Korean Job Discussion Forums

[michaelambling]

I recently left a very promising career in academia (I have a PhD in English, published a book and a few articles), because I was surrounded by pretentious idiots. In one seminar, a very attractive and liked PhD student went on about the "evils of globalization" and how unfortunate it is that English is taught everywhere on Earth, causing an erosion of local cultures. I replied by saying, "Despite how it looks to a rich white European, if I were a farmer in sub-Saharan Africa, I'd sure as hell want to learn English instead of being forced to do business with a tiny sliver of the world's population."

One of the reasons why I'm going back into TEFL is that I honestly believe in its importance for enterprising non-natives who want to succeed in a global economy. The only people who wouldn't like this trend are nationalists, unskilled white laborers, and pompous liberal arts majors with their heads so far up their asses that they're kissing their upper intestines.

Amirite?

[mole]

[RACETRAITOR]

I don't see how you and this student contradicted each other. It is an erosion of cultures and an opportunity to get to know the outside world at the same time.

[michaelambling]

[it's full of stars]

(Sub-Saharan Africans are yellow?)

Yes, you are right brother.

[jajdude]

How is learning a foreign language and learning about other cultures an erosion of a local culture? Sounds like an expansion of culture to me.

[yingwenlaoshi]

So you're going to take a salary cut because of this? Why don't you just forgot the whole profession and live in a redwood? There are some trees that need saving.

[michaelambling]

[yingwenlaoshi]

But if you're a professor for 10 years, you're going to be making more... Why give up a career to screw around in Korea?

[mindmetoo]

I agree with your sentiment. We're not forcing Koreans to learn english. That they chase you down on the street and beg you to give them lessons is evidence of that.

[greedy_bones]

After traveling a bit, I changed my outlook on globalization, or at least the spread of English. In a world with so many languages, it's pretty useful to have a lingua-franca. For example, I had a Korean friend who was dating a German, and they conversed entirely in English, because that was the language that they could both speak. Also, if you travel to anywhere that gets most of its revenue from tourists, people will converse in English because it's considerably more useful to use English as a second language than it is to use Korean, Tagalog, or any other language which is isolated to a single country.

[the_beaver]

[Koveras]

[Koveras]

[Koveras]