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.**
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I am interested in the fashion of Korea and how fashion now was changed and the origins of the roots of fashion in Korea. How did the art of fashion shape the culture and how does it tie into language and the art symbols change meaning and the words of these symbols change? For example, the peony meant "many blessings for your wedding" and "beauty", but the first meaning has lost a lot of its influence and peony as of now really symbolizes beauty. The meaning of these art symbols and fashion in general has also changed the Confucian principles of Korea and that is also present in the Korean language. The Korean language still has the remnants of Confucianism, but it has been watered down over the years, just like the culture itself. Korea is now slowly turning from Confucianism to western principles and that can be seen in the language and the culture itself, including fashion.
But slowly Korea is exerting its' own influence onto other cultures as the traditional Korean wear, hanbok, is making a comeback, and now is considered comfortable wear as well as high fashion that's worn in runways and other cultures are adopting similar stylistic aesthetics from the hanbok.
There are a few words and key concepts that one must know to engage in this topic, which is Confucianism principles and words to do with Confucianism and also Taoism of balance. There also needs to be known certain vocabulary for the specific parts to the hanbok, such as the jugeuri and heuriddi which aren't used in the modern Korean language anymore except for referring specifically and directly the hanbok. There needs a deeper understanding of the Confucian principles that is imbedded into Korean culture and how even the colors have meaning and certain images and symbols hold a specific meaning to point to a certain class, or event and occasion to wear that specific hanbok or even describe the kind of person that you are by the colors and combination of symbols and design of the hanbok.
I will include the vocabulary aspect of my learning plan into my research and also write in Korean for what parts I can in my diary and come up with my plan in there so that I get more comfortable writing even older words in Korean.
Recently, I've been discussing the concept of idioms and common phrases in Korean with my language partner. Although I never really cared for them in English, Korean idioms feel far more interesting to me. Perhaps this is due to my lack of knowledge of Korean idioms so I'm always curious to learn more. For Korean idioms, there's no real need for specialized vocabulary. Much like English idioms, Korean idioms use everyday words and basic vocabulary to communicate a thought that goes beyond what the words themselves are saying. Instead of learning more vocabulary, I instead need to learn more about the history of the idiom (where and where it originated from), which usually goes several centuries back. Because this is a relatively new topic I've recently been discussing with my language partner, I haven't accounted for it and included objectives in my learning plan. However, I will continue to engage this topic and learn more about it.