Korean Job Discussion Forums

[lostandforgotten]

According to an English-Korean Dictionary on Naver,

barbarian

1 야만인, 미개인;야만스러운[야비한] 사람
2 교양없는 사람, 속물(cf. PHILISTINE 2)
3 이방인

According to a Korean Yahoo Dictionary,

barbarian [bbin] 단어장에 추가
1. 야만인, 미개인.
2. 교양없는 사람, 속물.
3. 외국인.
4. 〈역사〉 (그리스�로마인이 본) 이방인, 이민족; (기독교도가 본) 이교도; (르네상스기의 이탈리아에서) 이탈리아 태생이 아닌 사람.

According to Britannica.com,

Main Entry: bar�bar�i�an
Pronunciation: b�r-'ber-E-&n, -'bar-
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin barbarus
1 : of or relating to a land, culture, or people alien and usually believed to be inferior to another land, culture, or people
2 : lacking refinement, learning, or artistic or literary culture
- barbarian noun
- bar�bar�i�an�ism /-E-&-"ni-z&m/ noun

Are you still okay with Koreans calling you a 'foreigner' despite the term being equated with barbarians according to the definition in the English-Korean Dictionary?

[RACETRAITOR]

Yes.

[rumdiary]

[lostandforgotten]

Roget's New Millennium� Thesaurus - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: foreign
Part of Speech: adjective 1
Definition: alien
Synonyms: adopted, alien, alienated, antipodal, barbarian, barbaric, borrowed, derived, different, distant, estranged, exiled, exotic, expatriate, external, extralocal, extraneous, extrinsic, far, far-fetched, far-off, faraway, from abroad, immigrant, imported, inaccessible, nonnative, nonresident, not domestic, not native, offshore, outlandish, outside, overseas, remote, strange, transoceanic, unaccustomed, unexplored, unfamiliar, unknown
Antonyms: domestic, native, natural
Source: Roget's New Millennium� Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright � 2008 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

[Paddycakes]

Don't forget the Conan the Barbarian got all the chicks...

Not that most (or any) ESL teachers look like Conan, but it's still another angle to play if you get board of the 'I'm a Rockstar' line...

[Fresh Prince]

外 wei= outside
國 gook= country
人 in= person

weikookin=outside country person

=foreigner

[bluelake]

Koreans were referred by the Chinese, historically, as the Dong-i Jok (동이족/東夷族), which literally means the "Eastern Barbarian Race". To the Chinese, anyone who was not Chinese was a barbarian, including Asian neighbors. The second character, 夷, has a combination of characters, 大, meaning "big" and 弓, meaning "bow"; Koreans have taken it as a compliment, due to their historical prowess with a bow.

[RACETRAITOR]

[Thunndarr]

Don't mind it a bit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thundarr_the_Barbarian

[cbclark4]

I prefer the term savage.

[rationality]

[Typhoon]

No problem here.

[billybrobby]

If you look at its basic meaning, waygookin is a very neutral word, even more so than 'foreigner'. But the thing is, you can't seperate the word from the massive complex of prejudices and perceptions that Koreans have of waygookins. But there's the simple practical question: what the hell else would they call us? At any rate, not all of the connotations associated with waygookin are bad. As far as them calling us 'foreigners' in English, that's not really important, because they are thinking 'waygookin' in their heads. It's just a 1:1 translation.

[seoulsucker]

Korean: "Why did you come to Korea?"

Me: "To crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and hear the lamentation of their women!!!"

[IncognitoHFX]

I'm a barbarian. Awesome.

(A word's etymology only sometimes translates into it's implicit meaning in any language. There are tonnes of words we use in English that have terrible histories, but are stripped of their historical content and used freely).