The Teacher Becomes the Student

[dedalusj]

Currently, I am living in Seoul, having moved here for my five-week vacation to take an intensive Korean class at 이화 여자 대학교.  I originally hoped to read and write and speak entirely in Korean for the whole month, including this journal.  It started out that way, (as the Korean entries below will attest,) but, at least in regards to this journal,

Comments

[beanrows]

"잘 생겨요" was their explanation for why they chose me; "거짓말 하지마세요" was my response

...so should we expect to see an article about rude Americans soon? XD

[dedalusj]

Possibly. I was enjoying talking to my 반친구 but the people running the cultural show kept coming up to me, intrupting me and asking to different things of me. I realized they were not going to stop harassing me and so when they said "사진" I thought that would be a way to appease them and get back to the conversation quickly. The 한복 was a sirprise that came after I committed to the photo. knowing the potential for a "possible positive face threat" is said my line in as playful/bashful a way as possible. Complements, especially ones born of Korean flattery which is as subtile as a machine gun, are something that are difficult to deal with in any language, but especially in Korean. And so, I responded like an American while (try to) act like a Korean and hope the foreignness that is written on my face would let me slide though.

IZ get sick of the face that where ever I am I get picked out of the crowd. It irratates me that the reason for this is probably 80% racial, as it clearly was yesterday.

[dedalusj]

2) I tried to get out of it, but couldn't. Up until yesterday I had avoided it but then suddenly, bam, it happened: me in 한복. *sigh*

3) Useful is not really a concern of mine. (If it was, why study Korean?) Interesting is more along the lines of what I am looking for. Tagalog uses infixing in its verbs and although seems diffcult it also seems interesting.

[muckefuck]

How can you say a language is "dying" when it has over 60 million speakers worldwide, is actively learned as a first language, and is the primary language of education in a major country? Or are you distinguishing "Tagalog" from "Filipino"?

[rosesnchaos]

I'm from Malaysia, but I wouldn't advise you to learn Malay if you're looking for 'interesting'-ness. It's a language that has evolved from many loan words, English especially, to the point of sounding ridiculous. I'd say the Malay of Indonesia (or Bahasa Indonesia) is more interesting.. and very melodical in speech. ^^

[aaron_kim]

I envy you because you can learn any exotic language you want with joy anytime. Why don't you make your Korean more sopisticated? There are a lot of subtle, sensitive and emotional Korean expressions that are beyond description only with English. For example, 'yellow' is not just yellow in Korean. There are various adjectival phrases such as 노랗다, 누렇다, 노르스름하다, 누르스름하다, 샛노랗다, 싯누렇다, 연노랗다, 누리끼리하다, 누르죽죽하다, and so forth. To feel these words could give you kind of pleasure. All you need is just your heart to feel it. In the 6th vedio clip linked, if the performing artists use 3 drums, the performance is called '3고무' and if they use 5 ones, it is called '5고무'. I see there are 5 drums so it is '5고무'. And the name of the drum itself is '무용북'. Korean students often perform 사물놀이, 판소리, and 부채춤 in the school arts festival. I have that experience(사물놀이) as well. I didn't know that western people think about 한복 like that. Interesting. Just feel free to do it. You don't need to pretend to be Korean. Actually, it is quite a rare chance. I think you will