Happy New Year!

Ask a Korean! News: Not All Jeff Meyers Hate Koreans

Perhaps the readers may remember Mr. Jeff Meyers from Australia, who won the "Hate the Korean" contest back in October. Well, Mr. Jeff Meyers from Los Angeles, California would not let the Jeff Meyers name slandered this way.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Title: My name is Jeff Meyers...‏
From: Jeffrey A. Meyers ([Email redacted])
Sent: Fri 12/26/08 1:55 PM
To: askakorean@hotmail.com

...and I'm married to a Korean gal. I'm enamored of kim chee, bibim bap, and all things Korean. I demand a retraction/clarification immediately -- not all Jeff Meyers are biased against Koreans!

Sincerely,
Jeff Meyers

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Very well Mr. Meyers, the Korean is generally amenable to reasonable requests. So the Korean was getting ready to publish a clarification, when only hours later, the Korean received the following email:

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Title: Koreans‏
From: Jeff Meyers ([Email redacted]@yahoo.com.au)
Sent: Fri 12/26/08 8:25 PM
To: askakorean@hotmail.com

WHY ARE KOREANS SUCH LOWLIFE SCUM?

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Wow, what are the odds? Just when the Korean was about the vindicate the good name of all Korea-loving Jeff Meyers, the original Jeff Meyers fires out a random email out of the blue! Do all Jeff Meyers have a psychic communication through space and time? If these two Jeff Meyers touched each other, would their Korean preference explode into neutral?

Strangely, the Korean feels like Ask a Korean! has reached another level.

[Note for those who care about this kind of stuff: the LA-Jeff's email was fully redacted because his domain name gave away personal information, while Australia-Jeff's email was only partially redacted because the domain name gives away nothing.]

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

Merry Christmas everyone! For everyone in America, the Korean wishes a happy time with your family. For everyone in Korea, enjoy the second Valentine's Day. (If you are single, do yourself a favor and just stay home.)

Being Black in the Kimchiland

Dear Korean,

I want to teach English in Korea in February. How badly am I seriously going to be treated, assuming I get a position? It's not like America is fat friendly, or Black friendly for that matter, but I hear Korea is 100 times worse. I'm a great person, kind, intelligent, and genuinely interested in learning about Korea and it people and culture. Will that be enough in the long run, or should I just forget going there?

Geralyn

Dear Korean,

I am a black man, born and raised in the United States. For the past four months, I am been diligently studying the Korean language because one day I would like to start a new life in Korea. I am educated and currently working on my Masters Degree and studying for an ESL certification with the hopes of one day taking my education, teaching skills, and the knowledge of Korea's native tongue to the country and make positives enhancements in a country that is continuously going. But my question is, can I go to Korea and become successful? Would I be able to attain a job other than just teaching English? Will the color of my skin overshadow my education, language skills, and the desire to help better its growing economy in the decades to come?

한지훈

Dear Geralyn and Jihoon,

To give a better sense of Korean job market, a post by Yeochin will follow the Korean’s post. Also, please take a look at the discussion already happened on this topic at Expatjane's blog.

The Korean talks much about racism of Koreans and Korean Americans. (See for example here and here.) The Korean has also talked about America is much less racist than Korea (and less so than the rest of the world.) Unfortunately, this may have caused a lot of concerns from African Americans who intend to teach English in Korea.

The Korean thinks he is misunderstood in this regard. One way of understanding the sentence “racism in Korea is worse than America” is to understand it as saying “the manifestations of racism in Korea is worse than America.” That is, there are more ugly signs of racism, such as racial segregation or racially motivated violence.

But the Korean does not mean that when he says “racism in Korea is worse than America.” Rather, the Korean means this: “racism, defined as racially inclined thought-process, is more firmly engrained in Korea than America.” When the Korean says “racism”, he only means this: the belief that one’s race is determinative of one’s characteristics which are often negative.

So is racism worse in Korea? Absolutely. Overwhelming majority of Korean people sincerely believe that your race matters in evaluating who you are. But the relevant question in Geralyn’s case is: “Is racial hatred in Korea worse than that of America?” This is the relevant question because on one’s day-to-day life, expressions of racial hatred would be the only thing that affects the racial minority.

The Korean’s answer to that question is – not really. Once in Korea, black folks will be stared at. They will be subject to some rude comments. But there is little danger of malevolent discrimination, harassment or violence.

Here is an example of racism that is typical in Korea. The Korean attended a wedding in which the bride was a Chinese American and the groom was Korean American. (Wedding was in New York.) During the reception, the family members of the newlyweds took turns with the mic to say a few words. The groom’s uncle stood up and said, “I would like to congratulate [the groom] and [the bride]. I know a Chinese woman and a Korean man work out together well, so I am sure your marriage would be great.” Stunned silence in the audience for a few seconds, then some scattered polite applause followed.

The uncle here sincerely believed that being Korean and being Chinese impute certain characteristics to people. That’s racism. But he meant absolutely no harm to the newlyweds, and not too much harm was really done to the newlyweds at the end of the day. Such is racism in Korea.

(Aside: Keep in mind that the above is a description of Koreans in Korea, not Korean Americans. Because Korean Americans often come into contact with African Americans – usually the poor folks who occupy the same ghetto – they have a clear idea how to deal with a black: with suspicion and disdain.)

However, one thing to note is that such racism – racially inclined thought, to be precise – is a necessary ingredient in racial hatred. Racially inclined thought only needs a small spark to erupt into racial discrimination, harassment, or violence. Foreigners in Korea, including African Americans (more so because they stand out even stronger than whites,) do need to realize when such “spark points” happen in order to avoid any trouble.

The spark points happen when the racial minority appears to threaten the status of the racial majority. Remember, the worst violence against blacks in America happened after the Civil War, when their newly enfranchised status threatened the whites. Vincent Chin was killed in Michigan when Japanese carmakers were threatening the status of American carmakers. (And the American carmakers still did not learn their lessons, but that’s a different story.)

When do non-Koreans in Korea appear to threaten the status of Koreans? The Korean can think of three situations:

1. Working at “Korean jobs” – English teachers mostly do not fall into this category, but immigrants from Southeast Asia and China usually receive the brunt of this. In particular, there is a severe racist hatred against the Chinese in Korea right now. If the current trend continues a little longer, a full-blown France-style race riots are just around the corner for Korea.

2. Being loud in a group, especially in an enclosed space – This could easily happen in a bar with several friends, for example. To Koreans, it could look like the foreigners are “taking over” the space, which may cause resentment. (Yeochin's post touches on this.)

3. Dating Korean women – Interracial relationship is a racist’s greatest fear, especially if it involves a minority-race man and majority-race woman. When a minority-race man dates a majority-race woman, other majority-race men feel their position threatened, because they feel that their possession is being taken.

So, here is the actual advice: if you are going to Korea as an English teacher, do not worry too much about racism in Korea. The worst you would receive most of the time is the incessant staring and some really ignorant comments. You are not in a situation to threaten the status of any Koreans, so you will be let alone.

However, if you are going to Korea as an immigrant as Jihoon is trying to, brace yourself. Korea is not a kind place for immigrants, because immigrants who stay in Korea often pose a threat to the status of Koreans. Again, the Korean would stress that there is no violence or harassment. But the quiet bias would often be enough to dash your job hopes, for example.

[The following is written by Yeochin.]

There really isn’t any specific racism in Korea as far as black and white are concerned -- it’s more of a numbers game. Koreans are afraid of large numbers of foreigners. Any foreigners. It could be a group of blond super models. If there is more than four, they will be denied entrance anywhere in Seoul.

There are a lot of examples of this. A few weeks ago a group of friends were denied access to a club. There were almost ten of them. There was a Korean with them and she was kind enough to translate “there are too many foreigners, you can’t come in.” Schools work in the same way. My school hired a man and my boss said – OK, we have a guy, no more guys.

Yeochin’s school just hired an African American. She spoke in a perfect non-regional diction over the phone and is very well qualified to teach. There were two positions open and three candidates; two white and one black. Yeochin was very surprised that the African American candidate was the first one hired. The girl was even demanding and wanted things in her contract changed. Yeochin thought that her boss would forgo this teacher who he described as “Difficult and unappreciative.” Instead, he gave into her demands while announcing to the office that he had just hired a black person, and aren’t we so diverse!

It was like when he hired a male teacher and he kept hinting at the Irish teacher that finally there would be a man around. He acted like he was doing the female teachers a huge favor. Irish teacher kept feeling insulted, like maybe she seemed desperate for a man or something. Our African American teacher was toted around the office in the same way.

So guess what happened when my boss interviewed a new girl and she turned out to be black? He told her ‘no thanks’ of course. We already have one. When the African American teacher who secured her job first heard about this, she just laughed -- she knew Korea was going to be ridiculous about that.

As it turns out, she was worried about getting hired as well. So nervous that she started to learn Korean and knew a lot of basic phrases before her plane even landed. She even prayed at lunch in Korean. She even gave the bosses gifts for hiring her. All this because she was afraid they would look down on her for being black. She was afraid they would not think she was as capable as her white peers. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Truth is, Koreans think all foreigners are lazy and incompetent regardless of their skin tone. This is sadly true. The Korean work ethic is above and beyond anything you would expect. The Korean teachers work twice as hard as the foreign teachers and they don’t get a free apartment and they get the same pay. It’s not a color difference, but a culture difference. hey don’t look down on you for being black, they look down on you for never being taught to work insane amounts of hours for no overtime pay. See?

This goes for Korean Americans as well. Yeochin’s school just hired a Korean American from the Bronx and already they think she will be inadequate compared to her native Korean co-teachers. To quote my boss “This is not America, this is Korea and our teachers enjoy working Saturdays.” A concept that I don’t think has caught on in America unless you work at Burger King.

So go ahead and apply to work in Korea. YOU WILL BE HIRED. You will get a job. Don’t settle for a lame job because you are worried about getting hired. You can have a great job where you want, for how much you want. You just have to be patient.

Yeochin wishes she could put a good word in for you to her boss, but like she said, that quota has already been filled. And if my boss needs to hire another teacher and they turn out to be a man, black or a Korean American my boss can proudly say in all of his diversity training “no thank you, we already have one!" What a hero.

Got a question or comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

Ask a Korean! News: Yearly Tradition Happens Again in National Assembly

New York Times reports the yearly tradition of Korea's National Assembly, getting into fights. Right around this time last year AAK! reported a spectacular battle in the National Assembly involving, among other things, a cane and a phone. As 2008 is drawing to close, the Korean was actually wondering why a fight has not broken out yet. As usual, Korean politicians did not disappoint.

Some choice quotes from the Times article:

The parliamentary battle over a contentious free trade deal in South Korea led to a confrontation on Thursday in which opposition lawmakers used a sledgehammer to knock down the doors of a blockaded room in which a committee was discussing the agreement.

Television footage showed fire extinguishers being sprayed at the opposition lawmakers trying to get into the room . At least one person was shown bleeding from the face.

...

Thursday’s assault came after the opposition party had threatened to block the deal by using physical force if necessary. Fearing an attack, members of the foreign affairs committee, under control of the governing Grand National Party, had barricaded themselves inside the room as they met.

Security guards and aides from the governing party stood outside the barricaded doors, where scuffles broke out when a dozen opposition lawmakers showed up. The opposition lawmakers then used at least one sledgehammer and crowbars to tear through the doors, only to be thwarted by piles of furniture thrown up as a second line of defense.

The mayhem failed to prevent the pact from being formally introduced to the committee, a step in the process of bringing it to a full parliamentary vote.

Also, see a Korean article from Dong-A Ilbo here. The article also contains pretty sweet videos of door breaking down and fire extinguisher spraying. A separate Dong-A Ilbo article, in a sterile tone that may as well be discussing last night's baseball game, speaks of the involvement of "weapons-grade" tools such as a sledgehammer, a chain saw, a fire extinguisher, a crowbar, etc. The article notes that "While it was common to have a shoving match in the National Assembly due to the difference in opinions between the parties, it is very rare for such 'weapon-grade' tools were used."

The Korean urges the America's Congress to follow the example of Korean legislature. If Congress is going to be worthless, the least they can do is to provide yearly entertainment. America can add a creative twist to this yearly ritual. Say, the Iraqi shoe-thrower already gave a good example. Let thousand shoes rain upon Dick Cheney! Plus, the Korean is certain that raining shoes is Nancy Pelosi's dream. The Korean cannot see any downside to this proposal. Institute Fight Night Congress now!

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Korean Lessons in Alabama

Dear Korean,

I am a 35 year old English-speaking American living in Birmingham, Alabama. Is there anywhere local for me to take Korean language classes? I have tried local Korean Catholic churches but they tell me they are all for kids. I would like to learn in order to visit the country one day as a Tang Soo Do student.

Anonymous Coward

Birmingham, Alabama!! The Korean's first college roommate was from Decatur, Alabama, "the fourth largest city in Alabama and the home to the second largest Wal-Mart in America!" as he would proudly say. The roommate invited the Korean to his future wedding, and told the Korean to bring a box cutter so that he can cut the rope around his neck after the roommate's friends lynch him. The Korean was not sure if his roommate was joking.

The Korean is shocked that there is a local Korean Catholic church there to begin with. A little help, AAK! readers from the Deep South?

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

Lesson in Cultural Gap through an Exercise of Translation

We all have our own way of passing time when we are stuck in a boring situation. We look around, shift weight on our legs, and daydream. One of the things that the Korean does is to translate everything he sees and hears into different languages that the Korean knows. Most of the time it is English to Korean or Korean to English, with a little bit of Spanish, Chinese, and Latin thrown in.

Because the Korean does this exercise so often (basically every time he rides the subway or gets stuck in traffic, when he is not thinking of something else,) the Korean has gotten pretty good at it – much more so than others who may know both Korean and English fluently, yet do not bother to link the two languages. The Korean not only tries to match the meaning, but tries to match the emotional and evocative content of the original as well.

Recently, Roboseyo put up a beautiful Korean song, which later stuck in the Korean’s head. Accordingly, after the song ran a few times in the Korean’s head, the Korean began translating it in his head, in different variations. Then the Korean decided to write about exactly what went through his head while attempting to translate this song.

The Korean is writing this in order to open up and show a process of crossing the cultural gap. When we read an interpreted text, we are never sure if the translation is completely faithful to the original. We can never be certain that the translation captures everything that the original has meant to capture. This exercise will show exactly what carries over in the process, and what is lost in the process. The song, 찔레꽃, is short yet emotional and evocative, which makes a great case study.

The song was composed, written, and sung by Jang Sa-Ik. First, here is the video of Jang singing the song.



Here is the text of the song.

찔레꽃

하얀 꽃 찔레꽃
순박한 꽃 찔레꽃

별처럼 슬픈 찔레꽃
달처럼 서러운 찔레꽃

찔레꽃 향기는
너무 슬퍼요

그래서 울었지
밤새워 울었지

찔레꽃 향기는
너무 슬퍼요

그래서 울었지
목놓아 울었지

아 찔레꽃처럼 울었지
찔레꽃처럼 춤췄지

찔레꽃처럼 날았지
찔레꽃처럼 울었지

찔레꽃처럼 춤췄지
당신은 찔레꽃

찔레꽃처럼 울었지
당신은

Let us begin the translation. (Note: the words in the video is slightly different from the official lyrics.) The Korean will go paragraph by paragraph, starting with the title.

Title text:
찔레꽃

Initial translation:
Mountain Rose

Thought process:
Is this right? It is according to the dictionary, but the evocative image is completely wrong. Most English speakers have never seen a mountain rose. When they hear “mountain rose”, they would therefore think of the flower as an extension of a rose. In their head, they would run this type of image:


Which is so completely wrong. The beauty of a rose comes from its striking color and the fullness and complexity of its petals’ configuration. But the color of a mountain rose is muted, and its petals are laid out in a single layer, a simple form -- like the following:



Also, “mountain rose” would completely lose the emotional quality of the word 찔레꽃. 찔레 comes from 찌르다, “to prick”. Literally, it’s a “pricking flower”. It’s ironic and sad – a flower that attracts, yet repels! But then again, roses are known for that as well… but the thorns of 찔레꽃 is not nearly as hard or sharp as those of a rose.

Do I want to stay with simple transliteration, Jjillekkot, and let the readers imagine it? But then the flower could become anything, and it would lose a crucial meaning of thorns. Do I want to go with “pricking flower”? That sounds too strong, and too literal. It takes away the subtlety. I’m not happy with this, but that settles it.

Settled on: Mountain Rose.

Text:
하얀 꽃 찔레꽃
순박한 꽃 찔레꽃

Initial translation:
White flower, Mountain Rose,
Innocent flower, Mountain Rose.

Thought process:
Are the commas necessary, although the original text does not have commas? Am I being too condescending for the reader? I think I will stay with them, since the original text does not seem to have an alternate way of reading anyway.

I am pretty confident that “Mountain Rose” has to be capitalized. The original text makes it fairly clear that the mountain rose is a metaphor for a certain person.

The word 순박한 is difficult. My initial thought was “innocent”, but “innocent” sounds like it would describe a child. 순박 entails a little more sophistication; it almost always describes people in the countryside, living a simple life without pretension. Is “simple” the right word? “Simple” doesn’t sound very poetic; it sounds like “basic”, a very dry word. But English-speakers talk about being “simple folks” as well.

The word “white” is surprisingly bland when translated, because it loses the historical reference. Traditional Koreans – living in simple times! – dressed in clear, bright white. Koreans are sometimes known as 백의민족, “the people in white dress”. Starting with the word “white” clearly indicates that this song is really about a person, not a flower.

Is there any way to convey this idea in English? Not really – it would take a longer explanation, destroying the poem. But this at least makes me shift further away from “innocent”. Paralleled with “white”, “innocent” really sounds close to “childlike”. This song is not about a child.

Settled on:
White flower, Mountain Rose,
Simple flower, Mountain Rose.

Text:
별처럼 슬픈 찔레꽃
달처럼 서러운 찔레꽃

Initial translation:
Mountain Rose, sad like a star,
Mountain Rose, doleful like the moon.

Thought process:
The word order is annoying. The word “Mountain Rose” comes at the end of the sentence in both paragraphs, but “Sad like a star, Mountain Rose” initially did not make sense to me. But clearly, this paragraph is about repetition, not about changing the cadence. I think I’ll change the order.

The word “sad” in English also sometimes means “pathetic”, which annoys me. “Sorrowful” would be the perfect fit with respect to its meaning, but does that flow? 슬픈 is juxtaposed to 서러운, which means that the translation for 슬픈 has to be a shorter word than the translation for 서러운. “Sorrowful” and “doleful” are the same length. I don’t think I have a choice – “sad” has to be it.

Is “doleful” the right word for 서러운? A 서러운 person is probably crying, possibly drunk. I really wish I can think of some English texts that had the word “doleful” – I just can’t think of any image associated with the word. It somehow sounds like “depressed”, which is less expressive than 서러운. “Mournful” is another possibility, but that brings in death, which is something else entirely. Again, not happy, but this will have to do.

Settled on:
Sad like a star, Mountain Rose,
Doleful like the moon, Mountain Rose.

Text:
찔레꽃 향기는
너무 슬퍼요

Initial translation:
Mountain Rose scent is
Too sad.

Thought process:
This ruins the cadence. First line is 6 syllables, followed by 5 syllables in the next. In English, the first line is 5 syllables, followed by 2 syllables. Need a longer word than “sad”. I wonder if I can get away with just “Rose” instead of “Mountain Rose”…

Settled on:
Scent of the Rose is
Too sorrowful.

Text:
그래서 울었지
밤새워 울었지

Initial Translation:
So I cried
All night I cried.

Thought process:
This is hard. The original text does not show who cried – I just threw it in there to make sense of it for now.

Korean language does not require a subject in the sentence to be grammatically correct. Korean poets used this feature to deliberately create ambiguity. This flower could be anyone – I, you, the Mountain Rose, any simple Korean dressed in white. Cheating ahead, the last few lines say “You are Mountain Rose”, partly relieving the mystery. But changing to “So you cried” will still destroy the deliberate ambiguity.

How important is this ambiguity? Do I want to preserve it, at the risk of being grammatically incorrect in English? (Not to mention confusing the hell out of readers who are unfamiliar with this type of ambiguity?) But I think the central beauty of this poem lies in this ambiguity. It has to stay. Hopefully some commas will relieve the confusion?

Also, let’s not forget the cadence. The two lines have the same number of syllables. Since “all night” has to stay, find a different word for “so”.

Settled on:
Therefore, cried.
All night, cried.

Text:
찔레꽃 향기는
너무 슬퍼요

Initial translation:
Scent of the Rose is
Too sorrowful

Thought process:
Same as earlier.

Settled on:
Scent of the Rose is
Too sorrowful.

Text:
그래서 울었지
목놓아 울었지

Initial translation:
Therefore, cried.
With all my heart, cried.

Thought process:
Gah! Another tricky Korean word. 목놓아 울었지 would be translated as one English word, “wailed”. Literally it means, “crying by letting your throat go.”

What about “wailed and cried”? It’s redundant, but it fits the cadence. (If you had noticed, the Korean does not even try to rhyme. That’s far too difficult.) That will have to do.

Settled on:
Therefore, cried.
Wailed and cried.

Text:
아 찔레꽃처럼 울었지
찔레꽃처럼 춤췄지

Initial translation:
Ah – cried like Mountain Rose
Danced like Mountain Rose.

Thought process:
Normally, “Ah” is a bit difficult because Koreans say “Ah” in the way Americans say “Oh” – that is, whenever they just realized something. But the “Ah” here is meant to signify the wailing sound. So I will leave it here. I am also getting used to the “no subjects” thing in English. Hopefully the reader will as well.

Settled on:
Ah – cried like Mountain Rose
Danced like Mountain Rose

Text:
찔레꽃처럼 날았지
찔레꽃처럼 울었지

Initial translation:
Flew like Mountain Rose
Cried like Mountain Rose

Thought process:
Finally, an easy line!

Settled on:
Flew like Mountain Rose
Cried like Mountain Rose

Text:
찔레꽃처럼 춤췄지
당신은 찔레꽃

Initial translation:
Danced like Mountain Rose
You are Mountain Rose

Thought process:
Capitalizing "Mountain Rose" pays off here, because "You are the mountain rose" hurts the cadence.

Settled on:
Danced like Mountain Rose
You are Mountain Rose

Text:
찔레꽃처럼 울었지
당신은

Initial translation:
Cried like Mountain Rose
You did

Thought process:
That worked out well.

Settled on:
Cried like Mountain Rose
You did

Done! Let us look at the final product:

Mountain Rose

White flower, Mountain Rose,
Simple flower, Mountain Rose.

Sad like a star, Mountain Rose,
Doleful like the moon, Mountain Rose.

Scent of the Rose is
Too sorrowful.

Therefore, cried.
All night, cried.

Scent of the Rose is
Too sorrowful.

Therefore, cried.
Wailed and cried.

Ah – cried like Mountain Rose
Danced like Mountain Rose

Flew like Mountain Rose
Cried like Mountain Rose

Danced like Mountain Rose
You are Mountain Rose

Cried like Mountain Rose
You did

Final checkup on the finished product:
Doesn't look too bad. Still dislike the fact that all the meaning behind "white" was lost. Still not sure how readers would react to fourth and sixth stanza, which lack the subject in the sentence. But not sure how I could improve -- I can only hope that it makes sense.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There you have it. As a closing remark, the Korean would like to make a few points.

1. Translation is hard work. Be grateful to those who do it for you, even if they do not convey everything that they could possibly convey.

2. If you wish to learn about a culture, not knowing the language of the culture is fatal. See how many nuances you are missing in that short little poem turned into English?

3. If you are conversing in a certain language with a person who acquired that language as an adult (for most of AAK! readers, that would be Koreans who learned English later in their years, like the Korean himself,) imagine the hard work of the person you are speaking with. Realize that there are a lot of emotion that the person simply cannot convey fully. Also, realize that at least some of what you say will be lost upon the listener, even if the listener knows the definition of every word you said.

The Korean does not wish to overexaggerate. The fundamental theme of AAK! is that Koreans -- and by extension all humans of all races and culture -- are essentially the same as you and me. We are all people. Cultural gap can certainly be crossed.

But such crossing is, needless to say, imperfect. We lose some things when we cross that bridge. The aspiration behind this exercise was to demonstrate what exactly makes across the bridge, and what gets lost en route.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Theatre Programs in Korea?

Another chance to help a fellow reader, folks.

Dear Korean,

My girlfriend and I are both adopted Koreans living in Minnesota. We're both actors in our late 20's, and are exploring possibilities regarding teaching theatre in Korea for a period of 6 months or more next year. While it's pretty easy to find opportunities to teach English at schools, privately, or in hagwons, I'm curious if you would have any suggestions regarding teaching theatre to high school, college, or adult ESL students. We're mainly interested in living and working in Seoul, but I'd love to learn about any programs that exist. And if programs don't exist, are there certain colleges that would have staff or drama programs that might be interested in starting a program like this?

Korean American Theatre Junkie

This is a pretty technical question, so any lead would be appreciated.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

Iodine makes you smarter. Remember what has a ton of iodine? Seaweeds! Remember Korean women only eat seaweed soup for three straight weeks after giving birth? When Korean women breastfeed, they are essentially feeding "get smart" juice to their babies.

The Matters of Ornithoids and Apis Mellifera

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Now, a moment with the latest creation of Korea's greatest musician ever.



Taiji is god.

A bit old, but a nice article on the New York Times about immigration and returning to the mother ship.

As the Year-End Gift Giving Period (YEGGP) approaches, the Korean will recycle last year's post on gift-giving for Koreans. Please refer all gift-giving questions and suggestions here.

For those who are too lazy to click, here is a quick summary: there is no ultra-special, super-secret, culturally-relevant "Korean gift", except for a select few occasions. Stop being so scared about appearing to be politically incorrect. A gift given from the heart cannot offend anyone.