Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jajdude]

That's a description of Koreans, regarding a movie called "Teach me English." Saw it in the IHT paper today. Are Koreans too obsesssed with trying to learn English? Seems like there are hagwons everywhere. Everybody seems to be studying it. Is it out of control? What's your opinion? It does seem to me they are overestimating the importance of our language a bit.

[buddy bradley]

No they are not. Simple example: try travelling without knowing any English.

[mo]

How many Koreans travel though?

[The evil penguin]

[some waygug-in]

[Ilsanman]

There was talk about making english the 2nd official language of Korea. Still absurd?

Also, with the grim market ahead of them, some Koreans have told me to get into a big company like LG or Samsung, you need a 850-900 on a TOEIC, which is extremely difficult to get.

[jajdude]

Yep,

Making it an official language is absurd when so few can use it much at all.

[Ilsanman]

When the old generation dies out, it will be more appropriate to make it their 2nd languaage. Give it 10-20 years.

[Arthur Fonzerelli]

The craze will be to learn Chinese in a few years...China has become Korea's biggest trade partner, surpassing the US just recently...

English hagwons will be converting into Chinese language hogwons in a few years... Make your money fast and leave...

[Sarah-in-Korea]

They need to be realistic. Koreans never get a chance to travel freely where they'd need to use English because a) they never get holidays and when they do they spend hours driving to their hometown, and b) they do 7 day, 19 country bus tours with Korean tour guides if they indeed DO manage to get away. Then, who are the people needing it for business? May as well make it that only rich young boys can study English coz they will be the only ones working for Samsung overseas.

Argue this if you like but after being around Koreans for 3 years this is all I see. The only two Korean people I know who speak English really well are young, have lived abroad for a few years, and have no intention of ever coming back here. They may as well have just learnt it when they got overseas than spend all that money on hagwons.

Frankly I think if everyone gave all their hagwon fees to the local schools their kids go to then this country would have the best schooling system in the world and the kids would work half the hours. If only....

[some waygug-in]

[quote="Sarah-in-Korea"]They need to be realistic. Koreans never get a chance to travel freely where they'd need to use English because a) they never get holidays and when they do they spend hours driving to their hometown, and b) they do 7 day, 19 country bus tours with Korean tour guides if they indeed DO manage to get away. Then, who are the people needing it for business? May as well make it that only rich young boys can study English coz they will be the only ones working for Samsung overseas.

Argue this if you like but after being around Koreans for 3 years this is all I see. The only two Korean people I know who speak English really well are young, have lived abroad for a few years, and have no intention of ever coming back here. They may as well have just learnt it when they got overseas than spend all that money on hagwons.


There is some truth to what you wrote, but I have to disagree. I know several Koreans, quite a few actually, who speak English very well. They have usually travelled to another country to study. But there are exceptions, especially with younger students.

Yes, I agree that most hagwans are a waste, but so are a lot of things I did in university. A lot of parents send their kids to hagwans as a kind of day care. If they learn a few words of English, that's a bonus.

If they weren't in English hagwans, they would be in math or science hagwans. Have you ever talked to your students about how many different "schools" they attend every day?

Cheers

[J.B. Clamence]

I think English is most important in countries like Korea not for travelling purposes, but for communicating with the outside world. Korean is only used in two countries in the world, and one of them is incommunicado to most of the world. Therefore, in order not just to travel, but also to communicte with the world (for example, to do international business), they need a language which is spoken widely throughout the world. And the reality is that English (like it or not) has become that language. How many German or Japanese businessmen know Korean? Most seem to know English, though.

I think that's what makes it so important to them. Korea needs English speakers in many different fields (especially business), which means that, in terms of success and career development, those who know English have a huge jump on those who don't. So of course, everyone who has any desire to "make it" is eager to learn English.

[Moldy Rutabaga]

As Waygugin suggests, I think we need to ask whether many parents are actually interested in having their children learning English, and how many simply use hogwons as babysitters in a country with little access to daycares. This might certainly skew any sort of survey taken. I don't teach children, but those of you who do can tell us how many parents are obsessive and how many don't really care what their kids do, as long as they're out of the house. Sending a little child to four hogwons a day seems questionable to me. Some of these schools could be teaching Assyrian and the parents might not notice.

I think there is no question that English is the international language of business and other fields as well. It wasn't always, of course, and won't be always, but for now it is a useful work skill.

Ken:>

[schwa]

Poor parents make considerable sacrifices to send their kids to english hagwons with an eye to giving their kids an advantage in life. English does factor into academic assessment & employment opportunity. Native speakers who blow off teaching as babysitting are ripping off their employers & most especially their students.

[some waygug-in]