Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tomato]

Hello, Jajdude!

I know exactly how you feel.
Here is what I find to be the two most common assumptions:

If you get in a taxi,
you are going to the bus terminal.

If you are at a ticket counter at a bus terminal or train station,
you are going to Seoul.

[itchy]

[Gladiator]

On a good day I can call Hanaro Tongshin to arrange a technician to re-connect my modem, describe basic symptoms to a doctor, place orders by phone, make basic enquiries and if it's a really good day discuss topics for which I've got a fairly large bank of vocab. and structures ready: immigration, marriage, difficulties of living in Korea etc. Low intermediate language functions really, nothing that special.

On bad days when I'm feeling despondent and utterly disconnected from Korean life my lang. performance nosedives so drastically I can't even mouth basic 'Insamal'. I'm an emotional beast and my performance with K.L. is closely linked to how positive I'm feeling about the culture and language at a given time. If I've got a particularly unsympathetic listener, somebody with a "closed" channel who can hear or only chooses to hear English or am just in an unreceptive environment for foreign spoken Korean (most international business settings) I just use English and grade the message accordingly.


Some of the older generation expect you to speak Hangukmal but just as many Koreans ask you to speak only English or cannot understand why you are bothering to learn. There are at least four verb collocations in Korean for "To practice English on or with a foreigner" which should tell you all you need to know about the Korean relationship to foreigners and English. I don't get into language duels with English speaking Koreans, I respond in whatever language I'm addressed in and try to behave in a grown up way. Nothing will change Korean's linguistic perceptions of foreigners. I bet even old Horace Underwood get's the "Speak English" routine sometimes!

[Psy]

I speak, read, write, and type both English and Korean fluently.
But that's what translators/interpretors have to do. I can translate most translators as well. Bad accents! lol.

[Zyzyfer]

[itaewonguy]

I fall into that catagory... where..
when I first came I learned to read and write.. then was keen on learning some basic stuff.. left after 8 months.. come back 1 and half years later.. still remembering what I knew.. might have learned a few more sentences.. still have never offically studied it!! except the few days my girlfriend taught me to read and write..
stayed another 8 months.. and left for 1 year...
came back still remembering what I knew.. never studied anything again.
now been here 3 years... I have learned alittle more.. I think I learned all my korean in the forst 8 months and just never forgot it..

I have of course learned some new things.,. but again! I have never made an effort to study! I get by on what I know..
NOW! I have this love hate relationship with korea so I lack motivation to learn anything korean... If I took a course a 6 months intensive course I would really benefit from it! im a sure.. maybe one day I will..
but now.. I get by fine without.. of course I would do so much better with it
... work, time, motivation, dedication, all play factors... perhaps when I love korea again like I did when I first came.. I may cut some hours and do a short course and some exchanges... and really make an effort..

but for now.. I have other things in my life which are far more important.
also I am not a big fan of studying alone at home..

so for the time I have been.. my pronunciation is pretty good koreans tell me.. my vocabulary is limited , and my conversation is also..
I am not basic , but I am not high level either..
I have no problems to get what I need or make my point across..

if I could go back in time.. I would make a korean girlfriend that couldnt speak much english.. and I would focus on learning her language than her learning mine.. thats why those indians, pakistians, etc.. speak fluent korean!!
anyway.. one day!!

[Mashimaro]

[seoulmon]

When I travled in China it was night and day from Korea. People don't mind speaking Chinese, in fact, they expect you to speak Chinese. Wow!

Here I have these little battles just to speak Korean. Example:

ME (in Korean): I would like *****.
Waiter: (in English): So you want *******.
ME (in Korean): I speak good Korean.
Waiter: (in English): What?
ME (in Korean): I speak good Korean.
Waiter: (in English): What?
ME (in Korean): I speak good Korean.
Waiter: (in English): What?
(finally I write it)
Waiter: Oh. (still in English). You say Korean very good.
ME: (in Korean): Please don't speak English.
Waiter: (in English) I speaking English.
ME: (in Korean) Yes, you do but now we speak in Korean.
...and so on.


Japan was similar to China. Me and my friend were talking about this, people who've lived in Japan for 4 years speak Japanese really good. Even people who are adverse to learning languages.

But in Korea it is not unusal to see people whove lived in Korea for 4 years unable to make a complete sentence.

(next letter: my big KOREAN LEARNING TIP...stay tuned!)

[Shincheon_Blues]

Anyone that "gets down" on an individual for having less than perfect production skills in a second language is (in this poster's opinion) an ass. Im an ILR 3 in Korean and am ocasionally asked to repeat myself when speaking it, though a listener most certainly thoroughly understood me. Why should I care? I've asked Koreans to repeat themselves myself, though they spoke excellent English. Why? I probably wasn't paying attention or didn't expect concise English.

You've got to crawl before you walk, and walk before you run.

[Eazy_E]

Count me as a short-termer. I've been here for four months and will probably be here for one year.

The thing that strikes me is how much my motivation for learning the language varies from day to day. Some days when I come home and I'm bagged from having to wage war with 100 insolent little heathens, the last thing I want to do is sit down with a book and start studying their language (which is one of the most difficult for an English speaker to learn).

Still, despite the fact that I will only be here for a year I feel like learning more of the language is worthwhile. I know how to order meals in a restaurant, buy a train ticket, talk to the cabbie, etc.... "survival Korean" in other words. I don't really need to know more. But when I'm not exhausted from work and I'm out and about, I realize how nice most Koreans are and also how little English they know. This makes me want to learn more, so sometimes I get a Korean friend (usually my co-worker) to write down a phrase on a piece of paper. I memorize it and use it when I'm out and about. It usually helps you remember because I find Korean vocab words to be very difficult to retain rote style.

[Eazy_E]

I really don't like the feeling when people talk at me and I don't have a response cuz I didn't know what the frick they just said. You can only say "mullayo" so many times. So in response, I've developed a guilt complex about not knowing enough Korean yet. I wish guilt was a better motivator. Maybe it's because I'm not Catholic.

[Juggertha]

I'm a little ashamed of how much my interest has wained in the last year. I keep saying "I should study or try harder.. " and never do.

hmm speaking of which.. I should get off the comp and go study abit.

[Psy]