Korean Job Discussion Forums

[matko]

When I lived in Korea, I felt the language was different but not necessarily as annoying to my ears as say Chinese or some other languages. Even when I moved back to Canada and taught Koreans, the language was not annoying. In fact, it was kind of cool being able to pick out the Korean amongst the myriad of languages that one hears on the streets of Vancouver.

However, I've been in Japan for a while and have been watching a Korean drama. The shrillness and whiny sound that I am hearing is driving me BANNANAS!!! I hadn't realized how WHINY Korean sounds!! Especially the women!!!

Man, the only reason I'm sticking it out is to see how much Korean I actually still remember!!

Anyway, what languages do you find annoying?

[IconsFanatic]

Of Northeast Asian languages, I'd have to say Japanese is the least annoying to the English-speaking ear, Mandarin is in the middle, while Cantonese and Korea are the most annoying.

Don't get me started on Vietnamese!

[matko]

Other languages I find annoying; Swedish, German and Portugeuse (especially the Brasilian version)

Icons,
I also agree about Vietnamese!

Man, I'm easily annoyed!

[camel96]

Usually I think it depends on the person speaking it.
For example French can be the most beautiful language in the world or the most snooty and obnoxious. All depends on whether it's being spoken by some beautiful goddess or some arrogant, uptight t-wat.
For me the worst is Hebrew and I guess Korean is pretty high on the list.

[princess]

I think Korean is a beautiful language. I love to hear a cute Korean guy speak. Mmmm^^

[IconsFanatic]

Bunch of Seoul puffsters! Only Busan produces real men!

[Cthulhu]

Agreed. To a Seoulite a Busanite speaking Korean is really annoying.

[katydid]

Out of the Asian languages that I have heard, I like Japanese the best, then maybe Korean then maybe Chinese (I know there are two dialects, Mandarin is probably what I am thinking of) though that may have to do with the fact that I am more familiar with spoken Korean than I am with spoken Chinese.
For Western languages, I like to hear Italian and French, don't like German at all. Yuck.

[Bulsajo]

Dutch.
Apologies to Dutchman and any other peopel of Dutch decent.
It's nothing personal, I've met a fair number of Dutch people over the years and on the whole liked them very much, but the language just sounds worse than German or Flemish to my ears- much more gutteral, like somebody is about to hawk a loogie on to the sidewalk in front of you.

[OiGirl]

I enjoy hearing Korean, I mean compared to other Asian languages, because I actually understand some of it.

Japanese drives me crazy because I feel like I should be able to understand it, but I can't.

Mandarin brings back memories of an ex. But I don't understand but a handful of words, most of them not appropriate for mixed company.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I think Korean sounds quite nice except when spoken by those whiny young women in coffee shops. It makes me want to reach out and slap them. But except for those isolated individuals, I like the sound of Korean.

I've read the lyrics to some songs, especially by Kim Kwang-Suk, and think they are pretty even though I don't know what they mean.

The languages that annoy me are the sing-songy ones.

[little mixed girl]

.....

[Mr. Pink]

The only thing that annoys me is I can't understand enough of it

I love the sound of Chinese, both Manderian and Cantonese...but I figure I should buckle down and learn Korean before attempting that.

[Joe Thanks]

[Joe Thanks]