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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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 Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2003 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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| jajdude wrote: |
25%? No way!!! Even 5% is generous! Lived in Korea a few years? Less than 5% of Seoulites can communicate beyond quite basic English. And outside Seoul, gotta be less than 2%.... I am sure of this. |
So you have spoken to everyone in Seoul then? To all the 12 million+ residents? If not, on what do you base this claim of 5% in Seoul? Links please.
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2003 5:25 am Post subject: |
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| You need to speak to everyone? That's just from experience. Like a random sample. Take any hundred people at random and see how many will communicate and at what level. Shopping, taking taxis, buses, just living there for a couple of years makes it obvious not many Koreans know much English. It doesn't require science or anything, just everyday experience. I know a little Korean and get by on it, but sometimes have been around with a newcomer who tried to talk to people. They'd try to understand him and respond, but most couldn't respond much. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2003 11:22 pm Post subject: |
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| jajdude wrote: |
| You need to speak to everyone? That's just from experience. Like a random sample. Take any hundred people at random and see how many will communicate and at what level. Shopping, taking taxis, buses, just living there for a couple of years makes it obvious not many Koreans know much English. It doesn't require science or anything, just everyday experience. I know a little Korean and get by on it, but sometimes have been around with a newcomer who tried to talk to people. They'd try to understand him and respond, but most couldn't respond much. |
A hundred people out of 12 million is not a representative sample of the population. You made the claim that only 5% of the population of Seoul can speak English above a basic level. Where do you get this from? Do you have proof or just guessing? In the more affluent areas of Seoul, where most foreigners (including English teachers) tend not to live, the English level tends to be better. My friend lives in Bangbae (sp?) and most of the parents at his school speak reasonably good English. And that's just at one school. So it depends on where you live. 25% sounds more than reasonable to me. Everyday experience in a few parts of Seoul does not equate to a claim that only 5% or so can speak English fairly well. |
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Gord
Joined: 25 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003 12:38 am Post subject: |
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| jajdude wrote: |
| You need to speak to everyone? That's just from experience. Like a random sample. Take any hundred people at random and see how many will communicate and at what level. Shopping, taking taxis, buses, just living there for a couple of years makes it obvious not many Koreans know much English. It doesn't require science or anything, just everyday experience. |
Taking a hundred people who work in minimum wage jobs or jobs requiring no skills (of which many will have little to no post-secondary education) is hardly representative of a society. |
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Real Reality
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003 1:16 am Post subject: |
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| The survey of 1,000 people over 20 years old found that 74.2 percent find it hard to communicate in English or can hardly speak the language. Only 1.5 percent of the respondents said they are good at communicating in English. |
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matthewwoodford
Joined: 01 Oct 2003
Location: Location, location, location.
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| Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003 5:19 am Post subject: |
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Gee, could that be because *they speak Korean* (where's the heavy sarcasm emoticon?)! Seems to me he majority speak at least some English, at least in Seoul. And my experience is 98.5% of Koreans, no matter what level of English they've attained from beginner to advanced, always say their English is not good.
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003 7:15 am Post subject: |
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OK. So it was just my impression. About 2 years in Seoul. About 2 other outside Seoul. Seems to me very few Koreans speak much English at all. And wait a second, those at lower level jobs do represent a lot of the society. Anyway they're the ones we meet most and need to try and communicate with. I'd still bet not many pharmacists speak much English either. I must have met 20 or more of those in my time here. One or two could speak English beyond basic stuff I now know enough Korean for anyway. Sorry I still believe it's gotta be less than 5%....
However, gulp, I could be wrong.  Maybe I just don't meet many who can? Day to day life requires encounters with the people who sell stuff, the drivers, the less than elite. It would be nice to know for sure but it's hard to identify sometimes what "level" a person is. Sometimes in the past when drinking a few I spoke more Korean than I thought I knew. Now I seem less able to speak given my frustration with the pronunciation and x number of times being misunderstood, ignored or laughed at. Guess I see the hurdle they face trying to learn language? |
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Mankind
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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I work at a big Chaebol and have to say that passable English comes from about 25% of the employees at best (nobody in the company has a toeic score under 600). We are a joint-venture company with a major U.S. company and have a half-dozen Hanks on site at anytime and still it's awful. I spend half my day, giving advice on how to say things without pissing someone off.
7 Years and talked with thousands and thousands of Koreans. I'd say 5% is fair on average.
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