(sub/pdf) Korean Podcast Ep 62. Awkward Moments with Strangers (Small Talk)

Narae Korean Podcast Awkward moments with strangers Hello, everyone. Welcome to Narae Korean Podcast. I'm Jisoo. How have you been? It rained in Korea a few days ago. So the cherry blossoms are almost all wet, but the weather has become really warm. By the way, I'm having a runny nose because I'm allergic to flowers these days. I have a runny nose again today, so please understand if my voice is a little weird. Well, how do you act when you meet strangers? For example, when you meet someone you don't know in the elevator. Do you greet them with a smile? Or do you just avoid their eyes and smile awkwardly? It depends on the individual's personality. I think there's definitely a difference in culture. So today, we're going to talk about awkward moments with strangers we meet in our daily lives. Let's get started. Narae Korean Podcast As I said before, the topic of today's conversation is awkward moments with strangers. For me, the most representative moment is when I'm in the elevator. Especially when I'm alone with a stranger. I'm living in an apartment on the 19th floor. There must be a lot of people living there, right? So honestly, I don't even know the faces of my neighbors. So even though we live in the same building, it gets quiet in the elevator. Sometimes I say hello If the other person is wearing earphones or avoiding my eyes, I swallow that word again. Then I go back to the awkward atmosphere The subtle atmosphere, the awkwardness that I feel at times like this. Every time I do that, I feel like a few seconds are a few minutes. I'm used to it now, but honestly, I don't like this suffocating situation. But in Korea, this happens quite often. Especially when I talk to a stranger first, I feel a little awkward, so I think it's more like that. In foreign countries, in this situation, Hi, how are you? When I came back to Korea after 3 years, I was waiting for the elevator without thinking. But the person living in the same apartment came to the side, so I said hello while making eye contact. He was awkward, and he kept looking at his cell phone like this. I was suddenly really awkward, so I was just looking elsewhere. After that, I do it when the other person says hello first, but I don't do it first. Everyone will do it differently, but there seems to be a difference in culture, right? What do you do in your country? And what do you think you would do in this situation? Language contains that culture. Maybe that's why it's natural to say hello and talk to strangers. In English-speaking cultures, this kind of conversation is called small talk. Maybe it's because there aren't many cases where you talk to strangers in Korea. There is no such thing as small talk in Korean. To put it similarly, I think you can say it's like a light conversation. So learning a language means learning that culture. When you learn a language, there are quite a few cases where a word in a language is not in other languages. 혹시 여러분들도 한국어를 배우면서 알게 된 신기한 표현이나 여러분의 나라에는 있는데 한국어에는 없는 그런 표현이 있었나요? 제 생각에 한국 사람들은 한 번 친해지고 나면 정말 친절하고 따뜻하지만요. 그러기 전엔 조금 조심스러워하는 성향이 있는 것 같아요. 그래서 처음에는 조금 차갑게 느껴질 수도 있지만 그건 한국 사람들이 단지 먼저 말을 걸거나 인사를 하는 게 어색하고 부끄러워서 그런 걸 거라고 생각해요. 혹시 한국에서 낯선 사람과 마주치며 느꼈던 특별하거나 어색했던 순간이 있나요? 있다면 댓글로 함께 나눠주세요. 오늘도 나래 한국어 팟캐스트를 들어주셔서 감사해요. 그럼 다음 이야기에서 또 만나요. 안녕