Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ilsanman]

This has got to be my least favourite word in the Korean language. It can't be defined really well in English words. It's sort of a Korean secret or something.

My friend was complaining to me about her teacher. I asked what the problem was, and she said he has no 'jung'. Hmm. Thanks for a specific answer.

Koreans always tell me Koreans have jung and foreigners don't have any. So what does that make jung? Are all foreigners bad people?

The best way I can define jung is 'possessive of the positive traits of Korean culture.'

[Atavistic]

Are you talking about "jeong?" 정?

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200104/200104270362.html

http://kr.dictionary.search.yahoo.com/search/dictionaryp?subtype=eng&prop=&fr=kr-front_sprit&p=%C1%A4&x=0&y=0

My coteacher is always telling me I have good jeong with the Korean teachers at my public school. My taekwondo instructor says the same about my relationship to my studiomates.

So....looks like foreigners can have jeong. Maybe the Koreans you know are saving face by not singling you out as having a jeong problem.

[exit86]

"정" Funny, because my Chinese students told me they have the same concept in China--actually, the term came from China.
Similarly, my Korean students have praised my understanding of "정"
Ain't really that complex an idea--it's just many Koreans might say
"It's very difficult" because they lack the ability to explain
this concept in English or Korean. (As an assignment I have my students explain this concept in English and Korean. Some can; some can't.)

The same thing goes with "한" This is a concept which most Koreans will
say is only a Korean concept and nobody else in the world can fathom it.
But, as I noted before, every one of my Chinese students tells me this
exists in their culture as well. (the term also came from China).
Similarly, most of my Korean students have no idea what "한" really is.
They attribute it to their Japanese domination or the pain and anguish that
comes about from reading about their history of being "the victim."
Funny thing is is that the usage of this term was largely confined to women
in the Choson dynasty--particularly newly-married women; and, was often personified as a sad woman in white (a partial origin of the "귀신" the young, unmarried woman ghost--which also exists in China, Japan,
Vietnam, and Malaysia in my knowledge)
During the Japanese occupation, this term somehow became public domain for any pissed off Korean who felt like playing "the victim."

Anytime someone tries to feed you this typical line of B.S. about you not being able to understand such concepts because you ain't Korean,
please laugh in his or her face. Whether many Koreans would like to believe it or not, they are a part of the human race.

[King Baeksu]

In my opinion, Koreans like to use the word jong because they often find themselves in long-term relationships in which the word love is inappropriate. For example, a woman and man make a life together through an arranged marriage determined by two larger families, not because they originally and truly loved each other. And after 30 years they still don't love each other, and may even hate each other, but they have become used to each other and attached to each other. So they have what would be called jong, rather than true love.

The Western concept of romantic love is a relatively recent import to Korean society. In a culture in which many relationships have traditionally been based more on survival and usefulness, the word jong fits better than love as we Westerners understand it.

So in my own loose translation, jong simply means attachment, sometimes very powerful attachment, although many Koreans will say it means emotion or affection in some sort of ineffable and uniquely profound Korean way. But I do not think that Koreans have a monopoly on soul or feeling. In fact, most K-pop makes me feel the exact opposite way.

A frog in a well knows nothing of the ocean.

[Atavistic]

^^

Good post.

I think in English the word "love" (and "friend") covers wayyyy too much.

[lastat06513]

Many Koreans said I was the first foreigner to know and even understand the word "Jeong", though I highly doubt it....

"Jeong" in Korean is similar to "Guangxi" in Chinese; it is a kind of collective kindness and charm society not only shows to foreigners but to themselves. To get Koreans to exhibit "Jeong", Koreans have to know the foreigner for a while before they show their true hospitality to the foreigner. But as for Korean-to-Korean contact, it is a way for an elder to show respect to a junior and vice versa, children to parents and vice versa.
It covers an array of relationships where the people are not related by blood and are not romantically involved; basically it is a way for people to show respect and courtesy to each other
Most Koreans feel foreigners don't understand the concept because it is a way for Koreans to conform in a utilitarian way......

[SHANE02]

You guys didn't watch Arirang's great new show "Rank Korea" (yes that is a great title)?

I couldn't handle watching all of it. It was expalining "jung" by getting waygooks to say how kind Koreans are at the bathhouse.

[lastat06513]

[King Baeksu]

[Ilsanman]

I guess if a friend comes over to our house pissed drunk, but they buy us a basket of fruit, they are displaying 정.

I think I treat people decently, but I generally don't follow Korean culture much. Maybe that's why I don't have any 정

[LuckyNomad]

Aloha in Hawaii is kind of similar. It has to do with friendliness, and a general spirit of not being a jerk.
People will often say, "Hey, where's your aloha?" if you're acting rude.

Also, Hawaii has the word, Da Kine. It doesn't really have a defintion. It's just a catch all word if you can't think of a word to describe a thing.
Ex. "Ho, brah, I'm hungry. Let's eat, uhhh..Da Kine, you know."
"Oh, yeah yeah. Da Kine. Okay."

[King Baeksu]

I think some people here are getting too loose in their understanding of jong.

Jong is something that develops between people over time. As a Korean friend once told me, "If you do not have a history with someone, you cannot have jong with them."

The same friend said she finds jong to be a burden, and therefore wants to avoid getting caught up in its sticky web.

Sometimes I think the best translation for jong may be "codependency."

[Ilsanman]

Then why do people describe others as 'doesn't have jung'?

I understand it more as like human kindness. Similar to the word 인정

[Real Reality]

[Young FRANKenstein]