Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kiwiduncan]

[quote="SPINOZA] No need to take constructive criticism so personally.[/quote]

If that's your idea of constructive criticism I'd hate to see your posts where you're being nasty and spiteful.

Who cares if some of us are 'boring'. Personally I find the numerous posts about how much people hate Korea to be much more tedious.

[Smee]

I study Korean because it adds to the Korean experience, it makes life easier, it's an interesting intellectual exercise, and because I can't imagine living here without it. People say you can get by here with no Korean and on English only . . . evidentally it's true, because people do it. But my experience has been completely different. I suppose if I were pushy, and played the part of the loud, clueless foreigner, I'd have no choice but to force people to break down and use English. But even when living in Bundang I didn't encounter a wealth of English, and most of the time people in the neighborhood spoke Korean with me. (I will say, since we were on the topic, that I found lots of people quick to laugh at my meager Korean skills, which made me a little less patient with less-than-perfect English.) Every time I went to the bank, the doctor, the post office, the hair salon, the restaurant, the coffee shop, the bus station, the movie theater, and every other place, I used Korean. And now I'm in a smaller town, and I can't fathom how people get through their day here with no Korean.

I can't imagine trying to get through a day without knowing more than "gam-ham-ni-da" and "juicy-oh," but judging by most of the white people I come across, they somehow manage. It also allows me to talk to more people at work, instead of just talking to and through the whitey wrangler.

[anyway]

First, I must say that I thank the OP for starting this thread. It's an issue (motivation, cultural distance, and acquisition) that has been on my mind for some time and it gives me the chance to muddle through my thoughts . I do appreciate hearing the various and thoughtful perspectives on it. As it is a delicate and complex issue, one's feelings cannot be expressed in brief. Who would expect such a thing? I knew there were those who ask how long the string is but I didn't know there were those who would complain about its length.

[Scotticus]

[skeeterses]

Seeing this particular thread motivated me to join this ESL Cafe and post my 2 cents here.

I came to Korea over 2 years ago, and am working towards getting fluent in this language. At the mininum, any foreign teacher should learn the Korean Hanguel script and the necessary phrases to get around like "끔밥 주세요." and "식당 어디에 있어요?", etc. Fluency is not necessary, for teaching or getting around.

Now, on the teaching. Some people hold to this idea that the Foreign teacher should not learn Korean, to prevent students from being able to ask questions in Korean. In the classroom, most of the teaching has to be done in English but there are times when the Korean comes in handy. For example, I sometimes have to explain grammar. Or maybe there are certain concepts that are not easy to explain or draw out, like losing a game.

Anyway, I voted that learning Korean enhances the Korean experience. When I first came to Korea, I wanted to prove that Americans could in fact learn an Asian language. And secondly, I pride myself on being independent and thus don't like having to bring an interpreter "friend" with me when I go out and walk around the country-side on the weekend. Finally, I happen to enjoy learning foreign languages and firmly believe that if I become really good at Korean, I could use that as a foundation to learn some other Asian languages such as Chinese and Japanese.

Now, you are probably wondering how to get fluent in a language like Korean. I'm not fluent yet but am getting there. The first step of course is a Korean 101 book like Stephen Revere's Survival Korean, or the red Korean made Easy book. And you learn the alphabet and the basic grammar concepts like asking for directions and the difference between past tense and future tense. As you guys probably know, Korean is a very difficult language, with seeminly endless amount of vocabulary.
After getting through the Korean 101 book, you should start on real-world Korean literature as soon as you can, even if its something easy like a children's book.

I'm not working on any grammar books right now, and am trying to save the advanced grammar concepts for the last part of the learning stage. The secret to getting all that endless vocabulary is to look at the Hanjas for the Sino-Korean words and get the roots down. If you become familiary with about 2000 Hanjas, you can start guessing at some of new words without using the dictionary. And the words that you do learn should come from a book that you enjoy, regardless of difficulty.

Forget trying to use the TV or radio. The Koreans speak too fast on those for a beginner or intermiate Korean learner to pick up any new words. For listening skills, try using a Korean story book that has audio with it.

[ABC KID]

[tomato]

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

It's ridiculous to not at least know the alphabet, considering it takes about a week to get it down.

Speaking is definitely more of a challenge... and I must admit I'm kinda lazy about it. But even if it is an ugly sounding language, it's still a more constructive way to pass the time than sitting in some godawful bar and getting wasted all the time.

[endo]

During my first year here I took a Korean language class at a University for two hours three times a week before work.

The schedule was brutal, but I worked very hard.


However, after that I was just turned off from continuing my studying as I had most of the basics down.

So for the next two years I learned the odd phrase here and there, but was still a little embarassed that I could not have a full conversation in Korean.

Now I'm entering my fourth year in Korea and for the past three weeks I've been studying over an hour every day. I've also been making more of an effort to speak with my girlfriend.

I've made a lot of improvement and I've learned that you just have to make studying the language a part of your every day routine.

Kin of like going to the gym or taking a shower.

[skeeterses]

[tomato]

Listening tasks give me more grief than anything else.
With the help of a dictionary, I can speak, write, or read 'most anything.
But when a Korean is speaking to me, I am at the Korean's mercy.

Fortunately for me, there are self-study Korean courses which specialize in listening:

http://www.amazon.com/Listening-Korean-Beginners-w-CDs/dp/1565912470/ref=sr_1_4/002-3120049-7091206?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193565854&sr=8-4

http://www.amazon.com/Korean-Through-Active-Listening-Book/dp/1565910524/ref=sr_1_7/002-3120049-7091206?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193565854&sr=8-7

http://www.amazon.com/Korean-Listening-Language-Institute-University/dp/8971417382/ref=sr_1_6/002-3120049-7091206?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193565854&sr=8-6

I have ordered a couple of them, but I'm still waiting for them to come in.
So I can't testify one way or the other.

[Homer]

Well,...considering the options...

Personally I think living in another country for any lenght of time over a year and not trying to at least learn the basics of the language, if not more, is a real shame and a real loss. Even more personally, I feel it speaks a lot about who you are in a sense.

Generally, I can see why many would choose not to learn it. Most teachers being here short-term on a "mercenary" type basis, meaning: to pay off debts and with no real intention of teaching for a career, why spend the time and energy to learn a new language?

Ad to that the fact that you can get by with the most basic of Korean and with English and that can drain the motivation to learn out of most.

As for learning the language itself...it took some hard work, and it still takes work these days for me.

I became fluent but had lots of help through my wife and her family (constant and effortless practice).

Learning the language had some rough patches and problems but that is just par for the course with any new language and culture. In fact, you cannot separate the culture from the language if you want to really learn it and understand it. Figuring out the cultural norms also removes many of the frustrations of learning Korean...once you get why people do certain things..you just move on and deal with it.

Knowing Korean has been immensely beneficial for me here. It has opened professional job opportunities, made me a better teacher of English and allowed me to learn more and to better understand the society I live in. On a personal level, it allows me to interact with my in-laws without depending on anyone and to get to really know them. I also have the huge reward of being able to play with my 3 nieces here and to talk with them fluently.

On the work side, as a teacher, I can interact with my employer in his language and better understand what he expects and can tell him what I expect more clearly.

I can also use Korea as a teaching tool for vocabulary teaching and other areas.

In short, personally, it has been a gold mine.

The key to learning:

Take some courses up to a certain level (advanced Korean I was it for me) and immerse yourself through practice. This means, TV, movies, magazines, music and most of all conversation....

[ernie]

i've been in korea for just over a year now, and i think i'm experiencing some of the 'plateau' problems mentioned earlier...

i studied for a semester at a university, which gave me a good foundation but was bad because it was geared towards full-time students, not full-time workers! i was not about to put in another 2 hours of studying every night (after 4 hours of class and 8 hours of work!)... i can either do 20 hours a week at a uni or 4 at the YWCA... why is there no middle ground?!

my speaking, reading and writing are ok but listening is IMPOSSIBLE! i'm clearly NOT korean, so why do people speak so bloody quickly to me? also, my vocabulary is limited, so use words that i might understand please! also laughing out loud at my pronunciation is just plain ignorant and not motivating in the least... knowing some korean actually makes me feel like MORE of an outsider, especially when referred to as 'waygook' by people who KNOW my name!

i want to read more, but there aren't any books that are both interesting and at my language level... any suggestions? i've been asking around for more than a year with no results... i like comic books but they are so slangy that most of the words aren't in any of the dictionaries i have...

[Aurora_Redwinters]

Without reading the gibberish above me, I think at the very least, you should be able to do basic communication in Korean if you are going to be there.

Unfortunately there is no-one where I live at right now to teach me Basic Korean and it's hard to find a place online that has the alphabet spread out in such a way to make it easy to look at.

And the pronunciation... ugh. Japanese is so much easier for me, in that regard. I'm sure Korean would be too, if I had a little help.

[Been There, Taught That]