Mosquera.Post%20Final%20Reflection%20Paper%20Final.docx

Optional%20Reflection%20Paper%20%232%20%28500%20words%29.docx

Attached is a picture of when some of my classmates and I went to a Korean restaurant. I tried ordering in Korean but was too shy at times to articulate well. Nevertheless, I tried and the cashier was nice and seemed to appreciate my attempt to order in Korean.

Attached is a body I traced from this website.

I then labeled parts of the body and identified some illnesses or diseases using these websites:

http://talktomeinkorean.com/lessons/kvb1/

http://translate.naver.com/#/en/ko

After doing so, I asked my learning partner to check over this. She helped me correct some of the words and informed me of different ways to convey the same (or a very similar) meaning, when talking about some illnesses.

For this artifact, I used a UR map from the school's website to practice how to describe things positionally in relation to one another. I also tried practicing different forms of formality: that's why some of the endings differ. My learning partner and I went over it together and she helped me correct the mistakes I had. This is the final product. 

Aside from consulting my learning partner, I also made use of these websites to guide me through this topic:

http://mylanguages.org/korean_prepositions.php

http://koreanchamp.com/2012/01/19/simple-prepositions-in-korean/

Attached is a conversation (script and audio) created by my learning partner and I to help me discuss the topic of weddings in Korean. I had particular difficulty completing this artifact but my learning partner was amazing at guiding my through the grammar and vocabulary.

Artifact%208%20Conversation%20about%20Weddings.m4a

Attached is a copy of the script (and audio recording) that I used (and created with my learning partner's help) to describe my daily activities.

Artifact%207%20Describing%20Daily%20Tasks.m4a

I created these sticky notes to place around my room to help me learn what things are in Korean. Most of my things are dispersed all around the room/suite so I moved them all to my desk to take the picture (below). Some of the notes are newer than others as I thought of more words to put up in my room after the initial time that I began this little project: that's why the colors are different. I also had to make new sticky notes to replace damaged/missing ones.

I used the following websites to help me make the sticky notes:

http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Language/korean.cfm?Subject=house

http://www.learnkoreanlanguage.com/Household-Terms.html

http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Language/korean.cfm?Subject=study

http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Language/korean.cfm?Subject=accessories

http://translate.naver.com/#/en/ko

My learning partner and I drafted a potential conversation that one would have while visiting a Korean restaurant. Attached is the script we made along with the recording that accompanies it. 

Task%205%20Restaurant%20Recording.m4a

For this artifact, I tried writing out my March schedule in Korean. 

I used the following websites as references to help me use the correct Korean terms:

http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Language/korean.cfm?Subject=education

http://translate.naver.com/#/en/ko

https://www.rocketlanguages.com/korean/time/days-of-the-week-in-korean

For this artifact, I have attached a copy of a script that my learning partner and I drafted along with a recording of that conversation. This is an activity that I really made up of throughout the semester because it helps with spelling, vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing, and pronunciation. 

In the script, my learning partner asks me questions and I respond by describing my family.

Artifact%203%20Conversation%20about%20Family.m4a

Attached is a recording of my learning partner and I having a short conversation as we introduce ourself. While it's very short, I'm uploading this as an example of how I worked on intonation. Artifact%202%20Korean_%20Hello%2C%20My%20Name%20Is...%2C%20Goodbye.m4a

This is a letter I wrote in Korean to let's say, a potential pen pal. I introduce and talk about myself before asking Minho (the name I gave the imaginary pen pal) to introduced himself to me.

After having done research on Korean weddings – with a particular emphasis on customs and traditions – for my cultural project, I became interested in gift-giving practices, with respect to Korean weddings. This post highlights gift-giving practices related to present-day Korean weddings that were noted in Vivian Morelli’s “In South Korea, Weddings and Watches”.

For Korean weddings, there are two types of gifts to take note of: 1. yemul, gifts exchanged between the bride and the groom and 2. yedan, gifts given to the groom’s family from the bride’s family. Presently, couples seek to exchange gifts with practical uses, such as watches, which can be quite expensive. Due to social influences, couples are pressured to purchase lavished, brand-named gifts for their respective partners as a way to demonstrate their social standing or to match what their friends and acquaintances bought for their spouses. Instead of the costly presents couples buy nowadays, previous generations had, as Morelli claims, “simple” options, including rice and a mirror, both of which help particular symbolic meaning. Regardless, couples today are confronted with balancing the social pressure of buying such gifts for their soon-to-be spouses and the costs entailed in each purchase. According to the article, some make their purchases having been influenced by the media (including, American productions) as they showcase extravagant jewelry and other luxuries.

The gifts the bride’s family gives the groom’s family may be personalized and particular like an ingam, which is a tradition legal seal. It is also not uncommon nowadays for the groom to offer gifts to the bride’s family: such gifts include, alcohol, jewelry, a traditional dress and other accessories. While the gifts may be expensive, many argue that it is not about the cost of the present that makes it significant, instead, it is the meaning or significance of the gift that gives it value.

Bibliography

Morelli, Vivian. “In South Korea, Weddings and Watches.” The New York Times, 15 Nov. 2017. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/15/fashion/watches-south-korea-weddings.html.

For my cultural project, I will investigate Korean weddings and as a component, I plan to investigate the way in which the LGBT community manages societal pressures to marry despite not being legally allowed to marry into a same-sex union. Therefore, as a precursor to my cultural project, this cultural post consists of research I came across while trying to understand issues that LGBT persons face in Korea and the relationship between the Korean LGBT community and the Korean government.

After witnessing the strides made around the world – and notably in Taiwan and in the United States – for the legalization and recognition of same-sex marriages, the LGBT community in South Korean hopes to obtain such recognition in their own country despite the judicial obstacle that faced the community in 2016 when a court in Seoul barred a same-sex couple from having a legal union recognized by the state (Shim). One notable political success for the LGBT community came from a 2017 Supreme Court ruling, mandating “the government to allow a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trangender (LGBT) rights foundation to legally register as a charity, ending three years of the foundation’s leaders facing discriminatory rejection from multiple government agencies” (Human Right Watch). Nevertheless, the LGBT community continues to fight for equal treatment under the law, which has ‘criminalized homosexuality’: a Korean soldier was sentenced to jail for having consensual sex with another soldier of the same sex (Hu). Furthermore, the government is known to censor LGBT content and Christian groups represent a powerful lobbying power aimed at retaining the traditional definition of marriage (Manzella). Despite much opposition, the LGBT community continues to work hard to push for: same-sex marriage, more informative and inclusive sex education in schools, recognition, and equality (Shim).

Bibliography

Hu, Elise. “For South Korea’s LGBT Community, An Uphill Battle For Rights.” National Public Radio, Inc., 25 July 2017, https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/07/25/538464851/for-south-koreas-lgbt-community-an-uphill-battle-for-rights.

Human Rights Watch. “South Korea: Supreme Court Affirms LGBT Rights.” Human Rights Watch, 4 Aug. 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/08/04/south-korea-supreme-court-affirms-lgbt-rights.

Manzella, Samantha. “How Gay-Friendly Is South Korea?” NewNowNext, 5 Feb. 2018, http://www.newnownext.com/lgbt-in-south-korea/02/2018/.

Shim, Elizabeth. “South Korea LGBT Activists Seek Equality in Conservative Country.” UPI, 11 Feb. 2018, https://www.upi.com/South-Korea-LGBT-activists-seek-equality-in-conservative-country/9831518386654/.

While I plan to center my culture project around Korean weddings, I thought it would be a good idea to begin my research on the matter by looking into traditional Korean weddings. The following is what I was able to find from reading Juno Kim’s “The Complete Guide to Korean Traditional Wedding Ceremony”.

Traditional Korean weddings are inspired by Confucian foundations, as are many aspects of South Korean social hierarchies. Traditional Korean weddings are composed of various parts, all of which contain customs that carry symbolic significance. For instance, after a pre-ceremonial performance is completed and after having entered the bride’s family’s home, the groom would present the mother-in-law with a wild goose: this gift symbolizes the love between the soon-to-be husband and wife because this particular bird finds only one partner as its mate for life. Later in the processions, the bride and groom bow to each other: this act represents their commitment to one another. Then, the newlyweds drink from a gourd dipper, which is in halves to symbolize the oneness of the husband and wife when together. Furthermore, a wedding custom that follows after the marrying of the two is Pyebaek, which is when the newlyweds bow to the family (to show respect), the family presents them with fruits (to symbolize children), and the parents offer advice to the newlyweds on their new marriage. Pyebaek continues to be a tradition held in present-day Korean weddings except that the bride’s family is also allowed to take part in this custom whereas previously, it would only be for the groom’s family.

This brief research into traditional Korean weddings has made me very interested and excited to look into the matter in greater depth (for the cultural project) and to see how those traditions may resonate in present-day Korean weddings.

Bibliography

Kim, Juno. “The Complete Guide to Korean Traditional Wedding Ceremony.” Runaway Juno, 13 Apr. 2015, http://runawayjuno.com/runaway-tales/the-complete-guide-to-korean-traditional-wedding-ceremony/.

After completing my last cultural post on dining at Korean restaurants and after having talked to my learning partner about food in Korea, I became interested in researching the symbolic significance of Korean food because I have heard that some dishes have particular meaning attached to them. This post shows some of the findings I came across while reading “Aesthetics of Korean Foods: The Symbol of Korean Culture” by Chung et al.

According to Chung et al., when creating cuisine, ancient Koreans made sure to balance taste with aesthetic appeal, which was done to express particular themes: for example, some foods, like bibimbap, would symbolize harmonization due to the balance and mixture of various ingredients to create the final products (180). Harmonization is only one of various themes covered in Korean cuisine. There is a Korean dish that represents harmony and reconciliation. For instance, according to the authors, the dish called tangyungchae has a well-balanced composition of various ingredients and “it was named after the ‘tangpyngchaek’ policy [of the Joseon dynasty] that represents the motive and objective of establishing a harmonious mix of different political beliefs” (181). As such, this particular dish also demonstrates the influence politics (and in this case, political reconciliation,) may have on cuisine.

According to Chung et al., there is also a dish that addresses dualism. This would be gujeolpan, a dish prepared for burial ceremonies of ancient Korea. This dish demonstrates “the duality (yinand yang) between vegetable (yin) and meat (yang)…, [of which] each ingredient has five different colors (blue, red, yellow, white and black) and five different flavors (tart, bitter, sweet, hot, and salty)” (181). Moreover, there is also shinsunro, which also holds much symbolic meaning as it is a ceremonial dish “focused on respecting the ancestors and going together among descendant[s] with harmonization” (181).

After having looking into Korean cuisine, it has become evident that many ancient foods were made to not only taste and look appetizing, but to also hold significant cultural, political, philosophical, and historical meanings.

Bibliography

Chung, Hae-Kyung, et al. “Aesthetics of Korean Foods: The Symbol of Korean Culture.” Journal of Ethnic Foods, vol. 3, no. 3, Sept. 2016, pp. 178–88. Crossref, doi:10.1016/j.jef.2016.09.001.

This cultural post explores Korean restaurant culture, which corresponds with task 5 of my learning plan. Here, I highlight particular findings that stood out to me from Sara Thacker’s “The Culture of Eating in South Korea”.

In South Korea, food culture revolves are the communal experience that one has while eating with friends, family, and coworkers. In describing her experience in Korea, Thacker details that during a meal, everyone would share a particularly large dish, which would incite conversation about the food since no one has an individual plate (as done in Western cultures) and instead, everyone eats the same food. Furthermore, while meals are centered around a particular dish, there are also banchan, which are small side dishes that accompany the main dish, and which are also shared by all persons present (Thacker). As Thacker points out, while eating at a restaurant one should not be particularly worried about running out of banchandue everyone sharing these small side dishes or because of the seemingly limited amount of this part of the meal: banchanis actually unlimited so when a server sees that there is no more on the table, the (s)he would bring more, free of charge. As such, it is evident that there are significant distinctions between American and Korean food practices, particularly in how people eat: in Korea, people eat communally, and this effectively reinforces notions of community while in the US, people eat from their own individual plates, which may be reflective of the American values of personal space, privacy, and individualism.

Bibliography

Thacker, Sara. “The Culture of Eating in South Korea.” Greenheart Travel, 2013, https://greenhearttravel.org/teach-abroad-south-korea/the-culture-of-eating-in-south-korea.

Not long ago, my learning partner gave me a quick overview of Korean New Year’s, which was on February 16 on the Gregorian calendar. During the lesson, we covered basic topics related to the holiday, including its foundation on the lunar calendar and the way in which Koreans typically spend the day to celebrate the holiday: they spend the whole day with family, cook, eat and play games. The brief introduction my learning partner gave me during my lesson with her made me curious to investigate more into the holiday. Therefore, the following is what I found from reading an article, “Celebrating Seollal in Korea: Glimpse of Local New Year’s Customs”, by the Korea Tourism Organization.

For starters, Korean New Year (or Lunar New Year) is called 설날 (Seollal) in Korean and it marks the beginning of the new lunar year. Seollal is a holiday that takes at least a week to prepare for: nevertheless, on the morning of the holiday, everyone gathers, wearing seolbin (traditional clothing reserved for this holiday), to pay respect to one’s ancestors. Shortly afterwards, the family communally eats tteokguk, a soup holding ritualistic value. Then, younger generations perform 세배(sebae), which is bowing to show respect, to their elders who gift younger generations with sebaetdon, a monetary New Year’s present.

After these rituals are performed, the family spends the rest of the day playing games, eating and conversing. Yutnoriis a game commonly played during Seollal: it is a board game that requires players to throw four wooden sticks and move their game pieces according to the amount of sticks that fall face-up. The first team to complete the board wins and this game is enjoyable for the entire family, regardless of social hierarchy.

Moreover, it should be noted that one of twelve animal deities (or zodiac signs) represents each year. For example, “the year 2018 is referred to as Musullyeon(‘Mu-‘ means ‘soil mountain’, representing yellow or gold, and ‘-sul’ means dog) or ‘The Year of the Golden Dog’” (Korea Tourism Organization).

Reading about Seollal and hearing stories about the holiday from my learning partner make me hopeful that one day, I will have the opportunity to experience Seollal personally in Korea.

Bibliography:

Korea Tourism Organization. “Celebrating Seollal in Korea: Glimpse of Local New Year’s Customs.” Imagine Your Korea, 2 Feb. 2018, http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=941952.

The existence and use of Korean honorifics is an example of how culture, social structures, and linguistics complement and interact with one another. The use of honorifics is common, if not socially mandatory, to show varying levels of respect between Korean speakers of different ages and social statuses (TVTropes). While watching Korean shows, I would regularly hear characters using honorifics like 씨, which is attached to the end of someone’s name to show that speaker is of the same or lower social status than the person spoken to, unless, as TVTropes points out, it is use at the end of a surname which would then indicate that the speaker is of a higher social position than the person spoken to. The use of honorifics is not limited to the expression of social status, it is also a way to express sentiment and the relative relationship of the speakers: the use of honorifics is dependent on the relationship that the speakers have with one another as “vertical distance (gender, age) and horizontal distance (the degree of intimacy)” directly influence the use of honorifics (Ku iii). This serves to show the importance of the use of honorifics in daily conversations: if executed incorrectly, one may be considered rude and disrespectful.

Bibliography

Ku, Jeong Yoon. Korean Honorifics: A Case Study Analysis of Korean Speech Levels in Naturally Occurring Conversations. Australian National University, 2014.https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/12376/1/Ku,%20J%20Y%20Masters%20sub%20thesis%202014.pdf.

TVTropes. “Useful Notes / Korean Honorifics.” TV Tropes, http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/KoreanHonorifics.