Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

[Ilsanman]

Usually my korean speaking is met with friendliness or curiosity.

Occasionally it is met with hostility, as people find out they can't treat me like furniture.

[jaebea]

From the posts in this thread, it seems proficiency with the Korean language amongst foreigners will draw one of two responses:

Either a favourable, positive response, or a regressive/agressive, negative response.

That's fair enough. It's much of what immigrants will experience in any other country. There have been people here who have posted on the record saying they feel uncomfortable when they meet Asian people who speak English fluently. Other people will be disappointed when immigrants don't speak English to a level they deem sufficient. It'll happen pretty much anywhere you go.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no apologist. If you're a Korean moron or an Australian moron, you're still a moron. But I think there is a definite perception of the Korean language amongst Korean people which isn't there within say, Australians and English. Whether that perception is positive or negative varies.

I talked to someone in Pusan who was very proud of the fact that Korean is the most technical/scientific language around. He took a bizarre satisfaction with the fact that my Korean was compartively poor compared to him, especially when it came to the southern dialect. I would speculate that he felt that his social position (he was a few years older than I was) was under threat, and he needed to assert his position by undermining my bilingual ability.

In comparison, some people I've met with Seoul are very pleased, and often amazed that I can speak Korean to the level that I do, considering my background. Their efforts to correct my Korean are welcome on my part and I enjoy my time with them immensely.

There's a bit of a bloody life story and a half. :)

Sorry.

jae.

[On the other hand]

[jajdude]

I find my students are pleased I know even a little Korean and can look up words in the dictionary and write them on the board. My Korean is pretty weak seeing I have been in Korea several years. But then the students also tell me how hard it is to understand the other foreign teacher who just arrived from the US a while ago, knows no Korean, and doesn't yet seem to grasp fully how little English they know, and how it is crucial to keep it slow and easy if you hope they might understand you. I think my first year teaching in Korea was harder because I knew no, or little, Korean, and didn't appreciate really how little English they understand.

[Butterfly]

[TheMrCul]

kangnamdragon wrote:

[TheMrCul]

Butterfly wrote:

[Corporal]

[Butterfly]

[mithridates]

It's a little bit unfair just looking at a picture and being told to guess. Usually you can tell partly from the face, but also from their style and mannerisms, even before they open their mouth.
But if you see a girl cover her mouth while laughing or saying 'eeeeeeeeeeeeee?' that's a Japanese girl.

[matthewwoodford]

[matthewwoodford]

[TheMrCul]

matthewwoodford wrote:

[Gord]