Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Caffeinated]

I had the impression that my students' English names were the ones given to them by their parents.

[Ruthdes]

As a teacher of adults, you'd think I wouldn't have to put up with silly English names, but I've still had my share of Dragons and Tigers. My favourite was Est. When I asked him to repeat it, he explained that it was "the superlative suffix - like the greatest". Go figure.

My pet hate is when I get "Call me John because my Korean name is too hard to pronounce for foreigners." ...Yeah, Jae Won is really hard to pronounce The other day I had a situation where I insisted that I could pronounce the Korean name if he would prefer to be called that, he said "ok you can practice". Eff you arsehole! I really had to bite back the sarcastic reply to that one.

[methdxman]

There are no kids named Billy or Bobby anymore.

Now we have retarded names like "Aiden" and "Connor" and "Bryce" in the U.S.

[pinishee]

Boys:

June
Hogan


Girls:

Leondra
Sunny
Aila
Effy

[pinishee]

[northway]

[alljokingaside]

Bitbot.
Hitler (a senior)

[nukeday]

Hitler is over-the-top, especially considering how little sense of humor Koreans would have if you introduced yourself as Hideki Tojo.

[alljokingaside]

Seriously. I just looked at the kid for like a minute straight, eyes squinting, mouth agape. Oddly enough, as the year progressed, we became...ok. It was a tender moment.

Now for something completely different...a friend told me about a "Hitler" bar somewhere in Busan. Though I'ven't seen it myself, pictures corroborate the story.

[interestedinhanguk]

Did you let him keep the name?

[alljokingaside]

I assumed he forgot about it and I just ignored it. The kid skipped for a solid month straight shortly after the initial class. That or slept.
I think it was only after I didn't freak out at him for catching him cutting that he started to stay awake. this was like a semester in.

[daskalos]

Adult Students:

Sun
Commando
Brave
Bone

My favorite was a child I taught at my first job in Korea, at an English Village. Lots of Captains and Supermans, but the best was God.

"God, please don't interrupt Jenny."
"Try it again, God."
"Yes, God, you may go to the bathroom."

[murmanjake]

An older korean guy walked up to me at the bar last night and started chatting.

Very very basic English. No sentences, just words like "fun" "drink" and "friends."

Eventually he tells us his English nickname:

"lulul"

After having him repeat it a few times we figure out what he is trying to say----rural.

I busted out laughing so hard. Not cause he couldnt pronounce it. But cause someone obviously named him that CAUSE he couldnt pronounce it. I don't know many koreans that could!

I tried explaining to him that he'd been the victim of a joke, but couldnt get it across.

[notinKS]

At the beginning of summer camp last year, we gave the students a list of the top 100 names in the USA (boys received boys' name, girls received girls' names). One of my boys picked the name "Jesus." I didn't have the heart to tell him it was actually a Spanish name and not pronounced the way he thought it was. He was a good kid, so I let him keep it

Also, after 4 years of teaching in the States, I think I have just as many weird name stories from there. For example, a set of twins named Topanga and Parice-pronounced like the city.

[NohopeSeriously]

To my surprise, I have a handful of English-speaking Korean relatives living in Canada who have French, Slavic and Indian given names.