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∙ Ph.D. dissertation Neighborhood Shopkeepers in Contemporary South Korea: Household, Work, and Locality available online (E-Thesis publications a the University of Helsinki). For printed copies, please contact me by e-mail.
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Thursday, June 01, 2006

anniversaries


Kaikki valta kansalle (all power to the people), campaign poster of the soc.dem. party in 1907
It was ten years ago that I went to Korea to attend language classes. That was my second visit to Korea. I had gotten a 6-month language scholarship, but ended up staying 14 months. That means also that for ten years I've communicated with Koreans almost entirely in their language. I had learned Korean for two years (four semesters, four hours a week) in Helsinki by then; in the taxi on our way from Kimpo airport to my boarding room in Sillim-dong, the Korean friend of my Korean teacher who had picked me up suggested that since I've come there to learn the language, we talk only in Korean from that on. So it happened, and I've never looked back.

Oh, the other anniversary is the centennial of the democratic Finnish parliament. Congratulations to the 100 years young.

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Comments to note "anniversaries" (Comments to posts older than 14 days are moderated)

<Blogger Muninn> said on 2.6.06 : 

Really inspiring Antti. I really should make that commitment. I have so many Korean friends with whom I have spoken Japanese, Chinese, or English for years and never really established a group of friends that I speak only Korean with - this is a big problem if I want to get anywhere with this language.

Back this week for my 2nd summer of language study at SNU...living near Nakseongdae station...will be reading you throughout the summer!

<Anonymous Anonymous> said on 5.6.06 : 

Back then, SNU was a good environment not to speak English; seemed that at least in the end of 90s the atmosphere was kind of Korean-speaking. When I spent the spring term of '97 at the anthro department, speaking Korean was the natural choice, and I don't remember anyone suggesting that we speak English, professors included. (But now I'm of course just bragging... ;)


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