Korean Job Discussion Forums

[seoulmon]

Well, I've been trying to crack the code....How do you keep people from practicing English with you?

I try this:
Random person: HI! May I help you..
ME: (In Korean) I speak good Korean.
Random person: Oh, well I've lived in Chicago.
ME: (In Korean) See that way-gook. When I meet him, I only talk to him in Korean.
Random person walks away.
The End.

[prairieboy]

I usually just say "hi" back to them and "nice to meet you" as I turn my back and walk away.

I've got better things to do than to try to have a conversation with a stranger on the street wanting to practice English.

[schwa]

If a Korean has the gumption to approach me & make a remark in english I'm friendly & responsive & pleased to see the effort. It also indicates we arent all money-grubbing & rude.

[FierceInvalid]

I don't bother trying to avoid it. A conversation is a conversation regardless of motivation, and I often have fun talking with random strangers. I see English as a potential way of meeting people, not something that I should feel like I'm getting cheated out of if I'm not charging for it.

[camel96]

Yeah too many people have actually convinced themselves that the joy of their company is worth 50,000 won an hour.
That's so far from the truth it's laughable.

[jpal75]

Turn it into a cultural exchange. If you want to learn Korean this will be a great opportunity.
If not, help them out. What's a couple of minutes?
If you're in a rush be polite and say "sorry, I've gotta go".
If you believe that your company cost money then print out some business cards and hand it out...just don't get caught, else, work a deal with your boss to allow you to do this by printing out the hogwan name on it too, that way you help your boss generate some income and he'll be taking you out for soju binges...

[Gord]

[matko]

While it can be annoying, especially after a long day at work, I kind of appreciate it. It doesn't happen nearly as much in Japan as it does in Korea, but how often does it really happen for it to be that bothersome?

I would simply be polite, and if you're not in the mood politely excuse yourself. Say you're busy and have to go.

If it's on the subway or bus where you can't easily escape, pretend you are sleeping and then you won't have to bother. If they wake you up to talk.......well that's just rude.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I agree with the majority of posters. Not every conversation with a Korean is an English lesson. A short conversation with a stranger can be entertaining.

I say: Lighten up and enjoy it.

[Mr. Pink]

It all depends.

Around my neighbourhood, I speak to any adult that says hi to me. I ignore the children as they just so the "hi nice to meet you" - LAUGH and run away.

I figure it is always nice to be friendly with neighbors or people that are in my dong.

When I am taking the subway somewhere, or busy trying to get somewhere, I either ignore the person saying something, or I just do a quick hi and sorry I don't have time to talk bit.

I feel it is just as rude for me to ignore someone on the subway, or in Seoul, as it is for them to come up and talk to me out of the blue.

I was eating at Burger King once and some guy comes up and starts talking to me...um I AM EATING DUMBASS. So I have to say, sorry I am EATING go away. Like I have time to talk to you when I am eating my dinner. Like the guy was purposely hanging out in Burger King in the hopes some foreigners would pop in and help him with his homework. I know this as I say him trying every foreigner in there. DUMBASSES!!!

[tomato]

Hello, Seoulmon!

I have one bit of advice: move as soon as your contract is up.
The larger the city, the harder it is to dodge English-speaking Koreans, and Seoul is the worst of all.
It gives me a headache to hear "Can I help you?" every time I look at a subway map for 10 seconds.
So I only go to Seoul when I absolutely have to.
Then I head back as quickly as I can.

I don't know what really goes through a Korean's mind when he or she speaks to me in English, but this is what my id is telling me:

"All foreigners are alike, and you're no exception."
"You have a carefully prescribed place in our country, and if you don't like it, you can lump it."
"You are a helpless infant, and that's all you can ever hope to be."
"You are too stupid to even know simple things like hello and thank you in Korean."
"I don't care how you feel about how I'm treating you."
"You never tried to learn Korean. Or if you did, I don't appreciate it."
"My English is better than your Korean, so I have the right to sniff down my nose at you."
"My right to learn English is more important than your right to learn Korean."

Seoulmon, before you joined the group, I started two similar topics. One was entitled "If you speak Korean, why do Koreans answer in English?" The other was entitled "How do you feel about Koreans speaking to you in English?"
Sorry, I don't know how to create links to these topics. (Waterbaby, you got your ears on?)

I got a flurry of hate mail, just like you did, and I will probably get a flurry of hate mail now.
I think I know what the letters are going to say, so I shall answer some of those letters in advance:

If you will be nice to them, they will be nice to you.

Where I come from, the oppressed minorities tried that approach for two hundred years.
It didn't work.
Then they tried the opposite approach.
It worked.

You mean you want to practice Korean but you don't want Koreans to practice English? That's selfish!

I work 30 hours a week in the English classroom. That's enough.
Professional musicians don't walk down the street playing musical instruments.
Auto mechanics don't look under the hood of every car that's parked on the street.
Doctors don't carry tongue depressers around and look down people's throats.
So why should I speak English at all times and at all places?

Koreans don't get to meet very many foreigners, so they don't get to practice English very much.

You can't practice English with anybody else?
There are millions of English students in Korea; let them speak English to each other!
In my high school French class, we spoke French to each other in the lunch room, in the locker room, and everywhere else we saw each other. By the end of the year, we knew a good bit of French.

The Koreans are following the Golden Rule. If they met someone who spoke Korean in your country, they would appreciate it.

I'm not sure about this one.
On this message board, a Canadian said that he has tried speaking Korean to Koreans in Canada, and they resented it.

A Korean who has never seen you before doesn't know whether you speak Korean or not.

Then shouldn't the Korean at least give me the benefit of the doubt?
Shouldn't the Korean at least speak to me in Korean first?
Why am I guilty until proven innocent?

The Korean is trying to make you feel comfortable. So you should appreciate it.

Say that again the next time you see a gentlemen opening a door for a liberated woman.

You are setting a bad image of our culture.

Not half as bad as the image that the whiners must be setting.
Concentrate on them first.

You must have an advanced case of paranoia.
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