Wednesday, December 25, 2013

The Nutcracker, a play

Went to a brilliant ballet performance of the Nutcracker. 49 adult ballerinos, a host of children, and phenomenal sets including a massive Xmas tree that grew out of the floor. Just wow!

Of course the ballet starts out with a young girl and her nutcracker doll, who becomes animated and the fanciful story begins. I don't know how such a tiny, well-muscled human could hold some of the stances this "nutcracker" held, but he was truly an artist at body control!




A half hour before the show, an elegantly clad ensemble in gold brocade with white decorative ropes and tall black plush caps played Christmas music in the foyer and guests mixed and mingled, made food and drink purchases, and browsed the many nutcracker dolls to buy as mementos of the play.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

The Nightmare before Christmas, a play

The basic story of The Nightmare before Christmas is there once was a halloween character who had heard of Christmas and other holidays, and he wanted to be as popular as the much loved Santa Claus. This was all in the distant and raucous time in the past when people had heard of various holidays but couldn't really distinguish between them or between the characters that played a prominent part during them. So, Mr. Halloween (for lack of a known name) came up with a grand plan to kidnap Santa Claus and then he himself would deliver presents to all the little kids and make them feel joy.

All of Mr. Halloween's friends celebrated such a lively and lovely idea! And they all wanted to play a part in helping Mr. Halloween steal Christmas and make Christmas more to Mr. Halloween's tastes. And let's just say that many of Mr. Halloween's friends were macabre, conniving, and deceitful ... They were not evil per se but they were definitely joyous in their somewhat unsavory ways.




But even in Halloween land, there is love ... and Miss Orange-hair, quiet and shy and demure, really loved Mr. Halloween and would happily do anything for him ... as long as it wasn't too dishonest.


The three most unethical characters were causing problems to Mr. Halloween's plans, such nasty characters that would deceived even each other. So Mr. Halloween decided to recruit their wicked selves and employ their energy in kidnapping Santa Claus. Oh, the wicked unethical trio were delighted ... and came up with some rather unsavory methods for the kidnapping.


Unfortunately, as holiday characters at that time didn't really know each other and therefore were confused about which holiday characters were important on which days, the unsavory trio kidnapped not Santa Claus ... but the Easter Bunny!

This of course was unacceptable to Mr. Halloween and he ordered them to take the Easter Bunny back and release him. They were given a second chance though of kidnapping Santa, who would be easy to spot as he would be wearing a big red suit to cover his big fat belly. The unsavory trio departed ...


Once Santa Claus was properly captured and trussed up like a sack of beans, Mr. Halloween donned Santa Claus's suit and ...


his Halloween minions danced raucously with joy and celebration at the turn of events and what they were sure was to be Mr. Halloween's success at being Santa Claus.


Unfortunately, Mr. Halloween was not so successful. He had trouble flying his sleigh, which was pulled by a little squirrelly dog with a glowing nose. He had trouble with chimneys. And worst of all, he had trouble with the children ... HE TERRIFIED THEM with his unpleasant halloween aspect covered by the sheep's clothing, the Santa Claus suit.

He regretfully decided that he had made a mistake, that his great efforts weren't panning out well.


The play closed with a triumphant ending. Mr. Halloween realized that he could only be appreciated on Halloween, and Santa Claus was too much loved at Christmas for there ever to be a substitute. And through this whole fiasco of kidnapping and concealment, the holiday characters got to know one another ... and respect one another ... and so from that time on, the holiday characters realized that on certain days they would be most visible and loved, but on other holidays it was the turn for other holiday characters to be loved and appreciated.

And like many a good tale, The Nightmare before Christmas had another happy ending. Mr. Halloween realized that he loved Miss Orange-hair like she loved him, and they are living a happy ever ending even now.


And so the Halloween characters celebrated both happy endings with wild, untrained, liberating dancing! And their dancing was not limited to the stage ... but wildly through the whole auditorium, up and down the aisles, and even grabbing audience members to rejoice with them in their grand discovery of many holiday characters who would be celebrated on the many different holidays.



Tuesday, December 17, 2013

RAS Concert: Painted Notes

"Painted Notes" is a musical series in progress. It is being composed by Michael Sydney Tipson (손마익). Two pieces of the series were played: Glow for 18-string gayageum, violin and janggu (2012) and Color for 18-string gayageum, violin, guitar and djembe. The series are works based on the paintings of Kim Suntae, 김선태 작가. The paintings are of hazy colors and images overshadowed by glaring light, and the unclear image is represented musically by distant sounds that gradually feel closer. 


Players for this performance were:


Mi Young Kim (violin; not pictured) - Born in Seoul, and recipient of the Prix de virtuosite, the highest degree at the Conservatoire de Musique de Geneve where she studied. She also holds a "Soloist Diploma" from the Bern Conservatory.

Jung Yeol Kim (guitar) - Holder of the diplom K.A. from Hochschule fur Musik Koln in Germany and is fascinated with the interpretation of Baroque music as played with the 8-stringed guitar, which has an extended bass range.


Jocelyn Clark (gayageum) - Born in Juneau, Alaska, she began studying koto at age 18. 1990-1 studied zheng at Nanjing Academin of Arts in China, and also in New York. 1992-4 focused on gayageum performance at National Gugak Center in Seoul. Holds a PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University where she wrote on the relationship of literature on orality, focusing on the use of primarily Tang poetry in the lyrics of pansori. 1999-2009 founded and directed the new music festival CrossSound in Alaska. Currently works as a professor of East Asian Studies at Pai Chai University in Daejeon where her most recent writing is focused on culture loss, race and class, and national identity/branding.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Race, a play

David Mamet, play writer, is a master at unsettling his audience, and in his play Race, he introduces several contentious characters who expound deep but very controversial issues, satirizing society with their pointed ideas on race and gender but how those ideas change or deepen into extreme conflict as tensions become abrasively verbalized when taking a crime to trial.

The basic plot is two lawyers, one white and one black and both in their mid-40s, are debating accepting a case in which another man, a wealthy white in his mid-40s, is accused of raping a young black woman. The two lawyers start out arguing the point in defending a man who is almost assuredly guilty, so they wonder how they can win, because the arrogant wealthy accused just as much as said he had committed the crime. The problem was how to win the case as they had a good record of winning, and that was a heavy marketing strategy for them. Besides, they get more kickbacks when they win. But how to win when the accused is not really the one on trial, but the issue of race itself will be on trial.


The two lawyers then set about with a plan to enact in the courtroom: Susan, their young assistant lawyer newly hired, in her 20s and also black, was to wear a red sequined dress like the young woman who says she was raped. Susan was to be thrown on the floor, the sequins would of course scatter, and then the jury would clearly visual what the wealthy white man did to cause the sequins to be thrown all over the room where the crime was to have been done. Of course the two lawyers would be defending him but their reputation would remain intact when they lost as race was on trial more than the wealthy man. Politics. Sexual politics.


Susan, the young black lawyer, wasn't going for it. She did some secret sleuthing on her own to expose the white man, as, since race is on trial and she was practically being volunteered to play an active role in the reenactive of rape, and her body like many black women in history was to be a tool, she found condemning evidence and quietly tipped off authorities to the incriminating evidence. Her seniors in the office, the other two lawyers, were livid and in anger raged against each other about why she, a black had been hired, and other racial slurs thrown around.


Throughout the play, racial slurs were made. The accused white man didn't even realize that many of the statements he made on postcards were racially condemning as he regarded them as just good fun and laughs with his white cronies. The black lawyer had ordered a background check on Susan before she was hired as he said young black female lawyers (himself being black also so he would know) might have issues. The white lawyer was the one who wanted Susan to wear the red sequined dress in the courtroom and have a rape scene reenactment. Susan didn't say much, but her presence and her subtle workings behind the scene brought race issues to the surface that both the older white and black lawyers did not want in the trial.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Early Expat Korean Learners

OVERVIEW

Foreign Language Education in the 19th Century
Asian Language Education in the 19th Century

Missionaries
  • John Ross (1842 – 1915)
  • Horace Grant Underwood (1859 – 1916)
  • James Scarth Gale (1863 – 1937)
  • Homer Hubert (1863 – 1949)

Scholars
  • William George Aston (1841 – 1911)
  • Gustaf John Ramstedt (1873 – 1950)
 Grammar-Translation Method
  • Developed from the 1500s as a method of teaching Latin and classical Greek and remained dominant until the end of the 19th century
  • Applied to teaching modern languages in the 19th century
  • Goals
    • Develop ability to read literature in target language
    • Develop mental discipline
  • Method
    • Instruction in learners’ native language
    • Grammar rules taught deductively
    • Drills consist mainly of translation from target language into learners’ native language
    • Little attention to pronunciation and oral aspects of the language
  • Materials
    • Textbooks containing a bilingual word list, a codified set of grammar rules, translation practice
Direct (Natural) Method
  • Developed in France and Germany in the lage 19th century
  • Response to dissatisfaction with grammar translation method
  • Emphasis on modern languages
  • Goals
  • Teach the spoken language for practical use
  • Method
    • Instructing entirely in the target language
    • Emphasis on oral practice during lessons
    • Vocabulary, sentences, and phrases taught at beginning level
    • Grammar taught inductively starting at intermediate level
  • Materials
    • Specially designed textbooks based on situations 
Asian Language Education in the 19th Century
  • Sanskrit: Sir Williams Jones (1746 – 1794) founded the “Asiatic Society of Calcutta” in 1784 … from there, the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded in 1824 by Henry Thomas Colbrooke (1765 – 1837); translation of Sanskrit classics
  • Chinese: Jesuits Michele Ruggieri (1543 – 1607), Matteo Ricci (1552 – 1610); 19th century grammars and dictionaries, chair in Chinese at College de France (1814)
  • Japanese: Serious study began after 1868 Meiji Restoration; Earnest Mason Satow (1843 – 1929) British diplomat and founding member of the Asiatic Society of Japan (1872); William George Aston (1841 – 1911) British diplomat and scholar: Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850 – 1935) British professor Japanese at the Imperial University; James Curtis Hepburn (1815 – 1911) American Presbyterian missionary and author of first major Japanese-English dictionary
Influences of 19th Century Learners of Korean
  • Influence of grammar-translation method remained strong
  • Asian languages studied primarily for translating canonical texts or Bible translation
  • Grammars and dictionaries produced for self-study and translation work
  • Missionary work required proficiency in the spoken language
  • Terra incognita: Almost no interaction with the West prior to the mid-19th century


EXPAT KOREAN LANGUAGE LEARNERS


John Ross (1842 – 1915)
  • Born in northern Scotland, educated at Fearn School, Glasgow University and Theological Hall, Edinburgh
  • Presbyterian Minister in Gaelic-speaking churches before going to China in 1872
  • Worked in Shenyang and learned Chinese and Manchurian; gave first sermon in Chinese in 1873
  • Learned Korean from Yi Eung-chan, a Korean dealer in traditional medicine in border areas of Manchuria
  • Wrote phrase book (1877) and grammar (1882), and a history of Korea (1879)
  • Oversaw the first Korean translation of the New Testament (1887)
  • Returned to Scotland in 1910
  • Language bibliography:

o   Ross, John. Corean primer: being lessons in Corean on all subjects, transliterated on the principles of the “Mandarin primer”, by the same author. Shainhai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1877.
o   Ross, John. Korean Speech with Grammar and Vocabulary. Yokohama: Kelley and Walsh, 1882.
o   Ross, John. The History of Corea: Ancient and Modern; With Descriptions of Manners and Customs, Language and Geography. London: Elliot Stock, 1891.
  • Approach: language learning = mastery of grammar through example sentences that reflect practical needs.
  • Method: Intensive language learning through self-study and use of Korean tutors; development of teaching materials
  • Second languages: English (native speaker of Gaelic), German, French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chinese, Manchu, and Korean


Horace Grant Underwood / 원두우 (1859 – 1916)
  • Born in London, immigrated to the US with his family in 1872, educated at New York University and the New Brunswick Theological Seminary
  • Arrived in Korea in 1885 with Henry Appenzeller
  • Founded Saemunan Presbyterian Church (1886)
  • Married Lillias Stirling Horton who was a doctor to Empress Myeongseong (Queen Min), their son Horace Horton Underwood, three grandsons, and great-grandson continued service to Korea
  • Collaborated with Gale to organized the Seoul branch of the YMCA and founded the Chosen Union Christian College (now Yonsei University) in 1915
  • Collaborated with Appenzeller, Scranton, Gale, and Reynolds in translating the New Testament (1900) and the Old Testament (1910)
  • Published grammars, edited dictionaries, and wrote textbooks
  • Language bibliography:

o   Underwood, Horace Grant. An Introduction to the Korean Spoken Language. Yokohama: Kelly and Walsh, 1890.
o   Unerwood, Horace Grant, James Scarth Gale and Homer B. Hulbert. A Concise Dictionary of the Korean Language: In Two Parts, Korean-English and English-Korean. Yokohama: Kelly & Walsh; New York: ADF Randolph, 1890.
o   Underwood, Horace Grant and Horace Horton Underwood. An Introduction to the Korean Spoken Language. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1914.
  • Approach: Mastery of codified grammatical rules and language / culture immersion
  • Method: Intensive language learning through self-study with Korean tutors and mentors; development of teaching materials
  • Second languages learned: French and Korean




James Scarth Gale / 게일 (1863 – 1937)
  • Born in Ontario and educated at the University of Toronto
  • Arrived in Korea in 1888 as a lay missionary of the University College YMCA, but joined the Presbyterian mission
  • Established a mission in Wonson and traveled widely in Korea
  • Wrote grammars, dictionaries, educational materials, and translated literature
  • Wrote on Korean history and culture; gave first RASKB lecture; founded the Korean Music Society in 1917
  • Language bibliography:

o   Underwood, Horace Grant, James Scarth Gale and Homer B. Hulbert. A Concise Dictionary of the Korean Language: In Two Parts, Korean-English and English-Korean. Yokohama: Kelly & Walsh: New York: ADF Randolph, 1890.
o   Gale, James Scarth. Korean Grammatical Forms. Seoul: Trilingual Press, 1894.
o   Gales, James Scarth. The Thousand Character Series: Korean Reader Number 3. Korea: Korean Religious Tract Society, 1905.
o   Gale, James Scarth. A Korean-English Dictionary. Yokohama: Printed by Fukuin Printing, 1911.
o   Gale, James Scarth. A Korean-English Dictionary (the Chinese Character). Part II. Yokohama: Printed by Fukuin Printing, 1914.
o   Gale, James Scarth. Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies. Translated from the Korean of Im Bang and Yi Ryuk. London: New York: JM Dent & Sons, Dutton & Co., 1913.
o   Gales, James Scarth. Cloud Dream of the Nine [A translation of a Korean novel by Kim Manjung, a story of the times of the Tangs of China about 840 AD]. With an introduction by Elspet Keith Robertson Scott and Sixteen Illustrations. London: Westminster Press, 1922.
o   Gale, James Scarth. The Great Learning. [A translation of Confucius from Chinese into English and the Korean vernacular, with parallel text]. Seoul: Christian Literature Society of Korea, 1924.
o   Gale, James Scarth and Alexander A. Pieters. The Unabridged Korean-English Dictionary, 3rd ed. Seoul: Christian Literature Society of Korea, 1931.
  • Approach: Applying grammatical rules to translating canonical texts
  • Method: Intensive language learning through self-study and use of Korean tutors and mentors; development of teaching materials; writing in Korean
  • Second languages learned: French, Korean and classical Chinese




HomerBezaleel Hulbert / 흘법 (1863 – 1949)
  • Born in Vermont, educated at Dartmouth and Union Theological Seminary
  • Arrived in Korea in 1886 and taught English at the Royal English School (육영공원) for five years
  • Did missionary work with the Methodist Episcopal Church in Korea from 1893 – 1897
  • Supported reform and independence movements
  • Served as principal of Imperial Normal and Middle Schools from 1897 – 1905
  • Expelled from Korea in 1907; returned to the US and continued to speak out on behalf of Korean independence
  • Syngman Rhee invited him to Korea and he returned in 1949, but died soon after
  • Language bibliography:

o   Underwood, Horace Grant, James Scarth Gale and Homer B. Hulbert. A Concise Dictionary of the Korean Language: In Two Parts, Korean-English and English-Korean. Yokohama: Kelly & Walsh; New York: ADF Randolph, 1890.
o   Hulbert, Homer B (ed). The Korean Language. Washington:  n.p., 1904.
o   Hulbert, Homer B. A Comparative Grammar of the Korean Language and the Dravidian Languages of India. Seoul: The Methodist Publishing House, 1905.
  • Approach: Language learning through basic understanding of grammar and use of language à learning by doing
  • Method: Intensive language learning through self-study and contact with wide range of native speakers; little interest in classical Chinese
  • Second languages learned: Korean

William George Aston (1841 – 1911)
  • Born in Derry, Ireland; educated at Queen’s University Belfast
  • Appointed Japanese interpreter to Japanese Legation in Japan in 1864
  • Began research on Japanese grammar and expanded to translation work
  • Served as British counsel-general in Korea from 1884 – 1885; first European diplomat to reside in Korea; returned to Japan in 1885
  • Began learning Korean in 1870s with the help of Yi Dong-jin and continued studying in Tokyo with Kim Jae-guk, who he worked with in Seoul, until 1887
  • Retired in 1889 and returned to England
  • Language bibliography:

o   Aston, William George. “A Comparative Study of the Japanese and Korean Languages.” The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland New Series, Vol. 11, No. 3 (pp. 317-3640, 1879.
o   Aston, William George. “Corean Popular Literature.” The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland New Series, Vol. 18, (pp. 104 – 118), 1890.
o   Aston, William George. “Chhoi chhung: A Corean Marchen.” The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland New Series, Vol., (pp. 1 – 30), 1900.
  • Approach: Mastery of codified grammatical rules applied to translation of literary texts and research on linguistic structures
  • Method: Self-study using 1841 textbooks for Japanese learners of Koreans by Urase Iwajiro and used Korean tutors
  • Second languages learned: Latin, Greek, French, German, Japanese, Korean

 Gustaf John Ramstedt (1873 – 1950)
  • Born in southern Finland, educated at the University of Helsinki
  • Studied Finno-Ugric languages and later Altaic languages with a focus on Mongolian
  • Became active in Mongolian independence movements
  • Served as a Finnish diplomat in Japan (1920 – 1929)
  • Known in scholarly linguistics circles; acquainted with Ogura Shimpei, the leading Japanese Korean linguist of the early 20th century
  • Learned Korean in Japan, spent no time in Korea
  • Active in Esperanto movement
  • Language bibliography

o   Ramstedt, Gustaf John. A Korean Grammar. Helsinki: Suomalais-ugrilainen Seura, 1939.
o   Ramstedt, Gustaf John. “Studies in Korean Etyology,” MSFOu 95, Helsinki: Suomalais-ugrilainen Seura, 1949.
  • Approach: Mastery of codified grammatical rules and applying them to linguistic research
  • Method: Language learning through self-study and use of Korean informant/tutor Ryu Jin-geol
  • Second languages learned: Finnish (native speaker of Swedish), English, German, French, Russian, Mongolian, Japanese, Korean, Esperanto


CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

  • Mastery of grammar à Grammar-translation method
  • Self-study, often intensively
  • Korean tutor/mentor:

o   Ross à Yi Eung-chan
o   Underwood à Song Sun-yong
o   Gale à Yi Chang-jik, Ji Si-gyeong?
o   Aston à Yi Dong-jin, Kim Jae-guk
o   Ramstedt à Ryu Jin-geol
  • Developed language learning materials
  • Translation of canonical texts
  • Use of available “language resources”



Implications for Korean language learners today:
  • Rethink grammar à mastery of grammar is important
  • Rethink native speakers à frequent, mentor-like contact is important
  • Rethink literature and translation à close reading and translation are important, particularly at advanced levels
  • Rethink Chinese characters à assist vocabulary development and access to cultural heritage
  • Rethink motivation à inner drive, desire for perfection, “language person,” “passion for Korea,” etc.



à Old-fashioned language learning with passion is what we should be striving for?

_________________________________________

Robert Frouser, with a B.A. in Japanese language and literature, an M.A. in applied linguistics, and a PhD in applied linguistics gave this presentation on the early learners of Korean. Robert has lived off and on in Korea since the mid-1980s. He has written numerous articles on Korean art and cuisine, and has translated Understanding Korean Literature by Kim Hunggyu into English. Since 2009, he has been active in hanok preservation, particularly in the Seochan neighborhood of Seoul. He also has been a member of the RASKB Council since 2011.

He was careful to teach the difference between two types of grammar for the audience to have deeper understanding of his presentation on language learning, transcribing and in some ways, teaching:

scholarly grammar - a grammar for describing

pedagogical grammar - grammar for teaching

Friday, November 8, 2013

Penal System in the Joseon Period

In the Joseon period, the family network with its guilt by blood and association along with punishment were the norms for controlling any socially unacceptable deviation within society. Family, the network of the extended family and its relationship ties and how a social offense would affect those relationship ties were the largest social controls of criminal acts in the period. However, as society was very heirarchical from the king, his ministers, the yangban class and all the necessary titled people on downward to the peasant class and the outcasts, the Joseon dynasty established many rulings for controlling the tight heirarchy, for maintaining its inflexible social structure, and also for punishing any errant drift from established social expectations.
 
Punishment wasn't always ethically administered. In fact, the two purposes of punishment were to get retribution (usually of an angered higher classed individual against someone under his or her power) or for administering punishment itself, albeit rather harsh punishments were often sentenced, e.g., for the theft of a bit of food to assuage the hunger of an overworked, starving peasant.

Flogging was a typical form of punishment and was, at least in part, included in all of the five levels of punishment:
  • Tae-hyung / Flogging A: Tae-hyung was the punishment for a minor offense. This kind of flogging was done with a short branch which was stuck on the bare buttocks from 10-50 times, depending on the gravity of the crime.
  • Jang-hyung / Flogging B: Jang-hyung was for a slight graver offense, and was also a flogging. However, the branch used was slightly larger and the flogging itself consisted of 60-100 strokes on the bare buttocks.

  •  
  • Do-hyung / Imprisonment: Do-hyung was a combination of being flogged 60-100 times on the bare buttocks and then being imprisoned for 1-3 years, a harsh sentence in a society that shamed not only the offender but also the family by its blood relationship. Families were wrung with shame if there was even a whisper that a member, no matter how distant, was in or had served a prison sentence.
  • Yu-hyung / Banishment: Yu-hyung was a punishment that was more typically given to the yangban or ruling classes than the peasant classes. It was a combination of being flogged the typical and shameful 60-100 times on the bared buttocks and then being banned far from one's hometown in a very remote area. This banishment method was used to prevent families with position, wealth, or land from conspiring revenge or recovering power as being removed from one's hometown in a country that had poor transportation systems and disconnected from one's families was a rather efficient method for controlling the offender as well as  the family without inflicting prison on an honored, but brooding, threat.
     
  • Sa-hyung / Death Penalty: Sa-hyung was punishment for the most serious crimes, e.g. killing one's parent, and only the king had the authority to give this sentence. As a result, floggings were heavily administered to control society. The lower classes were much more likely to be imprisoned while the upper or ruling classes were more likely to be sequestered far from any family ties and away from the environment to plot and get revenge. 
This information is a sketch from a presentation on "crime"
given by Kang Minseok and Lee Yeong Ji. Thank you, guys, for letting me borrow your info.
It is quite insightful on the past era.