Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
getting served before anyone else as their natural right. Memories of postwar scarcity, as
well as a highly competitive society, have created what the locals call a
ppali ppali
(literally,
“hurry, hurry,” or “me first”) culture in which people sometimes feel they have no choice
but to act selfishly to get what they need.
LOST IN TRANSLATION
There are a few concepts in Korean that can't be translated easily into other lan-
guages and are a struggle for nonnative speakers to get a grip on. Two just happen to
be vital aspects of the national identity, so it's worth trying to understand them.
The first,
han,
is an emotional state that is unique (or so it is believed) to Koreans
and that underpins a lot of the culture and daily interaction. It is roughly defined as
a mix of profound sorrow and simmering resentment over the suffering and injustice
that everyday life sometimes piles on people, and which has characterized so much
of Korea's history.
This might sound like a horribly morbid feeling, but it's somewhat bittersweet,
tempered by a healthy stoicism and grim determination to endure any misfortune.
Han
is evident in much of Korea's art, especially its poetry, music, and film, where
themes of despair and retribution often dominate. It's also what many say lies behind
the very open displays of emotion sometimes seen on South Korea's streets.
The second,
jeong,
refers to a form of trust or enduring bond developed over time
between individuals—parents and their children, boss and employee, friends—and
among Koreans collectively. People who share
jeong
will demonstrate a certain de-
gree of loyalty and consideration to one another and make sacrifices for their partners
in
jeong
if necessary. Acts of kindness or honesty are often explained by saying the
person who performs them “has
jeong.
”
As with
han,
there isn't a genuine English equivalent for the word;
jeong
has ele-
ments of love and affection but possesses a far weightier sense of obligation and is
not always entirely positive: a wife might suffer the abuse of a husband in silence,
for example, due to the
jeong
the two share.
Interestingly
jeong
isn't an exclusively Korean concept. The word is derived from
a Chinese character that's also used to denote similar ideas in China and Japan,
though both places apparently put less stock in
jeong
as a whole.
