Sunday, October 24, 2010

Your Two Cents: Curious About Korean Culture???



Hi my beloved readers/listeners~

How was everyone's week/weekend? Hope it was a good one full of laughter and REST! Haha I know I shouldn't be complaining because I'm still at a "young and fresh" age, but I gotta say, my body can't keep up with me like it used to. Whereas all-nighters were no problem before, now I can't do 'em anymore. LOL Rest is VERY important.

Anyways, it's the last Y2C for the month of October. MAN! Isn't that crazy? I've been doing some reminiscing about the year of 2010. I know we still have two full months left, but those months are going to FLY by! It's already been over 2 years since I came to Korea and started broadcasting. It's been about 9 months since I joined the KBS World team and started my posts on KPop Connection with DJ Young and KPop Interactive on Sundays. I've met AMAZING people, interview some very talented and sweet singers, and more importantly, gotten introduced to the international KPOP fan base (aka YOU ALL). So thankful for my life and the opportunities that come along with it. Let's all take a moment to just be thankful.

...

Okay! With that said and done...on to this week's Y2C question:

Do you have any curious questions about any aspect of Korean culture? For example, when I first started typing and texting in Korean, I didn't know what all the "ㅜㅜㅜㅜ" or "ㅠㅠㅠㅠ" were for. They're Korean emoticons for tears! LOL do you see it? the horizontal line represents the closed eyes while the vertical lines are the tears running. Another one was all the "~"''s that were used. They represent a sorta dragged out tone to something. For example, "what are you doing?" with a little "~" put at the end gives it a more "whatchaaaa dooooiiinnnggg??" kind of feel. I don't know if I explained that well, but anyways. So any questions on culture? typing methods? phrases? (i.e. what's with all the "hwaiting"'s?!) etc. etc. etc.

Throw me your questions and I'll try to answer as many as I can on this week's KPI. If you don't have any questions, what WERE some questions you had and how did you get them answered? Let me know~~~~~~~~

15 comments:

  1. Hah ;D Angie, you pinpointed some of the unanswered questions I had when I started learning Korean ;D

    I have this big question mark: I was once told that "Hwaiting" isn't the translation of the word "Fighting", but rather is a valid Native Korean word. Yeah, that got me pondering and I still haven't got an answer up to now...

    Then, there's those stuff that represent the Korean-style emoticons --- "ㅜ.ㅜ" "ㅎㅎㅎ" etc. Initially, I was able to understand stuff like the "crying face" above. However, stuff specific to sounds like "ㅎㅎㅎ" and "ㅋㅋㅋ", I only understood after learning basic Korean, cos' when taken at face-value, those two sound like sniggering and laughing sounds.

    I have a question partially related to Korean culture. Do Koreans actually eat Kimchi for every meal? (Maybe save for breakfast...) Everytime I talk about Korea, the first thing my friends identify with is "Kimchi", so I really want to know whether Kimchi is really such a commonly-eaten dish in Korea.

    Thanks and have a good week ahead, Angie ;D

    Aloysius

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  2. hye , all !
    how are you ? hoho;)

    i want to ask you , what is the meaning of 'kasemi' ? i've been thinking and finding the meaing of it . but , yet don't get it . actually , our group's name ( my friends and i ). i don't know how we got this name . huhu .

    by the way , angie-ah , how to be dj like you or others ? is it good to be one ? for now , i'va four ambitions . LOL !

    i think , that's all , guys !
    bye'' !

    for all , @}-;--`-- .

    - aqilahzarime
    malaysia

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  3. (^_^);; . sorry .
    meaning*

    *for now , i've

    ~lol ! so many writing error .

    -aqilahzarime
    malaysia

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  4. Hi Angie,

    I'm curious about drinking culture in Korean .
    There's Soju, Makgeoli, persimmon drink and others,but why Soju is the most popular ones?

    -LJ- *(^^)*
    MAL

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  5. Hi Angie
    When I first started listening to Korean music I always wondered why a lot of songs had English words and phrases in it. Now it's just normal but it's not like English songs have have a lot of foreign words in it. Whenever I introduce a friend to Korean or foreign music they always ask that but I just have to answer, " that's just the way it is I guess..." well have a great week! And happy early Halloween~
    -stacey

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  6. Hi Angie,

    I'm just curious with the ah~ in the end of the names? like eunhyukkie ah~ teukie ah~ LOL? Is it like other asian countries with their la~??

    Hmm just curious ~ and with the music industries, why do they try to comeback every year or 2? and more and more groups are coming in?

    Kim ~

    have a great weekend unnie ^^

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  7. Hi Angie!Happy Monday to you!Wish you will get the best throughout this week:D

    When you mentioned about culture,i have a curiousity in terms of the Korean culture in wedding aspect.If in certain culture,if i'm not mistaken there will be a bride should give money they called it as dowry to the groom (please forgive me if my info is wrong because i'm not so sure about this), therefore how about wedding in Korean culture?is there any special norms which different from other culture?

    One of the things that i like in Korean culture is how they wrapped up the work with thank to all the people who are involved by saying "Thank for the hardwork!". I think this is very good because it is sign of appreciation.

    Have a nice day always Angie dearie!<3

    Thank you!

    Hidayah87
    Malaysia

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  8. Hi angie! Hope you had a great weekend also.

    I don't have problems with the emotion phrases like: ㄱㄱ, ㅎㅎㅎ~, ㅋㅋ,ㅠㅠ, ㅜㅜ and stuff. But I do have other phrases like hwaiting...is is kinda like chinese's 'jiayou' which is different meaning when translated? hmmm...

    Also, whats with the 어떡해 (o duo kai)...I understand it's when you don't know what to do. But whats with it being added into other sentences...? =.=

    Hope you are help me with these, that would be great!~ ^-^

    -HB Wang

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  9. 안녕하세요? I hope you had a good weekend and a not so stressful week so far. I was wondering what is your advice for a 왜국인 looking to relocate to Korea? Everyone has warned me that as a 왜국인, I am likely to face certain prejudices and a harder time earning a living. Just wondering if you had any words of wisdom to share. 김사합니다.

    대웅

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  10. Hi Angie!

    I have some questions but they are kind of different.

    Please don't consider these questions offensive, especially where something is written with capital letters. These are simply questions I have because we just see how Korean culture and Korean entertainment does from the eyes of Koreans and how the do in other countries but we don't see what other cultures do IN KOREA!

    In the following Koreans means ordinary people all over Korea not those in the city center of Seoul!!! In every country the capital is different from other cities and so people feel differently than other people.

    1 - To what extent what is shown in Korean dramas has signs of Koreans' REAL LIFE and LIFESTYLE? Do Koreans consider what is shown something UNREAL or something that COULD BE REAL? They are different.

    Is what is shown in dramas "What IS OUT THERE" or "WHAT THEY WANT TO BE THERE"? I mean they show a close populated family, a lifestyle, a morale behaviour, a mistake and all relationship matters we see in a drama, Do real families are like that? or they want to say to Koreans to be like that?

    2 - To what extent Korean Culture is influenced by American Culture? What do Koreans think about it? Is everything American approved?

    3 - When you say Japan to a Korean, what is the first thing they name about it?

    4 - How deep is the presence and influence of Japanese culture on korean culture? What do Koreans think about it? Do they see themselves in a competition with Japan? Like in capturing other markets?

    5 - Is exporing dramas, music, film, musicians and all real cultural aspects to Japan an achievement? As this for America it is so. WHY?

    6 - How much and how vivid is the presence of the Japanese entertainment products IN KOREA? How much are they popular?

    I have more queations but please read the introduction once more! :)

    Thanks for your time
    Hmyn

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  11. Hey Angie,

    I always saw the first encounter of the boyfriend and the girlfriend's mother on dramas. I noticed that the boyfriend would always bow, sometimes multiple times. So when I first met my Mother-in-law, I bowed down multiple times, but Sophie told me that's only for dead people. Oops ^^

    I'm thankful for such wonderful KPop Connection hosts and producer.

    Try to get rest whenever you can. I remember my schedule as a teacher in Korea, it forced me to take naps in the afternoon, and no free time on the weekdays. But I do miss it now. ^^

    Thanks and God Bless,

    Paul T.

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  12. Hi Angie unni,

    In Korea there's the Korean alphabet but in Korean variety shows Chinese words are being used too sometimes (as short comments). Do Korean people know how to read Chinese then?

    Also in an episode of 'intimate note' there was a part where the maknae wrote messages to his hyungs (anonymous but it was significant who wrote it) and he called them by their names only. They were like.. how dare you..

    If you don't know the age of someone, what's the best way to call that person?

    -Wing
    the Netherlands

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  13. Hi Angie!

    When I visited Korea in 2005, I saw lots of couple walking holding hands on the street. What I cannot understand is "Why are the Guys, the one who will be holding their girlfriend's purse/bags?"

    I had never seen this in my country so at first I thought that maybe it is a romatic way of a couple outing but after seeing most of them doing the same then I think it must be the culture. Is IT?

    Michie
    Malaysia

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  14. Greetings Angie!

    I was wondering about the education system in Korea. Well mostly, what would you personally suggest so someone who wants to teach english in Korea. I remeber an old KPC episode where you talked about this but you mostly suggested research. I researched a lot but I just want to know what you think! I'm sure that you have many friends that are teachers...well, thank you for your time.

    Thanks in advance,

    ~Jennifer, CA

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  15. Hi Angie Noona!

    Here are some of the questions I had; I recently finished watcheing Be Strong Geum Soon (A 163 episode drama) and in it, the main female lead hugs her mother-in-law quite affectionatly and says "Mother, your breasts are so soft and cushiony" This made my entire family burst into a hysterical laughing fit, but this didn't seem like it was supposed to be funny. Is this normal??? It seems so strange to my whole family! Also, is it normal for men to wear pink ALL THE TIME? It seems as though male leads wear more pink than the female lead in most dramas. (Unless the female lead has a princess complex) lol. Also in the drama I watched the main lead was looked down on becuse she was a widow. Is this normal? Also, people who have gone through divorces seem to be looked down upon. Is this normal as well? Well I have an endless amount of questions so I won't bother you with any more. lol. Thanks so much! Isaac S.

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