Korean Job Discussion Forums

[lostandforgotten]

Things I've noticed that Koreans are deprived of,

1. Lack of contact with those other than Korean
This makes Koreans desperate.
2. Lack of exposure to those other than Korean
This makes Koreans desperate.
3. Lack of opportunity to speak another language other than Korean.
This makes Koreans frustrated and desperate.
4. Lack of choice in men/women other than Korean.
This makes Koreans desperate. Girls will pay a lot of money just to see a foreigner at a Hagwon.
5. Lack of privacy and anonymity for being different.
Any difference is quickly noted and judged.
6. Lack of choice in lifestyle.

All these things deprive Koreans and make them look like sore, desperate people. Desperate people never looked good from my experience. What do you think?

[fortysixyou]

[Pyongshin Sangja]

Yes.

[Pyongshin Sangja]

Yes.

[tomato]

I hear what you are saying, but I wonder how the Koreans see their own culture as compared with ours.

I wish to make two points:

■ We all tend to see other cultures as restricting, but not see our own culture as restricting.

I have been in South America, where teetotallers seem to be in the minority.
The South American people saw me as deprived because I couldn't drink, whereas I saw drinkers on a slippery slope leading to alcoholism.

■ Anything that is unfamiliar to us may tend to look the same.

I once had a discussion with a popular music fan who did not necessarily downgrade classical music, but who thought that I was limiting myself by listening to only classical music.
This person probably did not perceive of a wide range of styles in classical music, as I do.

We might feel sorry for koalas for having to live their whole lives on a solid eucalyptus diet.
If koalas could talk, they would probably remind us that there are many different eucalyptus species and there is undoubtedly a wide difference in taste between the leaves of these different species.
The koalas might even brag about being refined connoisseurs in this eare.
On the other hand, most of us have never even tasted a eucalyptus leaf.
The koalas might call upon the familiar adage, "Don't knock it if you haven't tried it."
In the United States, most White people do not know very many Black people.
Therefore, White people tend to think that all Black people look alike.
The Black people, on the other hand, live in a White majority, and are therefore more experienced in dealing with White people.
For them, all White people do not look alike.
The Black people therefore do not understand our problem, and they sometimes even marvel at our idiocy.

Don't you think all turtles look alike?
Don't you think all snails look alike?
I do, too. They probably think all humans look alike.

[markhan]

Don't know. What I do know is that many Koreans (increasingly so these days) believe that most foreign English teachers in Korea are so desperate for a job that they are willing to give up their cozy life back home, including not seeing their family, friends, etc. for an extended period of time and come to a foreign country they know nothing about.

Predictably, in hoping to cover their "desperateness" in a foreign country, they compensate their insecurity by having a condescending attitude toward natives. And thus, for believing innocent thing such as �fan death,� (search the word in Dave and see how many returns you get) Koreans are mercilessly ridiculed. One OP goes far as trying to find the connection between �Not learning Chinese characters� with �Newspeak� and �Koreans being mindless drones.�

What is ironic is that there are many open-minded, adventurous foreigners who come to Korea to experiences what Korea has to offer (good and bad) and make a decent saving at that same time and yet, they are drown out by many idiot posts in this forum and in turn, make every foreign teachers look bad in Korea.

[sojourner1]

If you know and understand Korea's history, you will understand that Korea is very wealthy today and has the most options for personal freedoms than it ever has had, but still severely lacking in a foreigners eye. Even 20 years ago, Korea was still very poor and even more homogeneous in people and lifestyle than what you see today.

Korea was dirt poor, especially in the 1950's, when America intervened which resulted in 2 Korea's with the southern one being supported to develop infrastructure and economics using American ideas and technology. In the 1960's, the Americans sold the idea to Korea that Korea can advance by learning and using western science and technology. The Americans then invested more and more, sharing ideas, in Korea that allowed them to take on more of the world to the point of achieving great wealth and a highly productive and profitable economy of today. An economy that brings in people, ideas, and material things from the world offers more to Koreans than ever before who don't feel deprived or controlled like the way a foreigner might perceive it to be.

Compared to Korea's past, Korea is not perceived to be depriving it's people, but is allowing them more options than ever before though it still doesn't offer as many options and privileges as a western country. A Korean does not feel deprived like foreigners often do since foreigners are used to having more choices, freedoms, and things to do than you have in Korea and by being here, we are depriving ourselves of quality of life. Korea is culturally behind and seems to be a hollow shell of imitations which makes it boring and depriving for foreigners who spend lots of time in the country. We make these sacrifices to teach English so we can travel to the fascinating far corners of the world during vacation or after a contract.

Your average everyday Korean is deprived of many thruths such as most of the technological ideas, processes, and hardware being American, German, English, and French inventions. They see it all as being Korean, but I recognized the contrary. I can understand why the government has led them on as a collective in order to have the national pride and harmony necessary for advancement as a whole.

[GoldMember]

Not having a variety of people around from other cultures does not make people either frustrated, deprived or desperate!
Geez, and I thought some of my comments were dumb.

[ramikera]

Hello, everyone.

Well, I can see how one might make a statement like the one above, but I don't agree.
For beginners, I myself am from the U.S., and was shocked at some of what I saw when I first arrived here. But as I made some good Korean friends, I grew to appreciate the positive aspects of their culture and this redeemed the experience for me.

I think to make a blanket statement as lostandforgotten did would be a gross generalization and also a dishonor to the progress this nation has made. Now, I would be the first to say that heterogenuity is of tremendous benefit to any culture. And I have run across my share of negatives in the Korean culture. I work in a mostly-Korean work environment and deal first-hand with a lot of the culture that sometimes seem impractical or frustrating.

Yet, to look disdainfully upon such a nation would be very arrogant. On our part, as people who have enjoyed the luxuries found in many developed western nations, it would do us better to take this opportunity to appreciate what we have and to realize that we're not the center of the world. Even in the U.S., the social and economic freedom and equality that we enjoy has only been around for a few decades.

I have seen Korea become more "foreigner-aware" and "foreigner-friendly" even in the four years that I have been here, and I think more of that will come as the culture catches up with the economic developments.

Now, once again, I'm not making excuses for the Korean culture, as there is definitely a lot of negatives tied to it. But there are also a very rich culture to be found here, which has been eye-opening and benefiting for me. Also, what culture is there that does not have its drawbacks? I am embarrassed for the U.S. whenever I see an American getting angry at the shopkeeper or taxi driver for not speaking English! Let's remember that we are guests in THEIR country. In the famous words of Denzel Washington: "Incheon airport did not land on us... we landed on Incheon airport!" =)

I've met many a Westerner who has grown up isolated in his little sub-culture with limited exposure to foreign cultures, yet never realized it because his nation is homogenius on paper and oh, he likes General Tsao's chicken.

One thing I learned here is that it does us best to look to appreciate the positives in other cultures, to filter out the bad, and to respectfully share with them the benefits of our culture (not the negatives).

[tomato]

[jajdude]

Do most people in the world live in homogenous places, and do most people stay mainly within their own culture? I'm from a homogenous place, though university had a bit more diversity. I recall many years ago in my small town an Asian girl in the bar one night -- an unusual thing there. What's strange is when big cities, like in Korea, are like that small town.

A lot of places have more variety than Korea, but I think many are just as limited. It seems a drag to me never to speak to anyone from another country, but for many people it's just the way it is. Most people perhaps never give it a second thought. Koreans are a sociable lot though, and I can see some of the`awkwardness they have around foreigners.

[Seani]

Nicely said Sojourner1. Makes a nice change from the usual absolute drivel on here.

[nateium]

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

I don't think that all Koreans see themselves as desperate or deprived. If anything, they see the rest of the world like that.

This is a generalization, but it seems to me that most Koreans have absolutely zero interest in actually experiencing other cultures. They might want to go to Australia and take pictures or practice their English, but they don't want to interact.

And if they find out something that goes against what they believe in or what they've been told, then they get upset. Well, the younger people seem a lot more open, though...

Then again it's same with most of the English teachers. We come here thinking we should travel because it's what people do, and when we get here we build our little bubbles, eat mostly Western food, go to foreigner bars all the time, and don't try to figure the place out at all. It's actually incredible the amount of times I've heard people raving about a certain place because of all the foreigners that live there, or because there are lots of foreigner bars, or because there's an Outback Steakhouse, or a Western foods store.

Then eventually, after being here a while, we end up complaining that it's not like it was where we come from, ie: everyone's racist, the food sucks, the buildings are ugly... and come away thinking that Koreans should adopt more Western attitudes and behaviors.

But WHY??? So that we can understand them better? So that we can relate to them on OUR terms? What, we flew halfway around the world to convert Korea to the enlightened ways of their Western superiors?? And then to say that they dare to expect us to communicate with them on their terms in THEIR OWN COUNTRY??

I've heard people here going on and on about how they're actually proud to not be learning Korean, or to not know how to read, and then say that these people really need to learn how to interact with foreigners when most of us aren't even willing to meet them halfway, or even a quarter of the way. In fact, most Koreans here know ten times more English than most English teachers know Korean. The situation is actually SO bad that they're impressed when you know even a little broken, mispronounced Korean. Meanwhile they're speaking to you in semi-fluent English and only don't know what you're saying when you go a little faster than they can handle... it's actually kind of embarrassing, don't you think??

But really, it IS harder to actually take the time to listen and understand where someone is coming from than to simply state that they should change to be more like you.

[tomato]

ESL Milk has just joined the board a couple of months ago,
and already said what I have been wanting to say for several years but haven't had the courage.
잘 했습니다!