Korea in the eyes of participating students

 

Students awe at Changdeokgung as they look and listen to the guadiance. Photo by Kahng Sun-woo.
Students from 43 countries had their own stories about Korea. Ewha Voice interviewed six students from six different backgrounds on their definition of Korea, their impression of “Hangeul Proclamation Day,” and reasons for learning the language.

 

1. How would you define Korea?

- “Korea is a culture to me. Hanbok, traditional music and instruments – everything in Korea is unique. I cannot experience any of these things anywhere but here in Korea.”
Latonya Patrick (Singer-Song writer and novelist) from Nigeria

- “Korea is the Land of the calm and slow. It has the beautiful Han river and fresh air. When I see most people applying perfect make up every morning, I can see how good they are at managing themselves.”
Jiao Linna (Shandong Nomal University, 3) from China

2. What is your impression of Hangul Proclamation Day?

- “It is great that Koreans are proud of their language. English is a mix ture of several languages, for we adopted a lot of languages. It is nice how Korea created its own language from scratch, and wanted to define itself as very different.”
Hena Wyeth (Brunel University, 3) from the United Kingdom

- “Hangul Proclamation Day is exotic. It is a day that is special and rare, and possibly a world that I have dreamed of. Korean is simply beautiful.”
Szabo Luca (Elte University, 2) from Hungary.

3. Why are you learning Korean?

- “I learned that Dolgualjok (Turkic tribe) came to Korea around the mid sixth century. This converging point made me interested in Korea. I am especially interested in Goguryeo and Goryeo history.”
ZekiBalik (Istanbul Pendik Anadolu high school) from Turkey.

* Reporters: Ahn In-kyeong & Lee Ha-kyung

* Emails: iahn@ewhain.net, voteforkate@ewhain.net

저작권자 © Ewha Voice 무단전재 및 재배포 금지