What are the attitudes about family in the culture(s) you are studying? How are families organized? Is the family evolving? How are these attitudes reflected in the language?
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In Turkey, family is essential. People tend to live nearby their entire extended family for their entire lives. Especially in smaller cities, this creates a sense of belonging and allows for a growing connection amongst neighbors and families. There are on average 4 people in a Turkish household and most families are nuclear. It is not uncommon to see married couples living with extended family or in-laws. There are different words for the different sides of the family so that maternal and paternal are differentiated, unlike in English.
Family is very important in the Korean culture. Korea is a collectivist society and still has Confucianist influence, thus family interdependent is very significant in the culture. For example, parents would pay for their kids’ college tuition, whereas in the US some students pay for their own college tuition. On the other hand, kids are trying hard to make their parents proud through their achievements and careers. Parents are also proud of their kids and tend to boast and compare with other kids. As a side effect, this culture may lead to an overwhelming pressure for the kids who are trying to impress their parents and make them proud. Everything starts with respect for elders; there is a strong sense of respecting your elders (Especially elderly family members). Younger generations' desire to achieve success usually trace back to their respect for their parents and their desire to make them happy.
The close family ties and dependencies are valued highly in Korea. Korean society became highly patriarchal when the Confucian system was imported from China and made the official state belief system in about 1390 A.D. For example, fathers were responsible for their families and were to be both obeyed and revered by everyone (filiopiety). Although some Koreans still adhere to traditional Confucian principles of family organization, many Koreans are adapting to more independent, less patriarchal family organizations.
In traditional Korean society, women had set roles. They were expected to stay at home, to raise their children, keep house and prepare meals. In farming villages they also worked in the fields. When women married they came to live in their husbands' houses, but always kept their own family names. Once in their husbands' homes, they became part of the extended families. Not only were they to obey the eldest males in the family and their husbands, but to take commands from the eldest woman. Although many of these concepts are still present in many families, it is not as strictly organized. Today, women are in every occupation, from government officials to business persons and professors. Young married couples often move from their hometown, especially if it's in the countryside, to the city or sub-urb near Seoul.
Korea society emphasies heavily on family due to its Confucius culture. Confucism centers on family and one needs to first manage well a family to achieve anything further. Confucian ideal of strict separation of males and females led to division of labor into inside and outside work. Traditionally, the eldest son in a family generally inherit most wealth and title from his father. At the same time, he is responsible for taking care of his parents when they become old. Women's role is to take care of their families and to raise children. On the other hand, girls are considered to be married out. Once they are married, they belong to their husbands' families. In terms of language, boys and girls use different words in calling their family members. For example, boy calls his older sister no while girl calls her older sister unnie.
Family is an essential unit in Turkey. Households in Turkey hold an average of 4.3 persons. About 70 percent of modern Turkish households are nuclear, with at least one child and both parents. About 20 percent of households are extended families, married couple living with other kin, mostly the parent(s) or other relatives of the husband. There are different terms to call relatives in mom's side and dad's side. For example, mom's mom is Anneanne, and dad's mom is babaanne. The different attitude towards families created more specific and diverse vocabularies in Turkish.
Family is a very essential concept in Korean culture. Korean people always put their families for their first considerations. I think this comes from the concept of "union" because Korea is a country that put a large emphasis on allying together to confront the challenges they may face. From the way Korean families organized can also tell how they think of families. For a traditional Korean family, they always have the "grandparents" in the family. And their sons will stay in the families no matter they got married or not. However, their daughters will move out to live with their husbands if they got married one day. So, most of the time, the one who "controls" the family, such as the financial parts or family decisions, is a male. Thus, from this small cultural aspect, we can also see that Korean males are the centers in a family also in the whole country compared to the Korean females.
As the time passed, new "western" family concepts are also developing in Korea. Many males in the family nowadays will move out the family once they got married. So some families now only remain the elder people, and the young people move out either because of the jobs or because they got married.
These kinds of attitudes can be seen in their languages. When describing family members on the maternal side, they will use the word 외, which means "outside". It is because that the maternal side of the family is not considered as their "real" family. However, I think this culture might come from Chinese culture, because in Chinese, we also use the word 外, which also means "outside" to describe the same situation.
From what I've learned in my research and in class, family is very important in Turkey and is founded in their morals and traditions. In most households in Turkey (70%), they have nuclear families where both parents are raising the child(ren) in the same household. Also, from what I learned in my cultural project most women are educated but choose to stay home which accounts for the 22% of female employment in Turkey. However, in more recent times they are seeing more women juggle the responsibilities of motherhood and work. Furthermore, the average household in Turkey has 4.3 persons so families are fairly medium in size. Children are seen as incredibly valuable in the Turkish family and traditionally boys are preferred over girls which is seen in other nations such as China. There is also still a substantial number of women, mainly from lower socioeconomic status who are getting married before 18. Above all, in Turkey the elderly are shown the utmost respect in the family.
I mainly saw how this was reflected in the language with the fact that there is only one word for step and half sibling (uvey). Since there is only one word to describe half blood and being step related leads me to think that divorce and mixed families aren't as common as in America.
Lastly, with the recent elections I believe that there may be a shift in attitudes about family. My prediction based on what I've read in the news is that the government will attempt to influence the family to revert back to more traditional times where women stay at home, and the sons are raised to be the breadwinners. I also think that divorce and other marital rights will not be as socially accepted.
Family is definitely an important part of Korean culture. The main importance stems from a child’s responsibility of respecting their parents to the fullest. These attitudes are reflected in the language because younger individuals are required to use proper and formal language to those who are older. Formality and respecting elders is very significant in Korean culture, which can be seen with the huge emphasis on these topics.
It is also important to showcase this same respect to other family members that are not in your immediate family. In Korean language, there are two distinct ways to title family members from your mother’s versus those from your father’s side. In America, we do say dad’s side and mom’s side, but it is much more complicated in Korean because there are different “prefixes” to use, whether the aunt/uncle you’re referring to is on your mother’s or father’s side. This type of language is still used till this day and is quite confusing actually to remember all of the different names. I actually learned about family relationships as one of my learning goals, so I was able to brush upon this topic. However, it is still slightly confusing and can be difficult to grasp completely!
Family in Korea is traditionally very important. Unlike in the states, elders are held in great respect and often live with their married children when they get older. While this practice is becoming less common as Korea becomes more westernized, there is still a lot of respect for older people. When people speak to their elders they often use the formal, respectful way of speaking and usually address them by their family title instead of their name.
The family structure in Czech is very traditional, but showing sparks of progressiveness. The man is typically the main supporter while the wife typically takes care of the children. However, in certain areas of the city, I noticed a lot more businesses run by women and when I asked my landlord why this was she said most women don't have children until they are in their mid-thirties, which is later than the United States. The family is definitely evolving, however, the language definitely shows preference to the male gender. For example, certain words do not have a female equivalent, like the word dog "pez" is automatically assumed to be a male. But for the most part, the family is evolving, with young children regardless of gender are pushed to pursue their own interests and travel as much as they want.
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