Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mindmetoo]

I have one Korean friend who I have lunch with semi-monthly. To this day I do not know her name. It has a Y in it. I'm sure. And I think there's a J. I just call her "hey, how are you? What do you want to have for lunch? I'm buying. Say, those are great shoes." My best friend, I don't know her last name. Might be Kim. But it might be Park. And even my own GF (dating for over 2 years), the name I use for her is a contraction of her real Korean name. I'd be hard put to remember her full Korean name.

I blame this on a) unfamiliarity with Korean names b) age c) my name buffer has been blown. I got to remember too many names these days. (The d option: lazy, uncaring, self absorbed, unthinking is not an option.)

[R-Seoul]

Wait, if you've been dating the same girl for the past two years who were all those random chicks in your avatar?

They weren't a line-up of your latest conquests, how very disappointing.

[RACETRAITOR]

If you have that much trouble, just ask them to explain their names and their Chinese meaning. You'll at the very least get a piece of paper with their names in Chinese.

I personally have trouble remembering the names of foreigners I meet.

[pest2]

I can remember them if I have to send emails to them. Typing or writing them down seems to do the trick.

But it is less likely... just because all the names are random combinations of kim,park,ho,shin,hyun,baek,bak, etc etc...

to me, its more like trying to remember a code,...

"Hi, Im 3-5-9! Nice to meet you! This is my Girlfriend, 5-2-4. I hope u will remember us."

[livinginkunsan]

Nope, no problems at all...

I know MANY of my students Korean names.

I guess maybe if you were more interested in them (your g/f included) you would make more of an effort.

[bosintang]

[Ya-ta Boy]

boshintang is right. They don't use names nearly as frequently as we do. This makes it much harder to remember them. In addition, the given names are random pairings of the same syllables. I have had a So-Young and a Young-So in the same class.

It is difficult to remember the names.

It isn't hard to remember my friends' names because I make an effort to do it, but it does take some effort.

It doesn't help that every single Kim I know calls me up and says, "Hi. This is Kim"...and then waits for me to figure out WHICH freakin' Kim it is.

[ED209]

Invite another friend out then let them ask.

Or steal her phone call her friends and ask them the name of the phone's owner.

Get married, just when the minister says' Do you MM2 take .....?' write the name down and leave.

Ask to see her old school uniform.

Tell her there are many thieves in Seoul and she should write her name on everything she owns including her forehead.

[PeteJB]

That's a flawed answer.

Koreans use names MUCH more than we do in conversation. Because they don't use the words "You" or "I" as the subject nearly as much as we do. But ofcourse, people who don't know each other can't use a name so they just the familiar words such as 아저씨, 아줌마, 아가씨, 애가, 마녀 .. etc

[Qinella]

Korean what?

[ajuma]

I DO make an effort to remember friend's names, but when it's someone you haven't seen for a while, it's kind of difficult, especially since so many names are similar. I just checked and I have 14 names with "Jin" and 15 with Young/Yong in my phone!

As for remembering student's names...forget it. I have 10 classes with 20-35 students in each class. By the end of the semester, I can remember A FEW names IN class (especially unusual ones), but almost none out of class unless I have a student for more than 1 semester.

Except for the "Do you know Jesus" question (which is my MOST hated question), the one I hate a LOT is the question "Do you know me?"

[sojourner1]

Uh, I don't get it half the time what they are saying or how to say it or even how to remember what they said to me. It's confusing...

[mindmetoo]

I kind of like how newspapers use a Korean's family name to preserve his anonymity. "... only identified by his family name Kim was found with a dead prostitute..."

Noting the person is a Kim or Park doesn't narrow it down much in this nation.

[oneofthesarahs]

I know my close friends' names, but there are a lot of assorted Korean people I deal with on a regular basis and I can never figure out their names. At my school there is a revolving door of data-entry/secretary type people, and I never get properly introduced to them, so I have to try to figure out their names by listening to everybody else. Which is fine until I need to reference them in a conversation. "Where's my folder? I gave it to....uh....the computer guy took it."

[jinks]

I can remember my Korean friends' names OK, but I never know their gf/bf's names, or any siblings I might have met a few times (older sister, second brother etc.)