When my
family went to Korea one year ago, we did so with some basic knowledge of the
Korean culture and customs. However, we quickly learnt that culture is not as
simple as what you read from tourism websites and from watching Korean dramas.
One thing we did not thoroughly research on is acceptable table manners in
Korea. Korean dining etiquette is very unique, in that there are many rules one
should follow pertaining to the use of utensils.
Just to
name a few:
1.
Do
not cross your chopsticks when putting them on the chopstick rest.
2.
Chopsticks
should be on the chopstick rest or table when not in use.
3.
The
utensils should not rest on any bowl or dish during the meal.
4.
Put
down your chopsticks after every few bites and when you drink or stop to speak.
5.
Do
not hold 2 sets of utensils at the same time.
Many of
these were new to us, and we unknowingly committed many dining ‘crimes’ the
first three days of our trip. On the fourth day, as we were eating at one of
the roadside tents, the lady boss came up to us and kindly educated us on
Korean dining etiquette, albeit through frantic gesturing since we could not
understand each other’s language. She had
noticed me holding the chopsticks in my right hand and at the same time scooping
soup with the spoon in my left hand, and also my sister resting her chopsticks
parallel across the rice bowl as she drank her soup.
Now, when I
am travelling to another country, I make sure to find out about the appropriate
dining etiquette in their country and not offend anyone at the dinner table!
This
experience also led me to think: Is it impossible to learn about another
culture except through assimilating into it and experiencing it personally?
In this information technology age, a person’s best friend would possibly be google. A click of the mouse is sometimes all it take for someone to get all the information that he/she needs. Other methods would be to ask friends and relatives about their travelling experiences, since in this era, travelling has been rather common for many people. It is highly likely to find a friend that has went to Korea and already experience what it is like to dine in Korea. I also had my own fair share of woes when i went to Korea for my summer program last June.
ReplyDeleteI think that the most important component in effective intercultural communication has to firstly be understanding. The Koreans were rather understanding as they were patient in explaining to us, foreigners, on how the Korean culture is like. Secondly would be acceptance, when I came to know about our cultural differences, I attempted to adapt to the changes that were introduced and it sort of reduced the tension i feel whenever i dine with my Korean friends. Lastly would be effort. It takes a lot from an individual, to be conscientious of where he/she is and what kind of cultures that the different customs have. Since information about various cultures are readily available on the internet, I agree with you that we should so some research about the cultural differences before stepping into another country.
Interesting read! (:
~ Vanessa Yuen
That's okay Yvonne- we live and we learn.
ReplyDeleteHi Yvonne
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, I realised an urgent need to do a research on these areas too after my final examination because I will be travelling to TaiWan in mid December. I agreed that most of the time we will be travelling with a simple mind and not taking note of these "nitty little" things. But we might not know if these "nitty little" things that we arent concern or unaware of are actually insulting someone in that country one way or another.
However, if you are going with tour guide, I guranteed that they will definitely inform you on what are the things to take note(I came across this a few times).