On Korea, and other places...

[khiemtran]

So, this is about the time that I declare my deep and undying love for Korea. But, in truth, while I really do love Korea, what I really love is simply that other place, where everything is different yet understandable. I love the feeling of having slipped under the water and suddenly seeing with a whole new perspective that which I had only glimpsed from the surface. I love being in the state where a previously foreign language stops being gibberish and starts making sense. Even if I don't understand it all (and often I never understand very much), there's a titanic shift between "this is just noise" and "no, wait, I can do this". After that, it's all just a matter of learning to talk, and who hasn't done that before?

I love all the subtle things that come from swimming in another world. The way I might pass someone in the hotel in Jeju and we make eye contact and both bow, imperceptibly to anyone else in the room, a tiny bit of relationship-building that I might never have noticed if I didn't know to look for it.

I love the way you can spend two minutes talking with someone and not have said anything at all - nothing except all the little relationship-building transactions that go into opening a communication channel. I love the feeling of adaptation. Learning to think a different way, communicate a different way, move a different way. I like going going to different places a returning a slightly different person than the one I was before.

I love, most of all, the feeling of different rather than weird and the notion that any level of culture shock is simply a matter of time and perspective. I love not knowing and then finding out , even though I'll never get to truly finding out everything.

So, what do you like about travel?

Comments

[rymrytr.livejournal.com]

I watched this movie on some cable channel and even though it used sub-titles for English, I loved it.

As a "big, burly, tough all-american-male, I used a tissue at the end!!!

I highly recommed it. :o)


The Way Home

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I haven't seen it, but I'll keep an eye out for it, thanks!

[zeborah]

I love this post. :-)

Also one of my favourite travel experiences was being in a youth hostel in Japan with a group of other people, and there wasn't any single language we all spoke in common, so we had a conversation of mixed English, French, and Japanese. And one of the Japanese girls drew a pencil sketch of me, but it was the language thing I really adored, and inspired me to write "Coming Home".

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's exactly it.

I remember chatting with a friend once about his trip to Paris. I asked him if he spoke any French. "Oh no," he said happily. "I didn't need to!" To me, that sounded as funny as if I'd asked him if he tried the food and he'd given the same answer.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

It's all right for those that can. I met someone when I was in Spain a few years ago who'd had, I forget how much, maybe three weeks of lessons, and was happily chattering away with the natives.

I'm one year now into trying to teach myself German, and still cannot parse spoken German anywhere near fast enough for a real conversation (nor convince my German girlfriend that the way for me to improve is for her to slow down rather than to hope exposure to conversation-speed German will magically have a beneficial effect on my understanding).

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I find slowing down (or breaking things into manageable chunks) is really important. There was a really funny episode on the excellent JapanesePod101.com where they teach you how to say "Please say it again.", "Please say it slower" and "S L O W E R, please...!" that somes up a lot of my conversations.

Then again, there also been times when other people have assumed I've been chatting away fluently when what I've really been saying to the locals is borderline gibberish and babytalk that they've just been clever enough to translate back themselves.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

As an example, on the last trip, I tried to help a Pakistani friend who was having trouble explaining that he didn't want pork. What came out was "He doesn't want to eat. Pig!" which in another context might not have gone down so well, except for the goodwill and understanding of the waitress...

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Then again, there also been times when other people have assumed I've been chatting away fluently when what I've really been saying to the locals is borderline gibberish and babytalk that they've just been clever enough to translate back themselves.

As an example, on the last trip, I tried to help a Pakistani friend who was having trouble explaining that he didn't want pork. What came out was "He doesn't want to eat. Pig!" which in another context might not have gone down so well, except for the goodwill and understanding of the waitress...

Thanks: you've demythologised yourself. Reducing the perceptual gap between your abilities and mine has given my self-esteem a little boost. :o)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

:) I've got tonnes of those stories. But if you don't go out and make the mistakes...

Glad to hear I'm not a myth just yet...

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Ich versuche, אני מנסה! (I'm trying, I'm trying.)

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

There was a really funny episode on the excellent JapanesePod101.com where they teach you how to say "Please say it again.", "Please say it slower" and "S L O W E R, please...!" that somes up a lot of my conversations.

Heh. What I really need to say in German is "one word at a time, please". Unfortunately, it turns out it's impossible to say that in German!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I've actually been toying with the idea of making a series of "bootstrapping" phrasebooks - full of all the phrases you need to learn the rest of the language, instead of all the usual "what time does the bus for X leave?" It would have lots of phrases like "Slow down please!" and "I'm sorry, I'm not very good, but could you help me learn?", plus a lot more conversation starters and small talk that can get you started.

Is it really impossible to say that in German?

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

One can say "very slowly, please"; I suppose you could say "one word, and then another word, and so on", but it wouldn't be idiomatic the way "one word at a time" is in English.