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How do you say…?

You’ve probably heard it before: “You should learn Korean.” And while the words can sting, you probably know it’s true that you should. You know that there is more independence, and so many more benefits to learning the native language. You know that you’ll get to experience more facets of Korean life, and you’ll feel more at home and less like a stranger. As a climber, specifically, you’ll get more access to climbing information, hear about area closures, read about gear sales, and meet way more climbing partners.

From knowing how to buy gear online to understanding government text-message warnings, knowing the language is way better than not. But, It’s incredible how hard learning a language is for most adults. According to a landmark study by Joshua K.Hartshorne et al. with an “unprecedented” sample size of 669,498 participants, the researchers found that “ultimate attainment” of a language is achieved when it is learned before 10 to 12years of age. They also observed that the ability to learn grammar begins to drop around the age of 17. Furthermore, another study from the Journal of Neuroscience used MRI scans and discovered that some adults’ brains are not “intrinsically” wired for language learning. This study gives weight to the belief that some people are “naturally” better language learners. While research in the study of language-learning seems to portray a discouraging scenario for adults, a look into general cognitive abilities provides more encouragement.  

As we get older many cognitive abilities decline, but it is important to note that not all abilities seem to decline. Physically, the size of the brain’s hippocampus decreases, and the myelin sheath that protects nerve fibers wears down, however, the branching of dendrites increases, and connections between distant brain areas strengthen. According to Harvard Health Publishing:

“[t]hese changes enable the aging brain to become better at detecting relationships between diverse sources of information, capturing the big picture, and understanding the global implications of specific issues. Perhaps this is the foundation of wisdom. It is as if, with age, your brain becomes better at seeing the entire forest and worse at seeing the leaves.”

Furthermore, Dr. Michael Merzenich, a leader in the study of brain plasticity, has found that even in 80 to 90 year olds (https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_merzenich_growing_evidence_of_brain_plasticity/transcript), the brain is still able to rewire and adapt itself to learning. There is a false belief that after 40 years old our cognitive abilities decline, and so we must accept it. Do we have to? Personally, after forty, I started surfing, sewing, training a dog, and I continue my long journey to be fluent in Korean. I’m reading up on these skills, and applying what I learn. Dr. Merzenich’s advice to maintain brain plasticity can be summed up in the adage, “Use it or lose it.” When the brain is stimulated and engaged in a meaningful task, the brain is exercising its plasticity. 

While not a muscle, discussions on maintaining cognitive brain function often refer to exercising the brain, and the similarities are insightful. For example, three common concepts in memory retention are: recalling, spacing, and interleaving. Recalling is like repetitions. With vocabulary retention, specifically, it is not about how many reps you do, it’s the quality of the reps; more specifically, putting the repetitions in meaningful contexts. Spacing is like rest days that allow your muscles to build and strengthen, and interleaving is like cross-training that ensures comprehensive fitness. And like exercising, these concepts should be practiced routinely in order to maintain and improve brain health. 

This brings me to my long-winded purpose, learning more Korean. In iGuideKorea’s quest to help more Earthletes access South Korea’s amazing Earthletic playgrounds, we have created a list of common words specifically for climbers. The hope is that climbers will be more predisposed to learn Korean in a more meaningful way if there is vocabulary geared towards their interest. Since climbing is often an intermittent passion-driven activity, the memorization of the words can exercise the aforementioned three concepts of memorization: recalling, spacing, and interleaving. The word list can be used in reverse as well for Korean-speaking friends that want to learn more English. The word list comes in an Excel document with two sheets. The first sheet (Terms) has the translated terms, and the second sheet (Pronunciation) has pronunciation chart for the Korean alphabet. Please share the document, make adjustments, add more languages, and continue to exercise your brain.  

Here’s a link to the document! Have fun!

PS. Here is another link for www.howtostudykorean.com that gets into great and easy to digest details about how to read Korean.

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To Tell or Not to Tell

The dilemma of the secret spot. 

Just you and your best friends. Mix in a chalkless crag primed for first ascents, or a secluded beach with nothing but sand and waves, or miles of untouched trails, and you have perfection. 

two men standing on top of the mountain

No annoying dog barking at nothing and everything. No angry, obnoxious music about how tough someone is and how much money they have. No one littering or leaving their cigarette butts on the ground. No one else ruining perfection. 

Being the adventurous tribe of people that they are, veteran climbers, surfers, mountain bikers, and other Earth-letes commonly seek out the secret spot. It’s a spot where they can go to get away from everything and everyone else. It’s a spot where they don’t have to wait for routes, share waves, or slow down for the person in front of them. It’s a special spot on this great big Earth where they can feel at home. The problem is sometimes the secret spot is so special that they want to tell everyone else. It’s like a juicy bit of gossip that you know you should keep to yourself, but you’re just dying to tell someone. 

I’ve seen friendships fizzle because of these secrets. One person wants to share it with the rest of the community, and the other wants to keep it hush hush. One person feels like the other is being a selfish territorial elitist by not telling anyone, and the other believes that most people can’t be trusted to respect the spot. Each side has valid reasons, but when one considers everything involved with a secret, it might give you more incentive to keep things confidential. 

Many don’t know how much time and effort goes into finding and developing a secret spot. The process of finding a new sport climbing area, in particular, is like a part-time job that you pay to do. Firstly, you can travel hundreds of kilometers searching for an area. Most of the time you’re working on a hunch – I’ve risked weekends hiking through thick brush because I thought I saw a cliff from the highway. Usually, once you get to the crag it’s a choss pile with rock that crumbles to the touch. However, if you get super lucky and the rock is solid, then the next step is to clean the crag. This normally involves multiple days of hanging in your harness, brushing moss off the holds, and prying off dangerous loose blocks with a crowbar. Once the route is safe and clean enough to climb, out come the drill and bolts. Finally, after hours of sweat and toil, the route is ready to be climbed, and you hope it’s not so hard that you can’t climb it or so easy that you send it first try. 

The process is similar for other Earth-letics, too. In surfing, there’s a lot of luck involved with timing the weather. Having a degree in meteorology kind of helps, but you never know until boots hit the ground, and you make the long journey to the spot. Often on these recon missions, you end up just watching the ocean; but at least you’re watching at the ocean. In mountain biking, there’s so much shovelling and building. Builders are often creating hundreds of meters of trails. It’s basically road construction with hand tools.  

With all the effort that goes into finding and developing a secret spot, one would wonder: “Why do it all?” Depending on who you talk to, the answers vary. Some believe the more effort that you put into something, the more you will love it. Others love being first: climbing the first ascent, carving the first turns down a snowy slope, catching the first wave at sunrise, or being the first to huck the big jump. There’s an intrinsic excitement to being first. 

woman in pink tank top sitting at the table

Then there are others like myself who love the intimacy of finding and developing a secret spot. It’s like building a relationship: a chance meeting, a few dates, a lot of effort, and then you climb all over each other (never forget the physical part of a relationship). From the intimacy, there comes a special sense of belonging and privilege, as if the secret spot was made just for you. 

All over the world there are spaces that you have to share, accommodate, and compromise with others; and one should share, accommodate, and compromise. It’s how a society becomes decent and cooperative, and how things get done. But there are people who don’t understand how to share, accommodate, and compromise no matter how much you ask, and from those people, I like to get away every now and then.

I understand the guilty pleasure of telling secrets. Sharing secrets is a great way to create intimacy with someone; especially someone you want to impress. In her book, The Serious Business of Small Talk, Carol Fleming points out that sharing secrets “bestows a sense of kindred spirits.” Telling another climber, mountain biker, or surfer about an unknown, amazing area that you know is a way to legitimize your place in the community. 

Furthermore, revealing a secret spot may be unintentional. Highly extroverted and talkative folks may accidentally let the secret slip out. In a moment of awkward silence, between two strangers sitting around a campfire and who only have their surfing, biking, or climbing in common, one might say, “Hey, have you heard about this cool new spot in …?” Secrets just don’t usually stay hidden for very long. As the playwright Jean Raacine so simply put, “There are no secrets that time does not reveal.” 

Despite the best efforts of even the most fastidious secret-keeper, if the secret spot is good enough, it will most likely be found by another adventurous Earth-lete. That is the nature of the beast: to roam and seek out the best spots on Earth. But, until time does catch up to the secret, enjoy that secret as much as possible. Be grateful for the hidden gems that the Earth reveals to you, be respectful of the place, and when the others do come, try to welcome them with open arms, and lead by example. Then, maybe they’ll stay there long enough for you to find the next secret spot. 

Stoked to know about this secret crag.
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Arirang Radio Interview

So who are these iGuideKorea guys anyways?#dailyK

If you are curious about our rock climbing, ice climbing, mountain biking, and our guiding services, but not really sure who we are, check out this interview with Arirang Radio’s Peter Bint on his #dailyK program and the feature, “Join the Club.” It will give you an insight on the company and the values we stand for which are basically living free, healthy and outside.

Listen below to the interview with Arirang Radio’s Peter Bint on the program, #dailyK, with the feature, “Join the Club.”

Thanks for listening!

Eddy Park