I found this appendix I wrote up for one of my MEd Intercultural Communications classes I took a while back. Let me know if you agree or disagree^^
Appendix B
Enabling Task Two: Comparing Canadian and Korean Culture
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Canada |
National Characteristics | - Collectivist. - Searching for identity (Pratt, 2006 as cited in Moen, 2009). - High-context. - Hot-tempered. - Nationalistic. - Competitive. - Xenophobic. - Conservative. - Proud of their culture. - Extreme, clever, unique, diligent, intense, aggressive and fiery (Rhie, 2002). | - Individualistic. - Have a hard time defining themselves and tend to do so negatively. For example they will say they are not American. (Clark & Shimoni, 2000). - Trying to search for a new identity (Courchene, 1996). - Low-context. - Friendly. - Polite. - Multi-cultural. - Liberal. |
Concept of Time | - Circular (Dahl, n.d.). - Polychronic (Dahl, n.d.). - The perfect world was in the past and can be found by going back to that time (Nesbitt, 2003). - Futures of people are non-linear (Nesbitt, 2003). - Do not have control over events that will happen (Nesbitt, 2003). | - Linear (Dahl, n.d.). - Monochronic (Dahl, n.d.). - The perfect world can be found in the future via linear progress (Nesbitt, 2003). - Futures of people move in one direction (Nesbitt, 2003). - In control of events that will happen (Nesbitt, 2003). |
Spatial Perception | - Honor the space between objects (Nesbitt, 2003). - For example when looking at a picture, they will look at how everything is related. - When they take a photo, they will include more than just a picture of themselves, they will also show what is happening around them (Nesbitt, 2003). | - Do not consider space between objects (Nesbitt, 2003). - For example when looking at a picture, they will look at the main object and not consider anything else within the picture. - When they take a photo, the image of themselves or object is very large and anything around them is not considered necessary to include in the photo (Nesbitt, 2003). |
Thinking Style | - Learn things better when there is structure (Boulter, 2004). - High-context culture so communication is indirect and ambiguous (Merkin, 2009). - Deductive (Dahl, n.d.). - See the world as complicated (Nesbitt, 2003). | - Abstract thinking. - Aristotelian understanding of logic (Nesbitt, 2003). - Logical, alphabetical, inductive. - Low-context culture so communicate clearly and directly (Merkin, 2009). - See the world in simple, explicit way (Nesbitt, 2003). |
Values | - Religion: Christian 26.3%, Buddhist 23.2%, none 49.3% (CIA-The World Fact Book, Korea, South, People, para. 18). - Confucian - Harmony and egalitarianism (Merkin, 2009). - Saving ‘face’ is very important (Merkin, 2009). - Koreans far more Confucian than Chinese (Moen, 2009). - Success Syndrome (Imai, 2004). | - Religion: Roman Catholic 42.6%, Protestant 23.3%, other Christian 4.4%, Muslim 1.9%, other and unspecified 11.8%, none 16% (CIA-The World Fact Book, Canada, People, para. 18). - Independence and personal freedom (Boulter, 2004). |
Social Groupings | - Rigid social ladder (Boulter, 2004). - Field-dependent; interested in social interaction (Boulter, 2004). - Extremely conservative; can only be friends with people of the same age and same social status. | - Field-independent; solitary and impersonable (Boulter, 2004).
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View of Education | - Highly valued. - Teacher-centered. - Focused on memorization and examination (Boulter, 2004). - Teacher is ‘God’ (Imai, n.d.). - Children expected to obey at school (Imai, n.d.). - Extrinsic motivation (Boulter, 2004). - Focus on additive and fine-tuning (Pratt, 1991). | - Intrinsic motivation (Boulter, 2004). - Learner-centered (Boulter, 2004). - Teacher is a facilitator (Pratt, 1991). - Children may question their teachers. - Challenge old ideas and create new ones (Pratt, 1991). |
Family System | - Filial Piety (Pratt, 1991). - High value on family (Boulter, 2004). - Patriarchal Authority (Imai, n.d.). - Extended/large families. - Men in Korea come first (Imai, n.d.). - The individual is not important, rather part of continuing family line (Pratt, 1991). - Children are raised to conform, be obedient and be reliable. Individuality is not emphasised. (Pratt, 1991). | - Individual should succeed by him/herself, family is not that intimate. (Pratt, 1991). - Can choose to have a relationship with family or not, it is voluntary. (Pratt, 1991). - Children are raised to be self-reliant, independent and should figure out who they are (Pratt, 1991). - Need for self-worth (Pratt, 1991). |
Non-verbal Communication | - Avoid eye contact. - Bow rather than shake hands. - Same sex walk hand-in-hand as a sign of friendship. - Very concerned about their physical appearance - Not touch oriented (Imai, n.d.). - Do not display affection or emotion in public (Merkin, 2009). - The number 4 is bad luck. - White means death. - Periods of silence are acceptable (Imai, n.d.). - Women cover their mouths when laughing. - Blowing your nose loudly is rude. - Most gestures are used to show respect. | - Make eye contact. - Shake hands or give a slight nod. - Friendship is not shown by holding hands. - Not very concerned about their physical appearance. - Touch avoidant (Merkin, 2009). - Display affection and emotion in public. - The number 13 is bad luck. - White means pureness. - Silence is uncomfortable. - Eating noisily is rude. |
Additional Comparisons | - Korean language has 7 different speech levels used for different social situations which reinforce the Confucian hierarchy implicit in Korean culture (Moen, 2009). - In Korean, it is impossible to express another person’s emotions (ibid.). - Asian languages are more focused on verbs. For instance, to offer someone water, they say, “Drink?” This is because relationships are more important than objects. (Nisbett, 2003). | - English and French are not hierarchy-based. - English and French are object and category oriented. Nouns are more important than verbs. For instance, to offer someone water, they say, “More water?” (Nisbett, 2003). |
References
Boulter, C. (2004). From Confucius to Opedius: Considerations for culturally inclusive ELT online development. ELT and E-Learning in an Electronic Age: Issues and Alternatives Conference Proceeding (pp. 65-83). Taipei: Tamkang University.
CIA – The World Factbook. (2010). Canada: People: Religion. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ca.html
CIA – The World Factbook. (2010). Korea, South: People: Religion. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ks.html
Clark, D., & Shimoni, R. (2000). Antibias education and a Canadian national identity: Is there a connection? The Canadian Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education 8(2), 55-55.
Courchene, R. (1996). Teaching Canadian Culture: Teacher Preparation. TESL Canada Journal 13(2), 1-16.
Dahl, S. (n.d.). Communications and culture transformation: Cultural diversity, globalization and cultural convergence. Retrieved from http://www.stephweb.com/capstone/capstone.pdf
Edge, J. (1996). Cross-cultural paradoxes in a profession of values. TESOL Quarterly 30(1), 9-31.
Imai, G. (n.d.). Gestures: Body language and nonverbal communication. Retrieved from http://www.comm.ohio-state.edu/pdavid/preparedness/docs/Crosscultural/gestures.pdf
McLoughlin, C. (1999). Culturally responsive technology use: Developing an on-line community of learners. British Journal of Educational Technology 30(3), 231-243.
Merkin, S. (2009). Cross-cultural communication patterns – Korean and American communications. Journal of International Communications 20, 5-5.
Moen, D. (2009). Korean hybridity: The language classroom as cultural hybrid. Journal of International Communication 20, 6-6.
Nesbitt, R. (2003). The geography of thought: How Asians and Westerners think differently … and why. New York, NY: Free Press.
Pratt, D. (1991). Conceptions of self within China and the United States: Contrasting foundations for adult education. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 15(3), 285-310.
Rhie, W. (2002). Korea unmasked: In search of the country, the society and the people. South Korea: Gimm-Young International.
I found the directions off of Dave's or somewhere like that and they are accurate. To be on the safe-side I've included a picture of the hospital you will see that is along the same lane/alleyway as the Halloween Store. The hospital's name is: Yonsei Love Hospital 연세사랑병원. If you get lost you can ask 연세사랑병원이 어디에 있어요? (Where's the Yonsei Love Hospital?)