A Medium Dive into South Korean Culture
These days more and more people are into the so called “Hallyu”. A term that used for the phenomenal global popularity of Korean Culture. Korean Music, Korean Drama, Korean Movies and so on are a part of Hallyu. We are now doing a medium dive into South Korean Culture.
South Korean culture is their own unique culture but a little bit influenced by China and Japan. They adapt the influences and make it their own. It is started centuries ago, by then Korea had successfully made their own language system which is Hangul. Hangul have its own unique writing system and easy to learn.
Korean Wave term first appeared in 1999 and expanded into Japan and China, then into Southeast Asia, and now the whole world. The world known “Korean Wave” is spreading fast now thanks to the development of digital technologies such as Youtube, Spotify and other streaming platforms.
There are many wins achieved by South Korean people that push forward the Korean Wave.
The most notable one from the movies industry is the “Parasite” (2019) film. Parasite have made a history. By being the first Non-English film to win Best Picture in Oscars 2020 and the other 3 Academy Awards.
Quoting from BBC, “The film is a vicious social satire about two families from different classes in Seoul — one who live in poverty in a semi-basement, and another rich family residing in a large home.”
It is indeed one of a kind film with a an unexpected twist that keeps the audience awake. But we can talk about this more in another writing.
The other one is coming from the Korean Pop Music industry. Korean Pop music also have taken over the world by storm. These days, K-pop has taken the mainstream music. There are many people who are not into “K-pop” but at least now about Gangnam Style by PSY, Ddu Ddu Ddu by Blackpink, or Dynamite by BTS. Those artists (and more) have many fans all over the globe and taken the mainstream music industry.
Let’s take one group for an example. BTS.
BTS have made a history to by being the first South Korean group to top the U.S Billboard chart with their song, “Dynamite”. They also have a number one Korean song in the chart too with “Life Goes On”.
Riding the Korean Wave, it is also know that people also take an interest to others Korean Culture. Starting with Korean foods, drinks, or even etiquettes and manners. First people get hooked by Korean music or drama and they started to get used to of the language and by then people also starting to search about what it is like to live in South Korea.
South Korean manners are really interesting and Korean people follow a social hierarchy based on age.
South Korean people really respect their elder. That is why when there are older people, younger people use a term to call them. If you are also into the Korean Wave, you should be familiar with the terms “hyung” (older brother said by male), “noona” (older sister said by male), “unnie” (older sister said by female), “oppa” (older brother said by female), et cetera.
Respecting their elder also means by doing a proper greetings, a bow. The more low you bow the more respect you show to the other person and the perfect bow is the 90 degrees bow. We can see the example when a junior music group is bowing perfectly to their senior to show respect.
And there are many manners regarding on how they drink their alcohol!
For example, the younger ones have to pour the drinks into the older ones’ glass by two hands. Another is the younger ones have to drink by facing the opposite of the older one. By that, they are doing a respect. Also do not refuse someone offer to pour you a drink, it is considered an insult.
In South Korea, they cherish the time they eat. Eating is a get-together. For example, people go out to have a Korean barbeque or even to eat chicken and beer (chimaek) and just talk the night away. But, if you are having a dinner with older people, show a good manner by waiting the older ones to eat first. Sharing a dinner is a vital to building a friendship or even business success. Make sure you don’t miss the opportunity to go out with Korean people because it is invaluable, starting from get-together, outings or even meetings.
Back to the Korean language, there are versions of it. The casual one, the polite one and the formal one. These versions can be seen at the end of a word. Let’s take an example the Korean word for “Thank you”.
고마워 (gomawo) which is the casual one that can be said if you are talking to a same age person.
고마워요 (gomawoyo) is a polite term of thank you that can be said to a co-worker and such.
감사합니다 (gamsahamnida) is the formal one that can be used to an older one or someone that has a higher status.
In Korean language there are fourteen consonants consisting of ㄱ (g/k), ㄴ (n), ㄷ (d), ㄹ(r/l), ㅁ(m), ㅂ (b), ㅅ (s), ㅇ(-/ng), ㅈ (j), ㅊ (ch), ㅋ (k), ㅌ(t), ㅍ (p),ㅎ (h) and ten basic vowels consisting of ㅏ(a),ㅑ(ya),ㅓ(eo),ㅕ(yeo), ㅗ(o), ㅛ(yo), ㅜ(u), ㅠ(yu), ㅡ(eu), ㅣ(e).
To learn more about the Korean language, now there are many source in the internet or you can even take private class.
On a final note, Korean Culture has gain a phenomenal popularity globally. It heavies in the entertainment area (drama, movies, music) and spread into the foods, drinks, etiquettes, et cetera. Now it even more gaining interest from people in the world. This also effects South Korean economy. We can wait how South Korean culture expand and even influences other culture.
Disclaimer:
This post is purely from writer’s point of view, knowledge and opinion.
