ESL 21B-1383

July 6, 2007

ESSAY #1.2

Every country has their own special culture that has been formed during their histories. These histories are not made briefly, so itReference not clear is very complicated and difficult to performWChoice. When people have learned a country's culture while they are growing up in the country, it would beVTense easy to perform, but to people who live in other countries the culture must be felt difficultAwkward. Cultural differences make countries to beCut dissimilar, and people feel difficulty when they face on theseAwkward. Each country has different valueVague that they have kept in their livesAwkward, and all countries have their own judgment about what the right behavior is. {***}Choppy There are some ofCut cultural rules in Korea that foreign visitors should have toCut be careful {***}MissingWwhen they contact eyeAwkward, and keep distanceAwkward; also, when the visitors have appointment with Koreans.

First, Koreans do not make eye contact with elders. Korean forefathers had believed in Confucian ideas. In a book of Confucian ideaSing/Plu, young people have to respect elders. First of all, to respect elders younger Koreans should not make eye contact with elders. If they stare {***}MissingW elders, it would be considered as {***}MissingW they disobeyVTense elders and being rude. This idea has continued so far, so in school and society this rule has been kept. In Korea, parents hit their children for learningAwkward. When I was young I amVTense also stricken fromPreposition my mother when I made bad thingAwkward. That time I had to look down, but I stared my mother's eye straightly. It made my mother to get mad more. So I got more caneAwkward. However, in the article, "Where Do We Stand?" by Lisa Davis, she showed an example about eye contact to prove how differ withAwkward every country. She said that if an Asian girl avoids a teacher's eye contact, the teacher think that she is hiding something that she did. It verifies that all countries have different rules of behavior. Therefore visitors have to be careful when they talk with elders in Korea because the elders might think they are defiant. Especially when elders give lessons to younger people, they must stare elders' under of eyeAwkward not to contact eyeAwkward with them. Also, younger people have to drop their head a little beat because it representS/VAgreement they are listening carefully, and obey to elders.

Second, Koreans do not talk closelyAwkward especially with strangers. Koreans keep their distance when they talk together. It has been with historyAwkward, also. Particularly with the other sex make more distance each other. Also, Koreans do not say "hello" to strangers when they pass by them. If a person does in Korea, people must think that the person is crazy. When visitors visit Korea, sometimes they need help for find transportation to move other place, so they try to ask KoreaWForm about the transportation. However, Koreans pass by them with a glance. It might {***}MissingW because of difference of appearance, and language problem, but it is [[also]]MissingW based on their culture. On the other hand, Americans have closer distanceAwkward when people talk than Koreans do. Also they hug withCut people, but Koreans do not hug frequently even thoughCut with parents. {***}Choppy In the book "Where Do We Stand?" Saudi Arabians have the culture that talks within spitting distance. If they do in Korea, they do not be welcomed to Koreans because Korean might think that it is not comfortable to talk and they are strange.

Finally, Koreans frequently break appointment and show up later. It is kind of a vice of Koreans. As a result that people do not keep appointment{1}, the term of "Korean time" isVTense formed. It implicatesWChoice that Koreans are always late 10 minutes. Robert Levine in "Time Talks, with an Accent" talked {***}MissingW thatWChoice Brazilians did not care about that other people are late in appointment. Like Brazilian's unique time culture, Koreans have their own time cultureGood! that showed up laterAwkward, but not as much as Brazilians. KoreanSing/Plu also do not care about appointment since when they cancel their appointment, they do not {***}MissingW notice to others, so at hospital in Korea people who have appointment have to wait even though after their appointment time. However, itReference not clear {***}Vague has been changed because of internationalization. People who come inPreposition many countries visit Korea for their business, and time has become an important issue to Koreans because breaking aArt appointment could totally ruin the business with American or other countries, except some countries.

In conclusion, there are a lot of rules when visitors visit Korea how to eye contact, how far distance with people and about time. It is very difficult and confused to understand. Every country has different value and culture. It seems to make visitors to tired because the visitors have their own different culture. Therefore, visitors should prepare about the country's culture before they visit one country, and if they know about what is different, they could enjoy cultural differences that differ from their countries.