This was my diary entry for the day in Korean.
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This was a phone conversation I wrote about going to see a concert with a friend.
How would you qualify or describe different aspects of your target culture? Reflect and your own experiences and expectations of the culture in question. How does your culture reflect various qualitative Hofstede dimensions of culture explored in class, e.g., body language, how people talk about time, etc. Also, have you ever experienced culture shock? If so, describe.
As a native speaker of Chinese, I would say that most aspects of the Korean culture are quite similar to those of Chinese culture, while they could be extremely different from the American culture. For example, both Chinese culture and Korean culture are based on some forms of collectivism. People like to work in groups and do anything in groups. Time after work is often reserved for some group activities such as eating out and drinking out, whereas that is not the case in United States. People value their personal and family time after work. Another aspect is the marriage culture in Korea. I had a very interesting cultural talk with my Korean learning partner Lena the other day on the marriage culture in Korea. It is quite similar to that in China as it is demanding and rigid for the female side in a new family. The relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is normally intense, and the new daughter-in-law has to take over almost all the housework at home. Whereas in the States, the status relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is more equal and friendly.
Same as the general Asian culture, Korean culture as a whole is more conservative than that of most North American and European culture. Deeply influenced by Confucianism, people in not only Korea, but also most East Asian countries need to show special respect to the elderly and people of higher social status such as teachers, doctors, etc. Some interesting cultural aspects I noticed in Korean language is that they have a separate language system when speaking to people who are either elder or of higher social standing. Korean speakers also adopt different expressions when speaking in formal ways.
In terms of cultural shock, I did not really have any when traveling to other Asian countries, as all Asian cultures are similar to one another. However, when I traveled to Singapore, I was deeply impressed by how clean the city is. Later on, I knew that it is forbidden to chew gums in public in Singapore and the regulatory system there is quite rigid. When I first came to the States, I was greatly shocked by how friendly people here are to strangers. It is quite normal in Richmond to see people randomly saying Hi to strangers. However, if the same thing were to happen in either China or Korea, that would be regarded as an uncommon or even strange behavior.
How have you organized your self-directed learning plan, and what have you learned so far? How will your studies allow you investigate your target language and culture more deeply? What first prompted your interest, and motivated you to start learning?
After receiving feedback from your classmates and Dr. Marsh-Soloway, what changes do you anticipate making?
I organized my self-directed learning plan mainly based on the table of contents in the textbook that I will be primarily using, “Integrated Korean Beginning”. Additional to that, I am planning to use the workbook as an auxiliary tool to frequently check my learning process. For this semester, I hope to be able to conduct simple conversations in formal Korean on topics such as campus life, greetings, directions, etc. I then split these topics into weekly learning objectives and tasks to make my overall learning plan more plausible. With such schedules, I believe that I could have a better understanding on how the daily life in Korea is like and in what ways people interact with each other. I met with my Korean language partner, Lena, and my classmate, Christiana on Wednesday, and we went over the Korean alphabets, pronunciation rules, and some common words when ordering food. As I am basically a beginner 0 in Korean, even though I took an online course of introduction to Korean alphabet during last semester, Lena helped me refresh my memories from that class and saved time for learning new words and expressions.
By having a detailed and feasible plan, I could better follow up my learning results and make timely feedback on periodic progress. I have been interested in Korean culture since I was in middle school. Around that time, K-pop culture such as TVXQ, Super Junior and Big Bang dominated the Chinese market and almost all my peers fell for the Korean culture trend. As China is located right next to South Korea, many aspects of our culture are some kind of related. It is the same for Japanese culture too. Language could also have influences on people’s behaviors as the reflection of that country’s culture. Through learning Korean, I believe that I could have a deeper understanding on both the traditional and modern Korean culture, which may further help me explore potential career opportunities when later working in Asia. Still, after talking to Dr. Marsh-Soloway and looking through peer’s evaluations, I think I should slow down the pace of my learning plan, as it might be tough to catch up with when putting into actual work.
Reflect on the readings. What parts of the brain are most important for the production and comprehension of speech? How do you conceptualize or process meaning? Do these readings bring to mind any questions or motivations that could help promote your foreign-language abilities, retention, and recollection?
Before reading these assigned articles, I never actually thought about how I became able to use and articulate myself in either Chinese or other languages. Take Chinese as an example, words and phrases in Chinese just came natural to me and that is how I have been able to pick them up and use them. Later on, I kind of figured out that sometimes I pick up new phrases or words by observing and learning from others. For example, before coming to the States, I never learned the usage of ‘make’ as an expression of being successful in doing something in textbook. While in college, I often heard people saying, ‘We made it’ and gradually I learned the meaning and usage of this word under particular situations.
In Dr. Crystal. D’s articles, she talked about different parts of human’s brain structure and how each part manage people’s behaviors and emotions. According to her, as I am a right hander, the left hemisphere is dominant for my language activities. Besides just language activities, the left hemisphere is also in charge of general analytical tasks, categorizing, information sequencing and other activities that require rationalization. On the other hand, my right hemisphere of brain is mostly dominant for perception, emotional expression and recognition. Specifically speaking, the Wernicke’s area in our brain plays a significant part in comprehension of speech, while the Broca’s area controls the encoding process of speech. Also, according to the article, some kind of conceptualization of the message received is needed before starting the actual speech production process. Different matters and areas in our brain systems help receive and analyze the meaning of messages we received before we make any forms reactions. Personally, I think it is important to understand the mechanism of how our brain works when we are learning and trying use a foreign language. With that little background knowledge in mind, we could become conscious in ways of optimizing our language learning ability and therefore improve the overall efficiency when studying our target language.
This artifact is a made up text conversation with a pen pal that I am just getting to know. She is asking me basic identity questions and I am responding. Here is a translation of the short conversation.
Yoona: Hello!
Me: Hello!
Yoona: What is your name?
Me: My name is Kristen.
Yoona: How old are you?
Me: I am 19 years old.
Yoona: Where are you from?
Me: I am from the United States
Yoona: Where do you live?
Me: I live in New Jersey.
Yoona: What year are you in?
Me: I am in my first year.
Because I really like BTS (방탄소년단), for one of my artifact, I decided to translate their song "Spring Day" ("봄날"). This artifact took a few days to finish (I had to go back and forth from the translation dictionary). This artifact was also helpful for me to get use to typing Hangul on the keyboard.
방탄소년단 - 봄날
보고 싶다 여긴 온통 겨울 뿐이야 허공을 떠도는 [정국/제이홉] 눈꽃이 떨어져요 [정국/제이홉] 추운 겨울 끝을 지나 니가 변한 건지 그래 밉다 니가 시린 널 불어내 본다 [정국/제이홉] 눈꽃이 떨어져요 You know it all [지민/제이홉] 벚꽃이 피나봐요 [진/제이홉] 추운 겨울 끝을 지나
| I miss you It’s only winter here Like a small piece Snowflakes are falling Past the end of this cold winter Did you change? Yeah I hate you I’m blowing out the cold you Snowflakes are falling You know it all Cherry blossoms are blooming Past the end of this cold winter
|
For the Lunar New Year, Joora taught us how to do a proper 세배 (traditional New Year's bow). It is different for men and women.
For men:
1. Place your left hand on top of your right hand.
2. Stand up straight with your hands resting in front of your stomach.
3. Raise both hands to your chest.
4. Bend both knees to kneel.
5. Place both hands on the floor as you kneel.
6. Bend your upper body and bow your head.
7. Once your head touches the back of your left hand, stand up by raising your right knee first.
8. Raise both hands up to your chest once more before returning your hands to their natural position.
For women:
1. Place your right hand above your left hand.
2. Stand straight with your hands resting - in the correct position -in front of your lower abdomen.
3. Release your hands naturally as you bend your knees and sit.
4. Rest your hands in front of your knees, placing them at shoulder's width.
5. Then bow our head as you bend your upper body.
6. Take your hands off the floor as your raise your upper body.
7. Resume standing with your hands in front of your lower body - again in the correct right over left position.
For this cultural post, I wanted to look specifically at the South Korean flag. Every country has a different flag, which has a deeper meaning behind it. To better understand the language, I thought I should start with the meaning behind the flag.
The red and blue, creating the circle, represents the yin/yang symbol which means wholeness.
Yin and Yang are two halves that together complete wholeness. Yin and yang are also the starting point for change. When something is whole, by definition, it’s unchanging and complete. So when you split something into two halves – yin/yang, it upsets the equilibrium of wholeness. Both halves are chasing after each other as they seek a new balance with each other.
The white represents peace and purity. The black characters that make the 4 corners of the flag represent justice, fruition, wisdom, and vitality. The strokes of each character is explained in the image below.
This is an interactive map I played with to understand the geography of South Korea (regions and cites).
First Artifact: Record and post a conversation that reviews what you learned in SDLC 110 and adds something you have learned in weeks 1 - 3.
During weeks 1-3, we worked on adding more to the original self-introduction I made.
We started forming simple sentences on what I like and dislike and my hobbies.
나는 춤과 노래를 좋아합니다. (I like to dance and sing.)
나는 음악을 듣는 것을 좋아한다. (I like to listen to music.)
내 취미는 자고 있습니다. (My hobby is sleeping.)
나는 공부하고 싶지 않습니다. (I don't like to study).
Another topic I decided to study is the food specialty in each region of South Korea.
There are 6 main regions:
- Seoul & Gyeonggi (서울 & 경기)
- Gangwon (강원)
- Chungcheon (충청)
- Gyeongsang (경상)
- Jeolla (절라)
- Jeju (제주)
Each region has their own cuisine specialty, what they are best known for.
경기도
With easy access the sea, and a mild climate, a variety of dishes are specialities of 경기도. These include galbi, suyuk, samgyetang, and kongkkusu.
강원도
Cuisine in 강원도 is very simple, yet delicious. Popular dishes include Chuncheon dak galbi, gamjajeon, ojingeosundae, and namul.
충청도
충청도 also has easy access to the sea and is watered by the Baengma River which makes it good for growing grains. Dishes from this region include yukhoe, pat sirutteok, byeongcheon sundae, and kalguksu.
경상도
Being close to the sea means that you can find a variety of great seafood here. Dishes that this province is known for include Masan Agujjim, Andong Jjimdak, bupyeon, and dongnae pajeon.
절라도
절라도 cuisine keeps with a lot of tradition from Korea's Joseon Dynasty. Popular dishes include Jeonju bibimbap, ddeokgalbi, dureup bugak, and samhap.
제주도
제주도 has a wide range of seafood to choose from and many other dishes as well. One of the most popular being heuk dwaeji (black pig), as well as jeonbokjuk, tilefish, and jarimulhae
I decided for my cultural post that I wanted to focus on the different dialects spoken in Korea. In my previous culture post, I talked about the different regions in Korea, like food, each region has their own distinct way of speaking.
The most commonly recognized dialect is the Gyeongsang (경상) dialect. Some people also refer to it as the Busan (부산) dialect because it is one of the bigger cities in the the Gyeongsang region.
I tried practicing some of the Busan satoori (the way people from Busan speak). The video I watched also provided the correct way to speak in the dialect (where specific intonations/accents should go).
First Cultural Post: What are your cultural learning goals for this semester?
- Which one or two topics will you explore during the course of the semester?
- How do you expect to explore these topics?
- What do you hope to learn through your exploration of these topics?
My learning goals for this semester is too be able to work on my reading, writing, and speaking skills. Last semester, I focused mostly on my reading and writing skills. This semester, I hope to develop a better understanding and be able to communicate using simple phrases and simple sentence constructions.
Two topics I will explore during this semester is Korean culture (traditions and customs) and grammar (sentence constructions). For the culture topic, I plan to 1) learn the basic customs (phrases, gestures, and or actions), 2) celebrate/personally experience those actions (for example, the traditional ways of bowing to elders on New Year's). For the grammar topics, I plan to work more towards creating sentences and being able to conjugate words.
By exploring these topics, I hope to develop sentences that will help me communicate better (not just using simple phrases, but later developing more complex sentences). I also hope to understand the culture to prepare myself if I do study abroad in Korea.
This is conversation between my dad and I about the weather. Talking about weather was one of my goals on my learning plan and is one of the topics that I feel the most confident about at this point.
For my 4th artifact, I decided to look at a Korean song to see what parts of the translation I can recognize from my semester of studying the language. On the left is the hangul Korean writing and to the right is the translation. Below the Hangul is the romanization.
1.) 1st line, the word time is 시간 (shigan) And the particle attached to it 을 (eul) represents a subject before a verb.
2.) 2nd line, I was able to figure out that 기억 (gi-eok) means memory from the sentence structure in the first line. And the particle 도 (doh) means also.
3.) 4th line, 알아 (ala) means I know, even though in the translation, the words 'I know' are in the third line
4.) 6th line, 눈물 (noonmool) means tears
5.) 7th line, 미안 (mi-ahn) is the root for being sorry, so that probably translates to the guilt part. Also 마음 (ma-eum) means heart, chest, or soul, so I think that's part of an expression that doesn't directly translate in English.
6.) 8th line, 하지만 (hajiman) means but or however
7.) 9th line, 수 없어 (soo eobseo) means can't
8.) 11th line, 시간만 (shigan man) means a lot of time and particle 이 (ee) labels the subject
9.) 12th line, 사랑해요 (salanghaeyo) means I love you in polite form 고마워요 (gomawoyo) means thank you in polite form
10.) 14th line, 이 (ee) in front of a noun means this, 사랑 (sarang) is love, 나 (na) means me, and particle 는 (neun) means as for, so together they make 'I' in English, and 수 있어 (soo isseo) means can and has very similar structure to can't.
This Love: By Davichi
시간을 되돌리면 If I turn back time
기억도 지워질까 Will the memories be erased too?
해볼 수도 없는 말들을 I know I’m saying things
내뱉는 걸 알아 That I can’t even do
널 힘들게 했고 I’m just saying this out of guilt
눈물로 살게 했던 For making things hard for you
미안한 마음에 그런 거야 For making you live in tears
하지만 난 말야 But for me
너의 밖에선 살 수 없어 I can’t live outside of you
내겐 너 하나로 물든 For me, only times that are colored by you
시간만이 흘러갈 뿐이야 Are passing by
사랑해요. 고마워요 I love you, I thank you
따뜻하게 나를 안아줘 For holding me so warmly
이 사랑 때매 나는 살 수 있어 I can live because of this love
siganeul doedollimyeon
gieokdo jiwojilkka
haebol sudo eopsneun maldeureul
naebaetneun geol ara
neol himdeulge haessgo
nunmullo salge haessdeon
mianhan maeume geureon geoya
hajiman nan marya
neoui bakkeseon sal su eopseo
naegen neo hanaro muldeun
siganmani heulleogal ppuniya
saranghaeyo. gomawoyo
ttatteushage nareul anajwo
i sarang ttaemae naneun sal su isseo
For this Artifact, I demonstrate my speaking skills by recording myself singing the song I dissected in my last Artifact, This Love by Davichi.
