korean letters, so a digit would quietly disappear from what you write.
- Is there a country you really want to visit next? — 다음에 꼭 가 보고 싶은 나라가 있어요? Make this into a card
- When will you come to my country too? — 우리나라에는 언제 와 줄 거예요? Make this into a card
- What do you want to be like ten years from now? — 십 년 뒤에는 어떤 모습이고 싶어요? Make this into a card
- What do you most want to hear from fans? — 팬들한테 제일 듣고 싶은 말은 뭐예요? Make this into a card