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The highlights of February include the following: meeting with my iTalki tutor, meeting with Leyao, practicing reading and writing Chinese characters, and making a list of common illnesses with English and Chinese translation. January was the month to figure out my schedule and settle into the new semester while February became much more productive with coursework and further educating myself on Cantonese and Mandarin. Even though this class is dedicated to further deepening my understanding of Cantonese in writing, reading, and speaking, Cantonese and Mandarin overlap in many ways, so oftentimes I am learning both dialects simultaneously. For example, some phrases in Mandarin would be the same in Cantonese only the pronunciation is different but the meaning stays the same (e.g. 糖尿病 = diabetes in Cantonese and Mandarin). 

During my iTalki tutoring sessions, I practiced speaking with my tutor, and we would talk about a range of topics from Chinese and USA relationship to Taiwanese food and culture. The sessions help me become more comfortable describing what I want to say by using a variety of grammar sentence structures and vocabulary. We meet for thirty minutes three times a week, but it varies based on her availability and my availability. We sometimes converse in Mandarin and in Cantonese. Some topics I hope we can talk more about in the future would be the medical system in China versus the US, management of diabetes since China has one of the largest populations of type two diabetics, and the opioid crisis. Because I am currently taking a pharmacology class right now, I think these topics will be very fitting to link different disciplines together.

It is always a wonderful time meeting with Leyao. Her dual experience being educated in China and the United States gives her an experience I never had, so it was quite interesting understanding the private sector in education in China and the United States. We had a productive conversation about the education system in China and the United States, and her experience in both countries. One thing that surprised me during that conversation was that she went to boarding school in grade school! Given how young she was, I didn’t think it would be possible to send kids at that young of an age to go to boarding school. During February, we also watched shows and discussed their significance and discussed the cultural holidays celebrated in mainland China and Hong Kong such as the Dragon Boat festival. For March, I hope that we can discuss Chinese work culture, things unique to China, and hopefully go on a food excursion!

This semester, I am also taking CHIN 401 Advanced Intermediate Chinese, so in terms of vocabulary and grammar, I use their material to also practice Cantonese. I don’t know how to write in Chinese, so based on the textbook from CHIN 401, I practiced writing weekly vocabulary for CHIN 401 and for this class. I now have a deeper appreciation for those that can write beautiful Chinese characters or 汉子, because my characters look like an elementary student wrote it. The characters were based on the readings for CHIN 401, so they mostly were for day-to-day conversations or culture related. For March, I hope to continue with writing Chinese characters on a weekly basis and read the assigned Mandarin passages in Cantonese.

Korean belongs to the Koreanic language family and is the official language of both North and South Korea. Hangul has been influenced by neighboring countries including Chinese and Japanese. Many Chinese loanwords were borrowed during Three Kingdom Period. Hangul, the writing system, was created in the 15th century by King Sejong the Great. It allows the Korean language to develop its own unique character. Now, Korean is influenced a lot by English and other Western languages which is evident in contemporary Korean slang.

Understanding the historical development of Korean can help learn the culture and society better. For example, learning the history between China and Korea can help learners better appreciate loanwords. It is also important to know the change in language overtime. Words and phrases that were once used may be obsolete. Many linguistics track and predict these changes by analyzing patterns and applying history.

During our meeting earlier this month, Vivian and I went over all of the grammar and vocabulary that we had learned over the course of the previous semester and rehearsed a great deal of dialogue that is used on a daily basis. She showed me a YouTube channel called "영국남자 Korean Englishman," which was started by two people named Josh and Ollie. The first thing that we did was watch a video that showed them going to the Korean singer HaHa's barbecue restaurant and having a conversation with him while they were eating. Because Josh and Ollie are both from other countries but have lived in Korea for a significant amount of time, their Korean is highly fluent, and their pronunciation is really good for my listening practice. This is helpful for me because native Korean speakers often have an accent and talk very quickly. During the time that the movie was playing, Vivian prompted me to jot down the phrases that I was able to comprehend as well as the terms that I was unable to grasp but was interested in learning. They discussed the drinking culture in Korea as well as the errors that they had made when they first came in Korea since they did not comprehend the culture. This was the first time I had any exposure to the drinking culture of Korea, and it was at this period that I learnt things like how younger people are expected to pour wine for older people and how it is customary to hold the bottle of wine in such a manner that the label of the soju bottle is covered by the palm of your hand when doing so. In addition, while clinking glasses, the glass held by the younger person should not be higher than the glass held by the elder person, and the younger person should drink with their side to the table rather than their back to it.

In addition to watching films in Korean with Korean subtitles, I also attempted to read and comprehend a Korean news story on the actor Song Joong-ki's second marriage. Together with Vivian, I did some work to dissect each word and make an effort to comprehend the significance of each phrase in light of its grammatical construction. Reading the lines of a television play was much easier for me to do than reading the written words in the news. This is because the lines were written in a more conversational style than the written words in the news, which also had more complicated syntax and vocabulary. 

In accordance with the plan that I drafted at the beginning of the semester, Vivian and I intended to study around forty new words from the Topik vocabulary list each week. During our weekly meeting, we would discuss the correct pronunciation and application of each new word that we had learned. The following time we get together, Vivian will explain the meaning of the terms in English, and I will respond in Korean. In addition, I have an assignment to complete outside of class in which I am required to watch the reality program "Single's inferno" and then compose five statements describing how I feel about the show's characters or the storyline.

Throughout the past few weeks, my partner and I have been steadily conversing on recent topics, trying to improve my flow of conversation. In terms of terminology and “flow”, I can tell my conversational proficiency has improved a lot more than the last time I had a language partner, yet there are occasional times where a pronunciation gets stuck, or I don’t know which exact conjugation/suffix to use. Even when I learn the proper terms/usage, sometimes it still feels awkward to use, and it takes a little to get used to it. Some of the more specific topics we’ve talked about were about recent Korean shows, drama and reality, and recent news regarding the Korean entertainment industry.

As for improving my writing skills, my partner and I have been more diligent on tasks and learning. It is a bi weekly cycle of writing on a topic that my partner provides, and reviewing the writing on our meetings. Of course, all the writing is done on paper to ensure I don’t get any help from autocorrect. The topics I’ve been given have been quite simple, but I’m sure that’ll change as the semester goes on.

On a further note, although I am practicing my Korean writing skills, I think there is also merit in practicing typing as well. I’m not too sure if digital writing counts toward’s ones proficiency in a language, but as writing is just a visual medium of language, I suppose typing is as well.

There is a tune, called ‘얼씨구야’ [əɭɕikuja], that any visitor of South Korea will be able to recognize. It is the subway music used throughout the nation, and because an overwhelming portion of South Korean citizens depend on public transportation, the tune is most definitely well-known. There is only one tune used in the subway system at a time, and for the first time in 14 years, it has recently been changed to a new tune. The change in music was talked about briefly throughout social media as this familiar tune was let go.

But what made this song nominable of its 14 year use was its genre of Korean tradional music. The composer of the song says it is a combination of numerous traditional styles to create an upbeat tune. The song uses haegeum, a string instrument, daegeum, a bamboo flute, gayageum, a korean plucked zither, and the janggo, a traditional drum. All these instruments were introduced to Korea in the Silla dynasty and/or the Goryo period, and are illustrious of Korea’s past and culture. Korean traditional music itself has multiple genres, such as Jeongak, which is a mix of vocal and instrumental, Pansori, which is mostly vocal, and Sanjo, which is mostly instrumental.

The small attention this topic has gained caught my attention, and while it was fun and educational to learn about, in terms of language learning, it has just introduced to me to numerous terms about Korea’s musical history. While I can’t say I learned much linguistically, now I know what these words mean.

Korean as a language sits in a unique (and oft-debated) position. Korean belongs to the Koreanic language family, with some classifying it as an Altiac language. Though I’m not entirely sure if it constitutes as an Altaic language, I do see its relationship with Mongolic languages, particularly due to Mongol influence in what I believe is the 13th and 14th centuries. Going further back in history, we can trace Korean genealogy to Siberia, making consideration of a relationship with Tungustic languages necessary as well. In my opinion, however, these classifications are not too important so long as we acknowledge Korean’s history. These historical considerations enhance our understanding of the Korean language and culture by providing insights into their origins, development, and contemporary usage. For example, the extensive influence of Chinese on Korean vocabulary and grammar is still evident today, and understanding this influence can aid in learning and using the language, such as understanding Hanja. Similarly, the impact of Japanese on Korean culture and language during the colonial period is an important historical context for contemporary relations between the two countries. Modern Korean has been shaped by both internal changes and external influences, such as the impact of Western languages and the Japanese occupation of Korea–– its fascinating seeing the evolution of a language occur in real-time, and piques me to consider the future of Korean in an ever-globalizing world. Relatively speaking, Korean is not a majorly spoken language, so seeing this language persist among its much larger and historically more powerful neighbors is great to reflect on.

Discussion Post #6

David Kim

30262888

david.kim123@richmond.edu

Hangul is a unique Korean alphabet created and distributed by King Sejong, the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty, under the name of Hunminjeongeum. Joseon used to borrow and use Chinese characters as letters, so accurate information records and communication were impossible. Hangeul was created because of these problems. However, the Korean language itself has a much longer history. The Korean language belongs to the northern Asian language family known as Altaic. It includes Turkish, Mongolian, and Japanese, suggesting early Northern migrations. Now Korean has several regional dialects despite the standard Seoul dialect. The regional dialects in South Korea are Kyongsang, Chungcheong, Jeolla, and Jeju Island. Some of the dialects are difficult to understand with standard dialects. For example, Korean dramas or movies with Jeju Island dialect have Korean subtitles because the word choice and expressions feel like an entirely different language. Modern Korean is still influenced by China over centuries. Almost half the Korean vocabulary consists of words derived from Chinese, mainly through Confucian characters. Sometimes Koreans use a hybrid writing system in which words derived from Chinese are written with Chinese characters, while Korean words are written in hangul. Despite influence and word borrowing, Korean is completely distinct from Chinese, in sound and in sentence structure.

Cultural Post #1

Kimchi-jjigae

David Kim

30262888

david.kim123@richmond.edu

After watching an episode of the new popular Korean drama The Glory, Somyung cooked Kimchi-jjigae for me and my language partners. Kimchi-jjigae, or Kimchi stew, is a well-known Korean stew that contains Kimchi, vegetables, and Korean spices. As the name of the food contains, Kimchi is the main ingredient in Kimchi-Jjigae. Kimchi is a Korean traditional food, which is usually fermented cabbage with Korean seasoning. There are several versions of Kimchi, and all of them use different vegetables. Adding on to Kimchi, you can throw in additional ingredients in Kimchi-jjigae. The popular choices are tofu, pork, and tuna. Anyone who lives or lived in Korea can not deny the fact that Kimchi-jjigae is one of the best soul foods in Korea. Even my father’s favorite food is my mother’s Kimchi-jjigae.

When I hear or think about the word traditional, I expect to have a long time of history. Contrary to my expectation, the history of Kimchi-jjigae is not that long. The history of stew made with red-seasoned cabbage Kimchi is only over 100 years old. That's because it's only been 100 years since cabbage Kimchi became widespread. Korean people began to eat Kimchi in the ancient period before the Three Kingdoms period. However, the first type of cabbage came later from China in the 18th century. At this time, cabbage was a precious vegetable. Only the higher class could have cabbage Kimchi. During the 19th century, cabbage was cultivated nationwide. By the end of the Joseon Dynasty, Cabbage began to become an ingredient for Kimchi. Kimchi-jjigae seems to have been made after the cabbage Kimchi was completely settled on the Korean table, so its history should be considered after the history of cabbage Kimchi.

Jjigae is pure Korean. It is said to be a combination of jji and gae. In jjigae, "gae" usually corresponds to a suffix meaning "something.” There are two opinions about "jji." As mentioned earlier, there is an opinion that it means "steaming" because boiling the soup is considered to be steaming. On the other hand, there is also an argument that stew originated from the pure Korean word "dihi," which means Kimchi. According to this interpretation, the word jjigae itself means something that already has Kimchi in it. In other words, all jjigaes are stews with Kimchi. Not all Korean stews contain Kimchi today. However, if the etymology originated from Kimchi-jjigae, the impact of kimchi-jjigae on our food culture is greater than expected.

Kimchi-jjigae has several variations depending on the region and the times. There are Kimchi-jjigae that are boiled with dried anchovies, while in some areas add beef. With the development of deep-sea fishing since the 1980s, adding canned tuna became a new recipe. I also got to know that salmon Kimchi-jjigae is also getting popular recently with the release of canned salmon. I personally never heard about salmon Kmchi-jjigae, but I would happily try it. After walking through freezing weather or when you need a warm stew, Kimchi-jjigae is the best food for you.

English Resource:

https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kimchi-jjigae

Korean Resources:

http://www.lampcook.com/food/food_healthcook_view.php?idx_no=154

https://gonggam.korea.kr/newsContentView.es?mid=a10203000000&section_id=NCCD_CULTURE&content=NC002&news_id=EBC6D400FE654203E0540021F662AC5F

Image : https://wtable.co.kr/recipes/zNcioPqkvQZ7q2TtHDFJeCDu

Language changes themselves in different condition and contexts. The same word can mean very different things in real life. I encounter this phenomenon in whatever language I have learnt so far. Therefore, it is very important to acknowledge them and incorporate them into my learning plans. From the reading, “communicative competence” means the aspect of our competence that enables us to convey and interpret messages and to negotiate meanings interpersonally within specific context. And in my target language, Korean, there exists Honorifics that reflects social hierarchies and relationships. Understanding the appropriate use of honorifics is essential for conveying respect and building rapport with others. Like in any language, understanding contextual cues, such as tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language, is important for interpreting messages accurately and negotiating meaning. Plus, Korean sentence structures can be different from those of other languages. Understanding how sentences are formed and how clauses are connected can help in constructing coherent and effective messages.

In this cultural post, I wanted to talk about the Korean military culture. Recently, I watched a Korean movie called “6/45” which is about a collaborative work between the South Korean and North Korean soldiers. The movie started off with the two groups fighting over a lottery ticket. The solution was to trade off one of their soldiers to create trust that each group would not betray one another while a South Korean soldier retrieved the money. 

During this process of trade off, significant differences were highlighted. The challenges that each military faces are vastly different. In North Korea, the difficulty came from the harsh activities, such as breaking rocks with their heads. The dark side in South Korea was that soldiers in higher positions would mentally attack those below them. But in South Korea, the food and living environments were a lot better. So, when the soldiers traded off, they were uniquely good at their duties. At the end, it was not about the money, but the new friendships they made whether they were South or North Koreans. 

In the current media, we are able to see a lot of shows that portray the North Koreans and their environment. It is clear that South Koreans hold negative attitudes toward North Koreans. However, these shows have been attracting attention. I believe that it is because they are always aware of the North Koreans, curious about them, and criticizing their lives. 

To get in more depth with the Korean military culture, I believe it represents individualism, loyalty, respect, male dominance, leadership, and the social hierarchy. As a male in South Korea, it is mandatory to go to the military before turning 28 for 18 months. During my time abroad, I have met many friends who are currently serving in the military or are soon to be in the military. Although it is mandatory, I was able to perceive their willingness and pride in going to the military. For instance, some friends still decided to go to the military to achieve dual citizenship when they had the option to drop their Korean citizenship. Another friend was wanting to go to the most crucial department to earn greater respect from others. Even in the movie, there is a scene where a soldier explains why he dropped his foreign citizenship to become a true Korean. He claimed to be loyal to his country and to act as a leader to ensure the country's safety. The military culture shows the social hierarchy as former soldiers continue to greet with respect to those who held higher positions even outside of the military.

The treatment of soldiers is one of the things that I believe is unjust in this military culture. A show that represents this crucial and inappropriate culture is called “D.P.” Here, a lot of soldiers try to escape the military due to the emotional abuse they get. Although the military environment is getting a lot better, it would be ideal if this psychological abuse by the upper positions would tone down.

Movie 6/45

Show D.P.

For this month’s cultural post, I wanted to focus on holidays that are celebrated in Hong Kong as well as holidays that are shared with other provinces in China. Through this research, I learned about what festivities people in Hong Kong do on these holidays and their purposes. I found that many of these holidays honor a specific person in the past that has contributed to their society . Similar to the United States, many official holidays celebrate the works and legacy of a particular person such as Martin Luther King Jr Day or Veteran Days. In Hong Kong, there are additional holidays that aren’t classified as official but are generally celebrated to provide the community with something to look forward to celebrating.

One prominent holiday celebrated in Hong Kong is Lunar New Year 春节, but this is not unique to Hong Kong but shared with many Asian countries. This is a 15 days celebration that has a unique theme for each day, and most workers get the first three days off then resume back to work.This official holiday allows people to spend time with their families and friends while eating all sorts of delicious foods such as dumplings. However, during this time many southern provinces in China such as Guangdong don’t emphasize eating dumplings as a big part of tradition. Rather, foods like fish and thin rice noodles are more prominent for Lunar New Year dishes. 

One interesting holiday celebrated in Mainland China and Hong Kong is called Ching Ming or tomb sweeping holiday 清明节. This holiday is dedicated to visiting and cleaning ancestral tomb sites. Additionally, people usually pray, make ritual offerings, and burn incense and paper for the deceased. The purpose of the festival is to offer sacrifices in exchange for wealth and peace. Another holiday shared between Mainland China and Hong Kong would be the Dragon Boat Festival. This exciting holiday is set on the fifth month of the lunar new year. People celebrate this holiday by watching teams race in large canoes or “dragon boats''. Teams on the boat have to paddle in unison and use the leader of the pack’s drumming to guide them. There are 20 paddlers and 1 drummer on the boat. In addition to this event for Dragon Boat Festival, one prominent food that people eat during this time is called “zong zi” 粽子. It is made of sticky rice and various fillings such as salty egg yolk, meat, beans, or Chinese sausage and then wrapped in bamboo leaves then boiled. The Dragon Boat Festival honors a Chinese poet called Qu Yuan who jumped into a river to protest against the corruption of government officials. Citizens during that time would throw in foods such as zong zi 粽子 into the river so that the aquatic creatures don’t consume his body. This festival is also honored and celebrated in Taiwan as well. 

One last holiday I want to highlight that is unique to Hong Kong is called Cheung Chao Bun Festival. This festival is used to honor the patron deity Pak Tai who helped the local community drive away pirates and evil spirits. One of the highlights of this festival is the massive bun tower that twelve trained individuals must race to collect buns. The higher the buns on the top, the more fortune it is suppose to bring. However a bun tower collapsed in 1978 that injured more than 100 people on site, so the bun tower racing competition was halted until the public demanded that the competition resumed. Previously the bun tower was constructed out of bamboo, so that may have contributed to its collapse given the weight of buns plus the weight of the competitors on the tower. Because of high public demand, the bun competition was brought back in 2005 with criteria put in place to make the competition safer such as only one bun tower was allowed, steel was used to construct the tower instead of bamboo, and only twelve well-trained competitors could climb.

From this research, I admire that communities all over the world have their own celebrations to honor those who died and famous figures. Festivals and holidays are created to help people take a break from this fast-moving world and spend time with those closest to them. Out of all the holidays celebrated in Hong Kong, I found the Cheung Chau Bao Festival to be the most interesting because of the massive bun tower.

Websites Used:

https://www.hong-kong-traveller.com/cheung-chau-bun-festival.html

https://www.hotels.com/go/hong-kong/hong-kong-festivals

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_Hong_Kong

In Korean, there are many cognates in its language. For example, 피자 is pronounced pija. The word translates to pizza. The reason why Korean has so many cognates is because of Japan. Japan colonized Korea from 1910 to 1945. During this time, Japan forbade Koreans to speak and learning Korean. Instead, Koreans had to speak Japanese, and Japanese is full of cognates. The reason why there are so many English words is that the U.S. traded a lot with Japan. Thus, a lot of English words got incorporated into Japanese. And this translated into Korean because they were never able to create new words for new things introduced to them. Things like pizza. Because there are so many cognates in Korean this will help me learn Korean because I will already know so many words in Korean it's just a matter of if I am pronouncing them correctly.

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.

Recently I watched a TV series that showed a lot of scenes of Korean wizards doing things and worshiping gods. I know a lot of Asian countries believe in Buddhism and Taoism, but I was curious if Korea has its own god, so I did some research on the Korean pantheon, which is often referred to as the Korean mythology, is an intricate hierarchy of deities, goddesses, and spirits that the Korean people have venerated for many years and continue to do so now. The pantheon of Korea is firmly ingrained in the history and culture of the nation, and it represents the norms, values, and beliefs that are prevalent throughout Korean society. The gods, goddesses, and spirits that make up the Korean pantheon may be broken down into these three primary classifications. Every god or goddess is said to possess their own special set of qualities, powers, and myths. Hwanung, the god of heaven and the creator of Korean civilization, is one of the most well-known deities in the Korean pantheon. Dangun, the fabled builder of the first Korean kingdom, and Gwan-eum, the goddess of mercy and compassion, are also among the most well-known deities in the Korean pantheon.

The Korean pantheon also contains a variety of spirits and otherworldly animals, such as the dokkaebi(도깨비), which is a form of goblin; the kumiho(구미호), which is a nine-tailed fox, and the jangseung, which is a wooden totem pole that is used to ward off evil spirits. Shamanism, Buddhism, and Confucianism are just a few of the cultural and theological traditions that have had an impact on the Korean pantheon over the course of its history. The practice of shamanism is an age-old custom that may be found in certain regions of Korea even in modern times. The practice of shamanism is predicated on the ideas that everything in the natural world is endowed with spiritual energy and that many different types of spirits have the ability to have influence over human events.

Buddhism was first brought to Korea in the fourth century and immediately had a huge effect on the nation's culture as well as its religious practices. A great number of Buddhist deities, such as Gwan-eum, were included in the pantheon of Korean religion. In addition, Confucianism, which places an emphasis on social harmony and moral principles, had a part in the development of the Korean pantheon. The Korean pantheon has also been shaped by historical developments and political shifts over the country's history. During the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), Confucianism became the dominant ideology, and many of the ancient shamanistic and Buddhist ideas were suppressed. This occurred because Confucianism was seen as superior to the other ideologies. However, a significant amount of the Korean pantheon has been passed down through the ages and continues to play an essential role in the culture and identity of the Korean people today.

The Korean pantheon has served as inspiration for a large number of poems, paintings, and sculptures, among other forms of literary and artistic expression. The tales of the Korean gods have been told from one generation to the next for centuries, and a good number of these tales have made their way into the folklore of the country. In recent years, as part of a larger push to recover and appreciate ancient Korean culture, there has been a resurgence in interest in the Korean pantheon. This has resulted in the creation of new cultural events and festivals that put the spotlight on the exceptional cultural legacy of the country.

I have noticed that many Korean entertainment has started appearing on American media platforms. Especially on Netflix, I started seeing a lot more K-dramas, documentaries, and reality shows that portray the Korean culture. After the rise of the drama Squid Game, which portrays a lot of Korean culture, users started drawing attention to these specific cultural factors. These shows, however, require a lot of knowledge structures apart from the language itself to understand the true meaning and purposes of the media. To understand the context of current media, I would need to be familiar with sociolinguistics as well as strategic competency. Some exemplary shows include The Glory, Physical: 100, and Single’s Inferno. I would like to possibly cover one of them for my final presentation and examine the social contexts, verbal and nonverbal communications, and the different functions, and styles to understand the native speakers and improve my own fluency. Currently, during my learning plan, I mostly have been focused on the grammatical competency. However, I would like to start focusing more on pragmatic competence to enhance my perception of these entertainment shows. 

A major aspect of any culture is, of course, its food. Growing up, eating Korean food was something I never really thought twice about since it was just something my mom made and my family ate on a daily basis. However, learning about the history of the etymology of the foods is something I hope to uncover and be able to carry with me as I explore my heritage through gastronomy. Learning some root words behind food can help me learn more about where these foods come from, how they are prepared, and so on. For instance, the word for onion in Korean is “양파", but the word for a green onion by contrast is simply just “파”. This is because the word for onion translates to, “Western Onion”, so the onions I refer to as “just” onions are actually western onions to Koreans, and by contrast, my word for green onion is “just” an onion to them. This reveals perhaps a history of the food, for instance, the western onion indicates that perhaps this is not a vegetable native to Korea, but the western world. So seeing how it is implemented in traditional Korean dishes is interesting since it was introduced at a later point. This is just one long example of the many ways I can use Korean gastronomical etymology as a vehicle to learn Korean history and cultural exchange.

Sounds refer to the way words are pronounced while spelling focuses more on the written form of words. I believe that the relationship between these two is accentuated most in English as the phonetics can be explained in methods of composing letters. I search on the Internet that American English has about 44 unique speech sounds whereas Mandarin has only 4. Pinyin is the fundamental way of learning how to speak Mandarin. There is also sounds that maybe difficult for English speakers to produce or differentiate from one another. “Q” sound is similar to the “ch” in the Scottish word “Loch.” An example of a Mandarin word with this sound is “qin,” which means “close” or “relative.” One of my friends last name is “Qu,” which most post office staffs cannot pronounce. One other strange example is “Ü” （not even in the keyboard that I have to copy it from the internet）. This is a unique sound in Mandarin that doesn’t exist in any other languages. It's similar to the "u" in "mute," but pronounced with the lips rounded. An example of a Mandarin word with this sound is "lüè" (略), which means "to skip." It is also important to note that Mandarin has four tones which can change the meaning of a word even if the pronunciation is similar. I notice from Ethan’s discussion that formal and informal conversations can alter the word choice and resultant sound in Korean. Also, the vowel and consonant sounds should be differentiated in daily usage. The first step for me is to find some tutoring videos online with authentic pronunciation. Then, I will connect with my partner and try to speak with them. With immediate feedback, I can adjust and improve my speaking.

Throughout my Korean learning journey, it had always been difficult to learn the spellings of the words I would hear and learn from my parents. Because Korean uses distinctive alphabets, it had been a struggle to transcribe the words through sounds. Some sounds that do not exist in American English or are hard to pronounce by Americans include the alphabets, ㄹ, ㅃ, ㅉ, ㄸ, ㄲ, ㅆ, and ㅇ. The first alphabet presented, ㄹ, would translate over to English as an ‘r’ or a ‘l’. Because it can work as both, depending on the situation, it is hard to distinguish the difference. For example, the word 신발 (shoes) would be spelled as ‘shinbal’ but when I pronounce it, it could sound like ‘shinbar’. We put our tongue on the alveolar ridge, but because it is a soft sound, Americans would hear it as the letter ‘R.’ The alphabets ㅃ, ㅉ, ㄸ, ㄲ, ㅆ are known as the ‘쌍’ means that they are doubled versions of the alphabet. These are usually voiced compared to the singular ones and put more pressure on the lips when pronounced. Finally, the alphabet ㅇ is a hard one to say as we use our glottis. I have asked a couple of friends to say the word “응” which is a word often used for “yes.” They were not able to say it as it requires working the airstream through a place they are not used to using. I will try to focus more on the different places of articulation for a more correct sound for the words. 

Another point I want to work on is when we have to combine different alphabets when it has more than one sound. For example, the word 닭 (chicken) combines the alphabets ㄹ and ㄱ on the bottom to express the sounds ‘L’ and ‘K.’ These words are hard to spell when we normally do not say the alphabet ㄹ. I will try to focus on cutting up the syllables to really hear all parts of the word to improve my spelling. I also want to focus on where to stress for each letter and differentiate the pitch of the intonations. 

I was born and lived in Georgia for my whole life. As a kid, I learned to always respect my elders. I had to say yes ma’am and yes sir to all my elders. I would say thank you to everyone everywhere. I would say thank you to the Publix cashier and always thank my mom after making dinner. But I was also raised as a Korean too. Similarly, I was taught to bow and say hello whenever I met older Korean people and say thank you to speak formally to all adults. I never really thought about it because there were formalities in the way you spoke and acted to elders on both sides of my life, American and Korean. But it wasn’t until I started to learn Korean that there was a reason why I spoke a different way when addressing my Korean elders. While other languages have things such as gender that dictate a large part of the language, Korean emphasizes formal and informal speaking the most. Words are written and spoken completely differently when speaking formally compared to when you speak informally. Anytime you speak to an elder or stranger you must speak formally or else you are seen as rude. People will even apologize profusely if they accidentally say something informally to an elder, and sometimes elders will even get mad if you don’t speak formally. For example, you wouldn’t call your siblings brother or sister, you would call them Korean older siblings or younger siblings. However, everywhere in the world people tend to speak formally towards elders, so it’s nothing crazy hearing that Koreans also have a deep sense of respect towards their elders shown through their culture and language. However, something different about Korean compared to English is that In English there are different words you use when speaking formally. For example, a formal way to address someone in English is to say hello. An informal way would be to say something like what’s up or yo what’s going on. There are completely different words used in English. In Korean, the same root word is used. It’s just conjugated differently. For example, the formal way to say hello would be 안녕하세요, and the informal way to say hello would be 안녕. Even if you don't speak Korean you can see the same characters are used. It just looks like the formal one has more characters added to it. So for almost every word in Korean, without changing the word, there is a formal way to say it and an informal way.

One of the things that drew me to my heritage language, Korean, was its spelling component. The characters themselves represent of the mouth’s position and shape, which is so incredibly fascinating to me. Plosives are very common in Korean’s phonemic inventory, and they are typically, or exclusively at times, much more aspirated compared to English sounds. For instance, the G sound in English has a similar character in Korean (ㄱ), but this velar stop, to my ears, blurs the line between voiced and voiceless depending on the word, or the vowel that follows it. So, for most Korean language learners, learning ㄱ seems like a simple enterprise, until they realize the nuances behind the voiced vs. voiceless can be a bit more complex (and this is just one example). Perhaps my favorite relationship between spelling and pronunciation, however, is the “ㅅ” character. In most cases, it is pronounced exactly like the letter “s” in English, but when paired with the vowel, “ㅣ”, (similar to “ee”), this 시 sound creates a “shee” sound, rather than a “see” sound. This fricative change is a key distinguisher in Korean, you will never hear a “see” sound, which is notable as there is no demarcation for this fricative change in its spelling.