[Books] This is Korea: All you ever wanted to know about Korea

 

Written by CHOI Jung-hwa and LIM Hyang-ok (2011)

Another recently published book, this is more of a travel-guide book. Although it covers roughly the same grounds as CultureShock! Korea (read my review here), this book is not nearly as detailed. This book introduces the things that Korea is famous for, and by introducing I really mean a short paragraph or two about the subject. Hence, if you are looking for details, this is not really your book. However, they do cover a broad range of topics from korean food to korean art so if all you are looking for is something easy to digest and brief, this is the book for you.

One feature I liked about this book was the fact that they used hangeul in the book. All chapters in the book had titles in korean as well, and this was useful for learning vocabulary. While covering the korean zodiac (which is same as the chinese zodiac), every animal had an idiom related to it in the book. (I will write another post on these idioms when I get my korean keyboard stickers, so lets keep it at this for now.)

I finished this book in 2 hours so you can tell how short is is – good read for a boring flight. Not nearly as detailed as I’d like it to be, so if you want to know more, you may want to stock up on other books that provide more information.

[Books] CultureShock! Korea - A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette

Written by Sonja Vegdahl, Ben Seunghwa Hur (2011)

Written in 2011, this book is probably one of the most up to date out in the market – perfect for someone looking for a 101 guide to etiquette in Korea.

NOTE – This is not a travel guide, but rather it is targeted more towards foreigners (or westerners) who will be working in Korea in future/are already there. Nonetheless, it is an interesting read even if you, like me, are just interested to find out about the culture in Korea without having to step out of your home country.

This books starts off with much generalization about the korean people and culture, and the unique differences between the western and korean cultures. Examples would include things like koreans never wearing shoes in their homes, how physical contact between close friends (eg. a close friend’s arm resting on your thigh) is normal, how different groups of foreigners are viewed by koreans etc. I am not sure how much of it is actually true, so take it with a pinch of salt, but keep in mind that most of these are just generalizations of the culture and I’m sure not everyone behaves according to what is written in the book.

Then, the author writes about how to settle in and manage culture shock in Korea. This is the part catered more towards expats moving to korea and it details how to find accomodation, transport, internet etc. Very helpful even for students going there for a study exchange in a particular korean university.

The next part of the book is would be similar to a normal travel book – introducing places/sights to see, the drinking culture in korea and the list goes on.

However, the most unique part about this book is that it introduces the business culture in Korea – in detail. Of course for the most part this is mostly generalization again and the old traditions and customs are rapidly changing, but it is still very useful to keep in mind, especially if you are or you’re planning to do business in Korea.

Overall, I really liked this book because it was exactly what I was looking for. The author was really detailed when delving into the culture part and covered most of the situations an average foreigner would encounter in korea and how to deal with those situations. I found that particularly helpful to note as it is extremely different from how I’d normally deal with those situations (in Singapore), and I would expect it to be even more so in more westernized countries. However, this book did contain much generalization so do take everything with a pinch of salt.

Very informative book overall and I would reccommend it if you are looking culture101 on korea!

My first encounter with koreans

I am an introvert by nature. I have a small fear of meeting people, but still I try. But the people I am most excited to meet… are koreans! (no points for guessing why)

Today, we (a couple of school-mates from the school’s korean cultural club and I) met a group of middle/high school students from Korea and brought them around singapore. It was a first for me in terms of proper interaction with koreans who could barely speak english. Thus I was forced to speak korean (or whatever little I could muster!)

I must say, it was an amazing half a day.

The only time I ever speak korean to ANYONE is in my korean language class at Daehan, because I always feel so self conscious when speaking korean and it just sounds all wrong when it comes out, even though it sounds fine in my head. (hmmm…) I’m sure I’m not the only one with this problem. Anyone, due to the lack of practice, speaking korean today was a struggle for me. I’d like to qualify that some of the students could understand simple english, and they did an awesome job of translating, but I spoke whatever little korean I could to some of the younger students who weren’t very good in English.

Challenge #1

What to talk about?

You know in dramas when they have this.. “…” sign to signify awkward silences?

Well, it wasn’t so much of an awkward silence, but imagine a tour guide who could barely speak Korean leading a group of Korean students who could barely speak English. There were times when I couldn’t think of anything to say while they chattered in Korean among themselves. I felt a little left out, or maybe guilty that I wasn’t entertaining them properly.

Challenge #2

How do I say it in Korean? (ponders for a really long time, before giving up and just saying it in English)

And the thing about not speaking in Korean frequently is that you kind of know your stuff but you take really really long to extract it out from your brain, and out of your mouth.

One of the more embarrassing moments..

[when I needed to leave]

Me: (to friend) I need to leave!
Me: (to korean students) 가.. 가.. 가야 돼요.. (in a super unconfident voice..)
Bubbly korean students: 가야 된다구요? (before I could finish my previous sentence)

Anyway, I stopped at that and just replied 데 because I didn’t know what to say and I was embarrassed that such a simple 4 words took so long to come out of my mouth, even though my brain was working on overdrive trying to find the right words.

Challenges aside, this experience is one that I will definitely treasure.

1. I made new friends – they have both facebook and kakaotalk (hooray for SNS and technology!)
2. I had lots of fun – we even endured hardships (the sweltering hot sun) together
3. Learnt new things – apparently Korean muslims pray on Saturdays while Singaporean muslims pray on Fridays. Is this right? Someone please enlighten me!
4. Spoke korean for the first time outside of class – miserable attempt, but attempt all the same!
5. First korean to wish me 화이팅 personally!

One of the baby steps you take when you learn korean (or any language, really), is to force yourself into a situation where you would have no choice but to speak the language, whether it be visiting the country, or hosting an international friend.

I will definitely be doing this again!