Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jamiekarin]

After 3 months in Korea, my Korean speaking abilities are pretty useless. I have taken the time to read Korean and can spit out a few things. I have come to the realization i'm not going to ever be fluent in the one year I am spending here, so.....Just wondering if anyone would like to share some useful sayings, some good slang, or some decent websites to check out.

[ernie]

you should check out the book, appropriately titled:

"Survival Korean" by Stephen Revere

it's written by a foreigner so it really covers all of the useful bases... the grammar lessons are clearly presented, and there are interesting tidbits about korean life and customs...

also: don't worry about not being "fluent"... my half-assed korean (i've been here for one year) gets me a long way in taxis, restaurants, at work, and impresses a lot of people, even though all i do is string together awkward sentences and use a lot of facial expressions and gestures... people here will really appreciate you making the effort to accomodate them... the most important thing is to try!

[Ginormousaurus]

"Making Out In Korean"

[ernie]

be careful with that one ^

don't let a girl you care about, western or korean, see that or she'll realize you're just here to get laid! besides, just go to itaewon on a friday or saturday night and you won't need any of those phrases anyway! p.s. make sure to wrap it up!

besides that, there are a few other reasons why that book stinks:

- it only gives phrases, so you'll never understand the underlying grammatical structure of the language... you'll be able to recite things from memory but will have zero ability to comprehend others or create your own sentences... i always laugh at foreigners who bust out some super-fast korean phrases (horribly pronounced, of course) but then have no idea how to order in a restaurant or tell a cabbie where to go!

- it gives the phrases in the romanized letters alongside the korean script, which will really mess up your pronunciation and make it difficult to see patterns in the language... hangeul (the korean letter system) is super-easy to learn, so spend 2 hours and make learning the language easier for yourself!

[as-ian]

If you like podcasts or just listening to them as the mp3s that they are, i HIGHLY suggest Survival Phrases:

http://survivalphrases.com/korean

Anyone who is familiar with japanesepod101 or chinesepod will recognize the format that this is done. It works really well, and they break everything down for you. Each mp3 is also short and to the point. The speaker, Keith, also does a good job of giving context for some of the words or past stories to give you a chuckle.

Anyway, i highly recommend this site. It is the best, in my opinion... besides the book "Making out in Korean". EDIT: While i realize that the above poster is right about the use of roman characters in the book, if you combine the study of hangul with the book's hangul, you should be able to counter any mispronunciations that it has.

[trubadour]

[Ginormousaurus]