The Language

the korean language is the largest part of what makes koreans how they are. confucianism is directly built into the language. when you greet somebody who's age you can't determine, you must ask so that you know what societal hiearchery within the language to use. an elder recieves a new set of honorific terms, nouns, verb particles, and sometimes new verbs altogether. likewise a youth is met by lower speech. for example, "to speak" in romanization respectively differs as follows: "malsum hashimnida", or "mal hay." 6 sylables vs 2. In modesty one introduces one's wife literally as "house person," while the guest uses an honorific term. I was told there are 8 or 9 different levels with which to communicate.

i was serendipitously invited to accompany antonio pomba-baldi and 6 other pianists from yonsei to a fine korean resturant in iteawon. one of the pianists impressed upon me just how overwhelming the lingual class systems can be: "sometimes it's just too much!"