To start off, of many cultural communities, I think I am strongly bonded to the Korean community as well the Christian community. Both communities have cultural markers that people mostly misunderstood. Here are some examples
Korean Community
-We are not innately developed at math
-Not all male Koreans learn how to do taekwondo (the most prominent and traditional martial arts in Korea)
-We do eat Dog Meat & We do not eat Dog Meat <Since this is a very interesting topic, I will discuss it later>
Christian Community
-Not everyone with the Cross on his or her body as a decoration is a Christian (Tattoo, Necklace, etc)
-We do not hate other religious groups
Of these 2 groups which I am associated with, I want to consider myself more of the Korean community because that is where I am mostly dived into.
Now, I want to elaborate the points I made above through knowledge and background I have of the Korean culture.
-We are not innately developed at math:
This would be the most stereotypical marker that people have against not only Koreans but Asia in general. But, to put things straight-forward, we 'Koreans' and 'Asians' weren't born talented at math. It is just that our academic standards and curriculum have shaped us that way; To survive from this savage war, we have adapted ourselves by working hard. So I would say it is not very adequate for other people to it is not fair as this is the consequence of our efforts.
*Also, not every Korean or Asian is a fan of numbers
-Not all Koreans learn how to do Taekwondo:
Despite its accuracy, it is very true that Taekwondo is by far the most popular "sports" among Koreans, particularly parents. But why parents? Does that mean Parents learn how to do Taekwondo? Perhaps, some parents might actually learn Taekwondo. But what I'm trying to point out is different; It is not parents who are the doers, it is the children of those parents. Taekwondo has acquired its popularity for its ornate movements. But more than this has been its consumption of energy, which would definitely attract parents who are willing to make their children exercise. However, the story has changed for the past 3-5 years as the popularity of internet and games soared significantly. The number of children has decreased but the number of children signed up for game websites has increased.
Therefore, this cultural marker is somewhat true but wrong.
-We do eat Dog meat & We do not eat Dog meat
This marker might be the topic that has been mostly discussed not only around the world but in Korea as well. The reason why I said that Koreans do consume and do not consume Dog meat is because this is apparently the best answer I can provide.
First of all, there are 2 groups with distinct beliefs which these pursue different things. One side being the supporting group of consumption of Dogmeat and other being the opposite. To identify the difference between these groups, the group which supports the consumption of Dog meat is mostly united by people of old age who have been keeping this tradition as a habit. On the other hand, the opposing group is congregated by the younger generation who has been largely influenced by the social media. Due to this, consumption of Dog meat has been one of the most controversial and never-ending debate. Although this controversy has lasted for years and decades, I predict that this controversy will end in the next 10-20 years the winner being the opposing group.
The reason for this claim is due to an unavoidable phenomenon which reduces the number of people from the supporting group of consumption of Dogmeat: Death. But at the same time, the number of people of the opposing group is vastly increasing day by day which leads to the game to be unfair. Consequently, due to this factor, the controversy will end when the current older generation gets replaced by the newer generation.
Surprisingly, the 'World News' reports that the percentage of consumption among Koreans has decreased from around 20% to 5% of the entire population for the last 10 years and clearly states that the percentage will decrease even by a bigger scale.
*I am one of the opposing people
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Questions to answer:
How is cultural marker important to you and your cultural group?
Cultural marker is important because it is what represents me or the group I am associated with. In most occasions, a cultural marker of a group is something that the group especially values of. So when a cultural marker is misunderstood by others, this could be an offense to the cultural group.
How can understanding cultural markers promote better communication?
If one has a decent amount of knowledge of the cultural marker of the person or people who one is talking to, one can know what things to avoid when addressing, which can be an upside for both sides as it allows them to open their minds. This understanding of cultural markers is mostly visible in advertisements because the marketer or promoter of the advertisement needs to know what kind of characteristics/markers of the target culture he or she needs to employ to bring success in that cultural group.
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