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tomato

Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:01 pm Post subject: "Korea has four seasons." |
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Here on ESL Cafe, I have often seen Koreans quoted as saying that "Korea has four seasons," as if that were a unique feature for Korea,
but this is the first time that I have come across that statement in real life:
Our Country is a Good Country
In spring, the wind blows.
In summer, the sun shines.
In autumn, the leaves turn red.
In winter, the snow falls.
A country in which the seasons change beautifully,
Our country is a good country.
The babies have two rosy cheeks,
The children avidly study in school,
The sisters and brothers are brave and trustworthy,
The mommies and daddies lovingly raise their children.
A country in which we help each other,
Our country is a good country. |
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VanIslander

Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:06 pm Post subject: Re: "Korea has four seasons." |
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tomato wrote: |
In spring, the wind blows.
In summer, the sun shines.
In autumn, the leaves turn red.
In winter, the snow falls. |
They forgot the rainy season mid-June to mid-July and typhoon season hits here mid-August to mid-September.
Korea has six distinct seasons or else four less than distinct ones.
My hometown back in Canada has four distinct seasons, Korea doesn't. Telling my students that drives them crazy. |
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jaganath69

Joined: 17 Jul 2003
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:18 pm Post subject: Re: "Korea has four seasons." |
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VanIslander wrote: |
tomato wrote: |
In spring, the wind blows.
In summer, the sun shines.
In autumn, the leaves turn red.
In winter, the snow falls. |
They forgot the rainy season mid-June to mid-July and typhoon season hits here mid-August to mid-September.
Korea has six distinct seasons or else four less than distinct ones.
My hometown back in Canada has four distinct seasons, Korea doesn't. Telling my students that drives them crazy. |
Monsoons and typhoons are both features of tropical summers. Those of us from tropical climates know this. |
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VanIslander

Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:23 pm Post subject: Re: "Korea has four seasons." |
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jaganath69 wrote: |
Monsoons and typhoons are both features of tropical summers. Those of us from tropical climates know this. |
Then "In summer, the sun shines" is not the whole truth.
The fact that the monsoon season in Korea has a DISTINCT start and stop period and the typhoon season in Korea has a DISTINCT start and stop period makes summer a multi-stage affair. |
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tiger fancini

Joined: 21 Mar 2006 Location: Testicles for Eyes
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:25 pm Post subject: Re: "Korea has four seasons." |
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tomato wrote: |
In spring, the wind blows... |
and the yellow dust comes over from China making everybody sick but an amusing offshoot of this is the face-condoms that people wear.
tomato wrote: |
The children avidly study in school |
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jaganath69

Joined: 17 Jul 2003
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:53 pm Post subject: Re: "Korea has four seasons." |
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VanIslander wrote: |
jaganath69 wrote: |
Monsoons and typhoons are both features of tropical summers. Those of us from tropical climates know this. |
Then "In summer, the sun shines" is not the whole truth.
The fact that the monsoon season in Korea has a DISTINCT start and stop period and the typhoon season in Korea has a DISTINCT start and stop period makes summer a multi-stage affair. |
That's as absurd as saying it constantly snows through winter. Summer here is hot an humid, punctuated by rain and typhoons, which, by the way, can last well into 'fall'. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Location: Seoul, South Korea
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:02 pm Post subject: Re: "Korea has four seasons." |
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VanIslander wrote: |
Korea has six distinct seasons or else four less than distinct ones.
My hometown back in Canada has four distinct seasons, Korea doesn't. Telling my students that drives them crazy. |
I always say Korea has five seasons myself. |
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VanIslander

Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:03 pm Post subject: |
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jaganath69 wrote: |
VanIslander wrote: |
jaganath69 wrote: |
Monsoons and typhoons are both features of tropical summers. Those of us from tropical climates know this. |
Then "In summer, the sun shines" is not the whole truth.
The fact that the monsoon season in Korea has a DISTINCT start and stop period and the typhoon season in Korea has a DISTINCT start and stop period makes summer a multi-stage affair. |
That's as absurd as saying it constantly snows through winter. Summer here is hot an humid, punctuated by rain and typhoons, which, by the way, can last well into 'fall'. |
No it isn't. Snow is randomly or unpredictably dispersed throughout winter.
The monsoons and typhoons each have their own start and stop periods.
Rain is rain, and it rains at various times during the summer. But the monsoon rains of mid-June to mid-July are different than the typhoon-accompanied tropical rains of mid-August to mid-September.
If you have been looking at the satellite imagery as regularly as I have since 2002 then the distinct differences would be easily explained.
http://www.kweather.co.kr/now/sat/sat.html?sattype=RIR&satnow=MV
(make a habit of checking it, and over a couple of years the pattern will be obvious - better way to judge weather forecasts as well)
But all you have to do is notice the qualitative differences in your daily living between the monsoons and the typhoons and the period inbetween when neither ever come. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you just haven't been paying attention. City folk.  |
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unknown9398

Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Location: Yeongcheon, S. Korea
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:05 pm Post subject: |
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It's a nice, patriotic song. I like it. Nothing wrong with thinking positively. |
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Dev
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:08 pm Post subject: |
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Korea has four seasons.
How many countries don't have 4? |
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jaganath69

Joined: 17 Jul 2003
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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VanIslander wrote: |
jaganath69 wrote: |
VanIslander wrote: |
jaganath69 wrote: |
Monsoons and typhoons are both features of tropical summers. Those of us from tropical climates know this. |
Then "In summer, the sun shines" is not the whole truth.
The fact that the monsoon season in Korea has a DISTINCT start and stop period and the typhoon season in Korea has a DISTINCT start and stop period makes summer a multi-stage affair. |
That's as absurd as saying it constantly snows through winter. Summer here is hot an humid, punctuated by rain and typhoons, which, by the way, can last well into 'fall'. |
No it isn't. Snow is randomly or unpredictably dispersed throughout winter.
The monsoons and typhoons each have their own start and stop periods.
Rain is rain, and it rains at various times during the summer. But the monsoon rains of mid-June to mid-July are different than the typhoon-accompanied tropical rains of mid-August to mid-September.
If you have been looking at the satellite imagery as regularly as I have since 2002 then the distinct differences would be easily explained.
http://www.kweather.co.kr/now/sat/sat.html?sattype=RIR&satnow=MV
(make a habit of checking it, and over a couple of years the pattern will be obvious - better way to judge weather forecasts as well)
But all you have to do is notice the qualitative differences in your daily living between the monsoons and the typhoons and the period inbetween when neither ever come. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you just haven't been paying attention. City folk.  |
A typhoon just missed us this weekend, smiting Japan. Could have easily done taken a leg break and hit us. What month is it now, August or September
The fu(k are we doing arguing weather anyhow, dawg? |
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Return Jones

Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Location: I will see you in far-off places
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:19 pm Post subject: |
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Dev wrote: |
...How many countries don't have 4? |
That's the point. The notion that Korea is unique because it has four season is a non-sequitur of sorts. |
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VanIslander

Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:23 pm Post subject: |
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jaganath69 wrote: |
A typhoon just missed us this weekend, smiting Japan. Could have easily done taken a leg break and hit us. What month is it now, August or September  |
It is typhoon season in Taiwan and occasionally southern Japan, but typhoons typically TURN before they hit Korea when they come in June and July. Last summer a huge typhoon headed north and many Koreans cancelled plans to go to Jeju Island. I went there that weekend, thinking the typhoon will turn early as every typhoon had done the previous several summers. And sure enough, it did, and I had a beautiful June weekend on Jeju with no crowds.
This is not rocket science to the farmers and fishermen on the southern coast. Seoulites however, well, they're worried about fan death.
It is typhoon season in Korea from about mid-August until mid-September, plus or minus a week or two.
Korean companies give summer holidays the week bridging the end of July and beginning of August because it's typically nice weather then, after the long monsoon rains and before the typhoon storms. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Location: Seoul, South Korea
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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Return Jones wrote: |
Dev wrote: |
...How many countries don't have 4? |
That's the point. The notion that Korea is unique because it has four season is a non-sequitur of sorts. |
What really blows me away is when Korean students ask me "Does Canada have winter?" |
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eamo

Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:46 pm Post subject: |
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I reckon the four seasons thing is related to Korea being industrialized so recently. Old people in Korea still remember living in an agricultural society. Farmers lives are dictated by the seasons. In all countries.
The season rule their lives and what they do each day. Plant in Spring. Harvest in Autumn. Count your money in Winter!!  |
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