Do You Think Like An Asian?

I just got home from my weekly Korean class.  It started out as a small private of about 5 or 6 students but has been whittled down to just Max and me.  The teacher is an owner of and teacher at a small private English school about 20 minutes away from our school, so Max and I just walk there after work every Thursday.  We get there right when they finish up and it's a really great relaxed atmosphere.  Since it's mostly just the two of us it can be pretty flexible; Max and I are pretty much on the same page (though he also knows Hebrew, Thai, Pharsi, and some Spanish so I consider him out of my league!) and we move at a good pace.  I think learning Korean is one of my biggest and most important goals while I'm here.  It's my belief that one cannot truly understand a culture, unless you understand the language, and vice versa.  So in our studies we often learn bits about the culture that are reflected in the language.  We often have eye-opening moments about things that have happened to us or about things that have confounded us about Korean culture or language.  "Ohhhhh, that's why..."  Tonight, one of the other teachers at the school gave us a little presentation on the differences between Western and Asian thought.  He started by showing us some pictures or figures and asking us simple questions.  Usually the questions only had only two answers.  Then he showed us clips from a Korean documentary that showed street interviews with people in Western and Asian cultures asking them to answer the same questions about the same pictures.  And overwhelmingly the answers reflect whether people come from a Western or Asian culture.  Quite fascinating. 

A lot of it has to do with differing philosophies, which are deeply rooted in language.  Asian languages are often highly contextual, whereas Western languages are very specific.  For example, in Korean, the subject of a sentence can often be left out when it is obvious what the subject is.  In English, we would never say, "Went to the store."  Who went to the store?  But if we were talking about Ben, and I asked where he went, it would be obvious that we were still talking about Ben and I wouldn't have to mention his name again in Korean.  Or think about how in English we have so many articles and plural forms of countable and uncountable nouns.  This apple, that apple, those apples, the apple, an apple, some juice, etc.  Many Asian languages do not distinguish between singular and plural and do not have any articles.  It is simply understood that the object is known.  Another difference that was examined was the use of nouns versus verbs.  Korean tends to focus on verbs whereas English focuses a lot on specific nouns.  This is because Asian languages tend to focus on the relationship between two objects instead of objects as individual entities.  For example, John and Ben are at John's house and John has made tea for Ben.  Ben finishes his first cup and John asks if Ben wants more.  In English, we would say, "More tea?"  In Korean, we would say "More drink?"

Max and I were blown away by it all and it was a great session.  When I got home I did some searching and found this website which talks about the TV program and even shows some of the pictures and allows you to take the tests (http://www.japanprobe.com/2009/08/26/test-do-you-think-like-an-asian/).  I couldn't find an example of my favorite test on the internet, but I found this website which phrases things a little more eloquently an give some additional examples (http://www.list.or.kr/articles/article_view.htm?Div1=5&Idx=84).  I definitely recommend checking them out if you're curious and have some time.