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Sparkling Korea. Koreans offended by the sound of English!
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Weigookin74



Joined: 26 Oct 2009

PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 6:51 pm    Post subject: Sparkling Korea. Koreans offended by the sound of English! Reply with quote

So, it's an exam day. I always have lots of classes in the morning and never have the chance to call back home due to the time difference. Anyways, I finally got the time to call back home. Other Koreans are talking and being loud in the teacher's room in Korean. Not a single complaint. But, I speak in English and it's complaint city. Double standard racist BS! Oh, no, someone is speaking in English and we don't like the sound of it. Every other school I've ever gone to, it's never been a problem. They constantly bitch about every stupid thing. I've seen this pattern before. My other schools are fine and welcoming. I call once in a semester, not every day, not everyday, once! As long as you're loud in Korean, go forth!!

Sparkling Korea!!!
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TheUrbanMyth



Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired

PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 7:18 pm    Post subject: Re: Sparkling Korea. Koreans offended by the sound of Engli Reply with quote

Weigookin74 wrote:
So, it's an exam day. I always have lots of classes in the morning and never have the chance to call back home due to the time difference. Anyways, I finally got the time to call back home. Other Koreans are talking and being loud in the teacher's room in Korean. Not a single complaint. But, I speak in English and it's complaint city. Double standard racist BS! Oh, no, someone is speaking in English and we don't like the sound of it. Every other school I've ever gone to, it's never been a problem. They constantly bitch about every stupid thing. I've seen this pattern before. My other schools are fine and welcoming. I call once in a semester, not every day, not everyday, once! As long as you're loud in Korean, go forth!!

Sparkling Korea!!!


Mind connecting the dots for us? (see the bolded parts)
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Weigookin74



Joined: 26 Oct 2009

PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 7:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, I mean in general. You get on a bus or are out somewhere and Koreans tell you to be quiet. But the Koreans who are loud never get a thing said to them. Not saying everyone here's a racist d!c, it's even less than before. But they're still floating around.
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Who's Your Daddy?



Joined: 30 May 2010
Location: Victoria, Canada.

PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 7:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The elem school office I'm in the other teachers are all women. The school has around 50 teachers, and only 5 are men. In my office the all female teachers generally just complain about their husbands. I feel a female teacher would be more welcomed here than me (being a man). If I were to talk on the phone, that would be a good excuse for complaining, (but they're really angry at their husbands).

Not sure if that relates to your situation.


Last edited by Who's Your Daddy? on Tue Jul 02, 2013 7:30 pm; edited 1 time in total
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thebearofbundang



Joined: 02 Sep 2012
Location: Bundang

PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 7:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gotta love the "I had a bad experience at work today".. Korea Sparkling!

I personally have never had that happen to me and have lived here for a long time. Maybe you were too loud, or maybe the people at that school have different standards of what level they keep their voices at compared to the past schools you worked at. Or maybe they are just a grumpy staff. There are lots of reasons why it could have happened. To blame it as a fault of the country is awesome though.

I hear Koreans being told to quiet down all the time. I don't conclude this is racism, but based on your theory maybe I should?
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YTMND



Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!

PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 7:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

They specifically told you to stop speaking English? A manager/head English teacher came to you to talk about this? You just gathered the impression they didn't like it because you felt it?

I have been in Japan (completely silent people on subway trains, briefcase between legs, head down and no talking). In Korea, they are a little more talkative, so this invites foreigners more to speak their language. I have felt this sense of silence before but not because they didn't like it. It was more because they wanted to hear what I was saying.

In China, there is a bigger mix of reactions. Some will tell you that you are in China so you should speak Chinese (only). Others listen in too to try to understand.

One thing I noticed is that the longer I talk in English the more "annoyed" they might get. If it is a short "Hello, I am at the bookstore/shop. Be home in 10 minutes." type of thing, they don't seem all that worried/offended/whatever you think they are feeling.

Recently, I have been meeting this Inner Mongolian woman who does not speak any English and only uses Japanese to communicate in person. She and I use Chinese online because it is quicker and she is rather impatient like my ex-Korean girlfriend. They don't want to slow down and work out the learning curve to languages.

So, I try to get this across by slowing down the conversations and going over vocabulary in Japanese and Chinese, so we both know what we are talking about. Yesterday the words were "interview" and "contract". I already recognize "interview" in Chinese but she didn't know what contract meant. I did some hand motions with a piece of paper like I was signing a piece of paper. Other Chinese people looked at us and then to her because they didn't know what my hand motions meant out of context.

It's possible that because they can't see the listener you are speaking too, they are instinctively worried something "bad" is going to happen.

The same goes with Americans (other Westerners? Laughing) when they hear Arabs speaking. Their head goes up and they look concerned many times. I grew up in an area where Arabic was spoken a lot at stores and in certain neighborhoods, so it doesn't really get my attention as much. But I see other Americans doing the same thing Koreans do when they hear English that they might not understand.

I chalk it off to being more involuntary than a specific superiority issue. Have you ever used Korean with another Korean? They don't feel comfortable many times hearing you use their language. Unless they have been teaching it, they are usually not accustomed to hearing a foreigner's voice.

As far as the use of the word "sparkling", I thought this was deemed disparaging a few years back because in context it is taken by many Koreans as a slight against their culture which should always be revered.
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Lucas



Joined: 11 Sep 2012

PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Couldn't you call on a weekend?

I'm assuming you were using your own phone - not making an international call on the school line, so why not go out of the office to make it? - cell phone.....

I know when I call someone I normally leave the office and do it.

Not because other people mind, it's just more private........plus I can use as much profanity as I want then too!
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Weigookin74



Joined: 26 Oct 2009

PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lucas wrote:
Couldn't you call on a weekend?

I'm assuming you were using your own phone - not making an international call on the school line, so why not go out of the office to make it? - cell phone.....

I know when I call someone I normally leave the office and do it.

Not because other people mind, it's just more private........plus I can use as much profanity as I want then too!


Skype calls are cheaper. I wasn't using the school phone to call Granny. Cell phones would be quite expensive. I did it once now today and never any other time at this school this whole semester. Time differences line up well with Korean mornings, but I always seem to get most of my classes crammed into the morning preventing me from calling. This has been especially true the last couple of years. I could call again at 9 or 10 pm Korean time but people might be at work or out. So our morning is their evening. School event cancelled my classes and gave me a rare chance to call. At any rate, I'm speaking in general about Koreans who complain when we make noise speaking in English but when Koreans do the same thing no one says anything to them. Not saying all people here do it, but it's still hypocritical BS!!! (Especially, when other Koreans were sitting around the office chatting quite loudly in groups at the same time.) Sparkling! Dynamic too!
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Weigookin74



Joined: 26 Oct 2009

PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lucas wrote:
Couldn't you call on a weekend?

I'm assuming you were using your own phone - not making an international call on the school line, so why not go out of the office to make it? - cell phone.....

I know when I call someone I normally leave the office and do it.

Not because other people mind, it's just more private........plus I can use as much profanity as I want then too!


I don't use profanity with my grandmother.
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Lucas



Joined: 11 Sep 2012

PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fair enough then.
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Weigookin74



Joined: 26 Oct 2009

PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 9:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

At least they knew it pissed me off. Ha ha.
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Zyzyfer



Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?

PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 9:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Weigookin74 wrote:
I don't use profanity with my grandmother.


youre missing out
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newb



Joined: 27 Aug 2012
Location: Korea

PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 9:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Weigookin74 wrote:
At least they knew it pissed me off. Ha ha.


Quit yor bitchin'! Do it more. Razz
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Weigookin74



Joined: 26 Oct 2009

PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 9:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

newb wrote:
Weigookin74 wrote:
At least they knew it pissed me off. Ha ha.


Quit yor bitchin'! Do it more. Razz


Maybe I should. Ha ha. I'll probably have to make some kind of peace with them eventually lest I get some kind of vindictiverevenge tainted review a few months from now. Who knows? At least I change schools every year. My other school is pretty cool, though. I'm slowly calming down as the day wears on. But, it is still crap!
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le-paul



Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Location: dans la chambre

PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 10:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

why shouldn't they hate the sound of your English? They seem to have double standards for everything else.
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