Korean Job Discussion Forums

[digsydinner]

I used to be a huge defender of "freedom of speech" and such when it came to speaking English in public...thinking Koreans were just ignorant when they told the foreigner to shut up. However, the more I see these types of situations, the more I'm starting to side with the Koreans.

I don't think it's the fact that you're speaking English that bothers them, but perhaps 99% of the time when a foreign person speaks English, he/she seems to need to speak extra loud as if announcing the person has the "gift" of English. It's like the person is saying "Hey Koreans, listen to me! I am a Westerner who speaks English. Please stare at me and wish you were me" sort of attitude. I've seen it so many times that I watch the reactions from Korean by-standers and now share their feelings.

Think so many of us can just avoid such negative reactions by just speaking at a normal voice.

[slothrop]

edit

[Bibbitybop]

I also think foreigners in Korea should get real degrees and stop using drugs. The OP has a great point. I agree. You people don't understand Korea's quiet culture.

[alphakennyone]

I've seen it happen both in Korea and Japan. Foreigners speaking in normal voices in English and another group of kids in the same bus/subway car SHOUTING in Korean/Japanese and shoving each other, etc.

Some suit will instantly ask the foreigners to "keep it down."

Two possible reasons:

a) Hearing a foreign language is annoying when you don't understand it (hey, bothered the hell out of me back home, but I never had the balls to shush some adults just for using their native language)

b) Foreigners are easier to "tell off" because they are outsiders. Lower on the social order than the teens, in fact.

[Joe666]

Most westerners talk fairly loud in relation to their quite Asian counterparts. I do not believe it is to garner attention. It's a function of western society.

[sharkey]

i can see what the OP is saying.. ive been on the subway a couple times and there has been two or three foreign people talking to each other and it was super loud... just no need to be that loud.. even i wanted them to shut up .. i was about 20 feeet from them and i could hear what they were saying and thats over the sound of the subway and other koreans talking...

[Fishead soup]

In Korea people of higher social status and the elderly are allowed to talk at a very high volume. The elderly are also allowed to comment when someone his junior is talking to loudly.

When a foreigner is talking loudly it is viewed that he/she is a poorly educated enlisted member of the US army.

[DeLaRed]

[lifeinkorea]

I spent 4 years in Japan, and sometimes when I got on the trains there was complete silence. People sat "in formation" and if anything fell you knew about it. This was a major change from my experiences in China where the Chinese would often spit on the sidewalk haphazardly while passing food stands.

The only real time I saw Japanese acting out or being loud was on the streets when they were trying to sell something. Here in Korea, I don't see that. Seoul station is full of advertisment frames being unused. The walls are blank. It has a very plain look, but when it comes to the trains, buses, or walking on the streets I hear very loud koreans and not loud English being spoken.

Visual cues get people's attention first usually (like color and size). I think what we are seeing is not loud English speakers (volume) but loud in the sense we get attention so anything we do is going to be observed to a greater degree than a Korean or person with Asian features.

If a foreigner came to your country and didn't speak your language, you would probably feel uncomfortable with them around too. This is just a natural feeling people have.

[ardis]

[some waygug-in]

It's not just foreigners who get told to keep it down, although those are the instances we would notice most.

One of my Korean tutors (from Busan) related a story to me about how she was embarrassed on the subway in Seoul because she was talking to loud. She was speaking away to her friend and never thought anything of it, and then they both noticed that everyone on the subway car was staring at them and giving them a strong hint to "keep it down". I think the point was that there seems to be a lower tolerance for loudness in Seoul.

I've also seen people tell one of those annoying salesmen to leave as the subway is not a "shijang".


The thing about older people is true though, they are generally given free rien to do whatever they like. I have seen young people move to the other end of a car (or even leave the car) if an elderly person is speaking too loud.

[Lostone7]

[harlowethrombey]

[Xuanzang]

For every loud foreigner. There are at least 5 LOUDER ajeoshi or ajummas saying yobosaeyo at any given time.

[moosehead]