Job Discussion Forums

[william wallace]

it's not unusual in Beijing to see under qualifications...white.

[SF21]

Wow @ some of ya'll cherry-picking and losing sight of the OP's plight.

Yo Kootvela, if you're gonna jack the man's post, please don't be so antagonistic and short-sighted about it. No need for a spin off. The brotha asked a legitimate question that many of hold close as a common denominator when considering making a move. Sorry to hear about the accent discrimination...but branding it as racist is really grasping for straws.

Anyway, eldavid87, if you happen to be interested in Central Europe, particularly Germany and Hungary, and need an opinion and info, PM me.

Peace.

[Stephen Jones]

When we used to do phone interviews at Jubail the accent was the one thing we always were told to write about the accent when reporting on interviews with non-native speakers.

One one occasion the boss send back a recommendation to hire a Pakistani national somebody else had done and asked me to interview again and report on accent. I did and the person's accent was unacceptable. I later approached the South African colleague who had conducted the telephone interview and asked him why on earth he recommended him. "Well, I could understand him a lot better than that chappie we have from Glasgow!"

[Tiger Beer]

[Kootvela]

[Kootvela]

[MO39]

[JZer]

The point is that some Taiwanese people think that I don't sound like an American. I am not sure whether it is true or not. I was born in the United States and never left Canada or the United States until I was 20 years old.

[MO39]

[JZer]

[phantombedwetter]

[eldavid87]

Thanks for all the advice/info that ppl have given. It's been extremely valuable as it helped guide me to an important choice. I have decided that I will teach in Tokyo next year!
Haha SF21 Iwas thnkin the same thing. Looks like the thread did get robbed - a shame cos I know that I myself have spent a lot of time trawling thru threads like this one looking for very specific information to help me make a very difficult decision. I'm sure others will do the same with this.
No worries tho cos I've got what I needed. Time to start learning Japanese! I've posted another piece of very useful advice that I received, from what seems to be a good source, below for anyone that needs it:

Hi
i am a black British teacher in Tokyo and been here since 1999 started as a conversation school teacher now work freelance teaching/training in companies and have my own private business. Japan is considered the most friendly place to work for non whites native teachers. I have had no major problems here due to race and in fact experienced less racism than back in the UK. I know many blacks and others happily working here also Korea, China. The daves website unfortunatley does not get a lot of posts from non white teachers so you dont get the full picture. I have travelled all over Asia and had no big problems. I would say get your teaching certificate and consider Japan, Korea both good for saving money also. Vietnam is also good place to work. Go where ever you are interested and dont take too much notice from this board, i was similar to you when i first came to Japan and if i had took notice i would never have come. Racism exists all places but as i said i have experienced more racism in multicultural Britain than i have in Japan and other Asian countries.

[parrothead]

Good luck with your Japanese endeavors, David. I don't think you will experience much racism in Japan because you are black. If anything, you'll just get a lot of stares and a few giggles. But just about every foreigner gets that. See you in the Japan forums!