|
I am going to Taiwan. It will be my first time there.
A picture of the Taipei skyline (featuring "Taipei 101", the world's tallest building from 2004-2010): 
I know a Taiwanese family in the USA who have graciously connected me with friends and family there, so I expect the trip will be good. I leave Friday afternoon May 29th, and will return to Korea the following Wednesday.
0 Comments
The study of a language is never an "island unto itself" but rather comes as part of a package involving an entire culture and worldview which has evolved with over centuries and milennia. The worldview must be, and inevitably is, learned in parallel with a language. It is possible to learn the culture without the language, but it is more profound when learning the language. Plus you can communicate with natives on their own terms.
One benefit of studying Korean more-or-less full time over the past year has been the clarifying and/or opening up of such a new perspective to me, beyond what I understood about Korea, and East Asia generally, before. (see, e.g., post #261 "But Which Twin is the Elder?"). Here is a possible example of this. A Chinese native speaker in my Korean class sent me a set of paired images delineating differences between West and East and asked for comment. Simple pictures, simple headings, but not all have clear meanings. I think it's well done and thought provoking. The important thing is that this was produced by East Asians in East Asia, probably Chinese. It was found on a Chinese website. Blue is Westerners. Red is Easterners: 
인간 관계: Connections Between People
나(자신): Myself 문제 대처방식: Coping with Problems
인간 관계, Connections Between People: I am not sure exactly how to interpret this. Asians have a wider network of acquaintances whom they can rely on for favors? Westerners have fewer people they can rely on?
나(자신), Myself: Westerners have higher self esteem (maybe excessive). Asians tend to be internally nervous and self-conscious. 문제 대처방식, Coping with Problems: Like one of those ink blot tests, many things are possible to see here, too. Asians avoid problems rather than dealing with them as they should? Or is it that Asians smartly go around problems while we foolhardedly and obliviously plow on into them?
Late April 2009
Me (freshly arrived in Korea for the first time): "Can I drink the tap water?" He (American, several years in Korea): [Calmly] "Never drink the tap water." That was that. I didn't question it. Why would I? He was the expert; I was a complete outsider. |
AboutWelcome. This is a place I write things that may or may not be of interest. Thanks. Search this site:
Subscribe via email:
Subscribe to the Feed:
Archives
November 2018
Contact by Email
Yuletide5142 at y@hoo.com 
Me
I thank you for
stopping by this quiet corner of the Internet. |
RSS Feed