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perkxplosion
Joined: 18 Jan 2010
Location: gogo's. you know know.
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 Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 6:59 pm Post subject: Encouraging CNN Article |
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Actually ran across something positive on CNN for once.
http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/29/when-is-being-foreign-a-career-advantage/?hpt=C2
I'd like to hear about people's career advancements in Korea. I'm about to head home in a couple months but plan on coming back. This article is making me realize learning Korean could potentially have a big pay out other than simply making life in Korea easier. What opportunities are out there? |
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brento1138
Joined: 17 Nov 2004
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| Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 7:56 pm Post subject: Re: Encouraging CNN Article |
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| perkxplosion wrote: |
Actually ran across something positive on CNN for once.
http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/29/when-is-being-foreign-a-career-advantage/?hpt=C2
I'd like to hear about people's career advancements in Korea. I'm about to head home in a couple months but plan on coming back. This article is making me realize learning Korean could potentially have a big pay out other than simply making life in Korea easier. What opportunities are out there? |
I think learning Korean, if you can do it, will definitely pave the way to a very financially successful and fulfilling life here. That is, if you like Korea and want to stay here.
I'm 50/50 on it personally. I like living here in Korea for a variety of reasons... but do I wanna invest all my time and energy on learning a language I may never use after next year? Not so sure... If you want to learn Korean, lots and lots of time and energy must go into it. Not sure if that is something we all want to do. I've tried, and it's tough. Especially since I seem to always communicate in English, think in English, teach English...
But yeah. I've seen / heard of / met several foreigners working outside of ESL in Korea. To be honest, they often make double what we do, or more, have a very nice looking girl on their arm, drive a cool sports car, have good money saved in the bank, and look pretty darn happy. Although they sometimes tend to complain about their jobs (more in the realm of 'I can't believe they pay me so much to be the token white guy in the company...') I think they're doing pretty well.
Makes my job and career field seem questionable now. Guess ESL isn't the high paying, wonderful job I thought it was back in 2005...
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perkxplosion
Joined: 18 Jan 2010
Location: gogo's. you know know.
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| Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 8:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Well I think learning a foreign language can be especially difficult depending on the way you learn. For instance, "Gu Mon" means "Stop it" but the way I remember it is because it sounds like "Come on." So if it sounds like something I know then I can remember it. My friend on the other hand is learning Korean very fast and just somehow understands it easily. I wish I was that way. Ugh. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 4:56 am Post subject: |
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In relevant settings learning Korea can pay off handsomely. I will focus on how that works outside of Korea because frankly speaking, in Korea it can pay off faster and easily.
Quick hit list:
Foreign Affairs department of your home country.
Typically, asian languages are sought after in applicants. DFAIT (Canadian foreign affairs) has Korean as a priority language asset. Knowing Korean will boost your employability there.
Private sector
Companies that deal with asia or asian companies (read Korean) that deal with English speaking countries will look out for people with asian language skills. You will need to have relevant qualifications of course.
Independant consulting can be very financially rewarding and speaking Korean can pay off big time if you find yourself a consulting niche where your language ability becomes relevant.
Further studies: grad work
If you want to pursue a PhD in Asian Studies, many Universities require knowledge of an asian language...
Other public service departments
Other government departments with ties to international trade can also be good palces to make full use of your language abilities.
This is just the quick hit list. |
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misher
Joined: 14 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 6:41 am Post subject: |
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| Typically, asian languages are sought after in applicants. DFAIT (Canadian foreign affairs) has Korean as a priority language asset. Knowing Korean will boost your employability there. |
Patrick those are good suggestions but I know many people who have applied over and over for DFAIT and basically if you are a white male you are sweet feck out of luck. This isn't sour grapes from my colleagues but the truth. Your chances of getting in will be quite rough and the competition is intense. It is even worse if you want to work in Korea as Canadian diplomat.
If there are to be any Canadian staff at the Korean embassy (besides the ambassador) it will usually be Korean locals, or Korean-Canadian Kyopos (I know one that used to work there a few years ago but was then transferred back to Ottawa) that speak English and Korean perfectly. This was told to me by a former classmate of mine who is Kyopo and got on at DFAIT and worked in Seoul for 2 years.
I'm not discouraging anyone from learning Korean but if this is your one big reason why you want to learn the language then I would think twice about other options. Especially if you aren't ethnically Korean. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 5:25 am Post subject: |
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| misher wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Typically, asian languages are sought after in applicants. DFAIT (Canadian foreign affairs) has Korean as a priority language asset. Knowing Korean will boost your employability there. |
Patrick those are good suggestions but I know many people who have applied over and over for DFAIT and basically if you are a white male you are sweet feck out of luck. This isn't sour grapes from my colleagues but the truth. Your chances of getting in will be quite rough and the competition is intense. It is even worse if you want to work in Korea as Canadian diplomat.
If there are to be any Canadian staff at the Korean embassy (besides the ambassador) it will usually be Korean locals, or Korean-Canadian Kyopos (I know one that used to work there a few years ago but was then transferred back to Ottawa) that speak English and Korean perfectly. This was told to me by a former classmate of mine who is Kyopo and got on at DFAIT and worked in Seoul for 2 years.
I'm not discouraging anyone from learning Korean but if this is your one big reason why you want to learn the language then I would think twice about other options. Especially if you aren't ethnically Korean. |
Fair point on Kyopos and the Canadian Embassy in Korea.
The white male argument also has some wheels due to government hiring policies.
However, DFAIT (I worked with them on some cross-departemental projects on numerous occasions now) will hire someone with that critical language skill (Korea, Mandarin, Arabic...) not just for work in Korea but as proof that this person can learn one of these complex languages. DFAIT offers continous training througout postings.
Anyway, you are also right it is hard to get into DFAIT as a straigt outsider applicant. But, there are other ways to get work for DFAIT, namely contractual work, applying from the inside if you work for another departement...
My short list did have a few other options that can pay off.
Still, I sure did not learn Korean for professional reasons. Initially I decided to go for fluency because of my wife and her family and because I did not want to be reliant on Korean friends to translate everything.
Being at the expert of even advanced level in Korean completely opens up your options in Korea and gives you autonomy. It will remove so many of the little frustrations you may have as a foreigner and displel many things through understanding how things work more clearly...
Anyway, as with all things, up to each person to weight the effort required in learning Korean vs what they want to achieve. |
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