Discussion Post #5
David Kim
30262888
david.kim123@richmond.edu
According to Dell Hymes, the term communicative competence means “the aspect of our competence that enables us to convey and interpret messages and to negotiate meanings interpersonally within specific contexts.” As I was reading the description of sociolinguistic competence, it reminded me of the Confucian aspect of Korean culture and language. One of the biggest characteristics of Korean culture and language should be polite speech, jon dat mal (존댓말). This makes most people difficult when they are learning Korean deeply. Since informal speech and polite speech have different words and phrases, Korean learners have to practice two linguistic forms if they want to communicate properly. For example, bab means rice or a meal in Korean. Even though jin ji has the same meaning, jin ji is the proper word to use toward elder people. In contrast, using polite speech to younger or similar-age people than the speaker is not wrong, but it could cause some confusion and awkwardness. I personally highly value the competence of reading emotion in communication. Even though you know an enormous amount of linguistic knowledge, reading the emotion in words or speech can be different. However, I think that you can naturally feel the speaker’s feeling most of the time through accents, gestures, and specific word choices. My plan is to practice reading one’s mind and emotions regardless of the form of communication. That is why I chose to read poems, and I hope to have better communicative competence after this course and in the future.
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