Culture Clash

This post won't be too long because I have to wake up early tomorrow for our trip to the DMZ :).

So first of all, because I'm a language geek like this, I'm gonna talk about how it's ridiculous that so far, we have learned six different expressions that *can* express "Because," with different subtle implications :).

1) 왜냐하면

Literally means "because," but should be used sparingly because it sounds babyish/choppy if used too much. Kind of like beginning a sentence with "because."

왜 안 가요? - Why aren't you going?
왜냐하면 너무 바빠요 - Because I'm too busy

It usually sounds awkward, like here :P.

2) -[아/어/여]서

비가 와서 우산을 가지고 갔다
Because it was raining, I brought my umbrella

The most common one, it means "because," but has restrictions where the other ones come in.

3) -(으)니까

This one can be used in three different ways (and possibly more I haven't learned yet)
a) When the second clause is a command.

비가 오니까 우산을 가지고 가세요
Because it's raining, bring your umbrella

b) When the second clause is a suggestion.
비가 오니까 우산을 가지고 갈까?
Because it's raining, shall we bring the umbrella?

c) When the second clause is a personal feeling
비가 오니까 우산을 가지고 가는게 좋을 거다
Because it's raining, it would be good to bring the umbrella

4) -기 때문에

A stronger emphasis of "because," it makes the reason more pertinent.

비가 왔기 때문에 우산을 가지고 갔다
Because [of the rain falling], I brought my umbrella

In the brackets is a loose translation, it just makes you pay more attention to the reason by making it a noun instead of a verb clause.

5) [았/었/였]더니

This is the one that least means "because" in all contexts. It occurs when the speaker did some action that resulted in a realization of a change of state in himself/herself (like getting sick, getting hurt, gaining confidence, etc.)

컴퓨터를 오랫동안 썼더니 머리가 아프다
Because I used the computer for a long time I have a headache.

6) -느라고

Just learned this one today--it means "because" and is usually used for excuses. The second clause states some action or obligation that the speaker failed to do and the first clause is the reason (because of doing something else at the same time or having another obligation).

자느라고 수업에 안 갔다
Because I was sleeping I didn't go to class

Yeah...I really hope there aren't more versions of because T_T. And there's the difference between English and Korean :D.

~*~

Now let's talk about Koreans' impressions of foreigners. Because I'm Asian, I get by a lot of glances, turned heads, and insistence on speaking English even though I'm studying Korean. Ryan especially gets lots of looks, being a blonde-hair blue-eyed foreigner here. When we go to museums, the kids will say hi to him and remark "미국 사람입니다!" (Wow, an American!) and we'll laugh because we know what they're saying.

The tables turn though when the Koreans realize I'm not Korean and many assumptions begin to be thrown out. As already mentioned, many have thought Jessica and I were brother and sister, just because we're foreigners traveling together in the same country. I start to get questions like "Can you use chopsticks?" when eating meals (well I am still Chinese...and most people know how to use chopsticks anyway), "Is this too spicy for you?" (my mom, being from Thailand, has fed me spicy food ever since I was a little baby, I crave spiciness =]), etc. Also, being Asian means we get excluded when agents ask for "non-Asians" to model for some photos--so Ryan, Jessica, Adam, Philip, and Terry went photo-taking one day while Andy, Becky, Jesse, and I were left in the dust haha. Most commonly though, if they can speak English, they completely switch to English, even when I insist on speaking Korean to improve myself and sometimes their English is difficult to understand.

This can lead to embarrassing/funny results.

Embarrassing example: My friends and I are figuring out directions to 홍대:

"죄송하지만, 홍대에 갈래면 어떻게 갈 수 있어요?" (Excuse me, how can I get to Hongdae?)
"Just walk that way and make a right at the end," responds the Korean girl with the perfect American accent.

Well, thanks for showing me up! Some of my friends suggested I should've pretended I didn't speak English haha :P.

Funny example: Yesterday, Min Jie, Reiko, Greg, and I went to eat delicious Mexican food. Some of the waitresses/the magician INSISTED on speaking English, after seeing one white guy (Greg) in our group.

"Blah blah blah" (English)
"우리 친구들은 영어 못 해요" (Our friends [pointing at Min Jie, from China, and Reiko, from Japan] don't speak English)
"Oh! *short pause* Blah blah blah" (More English)
*blank stares from Min Jie and Reiko*
Reiko shouts, "한국어 좀 말해 주세요! 영어 못 해요!" (Please speak in Korean. We can't speak English!)

One white guy in the group means no one can speak Korean apparently, even when we speak Korean to each other. It's a fair assumption though, considering not many foreigners know Korean yet. But who knows? Maybe it'll change in 50 or so years. After all, seeing an Asian speak perfect English is no longer strange :).

~*~

Now movies! I've seen three movies so far in Korea--Wanted, Red Cliff (A Chinese movie), and 좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈 (The Good, The Bad, and The Strange--probably based off The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly). The nickname of the movie is "놈놈놈" (Nom Nom Nom [I bet you love this Sofa, if you read it ^_^]--Nom means "Guy")

All three were pretty interesting experiences! Wanted was a pretty good movie, strange moments though, and the plot was wacky, but fun to watch--watched it with Ryan, Andy, and Min Jie (since Min Jie doesn't speak English, he had to garner a little from subtitles and I explained the important plot stuff to him). Red Cliff turned the tables on me--my turn to watch a Chinese movie (spoken in more archaic Chinese) with Korean subtitles. Not able to get too much, though the war scenes were pretty good ;p. Then Nom Nom Nom--SUCH a blockbuster in Korea. Ryan, Andy, Adam, and I planned to watch it but there were only two seats left for the showing we aimed for so we had to split between two showings. It was a really good movie! Though the ending was a little strange--suitable though haha. We were able to watch it with English subtitles in Yongsan which was nice--and they gave Ryan (but not me, because I'm Asian), a survey afterwards about English subtitles in Korean movie theatres.

~*~

Okay, now picture summary! Again not too much :).

Andy, Ryan, and I went to the Seoul National Museum on Saturday. Very large, impressive museum--though admittedly we ended up having a big discussion about Korean identity which led to an American identity discussion, all spurred from the museum ^^.
Old kingdom of Korea, interesting outfit.
Engrish is always fun to spot! Lean off--pretty priceless hahaha.
Blast from the past! A replica of the crown we saw in Gyeongju!
Several Buddha statues--all very dark because I couldn't use flash :\.
Pretty convenient that every place in Korea gives you bags to put your umbrella in. Here's the bag after we left the museum. I have yet to beat this amount of rain in the bag excreted by the umbrella!
Along with the end of the rain comes beautiful skies :).
Our Mexican dinner yesterday. Last Thursday of every month W27,500 for buffet (about $27.50), ridiculous pricing T_T. The food was really good though! I was surprised how good Korea could make Mexican food :).
Funny enough, they even got a mariachi band to come in and perform haha.
We even got bizarre name tags for some reason lol. Greg was Hondo, Reiko was Rosey, Min Jie was Chico, and I was Cian XD.

Yeah, not too eventful of a week :). Our vacation's starting though, so look forward to a post about the Light Fellowship people visiting and our fun weekend! And then a second post on my trip to Jeju Island next week, woot!

Now if only it would stop raining every day...