Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mashimaro]

[kangnamdragon]

What exactly is your implication? Wouldn't you understand someone well you deal with all the time for 10 years?

[the_beaver]

I thought I had this place cased after my first year. Then I moved to Seoul and realized I didn't know anything. Then after 6 months I thought I had it cased. Then after 9 or ten months in Kwangju I did the cycle again. And again. And again. And again.

But learning the language -- ahh. Everytime I learn a new phrase or understand a joke that I couldn't understand before or mock Korean dramas by repeating the dialogue and laughing at the banality (and annoying my girlfriend because mocking something you can understand and repeat is so much more empowering than guessing what they are saying and assuming it's banal and she can't rely on 'you just don't understand it') or responding in situations where language is uppermost such as rapping in Korean with the guys at hapkido, I feel that I'm a lot more in tune and receptive to what's going on than when only eating grilled meat and frying kimchi on Saturday nights.

Language and culture are inextricably intertwined and if you're not getting things like �׶��׶� �޶�� it's like not being able to understand the cultural and social humor and positioning of Seinfeld but still profess to be in tune with the States and Canada and if you're not talking to the women behind the counter in Starbucks in �̴� about the weather, the yellow dust, vacation schedules and mutual acquaintances but just snorting out communicative grunts then you're missing all the subtely of daily life. You might know the taste of the bread but you're just getting hints and suggestions of the salami, mustard, lettuce, peanut butter, tomato, jam and all the other fixings of the �� Dagwood sandwich of life in Korea.

[Mashimaro]