Date: January 24, 2017 Time: 12:00pm
Location: Dirac Starbucks
Today I had the opportunity to dive deeper into discussions about country and culture with my new conversation partner. What I found most interesting about our conversation had more to do with our similarities rather than our differences. Although Korea and America are different in language, self discipline, and educational values, it seems that we still can relate through political disappointment. It should be noted that I am oversimplifying our discourse for the purpose of this assignment. But, from what I gathered of our session the conversation seemed to point to the idea that both Koreans and Americans are dissatisfied with their elected national leaders.
Korea is currently undergoing the impeachment process for its first woman president due to a university scandal of some sort. And many Americans are dissatisfied with president Trump's stance, and the electoral college's weight in this year's election. Either way, it seems that both countries can relate with one another in that the people being governed want economic progress, ethical leaders, and fair representation.
Our conversation got carried away very quickly. However, it was quite insightful. I also learned that the Korean language often has two translations of the same words due to China's influence during their reign over Korea. The Chinese translation is often thought to be more formal as it was only used by those of power. She gave me an example by teaching me how to say nice to meet you. Formally, one would say anya ashmica. Informally, one would say anya aseo. Although I tried hard to listen to how she pronounced the words, I hope that I haven't butchered the language too much during the transcription process.
No comments:
Post a Comment