Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mistermasan]

laugh now.understand later. confucius wasn't chinese. he would have been insulted at the term. he was loyal to whichever king/prince/warlord he was in the employ of. none of which were "china".

yes, geopolitical entites glom on to past figures to enhance their status by association.

[little mixed girl]

there are a number of people in japan who hate korea just as much as korea hates them.

there's books that you can buy in japan that are basically korea-bashing books.

there are japanese people that are surprised that what we call the "chinese animal zodiac", is from china. they believe that it's something totally unique to japan. there's japanese that are surprised that there are school lunches in america.
heck, there are japanese people that refer to anything non-japanese as "foreign". even after i give a presentation on america, i have kids asking me "in foreign countries (gaikoku) are there dogs??".

there's dumb people everywhere.
you'll find people in every country that believe that their people invented the sun and the stars.

[Homer]

[Butterfly]

[idonojacs]

A Japanese propaganda film is obviously not a reliable source for learning about Korean history. But neither, apparently, is the Korean version.

Two things struck me, the claim of polluted streets, and the backward technology.

That there was human and animal excrement in the streets is consistent with the current tradition of taking one's shoes off before entering your home, a school or a restaurant. Now if they would only stop urinating in public, maybe we could wear our shoes in school, at least.

Surely, Korea wasn't as primitive as this film clip portrays. But what I have seen in Korean museums of mechanical technology into the early 20th century is not much better. They were at least 400 years behind Europe, and that's probably putting it nicely.

This, to me, suggests a gross failure of leadership within Korea, historically. It suggests an insular attitude of shutting itself off from progress in the world outside Korea, of hidebound traditionalism, and conformist attitudes reluctant to question what they are told. In other words, it suggests characteristics of the Korean people we still see today.

There were other Asian countries in the 19th century that saw the winds of technological change, and took steps to adapt. I guess we all know of the story of Thailand from "The King and I," or "Anna and the King." However fictionalized these versions are, they do reveal a wise leader who planted the seeds of English and scientific education. Japan also sought to modernize, aggressively.

While I do not endorse colonialism or military aggression, it seems to me some of Korea's problems are it's own fault due to lack of leadership from the top, and meek conformity from lower levels.

Some of Korea's current problems are due to its failure to learn the lessons of its past, and its failure to assess its present strengths and weaknesses honestly. Conceit and self-deception are no substitute. The truth is obvious to the rest of the world, even if it is not to Koreans.

If Korea truly wants to join the 21st century, it needs English, desperately. It needs to open itself to the ideas and culture of the rest of the world. But I think some of the hostile attitudes we are experiencing as English teachers are due to Koreans not wanting to allow in ideas that threaten its traditional way of thinking. Korea seems to want English without the worldly ideas that comes with it. Perhaps that's why they seem to prefer the Koreanized pronounciation. They want English for internal use, only.

Korea should be honest about its history, it should stop blaming others and hating other countries, especially Japan. It should be proud of its history because it is entitled to be proud of how far it has come so quickly.

[tsgarp]

[Butterfly]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nOqKZptYOyU

My god, this from KBS -

[Newbie]

[Newbie]

[reactionary]

[idonojacs]

tsgarp:

[Butterfly]

[idonojacs]

I am not relying on a Japanese 60 second history of Korea.

I am in Korea, and I am inferring from what I am seeing principles of the Korean character I believe may have contributed to its historic problems.

One thing I see is Koreans do not know how to ask questions.

Try this experiment: Talk to your class about some subject and throw in one statement of fact that is obviously false. When you are through, ask for questions. I bet no one will challenge you.

I stumbled upon this while talking to several classes about a something. When through, I realized that something I said was inconsistent with what they were seeing. It was accidental. I then asked if they had any questions. No one said a thing, despite what was in front of their face contradicting what I had told them.

While you could say they are trained not to question authority, I think they just didn't trust their own eyes.

Try this experiment: Tell your class the story of the Emperor's New Clothes. Every elementary school child in the West learns this story, I believe. Every child knows that stories like this have a moral. Ask your class what the moral, or lesson, is of this story. I bet you not one in 100 Korean students will figure it out, and if they do, will have the courage to say it aloud.

The moral, in case any Koreans are reading this, is to trust your own eyes; to believe in yourself even when everyone else says something else; to speak the truth, even to kings.

They will tell you the moral is don't buy fancy clothes, don't be vain, even keep your mouth shut.

I believe this attitude, which is ingrained in modern Korean culture, must have existed iin the past, and I suggest it is what got Korea into trouble by not modernizing.

There is no sign of it changing. Apparently, Korean politicians and media feel they can tell Koreans the most patent lies, and the public will believe them.

You simply cannot have a modern, creative, scientific society with such attitudes. What you can do is run factories where everyone does what they are told. Korea is a land of obedient factory workers.

[yingwenlaoshi]

Ha! Those pics are hilarious. Explains a lot. They lived in huts in the 50's or later.

Not much has changed...

[contrarian]

Koreans are quite capable of answering and asking questions. One must realize that in Korea it is not "polite" or proper to be too direct or confrontational in asking or answering. From my limited experience the Japanese are not much different.

A good example of the is that the direct word "NO" (a anyo in Korean) is seldom used.