kangmi: learning korean

눈치

From Junhee (June) Kim in the July 31, 2004 issue of Seoul Weekly (hangulization mine):

‘Nunchi’ [눈치] can be roughly translated as the ability to assess the unspoken intention of others and communicate one’s own intentions through indirect verbal hints and body language. Nunchi enjoys a privileged position in the Korean communication scheme, as nunchi is used to communicate or veil the most sensitive topics, including those related to reputation and money. It is said of people who are especially quick to assess the general mood of a situation [bunwuigi 분위기] or person [gibun 기분] as having quick nunchi [nunchi bbareuda 눈치 빠르다]. Such a person would know to offer to pay for lunch when a friend is in financial dire straits or bring an energy drink for his/her boss after a late night business meeting. While having the ability to read people’s moods is important, communicating one’s intentions is just as important. Nunchi is an issue that frequently surfaces in the relationship between mother and daughter-in-law, as it can be considered overbearing and mean. For instance, a mother-in-law unhappy with her daughter-in-law’s cooking should cook some dishes herself to show her daughter-in-law the proper way to cook, rather than slamming her chopsticks down on the table and clicking her tongue after the unpleasant meal.

Posted by kangmi on August 6, 2004 at 2:00 PM1 comments

Worth noting

Max Christian’s blog...love that thing he does with his vocabulary. Mouse around to figure out what I mean.

Posted by kangmi on August 6, 2004 at 8:00 AM1 comments

Update

Yesterday a co-worker called me to ask if I had any information on a conference for which he was registered. “That rings a bell,” I said, “but I can barely hear it.”

No one would ever accuse me of being quick-witted (that family honor goes to my younger sister, with other relatives coming in a respectable second), but I like to know that I occasionally have the option of creatively turning a phrase.

A couple of weeks ago, the same co-worker, knowing of my Korean studies, jokingly asked me to say the time in Korean. I found myself thinking (not for the first time) that if someone said the time in Korean, I would understand them, but saying it myself has never been a quick exercise.

Thus I am again confronted with the two ends of my desire to speak Korean: the desire to communicate clearly and the desire to communicate creatively. To achieve the first I have to let go of the second (at first I thought that was a good Buddhist line but then ecumenically remembered “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”) in order to eventually gain it.

So my humble goal for this month of study with 인선 is to master telling time in Korean. We’ll be using chapter 16 of Functional Korean: A Communicative Approach Textbook. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Posted by kangmi on August 5, 2004 at 8:00 PM0 comments

Random thoughts

I’m finally caught up with Bloglines...you Korea bloggers are a prolific bunch. Several language- and culture-related posts piqued my interest:

• Joel writes about the Korean written method used for tallying things up. I hadn’t thought of that one for years.

• In comments for that post, Oranckay refers to 가위, 바위, 보, a game I’ve always known as Rock Paper Scissors but has many other names. I’d never seen it in writing before but played it enough to recognize it when I saw it (but no way I would have spelled it like that from hearing it). You can play against the computer here if you need an opponent.

• Yes, I grew up in Missouri, but that doesn’t explain why I’ve had a hard time believing that Wal-Mart came to Korea since I left. Shawn did a great job of setting my doubts to rest.

Posted by kangmi on August 5, 2004 at 2:00 PM0 comments

The return of 강미

I’m back from my hiatus, and I plan to write about it later...still catching up with e-mail, Bloglines, and 아름다운 유혹.

However, I’m pleased to report that I have engaged a Korean tutor for the month of August and will be meeting tonight.

More later.

Posted by kangmi on August 4, 2004 at 2:00 PM0 comments