Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Tobacco Fiend]

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

A week or two or three ago, when I was "tired and emotional," I posted a rather obtuse entry here which I entitled "Don't Learn Korean!"

Gee, and every post is supposed to be a QUESTION. Well, that's what booze will do to you at three AM.

I'm now writing a sort of semi-contrite follow-up, inspired by a recent experience.

A few nights ago I was down at the neighborhood Family Mart getting cigarettes. (What else?)

In comes a guy, Korean, with a very simple question for the clerk.

"Jung-guk kadeu isseoyo?" (Quibble with my transliteration if you will. Essentially, he was asking for a "China card," which I took immediately to mean a China CALLING card, ie, phone card.)

Amusingly, the clerk (also Korean!) misunderstood.

"Jeon-guk kadeu-yo?" (Again, the English lettering is a tricky thing, but essentially he had misunderstood "China card" as "country-wide calling card.")


The customer repeated himself, met with a blank stare, and then -- TO MY IMMENSE AMUSEMENT! -- broke into English.

"CHA - I - NA!" he exclaimed, in a tone of great annoyance.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

If Koreans can't even understand each other, why should the Tobacco Fiend, or any of us, get all bent out of shape if we too are misunderstood?

Funnily, I understood the "Jung-guk kadeu" request instantaneously, while the Korean counter clerk required a "China" gloss.

Funny world.

Getting to that all important question: Can we speak Korean better than they do?

Just wondering.

TF

[some waygug-in]

Not that I would know, but perhaps Koreans just don't listen very well. I have noticed this too. Koreans often misunderstand each other, sometimes intentionally. They are often quite rude and pushy to each other as well. (something we wrongly assume is sort of a racist thing)

I often see (especially middle aged men) who suddenly seem angry when dealing with a shopkeeper or someone on the street. They suddenly start asking questions or making comments that , to me, seem very rude. Strangely, these people just ignore the behavior, or politely try to calm the person down.

I know if this happened back home, the guy would get punched out.


sorry for straying off topic,
cheers

[katydid]

That is really funny. I wonder if the shopkeeper saw you there and wanted to practice his English.
MAYBE more likely, he actually mistook the Korean guy for a Chinese person.
Interesting story...

[little mixed girl]

.....

[posco's trumpet]

[Son Deureo!]

A funny story, but I see a lot of wild conclusions being drawn from it.

Haven't any of you ever misunderstood a native speaker of your own language before?

[katydid]

[FierceInvalid]

Personally, I think the guy was Chinese. I would have drawn the same conlusions as you regarding what he was asking for when he said "Chunguk Kah-du", but is that really what it's called (I don't know)? And when the clerk couldn't understand, why couldn't the customer respond casually with the Korean equivalent of "You know, a phone card so I call China for less cash." It's not that difficult to explain, but all this guy did was revert to English of all things and say "China! China!". Doesn't sound like a native speaker to me....did you hear him use much Korean outside this exchange while he was in the store?

[Corporal]

I agree, it's a funny anecdote, but it doesn't sound very likely, either. When people (dumb, drunken construction workers for example) misunderstand my husband, he simply rephrases the question in such a way that they usually get it the next time. I'm inclined to agree with FierceInvalid here.

[jajdude]

Maybe they were from different parts of Korea, with the different dialect or pronunciation. You can say something in one city that is understood, but in another may draw a "neh?" response. Apparently Pusan and Seoul Korean are somewhat different.

[panthermodern]

In my experience don't post in the form of a question this board.

[Interested]

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I know what it is!

The guy said "yo"!!

"Yo" is an honourific add-on and I would imagine that the clerk was surprised that the guy was being polite.

But on a serious note...

Yea sometimes I hear Koreans misunderstanding what each other are saying. It happens a great deal when for example one is from Daegu and the other is from Seoul.

Accents, they have them in Korea too.

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

[visviva]

There's a funny bit in the Korean crime-comedy flick 2424 ... The crime boss is sending someone (I forget who, probably one of the good guys) to get some cigarettes... He says (in Korean) "You know what tobacco is, don't you? (pause) See-ga-ret?"

In this case, and possibly in TF's anecdote, the use of English is clearly a slur on the other's intelligence: "Are you as stupid as a foreigner? Can't you even understand Korean?"

For this reason, I (like many others) get ticked when someone here addresses me in English. Unless, of course, I've already demonstrated my stupidity.