Occidentalism

How can the Korean language be perfect when it has no word meaning “humility”?

I think the author makes a great compliment to the INDIAN scholars the Korean king brought in to develop hangul, for his illiterate masses. Like kung fu (also from India; and devleoped by an Indian monk referred to as “Da Moh,” or “Tak Mor”), curry, and buddhism: India (with over 10,000 years of recorded history) has given a lot of wonderful things to the world!

Dunno, I don’t think this is too much different than “Japan is special because it has four seasons”.

Dunno, I don’t think this is too much different than “Japan is special because it has four seasons”.

Which Japanese language book say “Japan is special because it has four seasons” ??

I’m sure several do. My aunt (Japanese, not by blood) tells me it’s special, because it has FIVE seasons. =O

How can the Korean language be perfect when it has no word meaning “humility”?

Just for the heck of it, I put “humility” into a KR/EN dictionary and 4 matches came up:
겸손
겸양
스스로 낮추기
겸비

Which Japanese language book say “Japan is special because it has four seasons” ??

Not sure about language books, but about half the nihonjin I met while living there told me that.

Not sure about language books, but about half the nihonjin I met while living there told me that.

I live in Japan and I never hear people bragging about it.　What does it have to do with this topic anyway? It’s about Korea, not another country.

Heh. Writing about how Korean is the best language in really shitty English kind of reminds me of people here n the USA who talk about how America is the best country in the world but who have never even left their home state. It’s like, hey, I’m not saying it is or isn’t, but how the fuck would you know?

Anyway, I think a sizable number of people in almost every culture / nation would like to say things like that about their culture / nation, and definitely believe that about their culture / nation. The main difference is that most of those people realize that stating it so blatantly and loudly with such floral superlatives makes them come off as pompous to the point of being unintentionally humourous.

It is interesting to contrast this piece to your other entries about the negative effects of political correctness on Western society. While I agree that political correctness has gone much too far in many cases (and thereby has earned a sizable backlash; the Tar Baby principle in full effect there) I think that Korea could probably benefit from being infected by the whole “politically correct” meme. If nothing else, it would help people fully realize that writing things like the page you scanned above makes them come off like a complete ass, without even having to engage in any kind of thought to realize it.

That conversation book sounds insane. Language is an “intangible cultural property”? Other languages are incapable of representing ideas or sounds which are possible in a certain language? Any given language is superior/inferior to any other? This type of rhetoric flies in the face of the basic foundations of linguistics.

The fact is that such statements are all generally shaped by the speaker’s social, cultural, economic, racial, class and like biases.

I live in Japan and I never hear people bragging about it.　What does it have to do with this topic anyway? It’s about Korea, not another country.

Are you Japanese? That might be the reason. I heard people saying it all the time, it’s one of the idiotic things that foreigners hear from nihonjin all the time.

Ok, we’ll stay on topic. Korea sucks. Happy now, boke?

Just for the heck of it, I put “humility” into a KR/EN dictionary and 4 matches came up:
겸손
겸양
스스로 낮추기
겸비

I was not being literal. Of course, there is a Korean word that can be translated as humility. It was a joke, given the aw…never mind.

seriously, eli, how many japanese have you met?
or are you from saudi arabia or some part of africa where there is only on season? (oh, dont accuse me bringing up saudi arabia or africa, i have no racial connotation for those who live in area with one season)
you must be misunderstand something. or are you implying stupidity of japanese telling you this story?
to be honest, i think some koreans really sucks. korean meadia in particular sucks. you may find it out after checking english version of korean papers on the web for a week.

Ok, we’ll stay on topic. Korea sucks. Happy now, boke?

You called me boke? That’s immature. Why do people who defend Korea act like this?

Ok, we’ll stay on topic. Korea sucks. Happy now, boke?

You called me boke? That’s immature. Why do people who defend Korea act like this?

And they will start singing dokdo song in the end.

I can’t watch this thread any more. I’ve cringed so much I’m about to turn inside-out.

Ok, to all the Japanese people here who didn’t understand Eli’s comment, I have also heard “Japan has four distinct seasons” from many Japanese people, usually just after they have expressed surprise at my ability to use chopsticks. The conversation about Japanese snow/rice/intestines being different is soon to follow.

I have also read the “Japan has four distinct seasons” in more than one Japanese textbook. It is always used to demonstrate how to use the word “HAKKIRI.”

(and Eli and I aren’t korean, african or anything like that).

In defence of the book, I could definitely see something like that being written in a French or English book back a couple of hundred years ago. Don’t forget that Korea is still developing. Also, the writing system has been praised as being one of the easiest to learn. Dunno about the language as a whole, and all that “superiority” stuff though.

RC

I have also read the “Japan has four distinct seasons” in more than one Japanese

Korea has four distinct seasons too.
America, China, Australia, Europe, etc.. many countries have four distinct seasons.
What is the problem?

I recall countless Koreans telling me “Korea has four distinct seasons.” Did they rip that off from Japan, too?

If you guys read Korean, check NAVER sometimes.
Young Koreans constantly post how great Hangeul is.
They believe that Korean language is registered in Unesco “World Treasure”.

If you guys read Korean, check NAVER sometimes.
Young Koreans constantly post how great Hangeul is.
They believe that Korean language is registered in Unesco “World Treasure”.

I heard this before!

Some people say that the Korean language is “the most efficient” language in the world, although I have no idea what that means or how to measure its “efficiency”.

I recall countless Koreans telling me “Korea has four distinct seasons.” Did they rip that off from Japan, too?

The Chinese say that too, actually.
It could be a northeast asia thing.

I must admit that book makes no sense and written by someone who cannot speak proper English,but anyone who knows hangeul probably would agree with me when i say that it IS one of the easiest languages to learn to read.
That said, Korean is a friggin hard language to learn to speak fluently.

On a different note, what kind of nation would say to their “we’re second best!!”