Although an unfortunate situation, the current COVID-19 pandemic has supplemented my language learning experience in a way that would not have occurred if we were still on campus. I came back home to Hawaii about two weeks ago, which was the Friday of our original spring break. Coronavirus had started to slowly appear in the United States a few weeks before that but until mid-February, most people had not paid any attention to it since it was not as prevalent in our own communities. However, my mother and grandmother frequently keep up with Korean news broadcasts, so I initially knew a great deal more about the situation in South Korea rather than in the United States. Even though I was not reading the news articles or watching the news for myself, I was able to learn a lot simply from hearing my family talk about it. Since I did not hear or read the information myself, I did not learn about any of the medical terminology, but rather gained a better understanding of Korean culture.
I am a Healthcare Studies and Philosophy double-major and my specific interest is in bioethics. Witnessing the past few weeks has been a very surreal yet educational experience in terms of healthcare systems around the world. It was interesting to see how South Korea responded to the pandemic and the public health measures that they took to ensure the safety of their citizens. Their main methods consist of aggressive testing and contact tracing, which were swiftly implemented. Korean citizens were also extremely compliant with their government to avoid widespread infection. This made me think of when we learned about different characteristics of cultures in the beginning of the semester. The way in which Korea reacted to the outbreak is truly reflective of how Dr. Hofstede characterized the county, especially as low in individualism and high in uncertainty avoidance. Citizens were quick to adjust to governmental restrictions and rules in order to combat the virus. This is especially demonstrated in how the Korean government is strictly observing those who have the virus and conducting surveillance to find new patients. People have gladly given up their privacy because they know it is a necessary trade-off. Many healthy individuals have also been volunteering as needed to further support the government’s efforts. Social trust is clearly very high and Koreans are very adaptable, which has prevented a great number of deaths, even with the country’s proximity to China.
What I learned through observing Korea’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been useful in enhancing my language learning. The qualities that Koreans exhibit are also reflected in their language, which I also pointed out in some of my past posts. My new knowledge has not only taught me more about the culture, but will prove especially useful when applied to actual communication with other Koreans. This explains why honorifics are an important aspect of the language and why communal terms– like ‘us’ and ‘we’ rather than ‘me’ and ‘I’– are heavily used.
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