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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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tomato
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
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 Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:27 am Post subject: |
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| beercanman wrote: |
How many Koreans have contact with non-Koreans?
That's all it is. Near zero contact. So, a bunch of ideas about "foreigners" which is only around 99% of the people in the world, but never mind, stick to your ideas. . |
Come to think of it, I think you're right.
My first job was in Gimcheon, which is a rather big city.
I asked the students in an advanced class if they ever met a foreigner who spoke any language besides English.
One of them had, on a trip to Seoul.
I asked the other students if they ever met even an English-speaking foreigner anywhere except right there in the English school.
None of them had. |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:32 am Post subject: |
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| NightSky wrote: |
some people are making good points here, that it's not necessarily more degrading than anything else native speakers here may do
plus they are generally getting well paid for their trouble |
Not everything is about money.
These fools are lowering the public perception and estimation of foreigners. In a country where 99% of koreans have had no actual contact with a foreigner, this becomes a serious matter.
Acting like a tit on TV is not harmless fundraising, it projects the idea that foreigners are a joke.Who has to live with the consequences? the long term ESLers in this country. The idiots over here to make quick cash on holiday visas simply count the money and head back to the airport after a couple months.
Everytime koreans (both children and adults) call out some stupidity at you in English after they've passed you on the street, its because the only foreign person they've ever encountered was someone acting like a tool on TV. And thats before we even get onto the cases of people playing the roles of criminals or womanising perverts for the cameras and skewed documentaries. |
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chemicalblur
Joined: 30 May 2009
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| Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:34 am Post subject: |
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| tomato wrote: |
| beercanman wrote: |
How many Koreans have contact with non-Koreans?
That's all it is. Near zero contact. So, a bunch of ideas about "foreigners" which is only around 99% of the people in the world, but never mind, stick to your ideas. . |
Come to think of it, I think you're right.
My first job was in Gimcheon, which is a rather big city.
I asked the students in an advanced class if they ever met a foreigner who spoke any language besides English.
One of them had, on a trip to Seoul.
I asked the other students if they ever met even an English-speaking foreigner anywhere except right there in the English school.
None of them had. |
Not sure what your point is. The reverse is true as well. Go to Hicksville, USA (Alabama, Mississippi, etc) and ask any of the local schoolchildren if they've ever met a Korean-speaking foreigner. None of them will raise their hands. In those regions they think every Asian is Chinese anyway and you'll find the same level of stereotypes.
It's not a Korean-thing. |
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crossmr
Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Location: Hwayangdong, Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:46 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
My first job was in Gimcheon, which is a rather big city. I asked the students in an advanced class if they ever met a foreigner who spoke any language besides English.
One of them had, on a trip to Seoul.
I asked the other students if they ever met even an English-speaking foreigner anywhere except right there in the English school.
None of them had. |
I've been to gimcheon. Unless I blinked and missed something, it didn't seem that big.
Its a pretty middle of nowhere stop on the ktx, and other than visiting the temple nearby, I can't see any reason for any foreigners to go there.
Apparently its a huge city with really low density. 150,000 pop.. not that big, not even by north american standards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimcheon |
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tomato
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
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| Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 2:51 am Post subject: |
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| chemicalblur wrote: |
| It's not a Korean-thing. |
Did I say it was? |
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NightSky
Joined: 19 Apr 2005
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| Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 3:12 am Post subject: |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
| NightSky wrote: |
| ... degrading.. if you work in a hagwon (I don't, but..) you are probably singing the ABC song and clapping and doing all that stuff anyway, just to a smaller audience, but if you have cameras in the classroom who knows who is seeing you? |
most hagwons don't have cameras and do you think it's the hagwon teachers specifically (compared with public school folk) who are reduced to singing songs and clapping? having taught plenty of 4-12 student hagwon classes and a few 30-35 student public school classes let me tell you there is a much greater impulse to dumb down lessons with huge classes |
well, I don't know, as I don't teach public school either. anyway, my point is that many of us may have to do on a daily basis what is being scoffed at as humiliating just because it's on TV--and may be paid less for it on an hour-by-hour basis as well. |
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beast
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 6:20 am Post subject: |
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| The Elephant Man could have made a ton of dough here. |
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SHANE02
Joined: 04 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 6:41 am Post subject: |
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| The korean gag men look much more pathetic than anything else on TV here, and they are loved. I hate that young chul whatever his name is idiot and how many times is wearing a dress funny anyway? The lack of intelligent humor/political satire in Korea says allot really. |
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aboxofchocolates
Joined: 21 Mar 2008
Location: on your mind
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| Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 6:59 am Post subject: |
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| crossmr wrote: |
This was brought up a few months ago when people were talking about that god awful "Surprise" TV show. That is just an abortion. |
Do people refer to crappy tv as abortions now, or did you mean aberration? |
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tomato
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
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| Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 7:10 am Post subject: |
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The same thing seems to be true in Japan, too.
On page 160 of Japan's modern myth by Roy Andrew Miller:
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| In a typical scene, a Japanese person collides with the hen na gaijin [strange foreigner] in a crowded subway passage. The Japanese tries to apologize to the foreigner in hatling English ("aimu soo saarii"). The foreigner politely says, in understandable if perhaps not letter-perfect Japanese, that he is sorry too, it was as much his fault as it was the fault of the Japanese, and so on. The Japanese, who had just picked himself up off the floor, falls down again, thunderstruck. The foreigner is speaking Japanese! Unbelievable! Incredible! Unnatural! |
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Thiuda
Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Location: Religion ist f�r Sklaven geschaffen, f�r Wesen ohne Geist.
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| Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 8:57 am Post subject: |
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I work as a 'foreign reporter' on a weekly entertainment show for a public broadcaster. I was offered a shot at the job because I knew one of the camera men working for the show. Initially I was wary of taking the gig because I thought I was going to make a fool out of myself, but I'm glad I took it. In the eight months that I've worked for the show I've done things that very few other foreigners have had a chance to do. My favourite so far was joining the military for a day of basic training out in the field, which included tossing grenades at a target looking like a NK soldier. I've also enjoyed a temple stay, visiting festivals throughout Gangwondo and meeting a lot of interesting people.
For the show I've also done things you might consider less 'cool', like modelling traditional clothes, or dressing up like an adjuma and goofing off. Also, I speak mostly Korean on the show, which is difficult for me and probably makes me sound less erudite than when I'm speaking my native language. But, since the show is an entertainment show, maybe all of this isn't entirely surprising.
I don't see how what I do reflects negatively on the foreign community. First of all, the audience is well aware of the fact that they're watching entertainment TV, and, secondly, my Korean colleagues do the same things that I do. Additionally, we get quite a bit of positive feedback regarding the show.
I do what I do because I enjoy it; because it has provided me with opportunities, and because I'm learning a lot. I don't think it is appropriate for someone else to label me a fool because they feel their image has been tarnished in some way. Are you really so insecure that you feel it necessary to attack others for the work they do, simply because you feel it reflects negatively on your image?
It seems to me that those of you who decry foreigners on Korean TV underestimate the audience, overestimate the importance of TV shows and care too much about image. Try and peel yourself away from the TV once in a while and remember: The world does not revolve around you. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:10 am Post subject: |
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Then again the reason they accept it is probably the same reason someone goes on Fear Factor and wolfs down who knows what.
"Hey, I'm on TV"
I personally want to meet these people and make as much money as possible off of them. |
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Oreovictim
Joined: 23 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 2:27 pm Post subject: |
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| crossmr wrote: |
They take it because the pay is high and if they don't otherwise have a visa some of these places give out 6 month visas for like 1 day of work.
This was brought up a few months ago when people were talking about that god awful "Surprise" TV show. That is just an abortion. Half the people on it aren't native speakers and none of them can act.
however someone mentioned that even for a single days work they could be getting anywhere from 200,000 to over 1,000,000W. |
Ha-ha! I work on Surprise. I don't know who told you that it's possible to make over 1,000,000W for a single day's work, but that's not true at all. It sounds like something a foreigner would say to a Korean chick that he had just met.
I remember a former coworker asking me what I was doing for the weekend, and I told him that I'd be working on Surprise. He said something to the extent of, "I don't see how people can waste their time, humiliating themselves on those rubbish shows. Where's your self-respect?" So how did this guy spend his weekends? Getting hammered at the bar while watching "the rugby game" with his homophobic jock friends.
To me, it's a nice change-of-pace. I've investigated murders, been interrogated by the police, killed on the battlefield (my students love it when I die), hijacked on a plane, etc. But if it gets to the point where I have to dance around in a tutu or play the "evil foreigner who preys on helpless Korean women", then I'll know that it's time to stop. |
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ardis
Joined: 20 Apr 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 4:09 pm Post subject: |
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Not all foreigners care about "dignity" or how they are representing a group of people, and they don't really have to. It's embarrassing but hey, it's their choice.
As others have said, it's not about being a "foreigner", it's about being a human being. Humans do stupid things to make money. This isn't new. |
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crossmr
Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Location: Hwayangdong, Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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| aboxofchocolates wrote: |
| crossmr wrote: |
This was brought up a few months ago when people were talking about that god awful "Surprise" TV show. That is just an abortion. |
Do people refer to crappy tv as abortions now, or did you mean aberration? |
Anything utterly crappy that is just truly bad can be referred to as such. I rarely use it but feel its appropriate for this show.
| Quote: |
Ha-ha! I work on Surprise. I don't know who told you that it's possible to make over 1,000,000W for a single day's work, but that's not true at all. It sounds like something a foreigner would say to a Korean chick that he had just met.
I remember a former coworker asking me what I was doing for the weekend, and I told him that I'd be working on Surprise. He said something to the extent of, "I don't see how people can waste their time, humiliating themselves on those rubbish shows. Where's your self-respect?" So how did this guy spend his weekends? Getting hammered at the bar while watching "the rugby game" with his homophobic jock friends.
To me, it's a nice change-of-pace. I've investigated murders, been interrogated by the police, killed on the battlefield (my students love it when I die), hijacked on a plane, etc. But if it gets to the point where I have to dance around in a tutu or play the "evil foreigner who preys on helpless Korean women", then I'll know that it's time to stop. |
The 1,000,000 wasn't for surprise. People were discussing various shows and that range I listed was (from my memory) for the various shows and opportunities that some people had listed.
Everyone who watches rugby is homophobic? |
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