Due by 5pm on Sunday, February 23: Discussion Post #5 on the Ning
Do some preliminary research on what interests you about the target culture and describe how this topic relates to language. Do you need any special vocabulary or linguistic knowledge to engage this topic? If so, have you included objectives in your learning plan to engage this topic?
**This journal post is intended to help you formulate foundational preparation (scaffolding) for your final presentation.**
Replies
The thing that interests me most about Korean culture is family importance. Hierarchy is important within even a family; so children are taught to respect their elders and express their options in a polite manner. This relates to the language very heavily in the fact that Korean has an extensive use of honorifics to show the relationship between the speaker and person you are speaking to. The honorifics are used to differentiate between formal and informal speech based on the level of familiarity between the two people talking. In Korean there are special nouns and verb endings. Using the wrong speech levels and diction is considered to be insulting and rude. The slight differences in language style all depends on the difference in age, relation, and social status of the speaker and listener.
For example, hello is said 안녕하세요(Anyoung haseyo!) formally or 안녕!(Anyoung!) informally. When it is used informally, then it is typically between close friends and to younger people, but not to an older person. When saying thank you, you can say 감사합니다 (gamsahamnida) which is quite formal and polite so it can be used with strangers and people older than you. 고맙습니다 (gomapseumnida) is also thank you but there is a slight difference in nuance. This way used with colleagues or strangers who are close in age to you. However, it doesn’t really matter which from the two above you use. Another form of thank you is 고마워요 (gomawoyo) which is used when you are close to somebody or they’re in close age to you. However you can drop the “yo” ending when talking to somebody you are very very close to who is the same age or younger than you and just say 고마워 (gomawo).
One day I would definitely like to visit Korea. I am really interested in the family importance and importance of the honorifics to make sure I am not rude and insulting to others when I am in a new country with a different culture since such subtle changes can alter the formality in words and phrases. In my learning plan, I have included wanting to learn formal versus informal in the different vocabulary words and phrases for everyday conversation since I am new to the language. I have heard this is the hardest part about learning Korean so my language partner, Jannette, has taught me the informal way first to get a solid foundation and then shown me the way to alter it by adding different ending such as (b/sub)nida (ㅂ/습니다) or yo (요) to words. I will continue to first learn the easier informal way and then use that as my foundation to learn other versions for different situations. To know when to use what honorifics seems hard as simple words like thank you have various ways of illustrating gratitude to different people.
I know from Korean dramas that this respect in not only in the language but the actions towards elders as well. For example, on a bus, it is given that young people usually give up their seats for elders. This is something I have encountered when I use to bus in Canada as basic manners to follow. The confucian tradition also says that elderly in general should be treated with the utmost respect. Therefore, when elders are present, young Koreans would never lounge around or expect to eat first. Further, Koreans shake hands and bow at the same time. This depth of the bow depends on the relative seniority between the two people.
As I learn Korean, I want to learn the formalities within the language but also the culture and the proper way to treat others as it is a little different than the American culture. I have enjoyed learning some of the basic honorifics so far and am excited to learn more to understand the value and importance of respect in the Korean culture.
References:
https://www.liveinkorea.kr/portal/USA/page/contents.do?menuSeq=3707...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_honorifics
https://zkorean.com/about_korea/korean_customs/respect
One part of Korean culture that really stands out to me is the social class structure and the stratification. Of course, many cultures have some form of social classes and stratification but Korean culture is very interesting as this social stratification has permeated into the language itself through formal and informal forms. In other languages like Spanish for example, there is a distinction between informal and formal but it is a pronoun and a conjugation (Usted vs. Tú) instead of changing the entire manner in which one speaks. This formality may be important when talking to an important person or someone of high status but it is also taken very seriously when interacting with someone older than oneself.
In our last lesson, I asked Jannette about one thing that is pretty different between American and Korean culture and she said respect for elders. I asked her what kind of social norms I should avoid if I were to ever visit South Korea and she told me how no one sits in the special seating for elderly people on public transportation in South Korea. We then went on to discuss just how seriously respect for elders is taken in Korea. Jannette even told me that in school she would show me more respect even if I were only one year ahead of her in school. Looking back on my own school years I suppose I did have a certain respect for the students who were older than me but I never had to address them differently or use separate vocabulary in English. I do believe there is more respect for the elderly in Korean culture than in American culture and it becomes very clear in the Korean language.
This respect for elders stems from Korea’s Confucianist traditions. The concept of filial piety within Confucianism represents respect for one’s elders, parents, and ancestors. Seniority and formality are based on more than just age in Korean culture and can also relate to the position in the family, job status, among other positions considered to be more prestigious. I read too that when meeting someone for the first time a handshake with a bow at the same time is appropriate behavior. Additionally, the depth of the bow varies based on the relative seniority of the two individuals.
I will need to specifically learn the different levels of speech in Korean in order to be able to use and understand formal and informal speech. The different levels of speech do require specific vocabulary and grammar. I have started learning some of the distinctions between formal and informal with Jannette. I learned two endings I can add to the end of most phrases in order to make it formal. These two endings are 요 (yo) and 니다 (nida). These are two very common endings to indicate formality but I will still need to learn when to use each ending and how to conjugate the preceding part of the sentence correctly with the ending. There is still a lot of grammar I will need to learn in order to fully understand and be able to use the levels of speech correctly.
I did include my desire to learn about Korean culture and specifically status in my learning plan both culturally and linguistically. Jannette and I have discussed how I want to learn both formal and informal ways of saying the new things I learn. Jannette pointed out that it may be potentially easier to learn the formal version first and then informal since that would be less complicated than the formal version. I also will continue to ask Jannette about how and if she sees these Confucian values in modern Korea. While the different levels of speech in Korean are difficult to grasp I am excited to understand them better.
Sources:
https://zkorean.com/about_korea/korean_customs/respect
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiquette_in_South_Korea
https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/posts/confucian-hierarchy-in-modern-day-korea/
https://blogs.transparent.com/korean/formal-or-informal/
https://blogs.transparent.com/korean/formal-or-informal/
What interests me most about sign language, and more specifically, ASL, is the fact that the language does not use sound. All communication occurs through the use of hand gestures and body expression. It is a very personal language that requires its participants to actively engage with one another as when one individual signs to another, the two must be facing each other. Because this mode of communication lacks the ability to travel via sound waves, all communication is received through the eyes. I find ASL to be a very respectful language because of this. I also find ASL to be a respectable language due to its popularity. I do not know many individuals who are able to sign but I know dozens of others who can speak French, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese. I feel as though the deaf community can be easily overlooked and it is my hope that by learning sign, I can bring awareness to the deaf community and add a unique element of inclusivity.
In addition, although a little unorthodox, when I practice/see sign language, it feels as though it could be a form of dance. Me, I love dancing, and the feeling of great expression through the use of my body is something that I enjoy doing. ASL reminds me of dancing because of the emotion and hand movements involved in the language. In order to express tones, fluctuations, tempos of the language, one has to show that expression through their body and facial expression, not their voice.
To learn ASL, an individual should have an understanding of the English language and how to spell words. In the event that an individual does not know the sign for a word/meaning, the word could be spelled out following the correct-English spelling. Besides this one pre-request, not much more is needed to be able to learn ASL.