When Literacy Goes Wrong

I'm finally learning to read Korean. It's been a long time coming and some of the more human like characters such as 호 (hat man) and 카(fancy sword) have been staring me down, mocking me and challenging me to learn their ways. Enough! I will conquer you Hangul script! Little did I realize that Hangul has a dark side, luring me in with their simple looking characters I was blinded by their sneaky identity tricks aimed to make even the most streetwise expat look like a fool (not a difficult task here). Let this serve as a lesson to those wishing to learn Korean...

At Samsung Korean classes are required every day and because the European MBA programs finish in January I was able to join their accelerated class for a week. 3 hours a day of grueling pronunciation practice. Any of you out there near a 5 year old, give them a big pat on the back. Learning to read is hard (knowing what you are reading is an entirely different beast). Korean is such an impressive language. It was developed in the 15th century by King Sejong the Great so even commoners (like me!) could read and write (unlike me!). Yesterday coming home on the bus, I test myself by trying to read the signs as we pass. What a gift literacy is, until it comes to meat. Feeling high on my new knowledge and misconceived victory over language, my head got over inflated and I tried it out on a human subject. The dumpling man on our street is a notorious landmark. I've never actually seen his face since the pots of steam are constantly creating a mysterious cloud around him. My mom is here and loves these dumplings, I think to myself: "why not bring her a batch home? Poor thing can't even read Korean, at least she can enjoy these tasty dumplings". Cocky, I skip up to him. I point to the picture and read the name (this takes about 5 minutes of sounding out each syllable). When I look up I expect to see a hand pop out of the steam, giving me a high five or a hug of amazement that I can actually read but instead..nothing. Just steam face. As he's packaging up the dumplings, I decide to read on. Then I see it, plain as day....개. Where have I seen this word before?

I stumble back home thinking and hand mom the bag. I wander into Amelia's room and there before my eyes is a "kid" poster that I frequently use as a reference. 개 right under the picture of a dog. As the connection is made Amelia comes bounding in with half a dumpling in her mouth and the other in her hand. Flashes of my beloved friends growing up spike, spanky, sparky, sierra (suddenly realizing my s-name affinity..syd?). I bat the other half out of her hand with a slow motion "nooooooooOOOooo!" yell. Meli cries. I run to google translate, my #2 source of all Korean language answers (#1 is poster) and look up 개. Answer: 1.Dog, 2.Piece. What?! Why!??? How can this character mean such different things?

Dearest King Sejong the Great,
Why did you develop a language with words that could mean many things at once. Especially words you don't want to confuse in everyday life activities such as eating. Please correct this oversight.
Sincerely,
insignificant foreigner

Mom could care less because street dumplings are addictive. I walk down the alley to confer with the man at the pet toy shop on the corner. I write down the character, what does this mean? Dog (note we are in a pet toy shop. Apparently context is important in language). I tell him my dilemma with drawings and complicated hand gestures. He looks at me with pity and says that also means "piece", plus we don't eat dog in Seoul (made illegal in 1988). Oh. Humbled I walk back home and dig in. Game, set, match Hangul language.

In other news, mom was here for a month, we had such a blast touring around the city. The kids totally bonded with her and it was pretty sad to see her go. Amelia still asks for her instead of me to get her out of the crib. Our church here has been wonderful, we've met so many great friends already and went on a family retreat last weekend. Below are some pics of the past month:


Syd helping with laundry












Sisters















Nana's Makeup Extravaganza

















Can I help you?


















Favorite Toy










Time with Jesus




















Snoopy?



















Funny candy guys



















Kid holder while you go, I love Korea!




















King Sejong the Great!



















New Buddies



















Grateful for Mom



















Mom and Mark (he's been working out)






















A young couple on a stroll through Seoul