Thoughts on Language and Other Stuff

I recently had it pointed out to me that Korean focuses on verbs, while English focuses on nouns.

If I say "You bike road." You basically understand what I mean... try it... speak using only nouns. You'll be amazed how much can be communicated.

"You basketball me."
"Shark food fish."

However, in many Korean sentences or expressions, there are no nouns at all.
For example...
"Jo-ah-hae-yo"?
Literally, it means "like?"
Translate it into English and you get...
"Do you like it?" or "Do you like this?"

Of course this is a very basic example.

But this little observation explains a lot about the various difficulties Koreans experience with English... and vice-versa.

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Meanwhile... my class was recently discussing fruits and vegetables. Jake asked what a watermelon was. I told him, "Some people say it's a fruit, and others say it's a vegetable. So, Jake, maybe it's both." He immediately requested internet verification of my answer. We quickly looked it up and... guess what? Apparently watermelons are called "fregetables". Isn't that awesome? Jake was as amazed as I, and it became his new word for the day.

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Meanwhile again... Have you ever followed someone, just for the fun of it? Well, I did. I was walking with a friend through a touristy section of Seoul, when I spotted a girl who was obviously Japanese, and obviously a tourist.

I was amazed... she was just... too movie-like. Too stereotypical. It was classic... She had a map in hand, she was pulling a cute little luggage carry-on, and she was wearing a stylish white woven cap. I immediately started searching for hidden cameras. I just couldn't believe she was real. She stopped a group of college students and asked directions. At this point, my friend and I inconspicuously wandered our way closer... to see if we could learn more. We caught a few words of Japanese and then the little group headed off.

We decided to follow. Eventually the group of college students guided the girl to her destination, spoke to her briefly, and then headed off. It was a restaurant. My friend told me that it was famous for "mandu". Once again, I thought, this is impossible. People don't really dress like that and wander around at night with luggage, looking for famous food shops.

It was a fun little distraction. I still think there must have been movie cameras somewhere...