SomewholiveinKoreaorthosewhoareherelearningtheKoreanlanguageareoftenembarrassedbyKoreansasking“Howoldareyou?”attheirfirstmeeting,andcannotunderstandhowKoreanssharejige,adishsimilartowesternstew,fromacommonbowlwithoutusingindividualplates.Thatexplanationisnotthateasy.
TherearehundredsofthousandsofforeignerslivinginKorea.Somearehereforstudy,someforworkandsomeliveherewiththeirKoreanhusbands.Thereare,however,onlyafewbooksavailablethatmaysatisfactorilygiveanswerstosuchcuriosity.Theauthorkeptthisinmindbeforestartingthisbook-toattendtoforeignerslivingtheKoreanlifewithculturalshocks.
ThisbookintroducesKoreaasawholeincludingclothes,food,houses,sportsandtripswithamainfocusonnaturalenvironmentandsocio-culturalvariationstoenablereaderseasilyunderstandKoreaingeneral.Aswellstructuredasthebookis,thecontentisnotstiff,anditisinrelationwitheverydaylifetomakeiteasilycomprehensible.
“KoreanCultureforcuriousnewcomers”isabookgreatlyintroducingKoreancultures,whichHannahParkhasbeenresearchingandteachingforyears,atforeigners’level.ThisbookwillbeveryusefulinaidingforeigncollegestudentsandmulticulturalfamiliestounderstandandadapttoKoreanculturesinashortperiodoftime.
<한국어책소개>
한국에살고있거나말을배우는외국인들은이렇게묻곤한다.“왜한국사람들은만나자마자나이부터물어봅니까?”,“왜한국인들은찌개그릇에숟가락을함께넣어서떠먹나요?”그러나그질문에얼른대답하기란쉽지않다.
현재한국안에는유학이나취업또는다문화가정을이룬사람들이수십만에이른다.그에따른외국어로서한국어교육도무척활발하다.하지만여전히한국어가담고있는한국문화의본질을설명해줄책이많지않다.더욱이한국문화를소개하는책들도일방적으로한국문화를나열하고있는것이대부분이다.따라서이책은‘왜’를묻는외국인들,한국이생활의터전이된사람들의가려운곳을긁어주기위해쓰인책이다.
한국전반을쉽게이해할수있도록자연환경과사회문화적변수를기준으로세워놓고한국의의식주를비롯한스포츠,여행까지한국전체를통틀어소개를하고있다.체계적이면서도내용이딱딱하지않고실생활과자연스럽게연결시켜서쉽게이해가된다.
‘통으로읽는한국문화’는저자가오랫동안연구하고강의해왔던한국문화를일반인의눈높이에맞추어흥미롭게소개한책이다.외국의대학생들은물론다문화가족들에게한국사회와문화를짧은시간안에이해하고적응하는데매우유용할것이다.
