10 Things I’ve Learned About Koreans from Watching K-dramas

Popular K-drama, Full House

In lieu of Valentine’s Day, today’s post is about the language of Sarang-he (Korean for “Love”)! K-dramas have been the recent rage and drug popular that’s been sweeping across the globe and hitting Asian countries and places like Hawaii. As mentioned, I’ve been trying to speed-learn Korean, so I’ve injected a healthy dose of Korean dramas into my diet and I’ve found myself, well,… a bit addicted to it too!

You can learn a lot about a country by watching their films and tv programs. I’m not saying everything you see on the tube will be true or accurate, but you get a general impression- good, bad or weird- of how a culture observes themselves, their social and fashion trends, customs, codes of conduct, etc…  Inevitably, of course, you forge a raw stereotype based on what you’ve watched; then, wonder if it’s all true.

10 Things I’ve learned about Koreans from watching K-dramas:

If you’re a Korean Girl…
1)  You always fall for the rich and arrogant  jerk, who treats you like a servant.
2)  You are always hungry and stuffing food in your mouth, while talking.
3)  You’re able to wear mini skirts in freezing cold weather.

If you’re a Korean Guy…
4)  and you’re handsome and nice, you will almost never…ever get the girl (*unless you are… See #1).
5)  You are a good cook and love to wear a cute smock aprons while doing it.
6)  You like wearing pink.

The Korean Mystique:
If you’re Korean …

7)  You are emotional and love to yell and scream.
8)  You love romantic triangles, rags-to-riches stories, and Shakespearean tragedies, where people show love through immense self-sacrifice (I can’t even dream up half the kind of self-relinquishing acts that they do!).
9) you have a fascination with the loss of eyesight: i.e.  a lover is or goes blind…  commits suicide so their loved one can have their eyes, etc.. (See #8).
10) You don’t know how to kiss.

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* VALENTINE BONUS*

My Top 4 Favorite K-dramas:

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1. Full House
A naïve girl whose only belonging is a house her father left her, must enter a contract marriage with a famous and spoiled actor, when her house is sold out from under her.

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2. Princess Hours or Gung

A common and quirky girl is placed in an arranged marriage with a stuffy Prince. Comical and cute at times, the story is mildly reminiscent of the rags to riches concept of  Hollywood’s Princess Diaries.

Princess Hours (aka Gung or The Palace)

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3. Spring Waltz
directed by Yoon Suk-ho (the Eric Rhomer of Korea), whose titles involve seasons is a story.
Will destiny lead you back to the one you lost? Childhood friends are separated when a life threatening situation occurs. Several years later, they cross paths again while assuming different identities.

Spring Waltz

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4. A Prince’s First Love
Opposites attract when an arrogant hotel heir meets a penniless waitress at a ski resort and she changes his life.