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Post-235: [My Korean Essay] Cultural Differences in Alcohol

9/26/2014

At the end of the day Thursday, it came down to this, with five minutes left: "Write something about cultural differences between countries." I like these kinds of assignments because they are "open". This is what I came up with:

Korean Original, Written by Me [수업에서 쓴 글]
나라마다 문화가 다릅니다. 예를 들면, 한국에서는 많은 사람들이 자주 술을 마시지만 이슬람교의 나라에서 법으로 술을 마시면 안 됩니다. 기독교 국가에서는 술을 마셔도 되지만 보통 서양인들 중에서 자주 술을 마시는 사람이 적습니다.

Translation into English
Every nation's culture is different. One example is that in Korea, lots of people drink alcohol frequently, but in Islamic countries drinking alcohol is not allowed by law. In Christian countries, people may drink alcohol, but in general there are few Westerners who frequently drink.

Comment on My Argument:
Forgive my inexact argumentation. Writing anything coherent in this language, in three minutes, is hard enough!

What I meant is this:

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Post-234: Asian Games 2014

9/22/2014

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Thursday, September 18th 9:30 PM
Sauntering down the street in Incheon, I hear a raucous noise emanating from across the way. Food and drink. Seafood. Oh, okay. Wait. I've walked along here dozens of times. This restaurant has never been like that. On a Thursday? I detoured a few steps to peer in. Wouldn't you have done the same? Yes; packed. Hmm. A mystery, but not for long: THAILAND. On one jacket; and another; on all their jackets. Mystery solved. They were athletes and coaches.

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Post-233: Scotland Defeats Secession / Or, Another Notch in 1,600-Year Intra-British Rivalry

9/22/2014

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Result of Scotland Referendum on Secession from the UK, September 18 2014 [Source]

Scotland defeated secession; turnout was near 90% in most districts; unsurprisingly, the strongest "union" areas were those that voted most highly for the Conservative Party (maps of 2011 results).

I'm still trying to figure it out. Although nobody in the British press would ever discuss this without a hysterical tone, I still want to know how much "blood and soil" feeling actually animated the secessionists. Of the 45% who voted for independence, a lot of reasons were floating around but the "blood and soil" thing, it must've been high on the list. Would we imagine 45% of Scots were zealous supporters of the political program of Scottish National Party?

I'm actually thinking this: Both sides had very big undercurrents of "blood and soil feeling" animating their campaigns, all else notwithstanding, but conflicting visions thereof.

The British Isles' 1,600-years-running Celtic vs. Germanic rivalry may be the key to understanding it.

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Post-232: Secession, In Principle

9/17/2014

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For many complex reasons, a lot of Scots will vote "Yes" and a lot'll vote "No" on secession tomorrow (Sept. 18th). (See previously: post-228, Scottish Independence, and post-229, Scotland's Secession and Reminiscences of a Scottish Friend.)

I am led to step back from the passions of this particular secession crisis and think about the principle at hand.

Imagine that you support secession, in principle. "If a group of people within a specific region of a larger state wants independence, it is their sacred right to pursue and achieve it." Something like that. (Or, more eloquently, "[I]n the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them.")

It is tempting to support this principle. Americans honor the words of 1776, which seem to endorse it, 1861-65 notwithstanding. The problem is, things get very complicated, very quickly. "Where does it end?"

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Post-231: [My Korean Essay] The Internet's Pros and Cons

9/16/2014

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Here is an essay I wrote in Korean class (with the teacher's corrections). My English translation is below.

(Note: In these kinds of essay I write in Korean, I consciously try to copy the writing style of a Korean student of 7th-9th grades, of whom I've taught many and of whose essays (in English) I've read very many. I figure that copying their style can smooth things over as I attempt to write in a language that is notoriously difficult for us. / In other words, if a student wrote the below in English, I would have certain criticisms of it, but... / I put myself at your mercy!)

인터넷의 장점/단점[2014년9월]
인터넷을 사용하는 사람이 재미있게 시간을 지낼 수 있지만 단점도 있습니다.

첫 번째, 인터넷의 단점에 대해서 이야기하고 싶습니다. 인터넷에 뉴스, 게임, SNS, 등 정말 많습니다. 그래서 사람이 컴퓨터를 켜자마자 여러 웹사이트를 확인 하려면 시간이 많이 필요합니다. 날마다 인터넷을 많이 사용하는 사람은 친구를 직접 만날 수 없습니다. 인터넷을 하기만 하는 사람 중에 성격이 나쁜 산밤이 있습니다.

그렇지만 인터넷에 대해서 좋은 점도 있어서 여기부터 장점에 대해서 이야하고 싶습니다. 인터넷에서는 게임을 즐겁게 할 수 있습니다. 예를 들면 스타크래프트를 하고 싶으면 인터넷이 필요합니다. 게임 외에로 뉴스를 아주 쉽게 볼 수 있습니다. 또 페이스북이나 카카오톡을 하기 위해서 인터넷을 자주 사용합니다.

인터넷이 없으면 우리 생활은 많이 불편해질 겁니다. 그렇지만, 인터넷은 장점도 있고 단점도 있기 때문에 잘 사용해야 합니다. [끝]

English Translation:

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Post-230: American Imprisoned in North Korea was an Illegal English Teacher

9/15/2014

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One of the Americans currently in North Korea was found guilty this week. His name is Matthew Miller.

Matthew Miller, American sentenced to prison in North Korea for spying.

I first heard the name Matthew Miller in April 2014 (when I was in the USA). I remember the official North Korean press release being terse and cryptic...

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Post-229: Scotland's Secession Vote / Reminiscences of a Scottish Friend

9/15/2014

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(This follows on from post-228: "Scottish Independence").

Three days till the Scotland vote on secession from the UK.

I've known one true Scotsman in my life (and it's no fallacy). Back in the interesting years of 2011-2012. I knew one who worked in a nearby institute to mine. His name was R.W. and he was truly interesting to talk to, even down to his dramatic last day in Korea, when fortune would have it that I was with him almost to the end.

I've lost contact with R.W., but all the same I'm quite sure of two things:

He'll support union,
He'll have had frequent arguments against secessionists about this issue, often involving alcohol.

This is the kind of thinker R.W. was: I imagine him reflecting on the "Scotland secession referendum" by going on about it being a sign of the UK's long-running decline: The UK was the "global superpower" in 1914. By 2014, a short century later, it's lost it all and reached a point of such weakness that the UK itself may dissolve.

Here are some pictures of "pro-secession" rallies ("Yes") supporters (also more R.W. reminiscences below):

Pro-Secession Demonstration, Glasgow, September 14th, 2014 [Source]

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Post-228: Scottish Independence

9/13/2014

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It seems that Scottish independence may be at hand, and in time for the 20th anniversary of the filming of "Braveheart".

As I have no reason to support or oppose it, I look on next week's vote with indifference but also curiosity.

On first thought, we might think that the "hard core of secessionism" would be "right-wing nationalist feeling". We might think that the vote is a sign that "blood and soil patriotic sentiment" is still alive among Europeans (despite its being mostly faux-pas for many decades now).

From what I understand,though, the Scottish National Party (SNP), behind secession, is a social democratic party, leading us to reject the above hypothesis.

What, then?

The most pro-Scottish-Independence movie ever made (filmed in mid and late 1994 and released in spring 1995)

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Post-227: The Arrival of Substitute Holidays in South Korea

9/8/2014

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Way back in April 2013 (post-36), I wrote about the new South Korean government's proposed introduction of "substitute holidays". Contrary to my expectation at the time, I have actually lived to see one (or will live to see one, if I survive to the coming Wednesday).

South Korea has two official "major holidays" (연휴), one in Fall and one in Winter. At these times, everything shuts down on the day of, and the days before and after, a three-day block. When the main day falls on Monday, it means Sunday is one of the block days, which is kind of a gip. This time, though, by national law, Wednesday is off, too. Korean employers often cavalierly break these kinds of laws relating to labor, but are much more hesitant to impinge on a "major holiday".

The holiday that Koreans are currently observing is the East Asian Harvest Festival, called Chuseok [추석] in Korea and "Moon Festival" in other places, I'm told. Some Koreans call it "Korean Thanksgiving" as a two-word explanation of it to Americans. Its date changes each year in accordance with that other calendar they use.

By reputation, something like half the people in the Seoul region clear out and return to their hometowns at the major holidays, though especially the Winter one (what we call "Chinese New Year"). I myself will be visiting my friend J.A. in a city in the middle of the country, leaving Monday afternoon. We'll see how much of a delay there is on the bus.

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Post-226: [My Korean Essay] How to Maintain Your Health

9/5/2014

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Below is an essay I wrote in Korean. It was originally written on paper in about twenty minutes. I have transcribed it here and added an English translation below.

건강을 지키기 위해서는 좋은 음식을 먹어야 하고 운동을 해야 합니다
요즘 사람들의 고민 중에서 건강을 제일 중요하게 생각하기 때문에 우리가 건강을 지키는 계획을 세워야 합니다. 그럼, 어떻게 건강을 지킬 수 있습니까? 첫 번째 건강에 좋은 음식을 먹어야 합니다. 두 번째 운동을 자주 해야 합니다. 이렇게 하면 우리의 건강이 좋아질 수 있습니다.

첫 번째, 무슨 음식을 먹는지에 대해서 이야기할 겁니다. 음식이 중요하니까 건강에 좋은 음식을 항상 먹으세요. 날마다 채소를 다섯 개 이상 먹어야 합니다. 왜 이렇게 먹어야 합니까? 채소에 있는 비타민이 중요하니까 채소를 많이 먹어야 합니다. 인간의 몸에 비타민이 없으면 죽을 수 있습니다. 그리고 초코릿하고 설탕이 우리 건강에 나쁩니다. 초코릿이나 사탕을 많이 먹으면 뚱뚱하질 수있습니다. 뚱뚱한 사람들이 예쁘지 않고 병에 자주 걸립니다. 뚱뚱한 사람도 운동에 나쁩니다.

그러니까 이제 운동에 대해서 더 이야기합시다. 날씬 사람들이 운동할 수 있지만 요즘 사는 사람들이 보통 운동을 싫어서 운동을 안 합니다. 그런데 운동이 건강에 중요합니다. 날마다 우리의 다리를 이용해서 튼튼한 다리로 쉬운 생활이 지낼 수 있습니다. 그리고 좋은 몸이 있는 사람은 일찍 안 죽습니다. 우리는 매주 세 번 이상 운동을 해야 합니다. [2014.9.4 인천부평에서 쓴 글입니다]

[My Translation of this essay:]

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Post-225: "Brutally Unforgiving of Small Mistakes" (Talking about TEPS)

9/4/2014

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This summer, my friend Jared wrote the following:

TOEFL and a Korean middle school English test are quite different animals. TOEFL is a fairly well-designed test, intended for university level, that seeks to determine a student's communicative competence in English. TEPS (Korea's special home-grown English test) and the middle school tests that seem to follow the TEPS lead are not tests of English communicative competence. Instead, what they most resemble is perhaps the types of tests in Greek and Latin that high-schoolers did around a century ago. With frozen idioms and artificial texts, they quiz you on minutiae of grammar and vocabulary and are brutally unforgiving of small mistakes that the TOEFL, by design, essentially ignores.

Jared doesn't say it directly, but TOEFL is a product of the USA, of the same company that makes the SAT, GRE, and AP exams. TEPS, on the other hand, is an exclusive product of Korea.

If a student forgets to write -s on the word "drive" because it happens to be in the third person singular, the TOEFL scorer may take note, but the impact on the final score is minimal as long as the writer's ideas are clear. In the tests my students take, however, a missed -s can mean a hit to the final score that fails to get one into one of the elite high schools. [July 2014]

Experience leads me to conclude that this is, indeed, the "(East) Asian Way".

I have been, now, on both "sides" of the classroom (as a teacher and as a student [teaching English; studying Korean]) in South Korea, and this kind of atmosphere prevailed in all the places I've been. I had one Korean teacher in particular who would run a typical teacher-centered class, but at a snail's pace because she spent so much time seeming annoyed at the smallest of mistakes and stopping everything to unmercifully slam down on each and every mistake in front of the entire silently-onlooking class. This was really demotivating; people became afraid to say anything for fear of mistakes and public shaming. This is also something explicitly we were told not to do in our ESL teaching certificate program.

Back to TEPS. I never taught much TEPS, but I did teach TOEFL, usually as my main responsibility. Generally, native speakers were not assigned to TEPS classes. And thank God for it as TEPS classes were considered the worst:

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