What is 'nunchi',
the Korean secret to happiness?
In a new book, Euny Honginv estigates the social
‘art of understanding’ that Koreans cultivate from childhood.
Koreans don’t say someone has
‘good’ nunchi, but ‘quick’ nunchi – the ability to rapidly process changing social information.
Photograph: Sensor Spot/GettyImages
Have you ever wanted to read minds? Or wished you had a little bit more of
whatever ineffable quality it is that makes some people seem effortlessly
popular at parties, lucky in love, and successful at work?
Perhaps you need to brush up on you nunchi – a traditional Korean concept of situational awareness and the focus of the Korean American journalist and author Euny Hong’s new book The Power of Nunchi: The Korean Secret to Happiness and Success.
Perhaps you need to brush up on you nunchi – a traditional Korean concept of situational awareness and the focus of the Korean American journalist and author Euny Hong’s new book The Power of Nunchi: The Korean Secret to Happiness and Success.
According to Hong, nunchi is the “art of understanding
what people are thinking and feeling” – a quality held by those who are
sensitive to the dynamics within a given group.
Koreans cultivate nunchi from a young age. “Kids in
Korea know the word by age three,” she says. “You usually learn it in the
negative; if everyone is standing on the right side of an escalator and a kid
is lounging on the left, the parent will say, ‘Why don’t you have any nunchi?’
It’s partly about not being rude, but it’s also partly, ‘Why are you not
plugged into your environment?’”
The word “nunchi” itself
roughly translates to “eye-measure”, a sort of sizing-up, not of individuals
but of the overall context and atmosphere of a situation. It’s applicable to
just about every social setting one can be in, from a wedding to a job
interview.
In action, nunchi involves noticing who, in any given
context, is speaking, who is listening, who interrupts, who apologizes, who is
rolling their eyes. From there, one can make potentially useful assessments
about the nature of relationships and hierarchies within a group, the overall
mood, and how to behave accordingly.
As the truly skilled discern such cues intuitively
even as they’re constantly in flux, Koreans don’t say someone has “good”
nunchi, but “quick” nunchi – the ability to rapidly process changing social
information.
Because people with quick nunchi take the time to read
the room, their chances of success in any social environment are high – they’re
more likely to fit in and make connections and are less prone to coming across
as clueless or incompetent, or of committing awkward faux pas.
“At a very basic level, people will be happier to be
around you if you have quick nunchi,” says Hong, “and from a Machiavellian
point of view, you can negotiate better” by staying quiet, listening carefully,
and gathering information from others before speaking.
Because nunchi is a soft skill premised on discretion,
Hong notes it can be a superpower for introverts. She claims approaching social
situations through the lens of nunchi even helped her battle social anxiety,
allowing her to remain grounded in stressful circumstances.
In her book, Hong also makes the case that nunchi not
only helps individuals but has factored into Korea’s rapid development from one
of the world’s poorest nations to a high-income, culturally powerful country in
a matter of generations.
This is, as they say, big if true.
Yet if the subtle art of nunchi is so powerful, why
does it seem that these days corporate and world leaders seem to more often be
blustery loudmouths, rather than sensitive, quiet types?
Hong’s investigation of this question illuminates why
the concept of nunchi – with its emphasis on unity, relationship building, and
collective harmony – may be particularly relevant at a cultural and political
moment characterized by divisiveness. It is, after all, essentially the power
of understanding others.
“In the west, autonomy and individualism are
emphasized, and nunchi seems to advocate the opposite,” she says. “But developing
nunchi doesn’t mean becoming a lemming, it just means you are using data to
your advantage to create comfort for yourself and everybody else.”
Task
1. Read and translate the article.
Task 2. Find
English equivalents of the following words and phrases.
1)
быть погруженным
2)
различать
3)
быдло
4)
исследование, расследование
5)
совершить оплошность/проступок
6)
подтянуть,
привести в порядок
7)
невежественный
8)
вписываться
9)
крикун
10) раскол, спор
11) неописуемый, невыразимый
12) осмотрительность
Task 3. Match the synonyms
Task 3. Match the synonyms
1)
easily a) loudmouth
2)
discover b) clueless
3)
survey с) divisiveness
4)
stumble
(n.) d) efortlessly
5)
screamer,
roarer e) discern
6)
ignorant f) investigation
7)
split,
controversy g) faux pas
Task 4. Answer the following questions
Task 4. Answer the following questions
1)
What is
understood by “nunchi”? Where did this notion originate from?
2)
When and how do
Koreans learn and cultivate nunchi?
3)
In what social
context can nunchi be applicable to?
4)
Why do Koreans
use the word quick in a positive sense referring to someone’s nunchi?
5)
How can nunchi
be helpful to introverts?
6)
Why doesn’t
nunchi have the power to change the world politics for the better?
7)
Do you think you
possess the superpower of nunchi? Do you know any people who do? Does it really
promotesuccess?
8)
Can you find any
adequate equivalents of the notion nunchi in your own culture or any other
cultures of the world?
9)
If you were
asked to call your national secret to happiness, what would it be?
Task 5. Watch the video "How the power of nunchi could change your life". Be ready to discuss the video.
Task 6. Write a rendering of the article.
Task 5. Watch the video "How the power of nunchi could change your life". Be ready to discuss the video.
Task 6. Write a rendering of the article.
