I also looked into Korean beauty norms and standards. These correlate with the traditional gender roles that are still prevalent in the mainstream media. Korean makeup focuses a lot more on looking natural and youthful. Women in Korean actually focus more on skincare than on makeup. Skincare provides a way for them to maintain younger looking skin; whereas, makeup is almost used as backup to things that can’t be fixed with skincare. Another thing, that I noticed was beauty standards and how they relate to Western ideals even though it is not always practical for people with Korean ethnicity. For example, narrower and longer noses are seen as more beautiful, or wider eyes. And a lot of the times, people carry umbrellas with them to prevent from getting tanner.
All Posts (264)
Sort by
I have been watching more Korean drama and listening to k-pop. This really helped me to recognize words after and also understand social connotations of certain phrases. Something that really stood out to me was the traditional gender roles that is very prominent in Korean pop culture. This is especially applicable to women. Women are mostly portrayed as quiet, humble, and they are expected to be elegant and carry themselves in a certain way. Moreover, whenever as seen in dominating roles or they take charge of a scene, it is depicted as a rebellious gesture or as a reaction to things that are happening around her.
I am using this paper my final project; in this paper the author examines the stereotypical gender women are assigned in Korean Drama and the effects it has on the society/audience:
https://journals.ateneo.edu/ojs/index.php/aiks/article/view/2740/2613 ;
As seniors, both Evelyn and I have been applying and interviewing for jobs this semester. I have only applied to jobs here in the states. Evelyn has been looking at jobs here and in Korea. We talked about how the interviewing processes and workplace cultures are so different in the two countries.
Most people applying for jobs, especially entry level jobs, have the required qualifications. A lot of the times, in the USA, it comes down to how you represent yourself in the interview and how you “sell” your qualifications, or even how well you are able to interact with the group of people you’ll be working with. In fact, during one of my phone interviews for a company in Richmond, the recruiter told me to more “braggy” and readily offer information about my accomplishments without trying to be modest when I went in for the interview.
On the other hand, when Evelyn was interviewing for companies in Korea, the opposite is expected. It is considered disrespectful if you are not modest. And employees don’t salaries as much in Korea either. The employers focus a lot more on your professional experience, and don’t take into account how you are in your personal life. Employees are almost expected to adapt to a company’s culture. Whereas, in the states, they look for someone who already identifies with the company’s values.
Here's one of the articles I read about workplace culture in Korea
http://www.englishspectrum.com/differences-in-work-ethics-between-korea-and-the-west/
Last semester, my final presentation was on Korean food so I focused a lot on the different types of dishes and eating etiquette in Korean culture. I wanted to build on that and learn more about the formalities surrounding a dinner and the social customs. I also think as a novice learner, learning about eating etiquette is easier for me because I can easily picture it. Evelyn and I also went out for traditional Korean dinner so she was able to explain all little steps to me.
As someone from an Asian culture, I do think eating etiquette says a lot about the social norms of a society. For example, in Bangladesh, how you eat, how you point your fingers when you, or even what type of food you prefer carry connotations about which region you are from and even your social status.
The last two weeks of classes, we went over everything I learned this semester and prepared for the final. I also asked Evelyn to look over my final presentation. For my presentation, I am focusing more on pop culture in Korea and the societal differences between the USA and Korea so I wanted to make sure I was interpreting my research properly.
We decided to have the final on the last day of classes. The final would have a similar structure as the quizzes we had and also have dictation and speaking portions.
I learned prepositions and sentence structures in Korean. This helped me to be able to use the vocab I had learned so far and I was also able to make basic sentences on my own. We also had a quiz on prepositions, and we did dictations where I had to identify the meaning/the correct preposition.
I learned vocab for emotion, and how to describe or how to ask someone how they are feeling to build a conversation. In the past, I had only learned basic greetings but didn’t have the vocab bank to carry on a conversation in Korean so I wanted to learn new words that I can use in a formal setting. I also focused on the different honorary prefixes and suffixes that Korean uses when talking to elders.
The weeks after spring break, I started learning vocab for days of the week, seasons, and how to describe time. This was helpful because I learned how to contextualize the two different number systems and helped me to remember them better.
This semester, I wanted to focus on making sure I remembered the things I was learning instead of trying to cover all the topics I listed in my initial learning plan. Having taken Korean in the fall, I realized I didn’t remember a lot of the phrases I had learned due to lack of practice over winter break. Even though I remembered the vocab, I couldn’t use them properly in sentences.
The week before spring break, we went over everything I had learned so far. And had dictation and vocab. This acted as a midterm for the class and also helped to highlight all the topics I had covered so far.
During this semester, I was able to reach beyond the goals I had originally planned. I learned so many idioms that now, I can really understand what my parents are saying. Also, I was able to learn about the history of Korea and paintings that make up the culture of today. I really enjoyed learning about the geography because it was so fascinating to learn about the major cities and what they were famous for. The in depth studying of culture and history has really made me knowledgeable in my own nation. SDLC 111 has taken me beyond what I was trying to achieve. I strongly feel this semester was a huge step forward in my Korean studies.
In week 9, we watched the movie 극한직업, which is a crime/action movie. We watched the movie without subtitles at the from the beginning. It was pretty difficult to understand what they were saying because they used a lot of professional words; however, the action really assisted in giving clues as to what was going on.
After watching the movie without subtitles, we then watched it again with subtitles. There were couple words that I kept in mind during the movie without subtitles, and I made sure to remember what they were. Wile rewatching the movie with subtitles, I was finally able to understand what the words meant.
By doing this kind of activity, it really helps keep the word in your head because you are thinking about the word you don't know and trying to remember it. Once you finally get it, it stays in your head because you have recalled it so many times. This is a great method for keeping a word in your head and really making that word yours.
March 1st is a major holiday in Korea known as the "March First Day". This came about when during the Japanese reign in Korea. People gathered to start an independence movement on March 1st of 1919. The Japanese soldiers killed so many Koreans this day because they were protesting against them. One of the most famous historical figure was Yoo Gwan Soon. She was only 18 years old when she protested against the Japanese. She was known for her sacrifice as she chanted independence for Korea until the moment she was executed.
After this independence movement, the president of America, President Wilson, freed Korea from Japan and promoted a democratic society.
For this semester, my cultural learning goal is to learn about the history of Korea and the Korean geography.
I'm not familiar with all the parts of Korean geography because I've only lived in couple of cities. Also, there is always more history I can learn. Korean history gives me an insight as to why Korean people do things the way they do it and how the culture came about.
I hope to become more familiar with the geography of Korea so that when go to Korea this summer, I can visit historical cities and know where they are.
As a language learner, I learned that I learn languages by repetition and practice by putting phrases and concepts into context. In my first reflection paper, I mention that I am a visual learner, followed by tactile and auditory learning. Knowing my strengths has helped me improve my language learning throughout the semester. For example, when I learned a personality word such as stubborn, I connected an association with the Korean word with someone who embodies this personality term, which in this case is my father. When I learned the term for stationary store, I vividly remember and imagine the stationary stores in Korea (since there are nothing quite exactly like the ones in Korea). I believe grammar to be the most confusing, particularly with honorifics. There was a lesson when I learned how to say something as simple as “to give”, but there are four different ways to say the phrase depending on the position of respect of both the subject and the receiver. I also have had a difficult time answering questions with a yes or no, since Koreans have flipped the way they answer questions compared to the American way. For example, depending on how you say the phrase “Isn’t it hot?” in Korean, one can answer by agreeing with the content by saying “yes, it is hot” or by agreeing with the overall statement by saying “No, it is hot”. I have learned only this example, but I’m sure there are more ways to agree or disagree with phrases.
I have started to genuinely enjoy learning about Korean culture. When I grew up learning Korean in America, I was never invested in learning the culture associated with the language. However, my view changed when I learned about the Whorf hypothesis and how culture shapes cognition, particularly in the video that we watched in class about how people couldn’t tell the difference between green and blue because a single word was used for the two colors. I realized this was applicable particularly when I learned idioms for my cultural presentation about rice cakes. For example, “Another man’s rice cake is always bigger” is the Korean equivalent to the American idiom “the grass is greener on the other side”. I also enjoyed the culture presentation the most because it allowed me to dig through one aspect of Korea’s history and I learned the significance of the food that has been present nearly my whole life. I will continue my learning by diving into more Korean variety shows and invest in a Korean language workbook after college to continue improving.
I also found that Brown reading on “Communicative Competence” was the most useful, particularly the seven functions of language and the categories of language competence because it broke down and laid out all the reasons to learn a new language and the necessary components required to be competent on all facets of a language. I wish I learned more about current, ongoing language projects and research. I learned that language shapes how one describes time and that there’s a website that keeps track of current dead languages, but I wish I learned more current research that is being done. Also, I wonder if there is a way to categorize the most and least efficient language? For example, in English, the homonym “tire” has two meanings with the same spelling, and other words have silent letters like “know” and “knife”. I find that to be a waste of letters and a poorly designed way to navigate a language, but I wonder if there is a way to rank the efficiency of languages.
There are so many different types of Kimchi in the Korean dish. The first picture is a radish Kimchi, second picture is a green pepper Kimchi, and the third picture is another type of radish Kimchi. They all have their different historical backgrounds and taste different. Each Kimchi is prepared at different occasions, making Kimchi one of the most diverse dish in Korea. Some people cannot have a meal without Kimchi.
일월오봉도, is a painting with five mountains, the moon, and the sun. The five mountains represents the five mountains that protect Korea, and just as these mountains protect Korea, the king should also protect hes country. The sun and the moon represents the king needs to watch over hes people day and night. The most important meaning is that the painting is not completed until the king stand in front of the painting. In this painting, rather than showing the power of the king, it enlightens the king to do his duty. It was amazing to see the message this painting brought.
In this picture, you can see the King's throne in front of the painting. When the king sits or stands in front the painting, that is when the painting is complete.
Overall, I had a very positive experience studying Korean this semester. Being able to focus on the things I am interested in and utilizing my own learning strategies has helped me to make quick progress in a language that is very different from any other language I have studied before. The resources and concepts learned in SDLC105 helped me to become a better language learner and to make more sense from structures within the language and with connection to the culture. I am very happy about how this semester went and am looking forward to continuing to learn Korean. I am also planning on using these new strategies and resources in a few years to learn another language in a self-directed way.
I found Sam Okyere from my cultural artifact #4 post on the "Happy Together" show, and I wanted to learn more about his journey from Ghana to Korea. I found this interview from Asian Boss, and his path to adjusting to life in Korea is amazing, particularly the subtle discrimination he endured. He mentions one instance when he sat on the subway in Korea and realized that no one would sit next to him because he was from Africa. Another instance was when a woman deliberately put her legs up on the subway seat so he couldn't sit next to her. He would also often get confused as Will Smith. He went on to explain that in order to bring a positive image of foreigners, he needed to assimilate into their culture and learn their language. He went on to do exactly that, and eventually became the most famous black person in Korea. While I admire Okyere's persistence, this interview made me think about how the Korean population thinks of foreigners and immigrants who come to Korea. Though liberal Americans can easily judge Koreans for being more conservative and close-minded, I also imagine that there are not as many foreign encounters in Korea than in America. America's cultural values are built on being a melting pot of immigrants and other cultures, while Korea has had a long-lasting personal history. Korea's impression of foreigners may stem from the bitterness that came when Japan took over Korea, therefore leading to a negative impression of other foreigners and even North Koreans. I've always assumed that all Koreans were more conservative, but I hope to broaden my horizons my expanding my Korean to be able to talk about these topics with Korean citizens.
The interview:
Korean%20conversation%20%281%29.m4a
Here I am having a conversation in Korean with Sharon about our parent's personality types. Below I posted an English translation of our conversation.
Heera: What is your mom like?
Sharon: My mom is an intelligent person. She reads many books all the time and always goes to school.
Heera: What is your dad like?
Sharon: My dad is an optimistic person. Every morning, he says "Today is a new day!" What is your mom like?
Heera: My mom is an honest person. Whenever I wear something ugly, she tells me directly.
Sharon: what about your dad?
Heera: My dad is a stubborn person. He always thinks he's right, possibly coming off as rude.
Sharon and Heera: Thank you!
