Topic Initiation by Korean and Chinese Speakers on Reality Dating Shows

What is it about?

How do Korean speakers and Chinese speakers start an intimate relationship? What kind of topics do they initiate? In this study, we compare how ordinary Korean and Chinese people began new topics on reality TV dating shows and whether gender plays a role in topic initiation. We uncover differences, as well as similarities, between the Korean and Chinese speakers. The Chinese speakers frequently and overtly asked about their date’s hometown and income while expressing their attitude towards machismo. These topics did not appear in the Korean dates at all, although the Korean men initiated a significantly larger number of topics than the Korean women.

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