Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Forever]

http://asiancorrespondent.com/korea-beat/seoul%20government%20creating%20new%20volunteer%20english%20lessons#comments

so this guy is teaching Korean children

including - "Americans can't speak Korean"

and "answers questions from the children, who sit on their desks just like in an American classroom"

[ChopChaeJoe]

I speak a little Korean, and I'm often asked if I'm Russian. I really look nothing like a Russian. Irish-German.

[PigeonFart]

Those Irish-Germans do tend to look quite Russian though, so that mistake is understandable.

[ChopChaeJoe]

I really don't see any similarity. The Irish have an upturned nose.

[beercanman]

One of my, um, triumphant moments, was once on a bus, I heard the Korean guy telling his mate how foreigners cannot speak Korean. They were sitting next to the door, I was just across. The bus was pretty much empty. Just before getting out I said to them in Korean something like, "yeah, foreigner, Korean cannot do, too difficult" (easy expressions to learn really) Nothing special, but felt good to see their expressions. Actually they just smiled and had a laugh. They had said nothing offensive, but still, I had my little moment. Yeah I'm petty like that sometimes.

Watch what you say in public.

[mc_jc]

I got one for you~
I was on a date once with this woman who answered her phone in front of me. The person on the other end was her husband. She was talking all lovey-dovey in Korean as if I couldn't understand a word she was saying.
As soon as she finished her conversation, I excused myself by saying I was going to the bathroom. She didn't think nothing of it and continued eating. I carefully snuck out the door- screw that! The date was over!
Anyway- she called me about fifteen minutes later asking where I was and I told her in Korean I was home getting ready for bed. She tried to get all loud about it, but I hung up and blocked her calls.

Yeah- knowing Korean is VERY handy when meeting girls and sorting them out .

[Observe]

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[Old Gil]

[Observe]

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[Old Gil]

What are those levels? What does elementary mean?

[santafly]

It's a bit of a dilemma for me really -

I spent last year in Korea. I can read and write in Hanguel. I have probably a hundred word vocabulary, maybe more, but mostly food items. I can count, pay for stuff, order food.

I didn't think I would ever go back to Korea so I really didn't bother trying to learn Korean, it's not exactly a useful language. If I'm going to be taking classes or spending time studying shouldn't I do something worthwhile. The 3 most widely used languages are, in order, Chinese, Spanish, and English. I already speak Spanish. If I were working in China I would be psyched to learn Chinese (although I would probably settle for being illiterate). While I was in Korea I worked 44 hours a week in an office with 15 other people that all spoke English fluently. When I wasn't at work I was either with my girlfriend (again, fluent in English) or enjoying some private time.

But now I'm returning to Korea for another year and my relationship with my girlfriend is more serious. I want to learn some Korean - it's not a top priority but I would feel ridiculous not trying - especially because I love languages (especially Brazilian Portuguese). Hmmmm.......

[santafly]

I'd really much rather be studying Hindi or French.

[Hindsight]

It's true. I had to take Korean courses from fourth grade back at my elementary school in Springfield. I hated it. We had this Korean dude who just stood up there talking Korean and playing tapes of Korean, with no translation. I don't think he knew how to speak English because we said all sorts of nasty things to him in English, but he didn't get mad. I learned later he wasn't allowed to speak English in the classroom. They called it the "immersion" method. I couldn't understand a word of it. I was bored to death.

They forced me to take Korean. Nobody ever bothered to explain why I needed to know Korean, a language spoken by only 1 percent of the world's population. They didn't teach me about the beauty of Korean culture and the wonders of Korean history; they didn't tell me about all the wonderful Korean movies, books and TV sitcoms I could watch once I knew Korean.

In fact, most of my teachers actually taught me to hate Korea and told me that Koreans were out to destroy America. The newspapers and television had lots of stories about how Korean teachers were child abusers and drug users; they didn't actually give their full names, all of them were simply named Kim.

Adults told me that eating Korean food and listening to Korean music would make me less American. And the most important thing, above all else, I was taught, was that it was vitally important to preserve American culture and be a good, obedient American. As a little kid I figured that being a loyal American was more important than learning Korean.

So, naturally, I had trouble getting psyched about learning Korean. Most of the other kids were doing the absolute minimum of work, so I did the same. I spent every class goofing off, talking, playing with my cellphone or reading comic books. If the teacher asked the class to be quiet, we just talked louder and threw wads of paper at him or her. Then when I went to college I was required to take more Korean. I rarely came to class, but I passed anyway. The American government spent thousand, if not tens of thousands, of dollars trying to teach me Korean. All I can do is say sentences of two or three words, stuff like hi, what's your name and bye-bye in Korean.

Now I really wish I had paid attention in class. Who knew I would actually need to know Korean? But I can hold my head high, for I am still a good ignorant American.

[Konglishman]

[tomato]