Temat: Crossing cultural borders

Lidia asked me to give my notions on the subject of foreign culture absorption.
I'll try to do so below.

This is a very down-to-earth topic. Learning language and culture that at first have nothing in common with your own makes you think about matters so simple, you wouldn't ever bother to consider in other circumstances.

They're life, world-view, view on human existence and so on. But this is rather obvious.
At the end of the day it all depends on how tolerant and absorbing you are considered
people's behavior and fresh knowledge.

Korean is not an easy language to learn much like Polish.
There is multitude of vocabulary, mostly short words that spell very alike another so you can easily confuse them when heard. Spelling Korean right requires you to use the language a few or in some cases more that ten years in its natural environment. I intentionally don't mention the circle & square alphabet, because mastering it takes just a few weeks.

Now and then you can meet lots of people who are into Asian (CJKV) culture and enjoy Asian pop-culture sometimes more eagerly than even natives do. I am definitely not one of them. Learning Korean was at first more a matter of curiosity but in the long run it enabled me to travel to distant countries and get a good job. But it didn't change me. It just broadened my views.

Some time ago, while posting on Anglosphere I wrote a short note on Inuit (Eskimo) language and their lack of words for snow (although argued by some). I was actually led to this piece of information through reading some texts on Sapir-Whorf theory.

To simplify : language changes us. Changes the way we see and feel the world.

If you dare to be good in any foreign language, you'll surely know that.

Speaking different tongue frames you into totally different world. Suddenly you can't say this or that not because your vocabulary is bad, but due to lack of vocabulary counterparts in a given language. The farther you go on this linguistic map, the more limited you become.

Unless you let the language and culture change you.

Now this is a broad subject, so let's have others say ther views too. :o)

Temat: Crossing cultural borders

Andrzej,
thanks a lot!

That's a real pleasure to read.
If you don't mind, all I can ask are some blonde questions, because it's hard to match the level of abstraction shown in your post. Nevertheless it's extremely interesting.

Can you explain one thing that bothers me whenever I translate Korean-English documents. Why are the names of Korean cities/people spelt so differently? Is it the Korean ENG alphabets inconsistency or are they just careless?

And why do they all have the same names? Like Kim, for example?

Is Korean culture openly inspired by Japanese influences (or vice versa) or they try to be as much apart as possible?
Can a Korean and a Chinese get on better than a Korean and a Pole (statistically)?

Do you dream in Korean?

Temat: Crossing cultural borders

Lidia K.:
Andrzej,
thanks a lot!

That's a real pleasure to read.
If you don't mind, all I can ask are some blonde questions, because it's hard to match the level of abstraction shown in your post. Nevertheless it's extremely interesting.

Can you explain one thing that bothers me whenever I translate Korean-English documents. Why are the names of Korean cities/people spelt so differently? Is it the Korean ENG alphabets inconsistency or are they just careless?

That is mainly due to lack of efficient transcription system in Korean. The one widely used now (MOE) is said to be the best because it does not use any diacritic marks (like dots in German).
Nevertheless you cannot properly read it, at least not the Korean way if you don't know the language. Further, there is significant freedom in writing people's names which results in one person signing as mr Park and the other as Pak (the latter is actually proper Korean spelling). This rule applies to geographical names as well. Lack of efficient transcription system owes to Korean being extremely complicated in terms of phonetically connecting adjacent sounds (with its distinct example being choked final consonants.

And why do they all have the same names? Like Kim, for example?

Koreans were originally clan-based society with Kim, Pak & Lee families as major power-holders.

Is Korean culture openly inspired by Japanese influences (or vice versa) or they try to be as much apart as possible?

Most countries in the Far East and South-Eastern Asia were sooner or later inspired (usually unwillingly) by the Chinese Empire. Japan started to influence the Western world only in the
latter half of XX-th century. Since Korea was often subjected to Chinese and Japanese attacks (just as a few more countries in the region), the influences are vast. Nevertheless Japan is to say the least not so much loved due to unfavorable historical events.

Can a Korean and a Chinese get on better than a Korean and a Pole (statistically)?

I don't know about such statistics. But since Chinese and Koreans are of Eastern Asian origins, they are bound to get along better than Korean and Polish.

Do you dream in Korean?

No. But I had a dream about escaping from North Korea once or twice (crossing the Taedong River)