What the fuck is that? There are no foreigners listed among the authors, but who knows if they were employed as proofreaders. Learning about foreign cultures from a Korean English book is often a painful process. My all-time favorite comes from the teachers' guides handed out with the elementary school books. They're pretty much all in Korean except for some cultural tips at the back of each chapter. The best one is this, from the 5th grade teachers' guide:
Western people show exclamation even over trifles. This phenomenon isn't found an oriental culture that appreciates people who control their feeling and taciturn. We can usually see Americans who are moved so easily by things that Koreans aren't effected by. This means they are accustomed to expressing feeling freely and frankly. In Western culture, they start a conversation about the weather when they meet someone for the first time: "It's a lovely day, isn't it?" This is reference to the inclement weather in England. The people who live in an area with nice weather like Korea aren't touched by this kind of thing but Englishmen can be impressed.
Jesus Tapdancing Christ. Keep that in mind the next time the teachers huddle around over 떡 saying "맛있네" sixty-seven times in three minutes, or can't stop themselves from sighing and alternating between "추워" and "더워" seven times an hour.
1 comment:
ahahahah, I don't think I will ever quite understand the "chupta" or "chewahh" comments by koreans. My coteachers have to walk down up a flight of stairs and down a hallway to get to our office. Are you really still cold after that? COME ON!!! Hell, I'm usually sweating, even in the winter time. I can understand saying, gee it's really cold, when you are first stepping outside, but not when you have been inside for 10 seconds or more. There should be a time limit on it.
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