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Ask a Korean Dude: An Authoritative and Irreverent Guide to the Korea Experience
Based on the popular SEOUL Magazine column Ask a Korean Dude, this work is an updated compliation of the Dude's wisdom and a glimpse into the inner psyches of the Korean populace, as well as a venue for sharing laughs and understanding. It is a tool by which you, the foreigner, may come to not only understand the distinctly curious aspects of Korea, but also appreciate the deeply running veins of traditional and modern culture interlaced into this complex--but actually rather simple--society.
- GenresNonfiction
342 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2012
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27 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 17, 2024
My curiosity about South Korea led me to this book. I like the entertaining way ( q& A) format that is used to unwrap aspects of Korean culture.
I learned many intersting tidbits. There is plenty of information to learn from
I learned many intersting tidbits. There is plenty of information to learn from
August 19, 2012
OK, admit it. You've always wanted to know why Koreans use metal chopsticks. Or why Koreans Romanize their names differently from the standard system. Or why Koreans don't own dryers. Or any of a million other things about the locals. While the excellent blog Ask a Korean! answers some similar questions on a regular basis, the title of this book actually comes from the column printed in the monthly magazine SEOUL.
Enter the author Kim Hyung-geun, AKA Hank Kim, AKA the editor of SEOUL Magazine. Having published over nine years worth of the well-known magazine, it's clear he's come to understand how foreigners see Korea - and has heard a lot of the questions they ask about the country. Having lived here for 4 1/2 years myself, I've asked a lot of these myself - and would have a lot of the same answers.
As you would expect, each section of the book carries a natural theme - meeting people, life in Korea, eating and drinking, love, and so on. While the focus of the book isn't about the Korean language, the author is careful to italicize every instance of Korean, which comes in Romanized form instead of the Korean hangeul. In fact, the Korean script only appears one time in the book, near the very end. While this strategy results in a easy-to-understand book with no need to parse Korean characters, there are times when including some hangeul might have been beneficial (e.g. Korean proper names, the names of movies that have been translated into English).
The introduction mentions that the questions have been collected since December of 2004 - since this country changes so quickly, it's important to mention that the book "is ultimately an updated compilation of the Korean Dude's wisdom". Combine that with essays contributed by over a dozen others (most of which are fellow expats), and you have a wealth of knowledge of Korean culture at your fingertips.
Despite the book being published in June 2012, some of that knowledge already feels a little out of date. One question about about how to find your way around a city with no street signs now seems rather quaint, since the entire country is now covered with blue street signs (and has been for awhile now). The new address system hasn't yet been fully adopted by the masses (or rather, the old system is still alive and well), but the signs definitely are doing their job in making places easier to find. The question of "Where do I get deodorant?" may have been relevant more than a few years ago (I recall having some difficulty finding it in 2008, my first summer here), but today seems a trivial thing to find (the author answers the question correctly, of course).
In a couple other questions, the author is quick to mention a Korean trait that has supposedly led to some major success. The use of metal chopsticks, supposedly, "involve[s] the simultaneous use of 30 joints and 50 muscles in the fingers, and it is to the mastery of such complex movements and feats of hand-eye coordination that many of Korea's national successes have been attributed." The author neither states his position with the premise, nor presents a scientific reasoning for the premise. it could have been presented as fact or fiction instead of somewhere vaguely in the middle. He does make a stand on fan death as an "urban legend", however, and says it's "about time to pull the plug on this fan fable."
To be clear, the focus of the book is to answer the questions that might stump other expats, and give an insight into some of the country's idiosyncrasies. To that end it succeeds, giving a newcomer the chance to avoid asking questions they fear might be embarrassing. It's best read with other sources of information about the country, but is a great resource to round out your knowledge of Korea.
Highly recommended for new expats.
Enter the author Kim Hyung-geun, AKA Hank Kim, AKA the editor of SEOUL Magazine. Having published over nine years worth of the well-known magazine, it's clear he's come to understand how foreigners see Korea - and has heard a lot of the questions they ask about the country. Having lived here for 4 1/2 years myself, I've asked a lot of these myself - and would have a lot of the same answers.
As you would expect, each section of the book carries a natural theme - meeting people, life in Korea, eating and drinking, love, and so on. While the focus of the book isn't about the Korean language, the author is careful to italicize every instance of Korean, which comes in Romanized form instead of the Korean hangeul. In fact, the Korean script only appears one time in the book, near the very end. While this strategy results in a easy-to-understand book with no need to parse Korean characters, there are times when including some hangeul might have been beneficial (e.g. Korean proper names, the names of movies that have been translated into English).
The introduction mentions that the questions have been collected since December of 2004 - since this country changes so quickly, it's important to mention that the book "is ultimately an updated compilation of the Korean Dude's wisdom". Combine that with essays contributed by over a dozen others (most of which are fellow expats), and you have a wealth of knowledge of Korean culture at your fingertips.
Despite the book being published in June 2012, some of that knowledge already feels a little out of date. One question about about how to find your way around a city with no street signs now seems rather quaint, since the entire country is now covered with blue street signs (and has been for awhile now). The new address system hasn't yet been fully adopted by the masses (or rather, the old system is still alive and well), but the signs definitely are doing their job in making places easier to find. The question of "Where do I get deodorant?" may have been relevant more than a few years ago (I recall having some difficulty finding it in 2008, my first summer here), but today seems a trivial thing to find (the author answers the question correctly, of course).
In a couple other questions, the author is quick to mention a Korean trait that has supposedly led to some major success. The use of metal chopsticks, supposedly, "involve[s] the simultaneous use of 30 joints and 50 muscles in the fingers, and it is to the mastery of such complex movements and feats of hand-eye coordination that many of Korea's national successes have been attributed." The author neither states his position with the premise, nor presents a scientific reasoning for the premise. it could have been presented as fact or fiction instead of somewhere vaguely in the middle. He does make a stand on fan death as an "urban legend", however, and says it's "about time to pull the plug on this fan fable."
To be clear, the focus of the book is to answer the questions that might stump other expats, and give an insight into some of the country's idiosyncrasies. To that end it succeeds, giving a newcomer the chance to avoid asking questions they fear might be embarrassing. It's best read with other sources of information about the country, but is a great resource to round out your knowledge of Korea.
Highly recommended for new expats.
August 3, 2016
Learned a few new things. Most of what's in the book was pretty basic. Author claimed to have an objective viewpoint on his country despite being Korean, but most of the answers could have been written by the Korean Board of Tourism. Thanks, also, for the ridiculously unflattering portrayals of foreigners in the cartoon illustrations (buttons strained across a belly, tongue hanging out, etc.). At least I sort of know why no one has a dryer.
August 16, 2012
Insightful and humourous, this book is a wonderful guide for the newcomer to Korea. It covers everything from Korean customs, culture and society, the people, history and modern Seoul in a question and answer format and several personal stories from expats in Korea.
January 8, 2015
A very informative,funny and easy to understand book about korean culture,food,tradition,language and life
I really enjoyed reading every part of the book and I've kept it as a reference for me when I go to korea
I recommend this book to all the korea enthusiasts out there
I really enjoyed reading every part of the book and I've kept it as a reference for me when I go to korea
I recommend this book to all the korea enthusiasts out there
September 4, 2019
The book is really interesting if you want to learn more subtleties about Korean culture. I found subjects that weren’t talk about in other books about Korean culture that I’ve previously read (such as why Korean uses metal chopstick contrary to Japanese and Chinese people).
April 26, 2017
I bought and read this book during my stay in Korea and can attest to the fact that it's very helpful and full of useful tips about Korea and its peculiarities. Can be also interesting for Korean, because our Korean friends found it amusing reading about the things they don't usually notice or considered ordinary from a foreigner's perspective.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews