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During my language partner sessions with Rachel, we practiced talking in Korean by just talking about what is going on in our lives in Korean. We talked about the time we spent a couple days ago. Me, my roommate Ephraim, Janette, and Rachel all went to a Korean restaurant to eat some Korean food. Rachel kept nagging me about wanting to eat Korean food so I told her to ask Ephraim if he could drive us. Ephraim agreed and so we went! The restaurant is named Seoul Restaurant and it was moderately priced. I got a black bean noodle dish called jjangjangmyeon. I also got a spicy tofu soup dish that is called soondooboojigae. If I am being completely honest, the food was pretty bland. If I had to rate the food out of ten it would be mayb a 6. Rachel got a pork cutlet with some dumplings that is called donkasu. Janette got a galbi spicy soup and Ephraim got a cold noodle soup called nangmyeon. I ended up paying for them. R.I.P to my bank account. But overall, the experience was good. The restaurant actually had a little Korean supermarket so after eating we got some Korean desserts. I also bought chocolate wafers for a special somebody. It was also the first time Janette and Rachel hung out in person so that was good to see. Rachel also told me that she is pretty adamant about changing her major. She is uncertain right now of what to change it to, but she really does not like accounting. I’m in a similar pickle as I am reconsidering my Computer Science major. Rachel, Ephraim, and I also practiced Korean saturday as well. I invited Rachel out to visit friends I knew from VCU. She was hesitant at first to go with us but after I told her there would be Korean food, she changed her mind quickly and agreed to come. My friend cooked us some Korean barbeque. He fried up some pork belly called sam gup sal, and cooked some braised beef ribs called galbi that his mom dropped off. He also cooked us some jin ramen. It was nice to see Rachel eating a lot since she usually does not eat much in dhall. I felt sort of bad because of the fact that she was the only girl in the room for a while. But at the end of the night, I asked her if she had fun, and she said she did so yeah. I was able to dive in and enjoy more of Korean culture on Sunday! Ephraim’s mother planned us a feast! She literally bought like 10 pounds of meat and it was pretty nuts. She had galbi, sam gup sal, kim bap, kimchi, and so many side dishes! Everytime I go to Ephraim’s house I am thankful and impressed by the hospitality his mom shows me. My other roomates who are not Korean also came to enjoy the feast. It was fun to see them meet Ephraim’s family and enjoy Korean food.
Throughout my ASL learning journey, I have often thought about the role deaf individuals play in society. Do most deaf or hard of hearing individuals stay within like communities? Do they join hearing communities and find ways to communicate? What jobs are accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing? The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability, meaning that being deaf is not fair or just cause for discrimination.
However, through education and social norms/structure, I believe people can feel discouraged pursuing specific passions and goals. Either the information is not easily accessible, the journey is too long, or too many obstacles are in place. This applies not just in the deaf community, but throughout all individuals, but in today's discussion, we are referring specifically to death.
My lessons and past research has taught me ASL is a developing language that changes rapidly. New signs are created all the time to keep up with the modern English terminology. Additionally, not all ASL is consistent. Some areas have their own ASL vernacular. Some races have different signs as well (such as Black ASL which originated during segregation in America). However, because of the fluidity and diversity of ASL, there has been a decrease in the development of standardization of ASL signs in specific fields, specifically within STEM.
When a specific word does not have an established sign, translators and sign language users will spell out the word. However, in the STEM field, words such as bioluminescence and glycoprotein, are often long and require increased thought when spelling. Thus the sign for glycoprotein would translate to the spelling -"G-L-Y-O-P-R-O-T-E-I-N." Now imagine going to a one-hour lecture where large scientific words are used and you have to follow the spelling of these large words in order to properly understand the specific subject. It would be immensely difficult.
So, I began to inquire and research on any standardized development for STEMbased science terms, and here is what I have found. There are several projects out there, such as ASLCORE and ASL Clear, that are aiming to create new ASL signs for the STEM disciplines. ASLCORE is a more user-friendly site with terminology in subject areas including biology, organic chemistry, philosophy, architecture, and even literature! Each one of these subjects then has subdisciplines for terminology on specific areas. For example, under the biology subject, there is specific terminology that has been established to describe the enzymes and processes involved in DNA replication.
Because signs like these are so specific and not used by the general deaf society, many subject-specific terms do not have established signs. I wonder how much of a deterrent this obstacle is for deaf students interested in STEM. If this type of language was incorporated into deaf high schools, would there be a greater amount of deaf works in the STEM field. Although many, including myself, do not see deafness as a disability, being deaf in a hearing world does instill obstacles that may be extremely hard to overcome. I hope that with the development of STEM ASL signs, greater diversity and understanding about the deaf community is brought to the STEM field.
https://www.tlcdeaf.org/services/consultation-research-training
This week, Jenna and I learned about K-pop, also known as Korean Hip Hop. Kpop is mainstream music in South Korea and can be compared to artists like Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift. Kpop has many different musical genres involved in it. It can include genres like rock, hip hop, and electronic music. Kpop is a very new form of music when looking at the different genres in Korean music culture. Kpop was created in the 1990s and the roots of Kpop began in the 1950s. Since then, many western music and pop groups influenced Kpop in South Korea. The first Kpop group was Seo Taiji and The Boys. They were most popular in the mid 1990s and were famous with experimenting with many different genres of music. They were the pioneers for integrating rap into South Korean pop music. Growing up, I remember listening to K-pop with my family on long car rides. It was really nostalgic to listen to some of the old music I listened to as a child this week with Jenna. Furthermore, Jenna and I talked about our plans for the podcast at the end of the year. We reviewed the different topics I learned about in the past lessons so I can be prepared to talk about it with Jenna for the final podcast for class. I am excited to wrap up this semester strong and hope to learn more about Korean culture. Jenna and I also reviewed some of the terms we learned over the past few lessons and will continue to learn fifteen new words next week. This week, Jenna and I also talked about a big issue that prevalent in Korean culture. In Korea, men are considered to have more power than women. Many men have been caught for spy cameras and sexual violence towards women in South Korea. Women’s rights in Korea are a big topic issue currently in Korean culture. Feminist issues are becoming more popular and talked more about in the media. Korea has a lot of gender discrimination and it is violent and hateful. There are also many women who have died from sexual violence from men in Korea. Furthermore, there are many celebrities who have been caught for sexual violence towards women in the last decade. Women are taken advantage of in Korea, and it is a serious issue that must be talked about. Women are also having a disadvantage in obtaining a job in the hyper-competitive job market in Korea. Men have a better chance to get a better position and job than women do due to the unequal rights and the traditions of Korean culture. This is similar to America’s problem and issue of women’s rights in the past decade. America is definitely ahead of Korea in social norms for respecting women and giving them the same rights as men. There is currently still an issue in America, but Korea is definitely behind. Jenna and I also decided on what to learn about next week: Korean technology. I know that Korean technology is miles ahead than America, such as the WiFi technology and computer technology.
If I received a research grant, I would like to study the origins of Slovak morphology and how/why it broke off from other similar languages like Polish, Sorbian, and Czech. I would especially be interested in exploring the diversions between Czech and Slovak. One of the most difficult issues in conducting this research would be tracking Slovak back into history. Most records of written Slovak language only begin in the late 18th century to the early 19th century. Alternatively, records of written Czech language date as far back as the 12th century. Luckily, these two languages (Slovak and Czech) first surfaced as the same language in the late Medieval period before splitting off from each other. Despite these difficulties, I would first want to gather data from different Slovak, Czech, Polish, and Sorbian speakers from different regions of the country. As this is a hypothetical situation, I would travel to several different cities in each country to account for different dialects. For example, Slovak has four major dialects to observe: Eastern, Western, Central, and Lowland. In each city, I would present a set of twenty common words to compare the differences and similarities for each language and each dialect. After collecting this data, I would want to access the earliest available written texts for each of these languages to check for similarities and differences. I will compare written text from roughly the late Medieval period to the current day with my survey results in order to understand the changes in Slovak morphology.
If I received a research grant to conduct a linguistic study of my target language and culture, I would want to conduct research on Korean-Americans who moved to Korea and Koreans who moved to America. As a Korean who moved to America, the cultural and language differences were hard to grasp and understand. When I compared my experience with my sister, I realized that we had completely different experiences despite coming to America at the same time. I think it would be really interesting to research the experiences of learning a new language and adjusting to Korean culture as a Korean-American, and comparing the two. For phonetics, it would be really cool to compare which areas of phonetics each group struggles with. Because English and Korean have different phonetic inventories, analyzing the differences in where they excel or struggle in phonetics would be interesting. I would also want to analyze the impact of cultural shifts after moving to a different country. Korea and America both have very different cultures in terms of honorifics, hierarchy, body languages, and more. It would also be interesting to see how they learn and excel in the target language and see the differences between the methods used when learning English as a Korean-American and Korean as a Korean-American. I also want to analyze the differences in pragmatics, which is the study of meaning in a particular context. Koreans generally have “nunchi, '' which is having the ability to know other people's moods or surroundings and act accordingly to it. So, when conversing with Koreans, we tend to have nunchi, and if we don't, we would be criticized and judged. However, in America, we tend to be more direct on what we want to say. I think it would be interesting to see how Korean-Americans in both countries respond to these cultural differences.
The idea of ghosts or spirits is a prevalent culture phenomenon in many countries in the 21st century and Korea is no exception. In Korean culture, ghosts or 귀신 (gwishin) are believed to be deceased who have not fulfilled their life's purpose or have unsettled grudges against the living. The idea of ghosts stems from the spiritual beliefs of Shamanism, a type of religion that is still actively practiced in Korea. Shamanistic rituals are often performs to appease these ghosts and help them past over to the figurative other side of the afterlife. There are typically four variants of ghosts that Korean culture depicts. These are "cheonyeo gwishin" (처녀귀신), “mongdal gwishin” (몽달귀신), mul gwishin (물귀신), and “dalgyal gwishin” (달걀귀신).
Cheonyeo gwishin are female virgin ghost that have passed without becoming a mother or having a husband. These ghosts are typically depicted as having pale white faces, blood red lips, white mourning gowns called "sobok" (소복), and their hair down. Korean women had it tough as their role in society was to serve her father, her husband, and her children. Although these ideas are fading, gwishin are representative of generations of belief in this idea.
The male equivalent of Cheonyeo gwishin are mongdal gwishin. These are male bachelors that led unfulfilled lives by not having a spouse. These are less common than the female ghost in media generally. Shamanistic rituals are performed to bring together these two ghosts to fulfill their lives spiritually and help them pass on to the afterlife.
Mul gwishin are water ghosts who died of drowning and are often depicted as lonely but spiteful spirits who try to pull the living into the water to die like them. The final type, the dalgyal gwishin, is the strangest of the bunch. It is an egg shaped ghost with no facial features or limbs that instantly kills anyone who looks at them.
Although these ghosts are most likely fictional, they still play a large role in Korean culture and are a reflection of the standards of Korean society. These ghosts demonstrate the importance of gender roles and of familial relations. Shamanism and the media continue to perpetuate the ideas of ghosts in Korean society.
Two recent Korean shows that focused on ghosts or spirits are Hey Ghost, Lets Fight! and Hotel Del Luna. Hey Ghost, Let's Fight! follows the story of the young man who has the ability to see ghosts and the ability to physically interact with them. He fights ghost at the request of others for money and soon accepts the help of a ghost to fight along side him against other ghosts. Hotel Del Luna follows the story of a ghost hotel in the middle of Seoul and its ill-mannered owner who was cursed to manage this hotel because of a crime she committed but does not remember. Each show illustrates some of these ghosts variants and makes the idea of ghosts humorous but scary at times. I would highly recommend either of these shows to anyone who enjoys a good rom-com with some Korean ghosts to add!
Since last time I have continued to another chapter that focuses on the process of purchasing goods in Korean. This new section introduces some vocabulary related to currency, food, and counting. This section also touched briefly on the sentence construction of polite phrases. One interesting fact about the Korean language is that it has two different number systems that are used in counting. The native Korean number system is commonly used for smaller units of counting, whereas the Sino-Korean number system is used for much larger units. This generally starts at around 100. I drew comparisons here with the process of counting time in Korean as when people count time in Korean, both numerical systems are used. For counting currency, the Korean currency system has four types of coins (10 won, 50, won, 100 won, and 500 won) and three kinds of notes (1,000 won, 5,000 won, and 10,000 won). The conversion rate between Korean won and USD is about 1 to 1000 so 1,000 won would be about $1 and 500 won is about $0.50. The actual rate at the moment for accuracy is $1 = 1,129.00 Korean won. The process of creating numbers in Korean is actually pretty straight forward as it is just combining smaller numbers characters with the larger number characters. For example, the number 3 in Korean is 삼 (pronounced sam) and the number 100 in Korean is 백 (pronounced bek). To say the number 300, all you have to do is combine 3 and 100 like so, 삼백 (pronounced sambek). This process carries over linearly to higher degrees of numbers. It was actually refreshing to see and perform number construction in another language because I do not really think about it in English. I remember that this simple process ties back to the initial intentions of the language in making it as convenient and straightforward as possible, especially in modern times. Although having two number systems still is a bit confusing.
One interesting thing I learned from this section is that when counting units, the Korean language has a specific word to enumerate different things. This is similar to the English language where we refer to socks as pairs of socks when implying more than one sock. In Korean, pairs would be 켤레. The sentence structure would be socks + count + pair (켤레) in Korean. Additionally, the Korean language has a general enumeration word 개 (pronounced ge), for counting things that do not have a unique enumerator.
An interesting piece of Vietnamese culture that I have recently been looking at is the country’s response to the world’s current biggest threat: COVID-19. As of April 3rd, the country has a cumulative number of confirmed cases of 2,626 for a country of a population that has roughly 96.5 millions people (2019 data) with a population density of around 291 people per square kilometer. The country is amongst one of the many countries with the highest population density rate in the Asia Pacific region as well as the world; it was ranked at place 11th in 2018 in the region and 15th worldwide. The country is roughly the size of California (about 83%) with roughly one third of the US entire population. However, while the United States is recording a steady increase in cases on top of the 40 thousand new COVID cases each day, Vietnam’s highest recorded number of cases per day was 66 on February 3rd. The country has reported a total COVID-19 related death count of 35 in comparison to the United States’s staggering half a million. In fact, according to a statement released by the CDC at the end of last month, COVID was the third leading cause of death among Americans in 2020, behind heart disease and cancer. So what makes Vietnam such a successful COVID story compared to other more developed countries?
A lot of lies in the reality that Vietnam doesn’t have a well established welfare safety net like the majority of developed nations. As a developing country, Vietnam cannot compare to countries like the US in terms of economics; the United States has a GDP per capita of $59,800 as of 2017, while in Vietnam, the GDP per capita is $6,900 as of 2017. An average person in Vietnam is likely to make 88.7% less money than an average person in the US. The country is not able to take a financial crisis on top of a health crisis.
However, Vietnam has had a history of successfully managing pandemics; during the SARS pandemic of the early 2000s, the country only recorded 63 cases and five deaths before it was cleared by the CDC. Many interventions pioneered by Vietnam during the SARS epidemic are currently being used to respond to the current COVID-19 outbreak. Similarly, its experience with epidemic preparedness and response measures may have led to greater willingness among people in the country to comply with a central public health response. Additionally, After the SARS epidemic, Vietnam continued to invest in its public health infrastructure, developing a national public health emergency operations center as well as a national public health surveillance system in preparation for future breakouts.
Another startling comparison in COVID-19 response between the US and Vietnam is their lockdown procedures and restrictions. While the US government largely left lockdown procedures and restrictions up to the state or implemented only soft measures, Vietnam implemented mass quarantines in suspected hotspots. The country entered a nationwide lockdown on April 1st, 2020 which was initiated for 15 days but was extended to 21 days in 28 out of 63 provinces. Additionally, Vietnam took early steps to implement closures, require masks, and limit mobility for citizens and international travelers. Most other countries waited to make these types of decisions until numbers were much higher.
It is clear that Vietnam took serious precautions even before the COVID-19 outbreak knowing that it is not capable of handling the consequences of being ill prepared, and the country’s effort greatly paid off.
Two years ago, for my Anthropology of Music class, I watched a video titled “The World's First Non-Korean K-Pop Group” (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43px7g/the-worlds-first-nonkorean-k-pop-group). This video documents the story and background of EXP Edition, a group of four non-Korean men – Koki Tomlinson, Frankie DaPonte, Hunter Kohl, and Šime Košta – who brand themselves as a K-Pop group. EXP Edition was formed in 2015 by a Korean woman named Bora Kim who was interested in studying what makes K-Pop K-Pop as part of an art project at Columbia University. EXP Edition has faced harsh criticism from K-Pop fans, many of whom are not Korean, and has even received death threats. Their critics argue that EXP Edition appropriates Korean culture. However, EXP Edition believes that they appreciate Korean culture by acknowledging that they are not Korean but still learning the language and adhering to norms in Korean society.
When I first heard about EXP Edition, I was confused. I thought that seeing white people singing and dancing like K-Pop artists was strange to watch. Even though K-Pop is becoming more popular around the world, Korea is still a small country and has its own unique culture. There is also not much diversity in Korea. However, after learning more about EXP Edition, I appreciated that they lived in Korea, knew the Korean language and culture well, and were making an effort to assimilate. This reflects their respect for and commitment to the culture. My concern actually came from the fact that most of the criticism against EXP Edition came from non-Korean K-Pop fans. Some of them felt the need to protect K-Pop from non-Koreans, even though they themselves freely enjoy listening to K-Pop music. It was as if they were claiming their possession over K-Pop and defending it from non-Koreans. The most confusing part was that many of EXP Edition’s fans are Korean, who were fine with EXP Edition’s ethnicities.
One of the critics shown in the video denied that his dislike of EXP Edition had anything to do with race. Rather, he felt that the group was untalented, cringy, and fake. However, he contradicted himself by later saying, “No white people in my kpop!!!” This leads me to believe that some people are so angry at EXP Edition because they are white. This confuses me, because there are K-Pop idols who are not Korean, but they are Asian. For example, Jackson Wang in Got7 is from Hong Kong, but this does not create as much controversy as EXP Edition.
One of my favorite lines from the video is, “There’s nothing traditionally Korean in K-Pop.” I think a perfect example of this is Dynamite by BTS. This is BTS’ first song sung entirely in English. Personally, I don’t think any part of it sound “Korean” or even like a K-Pop song. To me, it just sounds like a pop song. The only thing “Korean” that I hear in the song is the members’ slight Korean accents. However, I would not say this makes the song “K-Pop.” If this were the case, then it would also be that EXP Edition’s American accents make them an American pop group, not a K-Pop group.
Overall, I do not believe that EXP Edition is appropriating Korean culture. This topic brings up many questions regarding appropriation, appreciation, globalization, and ownership. Ultimately, I believe it is best to let the people who identify with the culture in question judge whether or not an act is appropriation or appreciation.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZaiGb_-6CuiAJ9-MQWuikfuz-HiynMtAAtocOwB6pdM/edit?usp=sharing
Fortunately, writing in my target language has not been too much of a challenge as there are a similar number of consonants and vowels in Korean as in English, besides the addition of double vowels and consonants. The only writing I’ve done has been while learning to write the alphabet and learning to form words, but I definitely prefer writing free handed. In fact, it’s more difficult for me to type on Korean -- mainly because I don’t have a Korean keyboard on my computer -- so I’ve been using an online Korean keyboard website to help with that. As I’ve been learning the grammar structure, I’m realizing that the patterns are pretty consistent which makes it much easier to learn Korean. For example, the block structure represents the sound of a given syllable and always starts with a consonant and there will never be more than 3 letters per block structure. I haven’t quite gotten to the point of forming sentences yet, but so far my understanding is that there are Korean participles to say “something”: 는 or 은 (Subject) and 를 or 을 (Object). Formality is also a key aspect of the Korean language, so there are many different ways to conjugate a word depending on the context of the situation. In addition, the Korean word for “to be” (이다) is very distinct from English and even other languages such as Spanish. For example, in Spanish we considered “to be” to be a verb (ir/estar), but in Korean 이다 can be conjugated, but it is also distinct from verbs and adjectives as the rules are often different. I found it very interesting that in English we use the verb “to be” when using adjectives, for example, “I am pretty, hungry, smart, etc.” but in Korean there is no translation for the form of “to be,” which in English is words like “am, is are, etc.” However, in Korean “to be” 이다 is used when describing something is a noun, such as “I am a man” (나는 남자이다). It is also interesting that there are two different forms for the word “that” in Korean (그/저) but we only use one form in English. Apparently this is to distinguish between something mentioned in a previous context and talking about something we can see but not touch because it is too far away. This is only a brief introduction to the basic grammar structure of Korean, and I have so much more to learn about in terms of conjugating and forming more complex sentences!
Source:
https://www.howtostudykorean.com/unit1/unit-1-lessons-1-8/unit-1-lesson-1/
The cultural artifact I chose for this month was a video and article about a coming-of-age ceremony in Bali. Specifically, it is the tooth cutting ceremony called Upacara Potong Gigi. There is no specific age for this ceremony, though they must be teenaged. Even though the ceremony is called “teeth cutting,” there is no actual cutting, just filing of the teeth. This ceremony is used by Hindus in Bali, so there is a lot of religious meaning behind it. Its purpose is to cleanse the adolescent of any bad energy or traits that could manifest in them, which include: kama (lust), lobha (greed), krodha (anger), mada (intoxication and insanity), moha (arrogance), and matsarya (envy).
Something interesting I noticed was that the atmosphere of the ceremony reminded me of an Indonesian wedding. This makes sense in many ways, as weddings are also a symbol of growth and maturity. I have only attended one, though it was so extravagant and memorable. Specifically, the women’s makeup, hair, and outfits were reminiscent to the bride and other female attendees of that wedding. Other common features I can point out include the use of flower petals and water. For this ceremony, the water was used to drink and rinse their mouth, but in the wedding I remember the bride and groom dipping their feet in separate bowls of water. Perhaps both are symbols of cleaning.
In class, we went over the most common religions in Indonesia, and of course Hinduism was on the list. However, I did not realize how widespread it is in Bali (87%). Since Indonesia is home to the largest population of Muslims, I thought Islam would be the majority religion in many of the islands, especially a well-known one such as Bali, however, it is not the case. This year, I studied Hindu art in one of my classes, so I am now aware of many common motifs, symbols, and themes. Back when I visited Bali in 2016, I had almost no knowledge of Hindu art, so I could not recognize anything specifically. I do remember taking time to appreciate any new architecture or statues I came across, and I also remember thinking they are a bit different from general Indonesian culture, but I just thought it was expressions of Balinese culture (though now I am thinking they are most likely very Hindu-influenced). It is always interesting to study the effects of religion on culture and many aspects of society, because it can be a very strong influence.
In the United States, I do not believe we have any coming-of-age ceremonies. I think many thoughts concerning coming-of-age relate to reaching certain ages such as 16 (able to drive), 21 (able to consume alcohol), etc. So it is always interesting to hear about other culture’s view on maturity and adulthood. Additionally, I also study Japanese and there is a Japanese holiday that celebrates coming-of-age called Seijin no Hi (成人の日), which also contains a ceremony called seijin-shiki (成人式). These ceremonies are held in governmental or school buildings and usually speeches are given by officials/teachers. The age of maturity is 20, so those who have turned 20 are welcome to attend the ceremonies and wear traditional Japanese clothes.
Korean cuisine has gained popularity in many different countries throughout the world. In the United States, dishes like kimchi, bulgogi, and bibimbap have become quite popular among Americans. Restaurants have also taken a Korean spin on traditional American cuisine, such as Korean BBQ and Korean fried chicken, which I myself had the opportunity to try with my language learning group at Choong Man Chicken. Before learning Korean, I’ve always heard about these dishes, but I also realized there are many foods and ingredients that are commonly used in traditional Korean cuisine as I’ve seen when having dinner with my Korean American friends on campus. By learning about traditional Korean cuisine, you can gain a better understanding of the customs and values of Korean culture. In Korean culture, food is believed to be responsible for health and illness; in fact, Korean cuisine is one of the healthiest cuisines in the world (theworldbook.org). In fact, in Korean culture food is considered similar to medicine, so it’s common for individuals to use food to cure their illness before using medications (journalofethnicfoods). One of the most important features of Korean cuisine is the fermentation method used to store and eat foods for a long period of time (journalofethnicfoods.com). The most commonly fermented foods include doenjang (soybean paste), ganjang (soy sauce), gochujang (chili pepper paste), and jeotgal (salted seafood) (journalofethnicfoods.com). Fermenting foods has many health benefits such as helping the immune system, strengthening the liver, and “and balance the propagation of the beneficial bacteria necessary for intestinal health in the intestine” (journalofethnicfoods.com).
Some of the key ingredients in Korean cuisine include rice, noodles, vegetables, meats, and tofu (dubu in Korean) (newworldencyclopedia.org). A traditional Korean dinner meal typically consists of a main dish, rice, soup, and a variety of side dishes (theworldbook.org). This abundance of side dishes is known as Banchan, and they accompany every meal (newworldencyclopedia.org). Some examples of traditional Banchan dishes are kimchi, namul, bokkeum, jjim and jorim (theworldbook.org). These dishes are mainly comprised of vegetables but sometimes include meats and fish, and they are prepared either in a seasoned broth or sauce, fermented, steamed, marinated, or stir-fried (theworldbook.org).
Here are some examples of common traditional Korean dishes:
Source: https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Korean_cuisine
- Bibimbap (비빔밥) - (literally means “mixed rice” in Korean) a rice dish after mixing with it an assortment of fresh vegetables, fried egg, minced beef, and other ingredients
- Bulgogi (불고기) - (literally means “fire meat” in Korean) grilled marinated slices of meat (beef or pork) in a sweet soy sauce
- Japchae(잡채) - boiled glass noodles with stir-fried vegetables, meat, and other ingredients
- Galbi (갈비) - pork or beef ribs, cooked on a metal plate over charcoal in the center of the table
- Jokbal (족발): pig's feet served with a red salted shrimp sauce
- Sannakji (산낙지) - live octopus, served live and still moving on the plate
- Makchang (막창): grilled pork large intestines, often served with a light doenjang sauce and chopped green onions
- Hoe (Pronounced 'hweh') \hö\ (회): raw seafood dish dipped in gochujang or soy sauce with wasabi (hot radish paste), served with lettuce or sesame leaves
Sources:
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Korean_cuisine
https://theworldbook.org/korean-food/
Oktay, S., Ekinci, E.K. Medicinal food understanding in Korean gastronomic culture. J. Ethn. Food 6, 4 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42779-019-0003-9
Yes, I have started writing in my target language. In the beginning of my learning journey, I wrote my diaries by hand and typed my article summaries. Throughout the middle, I changed it all to typing because I felt like I could write better when typing. Whenever I wrote by hand, my sentences became very simple and short, while my sentences when typing were a little more complex when comparing the two. The pattern that emerges between words, clauses, and sentences is that they are building blocks of each other. We need to start with words that can stand alone and have meaning without anything with it. Then, using those words, we create clauses which are the building blocks of sentences. Clauses are a group of words that have a subject and a predicate. Then, with those clauses, we create a sentence which expresses a complete thought and contains the clause within it. A sentence can be simple or compound. My knowledge of parts of speech, government, and agreement allow me to write better in written contexts as it helps me formulate simple and compound sentences. Although I still have to continue improving my writing skills, I feel confident in my ability to write basic simple and compound sentences. A simple sentence contains one independent clause while a compound sentence contains more than one independent clause. So, the relationship between the two is that you need simple sentences in order to create compound sentences. I provided below my diary for last Sunday 3/28 which was about my experience at the airport while going home.
뉴저지 공항에 도착하고 엄마 찾는거가 1시간 걸렸다. 원래 집에 갈때 아빠가 오는대 오늘 아빠가 너무 바빠서 엄마가 아빠 대신으로 왔다. 내가 게이트 C에 왔는데 엄마가 게이트 C 지나가고 게이트 B로 갔다. 엄마가 날 찾는거가 너무 어려워서 내가 게이트 B로 가기됐다. 근데 공항이 너무 커서 내가 에어 트레인를 처음으로 탔다. 스트레스가 너무 많이 받았지만 근데 엄마랑 드디어 만났을때 우리 같이 많이 웃었다. 스트레스 순간이 다 지나가고 엄마랑 좋은 하고 웃긴 기억을 만들었다.
K-pop, Korean popular music, is mainstream music that originated from South Korea. Around the 1990s, the K-pop that everyone knows today was created. The first K-pop group was Seo Taiji and The Boy, and they debuted with the song “I know,” which incorporated Western sounds. Seo Taiji and The Boys drove the creation of idol groups and many entertainment companies. Some top Entertainment companies are SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, Big Hit Entertainment, and YG Entertainment. What makes K-pop distinct from other music genres is the amount of training time that goes into becoming a K-pop idol. K-pop consists of trainees who train in acting, dancing, singing, rapping and learning how to present themselves as an idol. These trainees form into an idol group, and the entertainment companies market them to fans. They spend years in studio systems learning how to sing and dance in synchronized perfection. These K-pop idol groups perform in music show programs on South Korean TV such as “Inkigayo,” “Music Core,” Music Bank,” “M Countdown,” and more. During their promotional period, they have the chance to win awards in these music show programs according to winning criteria. These winning criteria are music video views, social media engagement, digital music charting, and more.
In each idol group, there are different roles that each member plays. The roles are leader, main vocal, sub-vocal, lead vocal, main rapper, lead rapper, main dancer, main dancer, lead dancer, and maknae. The difference between main and lead is that the lead dancer/vocal/rapper is skilled but is the second-best in the group. The main dancer/vocal/rapper generally has the most lines or is spotted in the middle compared to the lead. Maknae also stands for the youngest in the group.
One of the reasons why K-pop idol groups become so successful and popular, aside from their catchy music and eye-catching performances, is because of K-pop stans. K-pop stans are enthusiastic and active fans of their favorite group. However, it’s not enough to describe a stan as a fan. K-pop stans go above and beyond for their idol groups, to the point where they “worship” them. They buy as many albums as possible, stream on music platforms, support the artist in every way possible, and many more. Every K-pop group has its own fandom name along with fan light sticks that fans hold during their concerts. For example, GOT7’s fandom name is IGOT7 (Ahgase), and their light sticks are called ahgabong, which is shaped like a bird and is green. K-pop is different from other music genres because of its addictive melodies and choreographies. K-pop has exceptionally high-quality performance, polished aesthetics, and high-quality studio production. They tend to have specific styles that go along with their music style, helping them stand out. An example of this would be Girls’ Generation’s hit song “Gee.” Their crab dance and the addictive melody became a viral hit on the internet worldwide. Their colorful skinny jeans became a trend in Korea that everyone tried to replicate this style, and it became the fashion of the year in 2009. K-pop continues to influence fashion and the music industry in Korea and internationally.
The more modern K-pop culture began with H.O.T in 1996, and K-pop grew into a subculture that created fandoms among young adults, teenagers, and even children. Seo Taiji and The Boys and H.O.T, K-pop were famous in Korea, but the true global effect of K-pop began in 2003. In 2003, TVXQ and BoA helped spread K-pop outside of Korea, especially Japan. Then, Big Bang and Girls’ Generation helped spread K-pop globally in 2006 and 2007. In 2012, PSY’s Gangnam Style globally trended everywhere and became a dance that everyone followed along. Gangnam Style remains the number one most-watched K-pop music video on youtube today. Finally, popular groups today such as EXO, BTS, Blackpink, and Twice have made K-pop even more global and popular than ever before. K-pop is South Korea’s pride and leading exporters of popular culture.
For this semester, I have been studying Korean with the help of my language partner, Rachel Kim. We have really come a long way in terms of just getting to know each other better! I think we can both agree that it is very nice have fellow Koreans on campus to talk Korean and just share similar backgrounds with! I’ve talked to her during the usual language partner meetings. She has actually introduced to a bunch of Korean slangs that I never knew prior to talking with her. One phrase that she taught me was “ I got cancer”. The direct translation can seem a little offensive but this slang phrase is used as an hyperbole when someone feels great discomfort. I believe it is very similar to the phrase “I nearly died”. I told her that in America, this would be phrase would offend a lot of people and she agreed. Another funny Korean slang that I learned from our time conversing in Korean is that “ the more perverted you are, the more you hair grows”. This one is just whack. I’m still baffled by why people even say this in Korea. But it is pretty funny. She also told me while we were conversing Korean, that she received her first dose of the COVID-19 Vaccine. She told me that one of her friends in the swimming drover her to get her the vaccine. Apparently, she felt very tired and nauseous the after getting the vaccine. When I was talking to her over zoom, she did look tired and looked like she had a fever. Hopefully she will feel better the next time I see her! She is also very excited to return to Korea to see her family. In fact, she is actually counting down the days till she returns as she has already bought her plane ticket. I shared with her that I bought a new acoustic guitar! I bought it off of facebook marketplace and it plays like a dream. This in fact is my first “nice” guitar as it is a taylor 214ce. We also talked about our favorite foods! Coincidentally, we both agreed that pizza was on top. She told me that pizza in Korea is pretty dank. And I recalled that Korean Costco Pizza is the dankest. Then I asked her a very important question: Do you prefer Korean Fried Chicken or Pizza. And she chose Pizza. Then this conversation eventually lead us to talk about our dining options on Campus. She asked me what my favorite hamburger was a tlyer’s. I told her that I was not a huge of Tyler’s and that I usually order from the Cellar if the menu for the dining hall isn't too hot. She asked me then what I like to eat from the cellar. In which I responded that I like to order their beef burger and sometimes the Salmon BLT. Then I told her that the campus ministry i am apart of is doing an outdoor gathering and invited her! Overall, my Korean has been maintaining well thanks to Rachel!
I have only written a little in my target language, mostly to complete an activity or write a short paragraph. I most definitely prefer to write free hand type due to spell check and the accents. When I have to type Slovak words on the computer, it is always a pain to find the correct accent marks because many of them are not readily available on Word or with a certain keystroke pattern. Additionally, almost every Slovak word that I type into the computer gets flagged as incorrect or autocorrects to an English word. For me, typing on the computer turns studying Slovak into a tedious task and takes away from my learning experience; I just feel frustrated and fail to retain any information or make any new connections.
Honestly, I have not written very much in Slovak and mostly spoken in Slovak which fits my language goals better than a writing-focused learning experience. However, my few experiences with writing in Slovak usually produce very simple sentences as I am still learning grammatical concepts such as tenses and declension. It’s a really strange experience to have a complex sentence made up in your head, but you cannot actually express it. Declension and the different cases are an especially difficult set of concepts for me; my lack of knowledge in declension completely limits my ability to properly express the correct form of a noun or ending of an adjective.
Šťastnú Veľkú noc! Happy Easter!
As a child, I attended Church every Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, I tried to not eat meat on Fridays during Lent, and even gave up certain guilty pleasures like pop or the internet. Though my family raised me in the Presbyterian Church, I no longer subscribe to the beliefs of Christianity or regularly go to church. However, I always enjoy celebrating Easter for its colorful decorations, good food (particularly sweets), and its mark of the beginning of late Spring. This Easter, I have the added bonus of learning about Easter traditions in Slovakia (and they do Easter big). During my lesson today, Adriana spoke briefly about Easter Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday (Veľká noc), and Easter Monday especially the tradition of whipping and splashing women on Easter Monday. It has become very difficult to celebrate Easter in Slovakia due to the pandemic. Typically, there would be many church services, parties, and festivals. This Easter, the Slovak government encourages their citizens to stay home, attend virtual masses, and create Covid-safe traditions.
As previously mentioned in my past cultural blog post, 63% of Slovakia identifies as Roman Catholic and many of their holidays and traditions revolve around observing the Roman Catholic faith. Just as most other branches of Christianity, Slovak Roman Catholics honor Christ’s crucifixion and death on Good Friday and celebrate His resurrection on Easter Sunday. Christians finally get to break their forty-day fast (Lent ends) on Good Friday. Typically, people decorate eggs with several different methods: Batik, Waxing, Scratching, Pasting and Wiring. They also weave baskets and fill them with pastries, butter, cured meat, and horseradish for Easter Sunday. Before eating these baskets, the women take them to the church to be blessed.
Easter Monday may sound like a new addition to the Easter holiday (at least, it was something new for me). Two important traditions take place on Easter Monday: oblievačka and šibačka. Oblievačka is a Slovak tradition in which young men “sprinkle” (dump) water on the heads of their young female relatives, friends, and neighbors. A young man that partakes in this tradition is called “kupač”. The other tradition, šibačka, describes the Slovak tradition in which young men whip girls with willow branches; this type of branch/whip is known to Slovaks as “korbáč”. As the boys whip and/or dump water on the girls, they sing songs and accompanied by accordion players. After they finish with these two traditions, the girls are expected to gift the boys with candy, kraslica (decorated empty eggshells), a shot of vodka, even a full meal. Both of these traditions are meant to bless the girls with good health and beauty. They recognize juvenile tree branches as a symbol of rebirth and youth due to the new growth of trees in the Spring. Despite the good intentions behind the traditions, they seem to be fading from the typical celebrations of Easter Monday. It has always been unpopular among the girls and women getting splashed and whipped, perhaps a reason for its decline in popularity. As ethnographer Zuzana Beňušková explains, “Women hate Easter, men love it. But on the other hand, women brag the following day about the number of visits they had”.
Easter Monday Tradition of Oblievačka
Easter Monday Tradition of šibačka
Wax Decorated Easter Egg
Batik Decorated Easter Egg (Above)
Scratched Easter Egg (Below)
Etched Easter Egg (Above)
Pasted Easter Egg (Below)
Wire Decorated Easter Eggs (Below)
https://www.welcometobratislava.eu/traditional-easter-in-slovakia/
http://www.hereditas.club/2020/01/08/easter-traditions-in-slovakia-traditional-handcrafts/
https://kongres-magazine.eu/2019/04/celebrating-easter-in-slovakia/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/06/easter-monday-tradition-whipping-slovakia-girls-health
http://www.travelpotpourri.net/en/2016/03/24/veselu-velku-noc-tradicne-slovenske-kraslice/ ;
My third cultural artifact is a news article written in Korean about a basketball player in the Korean Basketball League. The basketball player, Deonte Burton, currently plays on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA. I was drawn to this article because the OKC Thunder is my favorite basketball team and Burton won MVP in the Korean basketball league the year after he graduated from Iowa State. This article talks about Burton's potential and future in professional basketball. The article also compares Deonte Burton as Michael Jordan in Korea. Because he is playing so well in the Korean basketball league, people think he deserves the MVP. They talk about his strength and skill set as a young basketball player and how he has quickly and efficiently adapted into the Korean basketball league. They talk about how he and his DB team defeated many teams and is currently playing in the semifinals in the playoffs. I thought this article was very interesting because Deonte Burton isn't as worshipped in America. They use words like "the best" when describing Deonte Burton and compares him to Michael Jordan, one of the best basketball players in the world. I think this comparison is a little too much, but the fact that Korean sports writers use this comparison really shows how different the perspectives are in America and Korea. Furthermore, I thought that it was really helpful to learn words in the world of basketball and sports such as win and playoffs. I want to continue practicing and reading news articles in Korean about the Korean basketball league. I will begin to watch live broadcasts in Korean to learn more vocab and understand the phrases and language in sports. The article also talks about how Burton has the potential to become recruited by G-League teams in the NBA if he continues to grow as a player.
Reading and understanding this article was difficult at first. There were many words and phrases that I had no clue about, but with the help of Jenna, I was able to better understand the article as a whole. I read the words out loud and asked her what a particular word or phrase meant if I didn't know what it meant. We didn't go through the whole article though, and during my own time, I started to read and translate sentences as practice. I looked up specific words if I didn't know what it meant, and used context clues to understand and write the translation of the sentence in English.
I will continue to read basketball articles about the Korean basketball league and articles written about the NBA in America. I found these articles on naver.com. I searched for basketball and looked for different articles written in Korean about either the NBA or the Korean Basketball League. Jenna and I will continue to read through articles together about different topics I am interested in (music, food, and sports). The COM2 language exam is reading through an article and answering questions about the article, so doing this every week will help me become more proficient in reading and writing in Korean.
