Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[ela2004]

My country�s people think about that politeness is more important than another thing. We learned about that we must do something when we meet old people. For example, we cannot eat something before old person eat that. And we cannot smoke in front of old men. There are many politeness in my country like these. So maybe Korean young people are more polite than other foreigners. And we always have rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We cannot live without rice. Nowadays many young people like bread and fast food. But at least they think they are eat rice once a day. I didn�t eat rice all the time before came to here but I always eat rice in here. My flatmate is Colombian man. I never saw what he ate rice. So I felt what this is different culture.

[volunteer]

hello ela2004. I enjoyed your remarks about rice. I was stationed in Korea during the 1970s and experienced rice with all meals for the first time. President Park Chung-hee wanted rice to be available to all so in order to increas the supply, he ordered it mixed with barley, which is a flavorful, slightly bitter grain. My first memories of Korean food are with this barley flavored rice. It was a unique and actually pleasant experience, which I won't ever forget.
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I only speak English, but I like meeting people and speaking proper English. It's a very expressive language.

[*misato*]

Nice to meet you, your article aroused my interest a lot.
Politeness is very important for Japanese people too, and we especially have to honor old prople too. We can't talk to them as same way that we talk to our friends. We talk to them in honorific words, equally Korean people do so.
However, I think these days Japanese young people's politeness to old prople are worse than Korean young people. I heard many Korean people always give up their seats when older people ride on the train. Is that right? If so. i think there are many good customs in Korea that we should imitate.

[seventy-two]

In China, it is quite common for young people (especially university students) giving up their seats to old people. But I notice that men in their 30s or 40s seldom do that. If there were men and women in their 30s or 40s who have seats, it would most likely be the women who would give up their seats for the old people. This really strikes me as odd, especially coming from a country where men are expected to give up their seats for the women to sit on.

I wonder why this is so. I wonder if it is also the same in Korea and Japan.
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dum vivimus vivamus