Monday, June 10, 2013

Kayeong Kim / Classification Essay / Tue 9 a.m.

The Korean slang was the first word that I heard from Filipinos friend. I cannot even describe my feelings of shock at then. I asked how he knew that word. His answer was simple. Koreans who lived near his town used that towards local people. He said that he realized that was a bad word by its accent. I felt shame and embarrassment. I thought it came from the ignorance of cultural misunderstandings. However it couldn't be an indulgence of bad behavior. It was not helpful for other people and a nation branding itself. I made up my mind to do something to reduce that kind of people because I wanted to contribute myself for building proud national brand. This was the first time that I decided to work in a public diplomacy field, though I didn't know the terminology at that time.

To be an expert of public diplomacy, we need to develop cultural awareness. It means balanced perspective to see the culture. We shouldn't be obsequious or supremacy. It is important because cultural diversity is only preserved when we have diverse cultures. In this case, the much is the better. Simply put into personal relationship, we don't want to admit others when others don't respect us. Especially this deal with public, we need to know their culture as much as we want to share our culture to them. Just a little interest helps to smooth the atmosphere when we share something among people. To know how to respect is the key for success.

 The second one is the ability to institutionalize. It is easy to think why the law or regulations are made and promulgated. It doesn't mean that we need to control people to be a nice person. We need to give motivation for people to be like that. And I think making regulations are the best way to practice it. Regulations can provide benefits to people. Some people might figure out the purpose under a basis. Furthermore, it helps to recognize good organizations that work hard to achieve the goal. Policy is simple way to make people get involved in the issue. It is also the way to make ideas happen in our daily life. Considering people as much as possible and attracting them with same criteria is the core competency in expert level.

 The last one is physical strength. It might sound weird because those two things I mentioned before were related with mental part. To do public diplomacy, we need to meet so much people who are in concern. Face-to-face meeting is the most effective way to communicate and spread culture. Actually, a professor who works for public diplomacy travels more than 5 countries in a quarter. He always prepares luggage materials by himself. To manage those things, healthy body is essential. Without body has no power to propel all ideas.

Those three things are core to be an expert of public diplomacy. However, you need to make sure that it is the tip of an iceberg. I suggest you to find your own way by referring many examples from others. In my opinion, willingness is the most important thing to achieve the goal. It is like fuel which propels a person to keep going forward. 

No comments:

Post a Comment