Intercultural Life
I still haven’t paid the fine and he is still trying to make me. Seriously, the point of the rule is to help with English, but English is my first language and I’m learning Korean! It makes no sense for me to not be able to speak Korean in the kitchen. My husband is refusing to budge though. Apparently that rule is for everyone…haha.
For those that may not be aware, we are currently at my parents’ house and they have a bunch of Koreans living with them.
I don’t even remember what I was saying that caused him to say that. Apparently it’s said in a dismissive way when someone is being too boastful, like “Yeah yeah, you are so great, your poo has colour but my poo has no colour.” Some Korean things don’t translate well…. haha.
I know how to say the important things.
I can’t help myself. It’s funny how much meaning is attached to words because of our cultural background but then can mean nothing to someone else. Even within English, some swear words are seen as worse depending on what country you are from.
Even though I’ve heard this certain Korean swear word, I’ve seen it said in movies and even on occasion heard my husband say it, I can never grasp the real impact of it. He can get very annoyed at me when I deliberately say it.
It goes the other way as well, like when Kpop stars use English swear words. Lately there has been a lot of Kpop stars wearing clothing with very offensive words on them (I’m looking at you Girls’ Generation and GD!) and for a native English speaker it’s like “Why???”
The scenario in the comic has happened more than once because I’m not a native Korean speaker so it’s very difficult for me to differentiate between the swear word and the number. Even if I am really just going through numbers, once I get that reaction from my husband I can’t help but annoy him.
In other news, we’ve been recognised a few times by Koreans in Sydney. Which is so weird! A little while ago a Korean guy who also has an Australian wife recognised my husband in a Korean internet cafe. He drew some fan art about it!
So basically my husband can be recognised just from the comics! Haha! My husband made that face because he is often surprised when he sees a couple similar to us – a Korean guy with Australian girl. Thank you so much for sending me this Han! Go say hello if you see my husband again.
I can’t always follow along with what is being said in Korean. Sometimes I pick up enough words to know what they are talking about and even join in the conversation if I understand (though I will only speak in English with just a few scattered Korean words) but sometimes I have no idea. I can tell by body language and tone when it’s a serious conversation though and often it’s a good time to tune out. You can’t expect someone to constantly translate everything in these types of situations and you can’t just butt in with “Hey what are you guys talking about?! Tell me!”
So I find this is a good time to eat food while no one else is! Haha! I think I ate most of the chicken last night. Don’t worry, this was not our dinner, this was after dinner. It’s normal for Koreans to go to a Korean restaurant for dinner, and then move onto another Korean restaurant which is more for drinking (and then sometimes after one after that). But when buying soju you still need to buy some food, so more dishes are ordered and shared.
Korean fried chicken is so delicious. Unfortunately it’s never as good in Sydney restaurants as it is in Korea, but it’s still nice. I love the small chicken pieces with spring onion. Too easy to eat a lot of it.
This was last year when we went to Malaysia for a few days.
My husband did not realise that she’d said thank you in Korean when she’d handed our passports back. She saw he was Korean and so had used Korean and he just took his passport and walked away! Well it was about 4am.
It is funny when people don’t realise their native language is being spoken. My brother was asked directions by a Japanese student in Sydney one time. My brother speaks fluent Japanese and realised this guy was Japanese so gave detailed directions in Japanese. The guy made no acknowledge of my brother speaking his native language and went on his way. I wonder if it hit him later that a random Australian guy had spoken Japanese or if he was thinking, “Wow I can understand English really well!”
Sometimes I think I can understand Korean well but then I realise it’s because I’m just understanding all the loan words from English.
Though I do try to listen to a lot of Korean conversation, there are times I have to tune out because it’s too taxing on my brain to try and decipher everything.
But my brain always alerts me when things interest me in the conversation.
If you aren’t into Kpop and don’t know what YG is, it’s a major record company. Big Bang belongs to it. My husband’s friend was giving him a hard drive that has a YG Family concert on it. A huge concert featuring all the artists from YG.
and HAPPY BIRTHDAY G-DRAGON!!!!
© 2024 My Korean Husband
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
Recent Comments