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For me, I'd say a language is a silk covering the culture underneath. The reason why I think of this metaphor is because a language can always show you some of its culture's elements and traditions. Take Korean, my target language, as an example. There are different forms of languages in Korean, which includes honorifics, formal, and informal languages. The appearance of honorifics indicates a sense of respect and politeness of younger people to elderly people and people would have to follow the rules in order to not be regarded as rude and reckless. 

Since communicative competence has several components and aspects, I would prefer to learn based on social and cultural aspects rather than straight into grammars. Because learning based on experiencing can more easily develop my interest and curiosity in the target language and as mentioned above, culture also has some implications on the language. Therefore, I could learn a language with curiosity. However, even though my learning plan was mainly based on learning the language in a social context and situation, throughout the semester, I've also been learning grammar, sentence structures and words structures. Therefore, I would, in the future, improve my competence by learning grammar and then applying the knowledge in a real-life settings. For example, when I finished learning tenses of verbs, I could use them with my partner in a created setting such as in a restaurant or a meeting.

Today I am going to talk about Korean’s traditional clothes, “Hanbok”. Korean clothing was mainly influenced by Chinese Tang dynasty clothing. This is recorded in the history documents: " clothing and daily life, same as China." Silla had very close contact with the Tang dynasty, and the clothing characteristics were almost the same as the clothing of the tang dynasty. The development of Hanbok's characteristics began in the middle of the Lee's Korea. Since then, Korean clothing, especially women's clothing, has gradually developed into high-waisted and long skirt, and the difference with Chinese clothing has gradually increased. However, the court dress and formal attire still have major Chinese characteristic. During the Korean war (1950-53), western clothing entered South Korea. By the 1960s and 1970s, as the pace of life and work accelerated, people found Korean clothing too cumbersome and inconvenient to wear, and the number of Hanbok users was greatly reduced. Nowadays, Hanbok enthusiasts have been actively promoting Hanbok and have revived it with designs that are easy to wear.

The line of Hanbok holds the beauty of curve and straight line concurrently. For example, the short jacket of women's Hanbok shows perfect elegance. Men have trousers, jacket and vest which show a unique taste. White is the basic color, but material and color depends on the season and status. The beauty of Hanbok clothing can be presented by the appearance of line, the color of the fabric and the changes in decoration. The jacket that emphasizes female neck downy line, inside and outside edge v-shaped collar or natural downy cuff curve, highlights gentle feeling. Korean clothing can also hide the shortcoming of body shape, makes short people look taller, skinny people look healthier. Korean clothing can be classified according to identity, function, gender, age, purpose and material. According to the usage purpose, Hanbok is divided into wedding Hanbok, festival Hanbok, Birth Hanbok and so on. The hanbok at a traditional wedding is more ornate than usual. At the wedding, the groom wears trousers, a vest, a jacket with a knot, a gauze hat and a crown, and wooden boots. The bride wore a red dress and a yellow blouse and wore a hairpin with a prefix and streamer on it. In festivals like Spring Festival, older people wear tradition Hanbok and children wear colorful tops and hanbok to celebrate. Nowadays, the everyday Hanbok gains popularity. Since traditional Korean clothing is only worn on special days because of its complexity, the simple and convenient every hanbok emerged and also received popularity among tourists.

An example of presenting the beauty of Hanbok to the world is the 2005 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Summit in Busan, South Korea. The color and design of each piece of Korean Hanbok are selected according to the theory of Yin and Yang and the five elements respectively, each representing a different meaning. For example, yellow, green, red, black and white represent the five directions of east, south, west, north and middle, as well as the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth. For the design, the makers chose pine, bamboo, cloud and peony. The Korean Hanbok has is unique culture and attraction that are now famous all over the world.

For this last learning journal, I didn't really have any new knowledge and insights learned in class since me and my partner skipped one class at the very end of the spring break. Therefore, I just wanted to talk about things that I learned throughout the semester with Dr. Marsh-Soloway and with all my classmates. 

First of all, what is language? The only definition I knew at the very beginning of this semester was that language is used for communication between different individuals. However, right now, when I think of languages, my brain is filled with phonology, morphology, grammar and phonetics. Phonology deals with interpretations of speech sound and phoneme which is the smallest unit of sound. Morphology, from what I learned, is the study of words and relationships between different words. Grammar, obviously, the whole structure and system of languages of any kind. Phonetics, comparing with phonology is the production and perception of speech sounds in any language and it deals with phone. 

I never knew some of the proper nouns before this semester and I'm surprised that I managed to memorize these even though I didn't regard them as interesting in the first place. And I was always wondering, how languages developed and how did they emerge a very long time ago when the first group of people tried to communicate with each other. I know we've covered language trees and language families before. But I still wonder, how could each language differ from each other hugely but has many things in common at the same time? This might sound a little abstract and what I wanted to say is that we could tell almost simultaneously if someone is speaking another language because of different phonetics. But, how could some languages, though developed separately have similar or even the same structure (grammar for instance)? 

Throughout the semester, after all these things I learned, this knowledge always surprised me by telling me how marvelous the brain is. Everything eventually ties to the study of brain while it's not fully understood by people even though everyone has a brain. I always wonder if we can, in the future, actually accomplish this task of understanding our brains because it's visible while intangible at the same time. Languages are the same. Every one speaks one language while no one actually understand it. 

We learned words, meanings of words, sounds of words, forms of words, compositions of words and grammar rules and so on in this semester. We also learned about how people produce sounds using teeth, and lips and so on.(I'm sorry but I couldn't really remember the proper nouns for human parts that produce sounds). However, the development of everything, eventually, is from the brain which is the most incomprehensible and complex human parts to understand and study. And again, I always wonder if people in the modern time could actually develop a new language that could be used even between a very small groups of people just like what we're using for speaking right now. And if not, is it because we lose the ability to do so or something else? 

For the last class, we switched gears and actually started to communicate with each other in Korean for the first time. We asked about classes:

• 수업 쉬워요?
  
  • Is the class easy?
• 어려워요!
  
  • It’s hard!

We asked about plans and schedules:

• 안녕하세요, 경미 씨. 성수입니다.
  
  • Hello, this is Yongjun.

• 안녕하세요, 성수 씨.
  
  • Hello Yongjun.
• 지금 12시 15분입니다. 우리 극장에 몇 시에 갑니까?
  
  • It’s 12:15 now. What time are we going to the theater?
• 3시 30분에 갑니다.
  
  • We’re going at 3:30.

We also asked about plans and rejections:

• 미나 씨는 내일 계획이 있습니까?
  
  • Do you have plans tomorrow?
• 아니오. 계획이 없습니다.
  
  • No, I don’t have any plans.
• 그럼 내일 남대문에 갑시다.
  
  • Then let’s go to Namdaemun tomorrow.
• 음… 잘 모릅니다.
  
  • Hmm… I don’t know.

Finally, we learned some restaurant dialogues:

Waiter : Good Evening. How many people?
안녕하세요 몇 분이신가요?
( an nyung ha se yo. myut boon ee shin ga yo? )

Customer : two
두 명입니다.
( doo myung im ni da )

Waiter : Smoking or non-smoking?
흡연석, 금연석 중 어느 것을 원하시나요?
( heub yun suk gwa geum yun suk joong uh neu gu seul won ha shi na yo? )

Customer : Non-smoking, please
금연석으로 해 주세요
( geum yun suk eu lo hae joo se yo )

Waiter : This way, please
이쪽으로 오세요
( ee jjok eu lo oh se yo )

Here is the menu.
여기 메뉴가 있습니다
( yu gi me nyoo ga it seum ni da )

Customer : What do you recommend?
어느 것을 추천하시나요?
( uh neu gu seul choo chun ha shi na yo? )

Waiter : Boogogi and Galbi are very tasty for barbeque.
불고기나 갈비가 바베큐로 좋습니다
( bool go gi na gal bi ga ba be kyoo lo jot seum ni da )

I also like to recommend Bibimbab.
그리고 비빔밥도 추천드립니다.
( geu li go bi bim bab do choo chun deu lim ni da )

Customer : We will try Bibimbab.
비빔밥으로 할께요.
( bi bim bab eu lo hal gge yo )

Could you make it less spicy?
덜 맵게 해 주실 수 있나요?
( dul maeb ge hae joo shil soo it na yo? )

Waiter : Yes. I will bring spicy paste separately.
네, 고추장을 따로 가져 오겠습니다.
( ne, go choo jang eul dda lo ga ju oh get seum ni da )

Waiter : How is everything?
어떠신가요?
( uh ddu shin ga yo? )

Customer : It taste very good.. Could I have more cold water please?
매우 맛있습니다. 냉수 좀 더 주세요
( mae oo mat it seum ni da. naeng soo jom du joo se yo ).

Waiter : Sure. Here it is.
네, 여기 있습니다.
( ne, yu gi it seum ni a )

Waiter : What would you like to have for dessert?
디저트로 무엇을 드시겠습니까?
( dee ju teu lo moo ut seul deu shi get seum ni gga? )

Customer : What do you have?
어떤 게 있나요?
( uh ddun ge it na yo? )

Waiter : Ice cream and Tea.
아이스크림과 차가 있습니다.
( ah ee seu keu lim gwa cha ga it seum ni da )

Customer: We will take Ice cream. What flavor do you have?
아이스크림으로 하겠습니다. 어떤 맛이 있나요?
( ah ee seu keu lim eu lo ha get seum ni da. uh ddun mat shi it na yo? )

Waiter : We have green tea or vanilla.
녹차와 바닐라가 있습니다
( nok cha wa ba nil la ga it seum ni da )

Customer : Green tea ice cream, please.
녹차 아이스크림으로 주세요.
( nok cha ah ee seu keu lime u lo joo se yo )

Waiter : Here is your ice cream.
여기 있습니다
( yu gi it seum ni da )

Customer : Can we have a bill?
계산서를 주시겠어요?
( gye san su leul joo shi get ssu yo? )

Waiter : Here it is. Thank you.
여기 있습니다  감사합니다
( yu gi it seum ni da. gam sa ham ni da )

Podcast with Prof. Sumi Kim, Gavin Foo, Haley Zhao, and Yanran Li

https://richmond.box.com/s/ju7trxszzf82h8l33hpijbl23f2ogzjq

In this cultural post, I want to talk about the food culture in Korea. The food culture of South Korea mainly comes from the former Korea, which has been generated before the split, and it is deeply influenced by the Chinese food culture. Food culture refers to the history, characteristics, and habits of a country and has a strong regional characteristic, which can fully reflect the country’s cultural feature. Kimchi, cold noodles, soybean paste soup has become the Korean symbol.

Korean diet is inclined to be light-flavored. They rarely add oil and monosodium glutamate in the food. Side dishes are mainly cold mixed vegetables. The most famous dish in South Korea is kimchi, which is spicy cabbage. In South Korea, children start to eat spicy cabbage and other kimchi in a young age, making it a national necessity. Korean barbecue is also a very important cuisine. Its main ingredients are beef with high protein and low cholesterol, which makes it healthier and taste better. South Koreans like to eat "spicy", but compared with China's Sichuan, Hunan spicy, South Koreans are more inclined to "cold spicy", and no "ma". Cold noodle is undoubtedly the best representative of "cold and spicy", and Korean people love to eat cold noodles even in the wintertime.

Now I am going to introduce different types of Korean cuisine in their everyday life. The first is rice. The staple food in South Korea is rice, which is the same as in northern China. Korea is located in northeast Asia, and its climate conditions are very similar to the three provinces in northeast China and Shandong province. In South Korea, in addition to rice, barley, sorghum and millet are widely grown. Korean people like to eat rice and also all kinds of rice mixed with the grain rice. They also like to add a variety of vegetables to rice and mix with the spicy soybean paste, which is known as "Korean bibimbap." The second essential cuisine is the Korean Sauce dishes. Sauce is one of the most important flavoring in Korea. It is one of the three side dishes on the Korean table, together with soup and kimchi. In Korea, there are a large variety of food cooked with sauce, and the sauce can be divided into Doenjang, chili sauce, barbecue sauce, soy sauce. The flavor of Doenjang is the most unique, but its ingredient is also the most nutritious. In South Korea, there is a famous Doenjang production base - Chunchang county, which is also known as the "Doenjang village". According to the survey, one third of the Korean sauce products is from here, and it is also home to the largest number of South Korea's long-lived people.

The third essential dish is soup. Soup is an important dish on the dining table and cannot be replaced. Among them, soybean paste soup, spicy cabbage soup and Tofu soap are most famous. For Korean people, they will have a bowl of kelp soup on their birthday. On the New Year’s Day, rice cake soup is served to visiting relatives and friends. This tradition shows the importance of soup in the daily life of Korean people.

Korean food culture has a long history and has undergone a thousand years of evolution. Now it has formed a food culture and industrial chain with local characteristics, which has a great influence in Asia and even the world. Today, Korean food culture has become an important part of the mainstream food culture in the world.

For the class on April 7th, together with my partner, we discussed deeply about different tenses for verb. It is good to know that there are actually formulas to follow when changing tenses for verbs to fit in different contents. Regarding the present tense:
1. When the last syllable of the stem ends in a consonant, you add ~는다 to the stem of
the word
a. 먹다 = 먹 + 는다 = 먹는다
b. 닫다 = 닫는다

2. When the last syllable of the stem ends in a vowel, you add ~ㄴ to the last syllable
followed by 다
a. 배우다 = 배운다
b. 이해하다 = 이해한다
c. 가다= 간다

And the example could be:

나는 친구를 (만나다)  만난다.

Here, 만나다 is the verb means "meet", and to change the verb into the present tense, we go with the formula in 2 because the last syllable ends in a vowel. Therefore, according to the formula, 만나 + ㄴ= 만난, we get  the answer is 만난다, meaning I'm meeting a friend.

There are plenty of formulas for the past tense as well including:

1. When the last vowel of the stem word is ㅗ or ㅏ, add 았다 
   1. 닫다  닫았다 (닫 + 았다) 
      1. 나는 문을 닫았다 
   2. 가다  가았다  갔다
      

1. When the last syllable of the stem word is 하, add ~였다 

1. 1. 공부하다  공부하였다 (공부하 + 였다) 
      1. 나는 한국어를 공부하였다
         

1. When the last vowel of the stem word is anything other than ㅗ or ㅏ or 하, add 었다 

1. 1. 먹다  먹었다 (먹 + 었다) 
      1. 나는 밥을 먹었다 

However, one rule worths noticing is that if a verb has a last syllable that ends in a vowel (including 하다), the ~았다/었다 gets merged to the actual stem itself. To illustrate, the example could be

아 + 아 = 아 

1. 가다 + 았다 = 갔다 
   1. The last vowel in the stem is ㅏ add 았다 to the stem 
      1. 나는 박물관에 가았다 
   2. But, because the stem ends in a vowel, 았다 can merge with 가  갔다 
      1. 나는 박물관에 갔다

This two-step formulation doesn't actually affect the meaning of the sentence, but to correctly and comfortably write or speak, this rule should be used because it makes the pronunciation of elements in a complete sentence easier.

The last tense we mentioned was the future tense and the rule is indicated below.

1. Add ~겠다 (get da) to the stem of a word 
   1. No difference if the stem ends in a vowel or a consonant   

The rule is easy to understand and the examples are:

• 나는 먹다 = I eat  나는 먹겠다 = I will eat 
• 나는 가다 = I go  나는 가겠다 = I will go 
• 나는 배우다 = I learn - 나는 배우겠다 = I will learn

At the end, we also done a little exercise to familiarize ourselves with the rules by changing the same verb into different tenses. 

There are only two languages I have learned in a school setting: English and Mandarin Chinese. English is the primary and the only language I use when completing academic work. I learned spelling to grammar and how to write essays in English during my school career. Mandarin Chinese was the second language I had the opportunity of learning at school since the eighth grade. Starting out with the basic tones of the Chinese language to how to write simple sentences and how to ask for a cup of water, I slowly learned the language and the excitement that comes when successfully grasping a concept in another language. Being able to then pursue Korean as a language learner in college has been a grounding experience. Korean was primarily a language I interacted with through modes of entertainment, food, and reciting my address to a taxi driver. I had never exposed myself to the specific grammar rules of spacing and spelling; I never learned that my Korean skills were rooted in pragmatic competence, specifically the sociolinguistic competence, rather than a mixture of organizational and pragmatic competence; and I never sat down with a language instructor (since learning “가나다라”) to go over the basics of Korean I had learned unconsciously. 

Just as I had expected, I found grammatical rules difficult to pin down to memory. It takes not only memorization but practice to better Korean spacing and spelling. I hope to continue my advancement in becoming a more proficient writer in Korean by fixing my mistakes. I look forward to texting more people, perhaps more adults who can provide corrections, in Korean as well as adding Korean subtitles to the content I watch to provide a visual representation of the language in understanding by ear. A surprising topic I had enjoyed, despite the unfamiliarity, was something from the linguistic side of becoming a language learner. Learning about the different linguistic terminology––morpheme, syntax, phonetics, and more––opened up my knowledge to overall language learning. Alike to the idea that knowing more languages expands one’s ability to describe the world, knowing more linguistic concepts and terms has expanded my view on the study of languages. 

As I continue my exploration of linguistics and the Korean language, I hope to reread concepts of the life of a language (how they form, evolve, and die) and reflect more about what it means to be bilingual, specific to the Korean-English case. The first topic was compelling to me because of the vast numbers of existing languages and an even larger list of dead languages. The way languages merge, evolve, and develop before dwindling away or preserving a spot as an international language is truly fascinating. The latter issue of bilingualism and bilinguality is more appealing on a personal level as a person who identifies as a bilingual. I would like to look further into the brain development of children who learn to live with two languages as well as the different categories of being bilingual (as explained in the short video from class). 

Overall, SDLAP 105 has given me the content and time to reflect on my language experience as a whole, encompassing my goal of becoming more proficient in Korean as well as finding another interest in the world of linguistics. 

For the class on March 27th, me and my language partner extended our conversation on sentence structure. Normally, Korean sentences consist of either a “subject + verb” or a “subject + object + verb." And there are way more structure rules than this. For example, when describing one person is at some places, the sentence will be "지금 용준이는 여자친구 집에 있어요," meaning the person is at a place now. Here the structure is " Time + Subject + Place + Verb." And when describing possession, we will use the possessive particle 의. The example could be, "샘의 동생 ," meaning Sam's brother. 

However, the most confusing part comes when comparing topic particles -- 은/는 -- and subject particles --이/가. The confusing thing is that topic and subject are sometimes not clearly distinguishable. The person or thing that is the main focus of the sentence is called the topic but the subject of the sentence is not always the topic. The example we used were the following two sentences: 

강아지가 애교가 많아요 (Topic- verb) 

강아지는 애교가 많아요 (Subject- descriptive)

For me, the only difference is the 가 and 는 in the two sentences while their meanings are pretty much the same. And if you use a translator, you could find the meaning is the same -- Puppies have a lot of charm. And in fact, these particles are interchangeable in some situations, which makes the differentiation even harder. However, I managed to understand a little bit more when comparing the following two sentences:

용준이가 많이 놀아요 (Topic- Verb) 

Raymond plays a lot

용주이는 많이 노는걸 좋아요 (Subject- Descriptive) 

Raymond likes to play a lot (As for Raymond, he plays a lot)  

From this, I could tell that when using topic particles, the main thing is to describe the topic which is "Raymond plays a lot" but not merely "Raymond." On the other side, when using subject particles, the main topic is "Raymond" and subject particles are used to describe a subject not a "thing." Fortunately, because these particles are interchangeable, using the wrong particle won't make the sentence incomprehensible and people will still be able to understand even though there are situations where you have to use one particle than the other. 

Finally, I've done some searches based on this topic and I found the formal interpretation and explanation on how should we distinguish between particles:

1. When it’s a negative sentence with verb ‘to be’ (아닙니다 or 아니에요 i.e. is/am/are + not), you always have to use 이/가 with the preceding noun. Ex: 이것은 책이 아니에요.
2. If you are using 있다/없다 you should always use 이/가 with the noun before it. Ex: i) 펜이 있어요?  ii) 저는 내일 시간이 없어요.
3. Generally when there are two nouns in a sentence and a descriptive verb (or adjective) has been used, use 은/는 with the first noun and 이/가 with the second. Ex: 오늘은 날씨가 좋아요. 이 식당은 음식이 맛있어요.
4. When you want to show contrast or emphasize a noun, you should use 은/는. For example – 품질이 좋은데 가격은 너무 비싸요. (Quality is good but the price is too expensive.)

However, these rules are simplified and there are even more complicated rules. But mastering these rules could be enough to handle conversations in most situations.

Nicole Liu final presentation.pptx

https://urcapture.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=7270e979-3177-4c9d-8f59-abae01208ec5

Amidst the outbreak of COVID-19 and social distancing, an appropriately humorous mantra incorporating the Korean creation myth of Dangun is being used to comfort those in isolation. 

According to the website of the Korea Tourism Organization, the Legend of Dangun (단군신화) is a “mythical story that portrays the origin of the Korean people as descendants of a bear, and the founding of Korea through Dangun” (KTO). The story begins with the prayer of a tiger and bear in hopes to become human. In response, the son of the Lord of Heaven Hwanung gives the two animals 20 cloves of garlic and a bundle of mugwort each along with the order to remain inside a cave for 100 days. Unlike the tiger who gave up in 20 days, the bear is said to have completed 100 days of cave-living while eating garlic and became a human woman. The son of this bear-woman and Hwanung was named Dangun Wanggeom, the man to build the state of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom in history. It is said that modern-day Koreans are the descendants of this bear turned woman. This legend of the creation of Korea has become the basis of humorous consolations like “self-separation is in the founding myth of our country, continue practicing social distancing!” 

The meme translates to “(This is) a country that has been self-purchased from the very beginning. Even worse, Hwanung said to stay in doors for 100 days." 

The flyer made by Yongin-si, a major city in the Gyeonggi Province, details the continuation of social distancing until April 19 along with the following words of encouragement: “What race are we? An ethnic group that has shown the end of social distancing since the founding myths…” 

South Korea has been able to successfully flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases with the help of a fast-acting government, but most importantly, through the widespread sense of social trust and importance placed on the larger community. South Korea was one of the countries that were infected from an earlier standpoint than some others. It also had an alarming growth in cases in the beginning, recording up to 900 confirmed cases in a day. Today, numbers of cases added daily are below 10, and death rates are one of the lowest. The government was able to act fast by beginning the manufacture and distribution of test kits and developing safe, smart ways of mass testing (e.g. drive-through stations). Most notably, citizens gave up their rights to individual privacy to make contact-tracing of paths of infection possible. South Koreans also self-initiated social distancing and quarantine with a simple warning of the virus’s severity from the government. As a whole, the majority of individuals are being careful and responsible for their actions and whereabouts to prevent the further spread of the pandemic. With this collectivist mentality and high levels of social trust, the government worked with the population to better the situation of coronavirus. This creation myth is another pointer of Korea’s homogenous, collectivist nature that lead to the slowdown of the infection.

As my time at home in quarantine only seemed to drag on, I decided to start reading a book, Kim Ji-young, Born 1982. Published back on October 14, 2016, by author Cho Nam-Ju, this novel became the first novel to sell more than a million copies in the last decade. Its popularity has spread from Korea to other countries like China, Japan, and even the US as translated publications are made worldwide. By looking at the simple storyline detailing the life of a woman in the mid-30s. There is no backstabbing plot twist, love affair, or dangerous journey. It is a straightforward plot sharing the memories and experiences of a woman named Kim Ji-young, born in 1982. To dive into the deeper reason behind the popularity of this book, I would like to highlight what I have felt reading the book as well as the news and talk about the book before I purchased it.
To begin, the name Kim Ji-young is a generic one, synonymous with the American Joe or Jane. Thus, the protagonist’s life experience from her childhood to school, marriage, and professional career is the representation of the average Korean woman. In the author's words, Kim Ji-young is a "vessel that contains experiences and emotions that are common to every Korean woman" (NPR). Taking the author only three months of writing to complete the book, author Cho incorporated self-anecdotal aspects and real-life examples and data on Korea's lack of gender equality. Of the OECD countries, South Korea ranks rock bottom for having the largest gender-based wage gap of 35%. Women make 63 cents to a man's dollar despite being as equally schooled as men in the same competitive education system. Cho wanted to make it public that almost half of working-age women are home. Women also continue to face outdated “harsh stigmas exist around menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth” (NPR).
When reading the book, I became upset, though not surprised, by the undisguised forms of sexism Kim Ji-young, her mother, and every other female character faced. The examples of oppression, ranging from the order in which school lunch was served to Kim Ji-young’s annual holiday cooking at her in-laws, and the delays in receiving higher education because of a male family member, everything was so common and obvious to me that it was also deeply upsetting and frustrating. This was the first book in which women could see the panoramic reflection of their daily, collective plights (NPR).
The feminist agenda of this novel is nonexistent. Perhaps except the fact that it was a book about a woman’s life, the book doesn’t culminate in a larger picture of growing feminism, and the radical feminism movement, of South Korea. It was, however, timed perfectly around the latest wave of Korean feminism with the emergence of #MeToo and the Escape the Corset movement against strict, unrealistic beauty standards. And so, the book became a reference point for conversations around feminism and gender inequality. In addition, it became the target for the large, brutal anti-feminist following in Korea.
Overall, I believe that Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 is a good cultural reference in understanding the lives in which half of the population lead. The book is even more interesting and important as it presents the unbiased, real experiences of South Korean culture, showing the realities of how a deeply patriarchal society shapes the lives of women in the modern day.

Sources:
Cho, Nam-ju. Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982. Minumsa, 2016.
Hu, Elise. “South Korean Bestseller 'Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982' Gives Public Voice To Private Pain.” NPR, NPR, 19 Apr. 2020, www.npr.org/2020/04/19/835486224/south-korean-bestseller-kim-jiyoung-born-1982-gives-public-voice-to-private-pain.

https://urcapture.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=a20a8e0f-c790-4c24-aefa-abae00fdb5a0

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For this semester, I really learned a lot through the cooperation and communication with my language partner, Brenda, and my classmates as well during classes. It has been a very special experience for me to embrace myself with my classmates in various language settings and it is surprising to know that even every language sounds sharply different in some ways, they all have common features such as grammar, phonology as we learned throughout this semester. Therefore, I want to thank for the hard work of the professors and my classmates, it has been a unique opportunity to be able to work with you.

With my language partner, I also learned a lot, more specifically at my target language. I was able to familiarize myself with not only the formal structures of the language but, more deeply, the culture. Through the movie, Parasite, we discussed during one class, I was able to learn about the class differentiation in Korea and how different groups of people live under this circumstance. And at the end, I finally could communicate, not fluently, with Brenda in Korea as the dialogue in the recording shown. Even though unexpected situation happened and we couldn't hold normal class meetings for half of the semester, everyone looks still enthusiastic in language learning and it really gives me energy in doing so as well. After all, it has been a great semester and an honor for me to be in this class. I really learned a lot!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRxCCRWsf3E

Recently, I was exposed to a Korean traditional song by accident. It is called “Arirang”. Its melody is very beatiful and attractive, so I did some research on this kind of song.

Arirang Folk song (아리랑) is a famous Korean traditional song, also is the most representative Folk songs of the Korean peninsula. Its full name is 아리랑타령. Arirang is known as the Korean nationality "the first national anthem" and "ethnic songs". There are different versions of it in different places, the most commonly heard version being "original tone Arirang", which is popular around gyeonggi province in South Korea. This one is popular because it became the theme song of the 1926 film of the same name. It was later used as the entry music for the delegations of the republic of Korea and the democratic People's Republic of Korea during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Also, Arirang has been included in the national intangible cultural heritage list of the People's Republic of China.

Arirang is a love story from the koryo period. The main plot is about a loving couple. Their life was hard. The husband wanted his wife to have a good life, so he wanted to go out to work to earn money. But the wife didn’t let him to do so, saying as long as two people were together she was satisfied. The husband did not think so, and left one night quietly. The wife was famous for being very beautiful in the village. After the husband left, the village ruffians came to harass and let her remarry. The wife refused, but the ruffians always came and harass her. A year later, the husband came back with money, and the couple were happy. The local ruffians came again, and the village gossiped about the wife and local ruffians. The husband had a suspicion, thinking that the wife was not faithful. He wanted to leave again. The wife tried to expalin but cannot stop the husband. He left and the wife chased him and sang. The content of the song was about her grievance and concern and yearning for her husband. His wife sang "my husband", also known as Arirang, and finally her sincerity melted his cold heart. The couple's love was restored and they left their hometown to live a happy life in the capital. Later this story and the song Arirang spread, and became the representative of the Korean national classic song.

Although the Arirang music is not the same everywhere, it shows the ancient women's fortitude and indomitable spirit.

This song "Arirang" tells the story of a Korean woman who misses her husband and longs for love. The melody is euphemistic and lyrical, and the rhythm is brisk and smooth. The whole song is composed of two musical phrases and changes and repeats, forming a double complex phrase with chorus. "Arirang" has a 3/4 beat and subsonic melody. Being slightly sad mood, Arirang is a representative Korean folk song.

https://richmond.box.com/s/xjq8bd6ct4pthpn4jwaztmb6dm7c8e28

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Recently, there is a popular talent show in China. The program invited more than 100 trainees and qualified star instructors. In the program, the trainees work in groups, compete, and eventually the nine trainees who get the most votes form a group and debut. In fact, such shows first began in South Korea. Chinese talent shows are also imported from South Korea. Among the star mentors was a member of a south Korean girl group. The member's own nationality is neither China nor South Korea, but Thailand. Such diversified combination makes me realize more that South Korea is a country with a very developed entertainment industry. In the Korean entertainment industry, there are also many foreign stars and idols. This made me start to think about why so many young people, no matter what country they come from, keep on going to Korea as trainees to make their debut.

Many people call South Korea as a star factory. There are lots of idols and idol group in South Korea, and most of them have lots of fans all over the world. On the contrary, in China, it can be said that before the import of talent shows, China did not have as influential as South Korea's idols or idol groups. But how can South Korea be so developed in entertainment industry? I made some comparisons between China and South Korea.

China: The professional selection of dance vocal is not particularly strict on the selection of appearance.

Korea: When selecting trainees, they will examine them from multiple dimensions, such as appearance , body type, artistic ability, politeness, attitude and strength.

China: mainly train themselves, without professional company packaging, not have a lot of charm to attract fans, look like ordinary people on the road

Korea: there are special courses to teach you how to walk well, how to exude charm, plus regular skin management, and company packaging, it is easy to attract fans

China: requires tuitions to learn vocal or dance

Korea: free training and have living expenses for trainees.

China: graduation oneself and seek for a job, the future is uncertain

Korea: domestic Korea usually pay attention to the debut of new idols, high possibility of becoming popular

To sum up, young people who want to debut are more willing to go to a mature entertainment industry, so that their future is also guaranteed.

In fact, it is not only China cannot do the same star factory as South Korea. Such a mature industry requires long time and some corresponding support. After all, South Korea began to build its own entertainment industry very early, and other countries have not been able to catch up for a while. So young people are more willing to go to South Korea to exercise themselves.

Apart from the early start, the training for trainees in Korea is also very strict. A recent set of photos of former Chinese idols of SM entertainment, one of South Korea's top three entertainment companies, has caused a stir. In the photo, the three stand in exactly the same position, even holding the microphone on the same side. People looked for photos of other SM idols  and found that everyone was standing in the same pose. This also shows that South Korea has strict requirements and training on every move of trainees, so that after many years they still remember.

The last ZOOM meetings I had with Tommy and our language partner Jimin were focused on the rules of grammar and spacing in the writing component of Korean. These sessions were extremely helpful in my progression with the Korean language because it was the area I struggled, and continue to struggle, the most with. Something about the grammar behind spacing and spelling is so tricky and based on a gut understanding that even native Koreans have a hard time. For my writing skills, these two areas were my two black holes. Because I had never learned written Korean after the 가나다라 alphabets, I had never seen or heard what the rules of spacing (띄어쓰기) and common spelling (마춤법) were. Spacing has rules, but 마춤법 is just spelling. To complicate things even more, the rules and spelling of words are also constantly updated based on the general consensus of the people. One rule of spacing that has been updated is whether or not there is a space between the main root of the word, 본용언 in Korean, and derivational morphemes, 보조용언 in Korean. A good example is “보고싶다/보고 싶다”, meaning I miss you. Before the revision of the rule, “보고 싶다” was the correct grammar. Now, both are accepted as correct. Apart from this rule, there are a handful of others in which some make sense while others are infinitely confusing. After learning about the rules, I always take a second before sending a text in Korean to see if I followed the rules correctly. 마춤법, spelling, is another story. As Korean has a lot of homonyms (because of the difference in spelling and/or Hanja), spelling is one of my weaknesses. One of the mistakes I made when I was younger was the difference between “안” and “않”. They are both negative morphemes that sound the same. “안” is used in the front hile “않” is integrated into the end of a root word. For example, “I didn’t eat” can be either “안 먹었어요” or “먹지 않았어요”. Even in this example, the issue of spacing emerges as well. To end the semester’s SDLAP 105 class, Jimin went over what is called 한글날, Hangul Day. It is a national commemorative day for the establishment of Hangul, also known as 훈민정음 during its creation, by King Sejong the Great. Annually, on October 9, the Korean language is celebrated. As difficult Korean may seem to a beginner learner, or myself attempting to get down the rules of spacing, Hangul was created for all Koreans to be able to simply learn and use. Prior to Hangul, Chinese characters were used in writing form with Korean pronunciation. This method was complicated and the complexity of Chinese characters also led to different interpretations. Reading and writing was so complex that only those of the upper class had the leisure to learn, leaving all commoners without the ability to write out concerns and read important government announcements. Though difficult at times, being able to allocate time to deepen my appreciation of my language has also given me the opportunity to reflect on my culture and its history. I hope to practice my spacing and spelling and improve my overall competence in the Korean language.