Fourth Class Discussion (네 번째 토론)

이번 주의 토론 주제는 미국과 한국의 차이 점이었어요. 학생들이 도우미랑 했던 얘기 아주 다양했어요. 그 중에서 가장 흥미로운 것은 패션, 풍수, 속어, 그리고 페미니즘였어요.

한국에 온 후에 학생들이 많이 주목한 것은 한국사람의 옷차림이었어요, 특히 젊은 사람들이. 미국에서는 패션이 더 다양하고 개인적인데 한국에서 대부분의 사람들이 한 트렌드에만 집중하고 따라해서 한국사람의 스타일이 거의 똑같아요. 한국 남자들도 옷을 잘 입는 거 보면 학생들이 좀 놀랐어요. 한국 만큼 패션에 관심있는 미국 남자들이 별로 없어요. 또한, 한국 대학생들이 매일 옷을 예쁘게 입고 화장도하고 학교 다니는데 미국에서는 수업에 파자마를 입는 것은 흔한 일이고 옷차림에 신경을 조금 쓰면 사람들이 특별한 일있는 줄 알아요.

또 다른 주제는 풍수이었어요. 게비씨가 도우미랑 풍수 얘기 했는데 한국의 풍수가 좀 다르다는 것을 알게 됐다고 했어요. 예를 들면, 한국에서는 묘지에 가까운 집이 안 좋은데 미국이 별로 신경 안 써요. 그리고 한국에서 제일 좋은 집은 되에 산이 있고 앞에 강이 있는 집이더라고요. 학생들이 주로 동양 사람들이라서 각 문화의 풍선을 한국과 비교 하는데에 좋았어요. 재미있는 것은 집이 ‘T’ 교점 끝에 있으면 안 되고 집의 앞문은 됫문과 장렬하면 안 돼요.

한나씨가 우리 사회봉사 아이들한테 영어 속어를 가리칠 때 영감 받고 도우미랑 영어와 한국 속어 차이에 대해 얘기했어요. 학생들이 봤을때 미국의 속어들이 원래 있는 단어에 다른 의미를 붙여서 만드는데 한국의 속어는 다른 언어의 단어를 빌리거나 말을 많이 줄여요. 학생들이 한국의 문자에 쓰는 말도 – 예를 들면 애교 들어 가는 거 – 많이 신기했어요.

마지막으로 페미니즘에 대해 얘기 나누었어요. 요즘에 한국에서 페미니즘은 아주 핫 한 이슈예요. 스린씨가 도우미랑 페미니즘에 대해 얘기하게 되는 이유는 최근에 여자 배우가 많이 나오는 ‘오션스 8’이라는 영화 봤었고 스린의 호스트 가족 언니가 동대문에 열렸던 집회에 갔어서요. 한국에서는 페미니스트 운동을 커진지 얼마 안 됐는데 미국에서는 페미니스트 운동의 역사는 아주 길어요. 그 이유는 아마 한국이 현대화된지 오래 되지 않아서 인 것 같아요. 그리고 다른 나라들이 이미 오래 했으니까 한국이 그 걸 보고 배우고 빨리 조직할 수 있었어요. 아주 흥미럽고 중요한 주제 인 것 같아요.

During this week’s class discussion, we shared the things we learned from our conversations with our language partners about the differences between the US and Korea. The students talked about a very diverse range of topics. Among those, some of the most interesting were fashion, feng shui, slang, and feminism.

One thing that many students have noticed since coming to Korea is the contrast between how young people dress here versus in the US. American style is much more diverse and individualistic, whereas Korean style seems to follow one prevailing trend that almost everyone wears, leading Koreans to look very similar in the way they dress. Something that the students took note of in particular is that even the majority of Korean men dress fashionably and follow trends. It was also surprising to students that people in Korea dress nicely (almost what would be considered “formally” in the US) when going to class, whereas it is normal for American college students to show up wearing their pajamas.

Another topic was feng shui, which was brought up by Gebby. According to his language partner, it is considered bad to live near a cemetery, whereas Americans do not really pay much attention to it. Additionally, the best houses for feng shui in Korea are those with a mountain at the back and river flowing nearby. As most of us on the program are of Asian backgrounds and follow feng shui, it was interesting to hear the Korean spin on it. Some interesting ones we have heard about from our families are that houses built at the intersection of a “T” road are considered bad and the front and back doors of a house should not be aligned.

Slang was also a topic that was discussed by Hannah and her language partner, as the week they were conversing about it was the week that we were teaching slang to the kids at volunteering. One interesting point was that American slang is largely based on assigning different meanings to existing words such as with “lit” or “shook,” whereas much of Korean slang is abbreviations of words. Korean text speech is also intriguing and, to some, baffling with its shortened forms and cutesy sentence endings.

One final topic that came up that is quite relevant as of late is the Korean feminist movement. Serene saw Ocean’s 8, which features an all-female main cast, with her language partner in theatres, and recently her host sister went to a feminist rally in Dongdaemun, both of which prompted her discussion of feminism in Korea and how it differs from the United States. Perhaps the most apparent difference is the timespan, as the women’s rights movement has been an ongoing on in the US for many decades, whereas it has gained traction in Korea rather recently and rapidly. This could be attributed to the fact that it has not been long since Korea has modernized and begun thinking of other issues besides war and development after war. Furthermore, because Korea had the US and other examples to look at, the movement was able to be effectively and quickly form and rise.

Overall, our conversations were very informative. Because it was open-ended as to what people could talk about, there were a variety of different topics which led us to look at many aspects of life and compare Korea with our home countries from a number of different angles. It will be interesting to see if any of the participants will experience reverse culture shock when they return back to their homes next week.

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