New course! This one is called Korean Social Structure and Culture and lecture one was great!
Definition of culture: four elements of culture
1. Symbols
2. Language
3. Norms
4. Values
1. Symbols
Swastika: meaning auspiciousness, goodness in Buddhism
Cross: Christianity
Buddhism – 11 million
Protestant – 8.7 million
Catholic – 5.3 million
2. Languages
Languages reflect worldview
People from the USA – “Americans”
The Chinese character for china literally means centre of the universe
In Korean the word Meokda means eat. Linguistic theory proposes that when a concept is at the forefront of the peoples mind this term is projected into unrelated concepts. So, in Korean history there has never really been an abundance of food thus where a western person would say, “enjoy your meal” or equivalent – older Koreans quote a saying that literally translate “eat lots”. See further examples from slide show:
This is really fascinating and made me think about words I use and how they may be coloured with a worldview and to ask the question: are the words I use, is the worldview I communicate linguistically, consistent with my Christian worldview? Is the considered external worldview consistent with the subtle, underlying worldview?
PS: it amazes to no end that this is a Korean lecturer with both Korean and Chinese students lecturing in English – I really want to learn another language!
