In publishing the integrated revised edition
Prologue: Words and Culture

Part 1: Knowing American Culture Makes English Hearable

01 - Korean is polite, English is style-shifting
English also has formalities.
02 - Shared Knowledge Every American Knows
Is George Washington simply the name of the first president?
03 ― Shared Views: Beliefs and Values ​​Shared by Americans
Why Korean Humility Doesn't Work in America
04 - Shared Patterns of Americans
In America, never smile when you say "I'm sorry"
05 - Shared Knowledge of Americans to Help You Understand American Language
He's a 10% man?
06 - Different perspectives on the same thing
An unexpected twist of 'goodwill' and 'melancholy'
07 - High-context and low-context cultures
Even if I speak like a dog, you understand me perfectly
08 - Nonverbal factors intervening in language interpretation
Why do we interpret the same words differently?
09 - Types of Discrimination in American Society as Seen Through Buzzwords 1
Driving While Black
10 - Types of Discrimination in American Society as Seen Through Buzzwords 2
Mansplaining is the way to explain things.
11 - Critical Incident due to cultural differences
Not knowing the culture of a country is like walking through a minefield.

Part 2: How Americans Speak

01 - Small talk, a prominent conversation pattern in American culture
Small Talk: Small but Big Change
02 - How Americans Communicate
Their unique speaking skills that will lead to disaster if you take them at face value
03 - On American Sarcasm
Americans who love to make excuses
04 - Differences between American regionalism and English
In the North, don't call women ma'am
05 - Southern English Expressions That Northern Americans Don't Understand
Bless your heart!
06 - Colloquial style in everyday American English conversation
Just because you're a native speaker doesn't mean you only speak grammar correctly.
07 - The Common Nounization of Capitalist American English Brand Names
He broke up with me on a post-it!
08 - Language usage patterns that vary depending on the purpose of speech
Now open and Open now are different!
09 - How Americans Pronounce English and Their Patterns
If you study strategically, you can understand even the most ridiculous things with ease.
10 - Minimal Pair Pronunciation Training to Speak Like a Native Speaker
Order fried rice, not flied lice.
11 - Why Word Stress Is Important
Gaga gaga?

Part 3: Things to Consider When Studying English

01 - Pragmatic Competence (the ability to understand the meaning in context)
Is plastic okay?
02 - Two perspectives on grammar
Jajangmyeon doesn't taste like jjajangmyeon
03 - American English and British English
American language that British people can't understand
04 - About Idiolect
We all speak differently
05 - Korean-American cultural differences related to speaking and writing
Differences in the way Americans and we tell stories
06 - The Challenge of One-to-One Translation from Native Language to English
How do you translate 'Jeong' and 'Nam' into English?
07 - What English Studying and Cooking Have in Common
Study English like Mr. Baek would cook.
08 - The process of making all the world's studies mine
English study that becomes mine

Part 4: Smart English Study Methods Through Language Education Theory

01 - Schmidt's noticing hypothesis
Why is it that the English I hear doesn't come out of my mouth?
02 - Swain's Output Hypothesis
Be sure to use what you've learned and make sure the other person understands!
03 - Schema Theory and Top-Down Approach
Two ways to understand English
04 - Specific methods of internal motivation when studying English
A person who works hard cannot beat a person who enjoys it.
05 - Acquiring English through performance goes through the same process.
Amitabha Buddha, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva

Part 5: Various aspects of the United States from a sociocultural perspective

01 - The Source of the Gun Control Debate: The Second Amendment
The endless conflict over gun ownership
02 - Are all white people the same?
After reading "Hillbilly Elegy"
03 - Alabama's ultra-strict abortion ban shocked even Trump.
Give birth to a rapist's child!
04 - Children who are doing things a little differently in American society
“I have Asperger’s syndrome.”
05 - Various scenes in the US during the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak
The Corona Pandemic Experienced by Mr. Ah
06 - A Peek into Americans' Humor Through the Coronavirus Pandemic
Covidiot must not happen!
07 - Masks and Vaccines 1
America Divided by Masks
08 - Masks and Vaccines 2
Reasons for not getting vaccinated
09 ― Blatant racism vs.
hypocritical racism
Polite Racism
10 - What is true Americanism?
Americans' Diverse Perspectives on Americanism
11 - Controversy over LGBTQ discrimination in the United States
Although same-sex marriage is legal in the United States…
12 - What if the incident had happened in the United States?
The American version of the Jeong In case and the level of punishment
13 - Jazz, music that embodies the spirit of America
What makes jazz black music

Epilogue: What Makes Me Korean (Reflections on Language and Identity)
Recommendation

A sharp rebuke from Mr. Florida to those who think they only need to be good at English.
“Language is culture!”

Mr. Florida strongly asserts that the standard for being good at a language is not being able to say what you want to say, but rather being able to use the language freely and appropriately to the situation based on cultural understanding.
Mr. Florida Ahn deliciously explains the relationship between American culture and English, pointing out that the subtle differences beyond language, such as when you clearly mean A but take it differently as B, are caused by culture, something only native speakers would ever know.


American expert Florida teacher Ahn's cultural content with 120% empathy and 100% information.

- Mr. Florida, who teaches grammar to prospective American English teachers at Florida State University in the United States.
The cultural content, sharply analyzed from the perspectives of a person assimilated into American society and a foreigner with Korean roots, sometimes brings out bursts of laughter, and at other times brings a painful, tingling sensation and anger, making it impossible to put the book down.


Some American professors Mr. Ah has met confess that they often get the impression that Korean students are rude.
After listening to their stories a little more, I found out that Korean students would go to American professors' offices, ignore small talk, and just take care of their own business before leaving.
But I, as a Korean, know.
The students never intended to be rude to the professor! But why does this phenomenon occur? Most Korean students believe that it's polite to avoid wasting as much of their professor's time as possible when they visit him.
So, instead of wasting your busy professor's time with useless small talk, ask the necessary questions right after greeting them, and after hearing the answer, politely say goodbye and leave.
The problem is that in American culture, Korean students may be seen as cold and rude people who only greet others without making small talk and then try to resolve their own issues right away.


What we can see here is the difference in perspective between the two countries' people on small talk.
Koreans see small talk as “chitchat that takes up the professor’s time,” whereas for Americans, small talk is “an act of establishing a social relationship with the professor,” as Copeland defined it.

--- From "Small Talk: A Prominent Conversational Pattern in American Culture"

Explain in detail the importance of culture that everyone thinks they know but doesn't really know.

-It's common knowledge that culture is important to language learning, but not many people know exactly how important it is.
The author provides specific and direct content and situations to explain in detail how American culture significantly influences the nature of English, the direction of learning, and the thinking and ideas of Americans.
The author's relatable stories, drawn from his own life experiences, sometimes poignantly and sometimes humorously, reveal the importance of culture and how we often overlook it in our English studies.

Let's take a look at some English expressions that Americans frequently use.
In fact, there are as many examples of this as there are fine dust particles in Seoul, but if I had to pick just one, Mr. Ah would choose the phrase, “Don’t take it personally!”


This is an English expression that is difficult to translate accurately into Korean, and no matter how you translate it, it doesn't feel clean.
Mr. Ah often explains this saying as, “Don’t get hurt by taking things personally or emotionally.”
This is something Americans say to people who are upset or upset, especially at work or in public places.
It seems that we Koreans, including Mr. Ah, tend to be more emotionally sensitive than the average American when pointing out any issue, whether public or private.


For example, even though I just mentioned objective facts, people say things like, “Are you looking down on me because I didn’t graduate from college?” or “Are you ridiculing me because I work at a small or medium-sized company instead of a large corporation?”
Mr. Ah, as an ordinary Korean living in America, sometimes gets caught up in these emotions.
Every time this happens, my American colleagues and friends always say, “Don’t take it personally!”
But, to be honest, it took almost 7 years for these words to truly resonate with Mr. Ah, a native Korean.

--- From "Different Perspectives on the Same Thing"

Providing guidance on English learning methods that are difficult to solve with grammar and vocabulary.

-Why is it that plant sale and garage sale, although they have the same word combination, mean 'plant sale/sale of used goods in one's own garage' rather than 'plant sale/garage sale'? Why is it that we can understand English when we see it but not when we hear it? Why is it difficult to understand fields unrelated to one's major even though we know a lot of words? And why is it the opposite? These are difficult to explain simply with grammar and vocabulary.
We offer a variety of English learning methods based on cultural backgrounds that deepen your English knowledge, motivating you to take on the challenge of learning English once again.


While teaching reading and listening at Florida State University's Center for English Education (CIES), Mr. A has seen cases like this quite often.
For example, in the CIES advanced reading class, students were given a test to read and answer a passage about the history of the Qing Dynasty in China.
However, the student who scored high on the reading test at the time was not the Mexican student who always got perfect scores, but a Chinese student whose vocabulary and grammar were much lower than that of the Mexican student.
This is another example showing that the depth of background knowledge about the topic you are reading or listening to has a huge impact on your comprehension.

--- From "Schema Theory and Top-down Approach"

The addition of novel content doubles the pleasure of reading.

- The book "American English Culture Lessons Plus" includes content that thoroughly reveals aspects of the United States while also allowing for diverse opinions.
It goes beyond the black-and-white logic of who is right and who is wrong, and provides a chapter of background knowledge that allows you to understand others' thoughts and develop your own logic, doubling the pleasure of reading.


Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told Americans who advocate for the freedom to not wear masks, “Screw your freedom!”
Americans who shared his views cheered, saying it was true, while Americans with different views were outraged and left comments like this under the news.

Did you get the real shot, Arnold? Or was that for show? “Screw my freedom?” Screw you, Arnold!
Mr. Arnold, did you really get the vaccine? Or was it just a show? You want me to fuck with my freedom? Fuck you, Mr. Arnold!

Ironically, he came to a free country to make millions, and now he's saying screw our freedom lol.
Ironically, he came to the land of the free to make millions, and now he wants to fuck with our freedom.
This is so funny!
--- From "Masks and Vaccines 1"