Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bdbarnett1]

Two questions:

Are there many Spanish speakers in South Korea, and what sort of people are they (manual laborers, professionals, etc.)?

Are there many jobs for teaching Spanish in Korea?

Ok, a third...the media sometimes portrays a tension between Mexicans and Koreans...is this true?

Thanks for any answers!

[Okibum]

Lol - I doubt anyone would hire Spanish-speaking manual labor workers when people can hire from Thailand, Cambodia, etc.

I am a native Spanish speaker and I am a teacher here. I am actually going to be teaching Spanish next year. It is possible to teach Spanish in the international schools. You have to be a qualified Spanish teacher though.

[Saxiif]

People in Korea who can speak Spanish fluently but not English are few and far between. There's a decent number of Spanish-speaking English teachers but the factory work/construction/housecleaning/etc. that gets done largely by Spanish-speakers in the states gets done by Philippinos/Pakistanis/Chinese/etc. here.

Koreans don't know too much about Mexico (tacos and salsa dancing would about the extent of it) but I think that Koreans would probably view a Mexican fairly positively, especially if you tell them that Korean dramas are popular in Mexico.

[VirginIslander]

There are ten of thousands of Koreans and people of Korean decent living in Mexico and Central America. Many went there years ago to work on farms, and there are many Korean factories thoughout Latin America.

[VirginIslander]

According to this source of all information, there are 50,000 Koreans living in Guatemala city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala


During the past eight months, I met one girl with a cousin in Guatemala, a mother who recently returned from three years in Mexico, a businessman who will be moving to Mexico and a fluent spanish-speaking Korean who was raised in Mexico.

Here in Busan, my friend taught spanish to five foriegners every Saturday for a few months. It was extra income, but illegal.

[merkurix]

There are a few Spanish speakers here in Korea, but it's not hard to bring them out of the woodwork. You can find most of the ones in Seoul at the International Catholic Church on Sundays. There are quite a lot of them that they have their own Spanish speaking service on Sundays at noon there. And of course there are also your Ecuadoran Inca music bands that you can catch on any given weekend near a subway or train station.

[cbbjork]

[eamo]

I work with a Peruvian Spanish teacher. Great guy. Sexy language.

[merkurix]

[cbbjork]

[bdbarnett1]

Wow, thanks guys...I didn't realize the culture was so evident in Korea. I was thinking along the lines of teaching in English in Korea for a few years (and hopefully getting fluent in Korean) then getting a job with some sort of company and getting sent to Mexico or another Spanish-speaking country. Sounds like at least native Koreans do that...don't know how that works with foreigners. I'm from the US, if that matters.

[bdbarnett1]

[Okibum]

I am speaking generally. Look around at the international schools to see if they are hiring.

[bdbarnett1]

Bumping thread in case anyone has additional comments...I don't bump a second time

Thanks for all comments.

[I-am-me]

I am colombian teaching English here. Kids get taught 2 languages for the price of one. By the way.. Andean music is awesome!