I have just gotten back from a long trip to Korea.
I did the usual internal cultural comparisons of food, customs, and daily perceptions of Korea versus other places.
I thought about not only how linguistics affect a mindset of a nation but also the emotional make up.
I had rewatched a film that hit upon this old masochistic Korean nerve.
It is an art film that did also manage to do a great box office back in the 90's.
If you think you are having a bad day, then please watch this movie. ;P
The movie is called Sopyongjae and not only tackles the concept of 'han' but also the struggle of poverty, being a woman, and the plight of an artist.
I wrote in this post about words that are not in the English language - a premise that almost seems unfair with the notion that it is English that is lacking. There are plenty of English words now permeating other languages for words that those respective countries don't have a word for.
But I digress, I was thinking about an episode that Anthony Bourdain had about a specific Korean notion called - han ( please click on link for proper explanation ) - when he did one of his - can only get as deep as a 3 hour dinner party conversation - tour of Korea Town in Los Angeles.
Of course like any Brit yelling at the TV when an American actor does a weak or wrong accent of any region of the U.K., I also felt this frustration at its explanation of that certain yearning.
Portuguese has a similar word called - saudade. This is like 'han' but softer and more tropical.
Japanese have - natsukashii. Though this is a longing without the pain.
But 'han' is not quite like the Russian word- toska. Toska seems more bleak without the slightly bitter enjoying of the masochism.
All the words have links to give you a proper explanation that I would not be able to really provide.
I think I am now at an age where I finally understand the term - the good ol' days.
I spent a month in a city where I grew up but is now still a bit foreign to me and with the modernisation process, a lot of my physical memories have been bulldozed to make way for office buildings or an ugly pre fab of an apartment building.
I am not sure if certain cultures own specific sentiments and in this politically correct climate wouldn't want to publicly assert any such thing.
However, to conclude I think this might have to do with the universal concept of middle age which every culture seems to have a word for!!!
Hope you are all well x
PS I wish I could have posted more from Korea but latest IOS updates have negated my blogger app...
Hello Naomi, The Wikipedia article on Han explains that it is a cognate of the Chinese character 'hen', which means hate. Yet it is too simple to rely on English matches for foreign words. For instance in English I might say that I hate a flavor (such as star anise!), or a person, etc. But in Chinese the word is much stronger than that, implying a deep hatred or resentment beyond the mundane. Therefore, in good Chinese you have to simply say the equivalent of "I don't like" some person, flavor etc.
ReplyDeleteThe very rarity of the strong word "hen" and its connotations here gives me great understanding and sympathy for anyplace where that word or meaning is pervasive.
--Jim
I think in this case, the character has slightly transgressed to the notion. There is no feeling of hate perse it is an unresolved feeling that could easily make you turn into a bitter ghost or if you believe in reincarnation it will bring you back to resolve the issue. Interestingly there is no sense of resentment - there is this crazy acceptance of the terrible. But I think that things get slightly changed in the original chinese to korean. I noticed that for the word 'angry-. IN chinese it means - mad or angry yet in Korean it means life force!
DeleteAha, so that's where you've been. Welcome back and also, by the sounds of this post, welcome to "middle age". It's not so bad - really - but I do sympathize with you about "the good ol' days", those honeyed memories of places, people, and things of our past. Middle age brings its own rewards though, and soon you'll forge good memories of the present and enjoy looking back on those too.
ReplyDeleteI actually am enjoying my middle age - actually when does that actually start? i thought 40 but now apparently it is 50??? But I think in certain cities like Seoul, places change so much that unless it is a 1000 year old temple then nothing stays unlike London which might explain part of its popularity.
DeleteHi Naomi, your sentiments about changes to where you grew up mirror one of my friends’s Sentiments about changes to where she grew up, Bulgaria. She took her boys (16 & 10) there recently and she said the rapid urban growth there is difficult to comprehend. She said the language has no equivalent for a lot of the new IT words and so English has overtaken in many situations, business as well as social situations.
ReplyDeleteMy friend & I both love Bulgarian Fetta but she said it tasted very different when she ate it. She was very surprised to learn that milk is imported to be made into fetta. Then travelling around the country that a lot of villages were missing one crucial element. The animals that were kept by residents of the villages were gone in the name of progress. Interesting times.
We’re going to Greece so kids enjoy a white Christmas as their grandparents did ( minus war and civil unrest). Our 16 year old has quietly taught herself Greek using online courses but the 14 year old has requested we help him learn the language. We skype both our families in Greece regularly and the kids are flabbergasted at how proficient lots of rellies whether young and old are in English. I tell them that there are some words that just don’t have a direct match in English & I use them regularly.
Our neighbours are Korean and about 8 years ago, I apologised to them if they heard me shouting ( claimed it was due to my heritage). I was telling the mum and her youngest that she had 2 boys and I never ever heard her raise her voice ( & to date I have never ever heard her raise her voice, so she’s my hero) and her son gave me a cheeky smile and said “ mum gives me Korean ear torture if I do something wrong”. I asked what is that? And he replied she grabs my ear and twists my lobe and I can’t let out a sound! Our kids then said we have the threat of the “Fiji hastouki”. So I told the kids that mums no matter what your background/ culture, have devised techniques to help them cope!
Thanks for the update. Den xx
Interesting my in laws now officially reside in Cyprus and yet they also remark at how foreign it is and how much they idealised their homeland and they actually prefer the UK as the changes have made Cyprus almost foreign apart from certain constants like food and language. I think English has a lot more nuances than it is given credit for and is one of the most highly evolved and constantly evolving languages and I am so happy to have it as my language for all the humour it provides unlike any other language I m familiar with! xx
Deletelove this post.
ReplyDeleteDid you feel you belonged there? Or elsewhere?
Can you please watch Best of Enemies of Netflix and get back to me? xxx
I feel like it is definitely a city of my past. It made me value London a lot more!
DeleteWill watch - have so much catching up to do on the TV front xxx
I am so glad you are back, and posting interesting stuff again. In general, I think going back to anything is a bad idea fraught with the likelihood of disappointment. It is very interesting to hear you discuss nuance in different languages - beyond the basics,it is really difficult to pick this up as a foreigner anywhere. Too depressing the way English is taking over the world by default. And, beyond ironic that the EU is going to keep on using English after the UK has gone(if that ever actually happens, of course).
ReplyDeleteThanks Sue and I am glad to be back and would have been if not for pesky technological impediments...I do find it interesting that the lingua franca is English despite some to prevent it so and in fact Spanish has definitely surpassed French. In Asia, now most things seem to be in Chinese now so it seems even languages go through trends to be fair.
DeleteIt's so interesting to read about words that have no equivalents in English. I have never been talented with languages but my older daughter is fluent in Latin and Greek and is often telling us about words that no longer exist or can't be translated properly. She too finds this fascinating. Honestly you could have a wonderful conversation with her!
ReplyDeleteThe word han is really a dramatic one, such a small word can mean so much?!
Lovely to have a post from you Naomi xx
I think English has more phrases and little quips that can't be translated rather than individual words. I still find it interesting that stand up comedy is still a domain very much an English language thing. Not many languages I know of has the same power of being able to withstand and entertain from a simple stand up comic routine. I would love to chat to your daughter bc I stayed away from dead languages perse and even though my husband is Greek I know so little embarrassingly! xx
DeleteAs long as I can remember I’ve loved words. In English no two are identical in meaning. Its a pity I have only English despite learning French at school and a smattering of Indonesian at Uni. I should have applied myself really! Hubby has Maltese, Italian and a little Spanish.
ReplyDeleteI find Maltese very interesting! I want to go there and figure out how they have their own unique accent in English. I love English and often find it gets dismissed as a very simple language. It is easy to learn but hard to master I always say!
DeleteWelcome back! I love how words seem to shape culture and culture shapes words. My Godmum's husband is an expert in Old Norse and loves discussing this type of thing. I've not used the term han but think it's highly applicable. I often feel wistful for the old days, although I'm not sure they ever existed the way I remember them. Sometimes I buy old items/fragrances/books from my youth to try to recapture that feeling but it always seems to elude me. I should watch that movie when I'm feeling strong. xx
ReplyDeleteOld Norse - as in Beowulf type or the real deal of the Viking before they went pillaging ;P I always find that region so interesting bc they were the biggest adventurers and quite bellicose and yet they are now renown for calm. The evolution eh? xx
DeleteNaomi, I hope you enjoyed your getaway. I think I understand what you are speaking of. The areas I grew up around here look nothing like they once did. There were open fields, orchards and farmstands and it looks like miles of big box stores and strip malls now. It's very sad as there is no care for city planning in many areas here.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are back and looking forward to more posts. xx Kim
Sometimes a change of scenery is nice if only to make you appreciate your own home more right Kim? City planning seems so underrated and yet the effects are ever lasting - albeit without some demolition. Hope you are well Kim xx
DeleteIn my experience, there is a Korean flair for the dramatic, for heroism, for revenge, for longing. It can feel sentimental to WASPy westerners, but I find it quite lovely.
ReplyDeleteThey are a cultural diva and I do find they would do well with a touch of WASP hehe
DeleteHan is an interesting word... it sounds slightly like a Psychiatric disorder though from that Wiki link!! But I think I understand what you mean. I think the thing is that even though you are feeling that when visiting Korea that your past is being erased by modern progress, you'd feel this in many other places. Even here in little old Adelaide where nothing much changes, we have progress and the erasing of my childhood city. I go past the shopping street near my childhood home from time to time and think "there was the butcher, there was that lovely antique shop, that was the newsagent"... all erased and replaced now. I'm not sure that translates into Han as such, more a nostalgia and longing for a time gone now. I think probably Seoul is on another level with the progress though, and this would be difficult to see the rapid changes.
ReplyDeleteI don't have han just me getting older but i also tell people with han tendencies to lighten up! But it is tough bc it seems ingrained in some. The movie is too sad for me to watch in full - i just fast forwarded the tough bits. Seoul is only recognisable by about 20 buildings!!!
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