Actually, Oki is pretty skilled at this. Her tiny country has several regional dialects. As PD summarized, a result of " fiefdoms", or various kingdoms throughout the millenniums.
Oki comes from a small, rural farm village in the very south part of the country, a peninsula actually, off the main Korean peninsula. The dialect there is very distinct and well recognized, but seldom understood outside the region.
Oki was a very good student growing up. It is kind of a joke but she was always 2nd in her grade-level no matter how hard she studied, she never could make 1st throughout her primary and middle school years. Fortunately, the girl who always beat her out was a good friend of hers and a distant relative, so they got along well.
When Oki finished middle school, her oldest brother came from Busan, where he lived and got Oki to bring her back to Busan to attend high-school there. It was pretty well established that Oki was not well suited to be a farmer's wife. Her mother recognized this early as Oki would always run away whenever she saw any type of worm, or the like, in the fields and rice paddies. She could not handle it when any of the animals were killed for food. Not good traits for living on a farm. So when her brother showed up wanting to take her to Busan, it was a welcome opportunity.
Once Oki got to Busan, she immediately recognized the dialect in Busan was quite different from hers. She also had to take an entrance exam to enter the high-school her brother wanted her to attend. It was/is a private commercial girl's high-school that is somewhat exclusive. As she watched all the applicants arrive for the entrance test in their father's chauffeur-driven limousines she thought to herself, how is an education from a rural school ever going to allow her to score high enough to get in?
So she kept to herself and took the test. When she went back to
check the list for the results, she didn't see her name on the
accepted list. She went back to her brother and reported that she
had failed to make the cut. Her brother did not believe it so he
went back over to take his own look at the list. He found it
right away and came back to inform Oki she did indeed make the
list.
So what happened? Oki was so sure she was not educated enough to qualify she started looking at the bottom of the list. There were hundreds of applicants on this list and Oki finally gave up looking part way up the list and returned home. Her brother, knowing how smart she really was, started looking at the top of the list. And where did he find her name? 2nd from the top, where else?
So here she is, a farm girl from "the sticks" as we might say, having to attend a school filled with wealthy prep-school prepared female students. Fitting in was a concern. So the first thing she did was learn to use the Busan dialect. Her brother, who was pretty savvy, knew she needed to be well dressed too, so he saw to it that she had the best quality school uniform to wear. The deception was set.
Oki started school and immediately did well, made many friends and fit in very well. No one suspected where she was from. Some time after her assimilation into the Busan school culture, she was out with a group of her new friends. The group came across a girl somewhere speaking the dialect from Oki's area and the group of girls started making fun of the "country hick". This didn't go on long and Oki had enough. She finally blurted out a condemnation of these girls for their snobbery, in her native dialect!
Her friends were so shocked to discover that she spoke the Busan dialect faultlessly, but was really from a different area, they could hardly speak. When the shock wore off, the rude girls fell all over themselves apologizing. Oki taught them a good lesson that day, and no, she did not lose any friends when they learned where she was from, actually gained a little more respect from them as Oki could "pass" as a native speaking Busanian.
By the way, when Oki graduated high-school, where do you think she placed in her class? 2nd place - of course.
It is kind of funny when we travel to various parts of the
country. Oki is still quite adept at picking up and using the
dialect of the region we are visiting. It is not unusual when
seeking local information from someone to ask Oki where she is
from originally, because she is using their regional dialect, but
is unfamiliar with the area, confusing them.
Steve
DP, re. the dialects, yes there are many! Some are still used by the locals when talking to each other. But except for Sicily, everywhere we've been uses standard Italian, albeit with a different accent just like here. My point was that it's hard to believe anyone would know how to speak multiple dialects. Understanding them is more believable since they're not always that different. DonnaTo post, send email to FHS-65@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and please be sure to sign all your posts and replies.
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
-------- Original message -------- From: "dpolhill("dpolhill")" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: 3/9/22 6:56 PM (GMT-05:00) To: fhs-65@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [fhs-65] Re: Italy!
Hi Donna,
Blue type today ... to annoy Penny DP
In a message dated 3/9/2022 1:48:39 PM Mountain Standard Time, dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:Hi Dennis, As for the WW2 question, I have no idea! Not very informed on WW2 history but I am reading Daughters of Yalta right now! It's true, but not informed much on the details. I think about the lonely grunt in the trench asking, "which direction are we shooting today?" John wasn't able to get dual citizenship. It had to do with when his great-grandfather naturalized but I don't remember the details. It was important to us at the time because we wanted to move to Italy. That didn't work out for a couple of reasons. We can visit as tourists for up to 3 months at a time, and we're looking forward to when John retires so we can stay longer. bummer. It would be fun to have a backup citizenship As for Sinatra's mother knowing so many dialects, I'd say that's highly unusual! Italians are known for staying close to where they grew up, especially in the past. I'm happy to say that the only part of Italy we've been where understanding a dialect was a problem is Sicily. I credit that to their isolation and being quite backward in many ways. if I recall, Italy did not become a nation-state until about 1900. prior it was a gazillion fiefdoms ... a left over from feudalism. That would partly explain the many dialects. Thanks. Have a great trip. DP Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: "dpolhill("dpolhill")" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: 3/9/22 3:19 PM (GMT-05:00) To: fhs-65@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [fhs-65] Re: Italy! Hi Donna,
I wanted to ask how John's dual citizenship was working out? We watched a bio of Frank Sinatra and his mom in NJ could speak 29 or so different dialects of Italian and often acted as neighborhood translator. And it is true that Italy changed sides during WW II but they did not do much of anything to help once they were on our side and Mussolini was dead. Thanks. Dp
In a message dated 3/8/2022 6:13:17 PM Mountain Standard Time, dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:We just booked our flights to Italy for a trip we've had to postpone twice! We'll be there 2 weeks ( first half of May). Four nights on Lake Como. 4 on Lake Garda, then 4 in Cortona, our home away from home in Tuscany. We're going with another couple, our best friends and travel buddies. I AM SO EXCITED! Donna Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
