Whether you’re watching Korean dramas or the show Squid Game, or listening to PSY or BTS hits like Butter or Dynamite, you’ve probably had some kind of Korean influence in your life.
Recently, the Oxford English Dictionary added 26 new words of Korean origin to its edition.
The Korean Wave changed the lives of millions of people around the world and brought attention to Korea and its culture.
You might think that this is something new, but as we can see, Koreans simply express themselves, and their culture in a manner that is familiar to them, and it deeply touches the mind of other people.
The popularity of the Korean language has grown rapidly in the world thanks to dramas and K-pop.
Language opens a window to the soul of a people’s culture. Unfortunately, not everything can be translated into the native language. Often ideas, feelings, or situations are unique to a particular language and not translatable to another. Instead of creating your own version, it’s better just to adapt the words to your own language as they are.
We would like to express some words that we think are important for further understanding of shimjung and Korean culture.
Han (한)
“Han” is a Korean concept that indicates the depth of inner human suffering caused mainly by long historical, social, and political oppression.
It is a shared sense of sadness and untruth that is considered unique to Korea. It is a cultural phenomenon that arose as a result of a centuries-long history of attacks from other countries and civil wars. It is believed that this concept is immeasurable, like love or hate, inherent in the individual, but spread collectively, a symbol of pain, at the same time balanced by feelings of mental stability.
“Hyo” is associated with Korean cultural concepts of filial piety. It describes the deep sense of duty and responsibility that children should always feel towards their parents. Even if it means significant sacrifices in the lives of children. “Hyoja (효자 Hyoja)” means a filial son, and “Hyônyo (효녀 Hyonyeo)” means a filial daughter.
A person devoted to his parents is called a filial child. A person devoted to his homeland is called a patriot, and a person who loves humanity and the whole world, not just his country, is called a saint.
Jeong (정)
If “Han” defines a unique form of Korean misery, pain, and sacrifice, then “jeong” is an original and unique form of social ties. Sometimes it is translated as “harmony” or “unity”. But very often Koreans find it difficult to define. “jeong” refers to the psychological and emotional ties that bind Korean society. It is all-pervasive and presents at all levels of the social hierarchy.
“Jeong” as a collective emotional opposes the competitive ethics of modern capitalist society. Everyone has a “jeong” and we are either enemies or friends of each other. A friend can become an enemy one day and vice versa. You can say that there is no reliable friend. However, we can also talk about the flip side, that everyone has the opportunity to become a friend.
“Jeong” encourages people to be friendly by not only smoothing over bitter feelings such as dislike or hatred but also has a way of making relationships multi-layered, moving away from binary, oppositional perceptions of reality such as the oppressor and the oppressed.
After getting acquainted with such a deep culture, it is natural to want to learn even more. In the following posts, we will explain these concepts more broadly, so that the horizons of our perception become all-encompassing, and intercultural communication is unhindered.
