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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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wishfullthinkng
Joined: 05 Mar 2010
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 Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 8:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Chet Wautlands wrote: |
| wishfullthinkng wrote: |
| Julius wrote: |
| No place is perfect and the human race would never have progressed without that default "dissatisfied" setting. |
of course no place if perfect, but we still can make smart choices on where we live.
i would never choose to go to a mayonnaise party and proceed to complain about it, seeing how that would be quite stupid of me to even go in the first place because i strongly dislike mayonnaise. |
Getting PRETTY tired of the anti-mayonnaise members of this board. |
join the cause chet... we can take down the monster known as mayonnaise if we band together. |
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Illysook
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:37 pm Post subject: |
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| I spent 2 years and 4 months in Korea and I arrived home 2 weeks ago and even though I don't have a job, or much hope of finding a very good job, I have no desire to go back. If things don't work out here, I'll try China, or maybe the middle east. Conditions may not be better in those places, but they can't be much worse. |
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Chet Wautlands
Joined: 11 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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| wishfullthinkng wrote: |
| Chet Wautlands wrote: |
| wishfullthinkng wrote: |
| Julius wrote: |
| No place is perfect and the human race would never have progressed without that default "dissatisfied" setting. |
of course no place if perfect, but we still can make smart choices on where we live.
i would never choose to go to a mayonnaise party and proceed to complain about it, seeing how that would be quite stupid of me to even go in the first place because i strongly dislike mayonnaise. |
Getting PRETTY tired of the anti-mayonnaise members of this board. |
join the cause chet... we can take down the monster known as mayonnaise if we band together. |
Sure, why not? I'm on board! |
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ThingsComeAround
Joined: 07 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:05 pm Post subject: |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| ThingsComeAround wrote: |
| More importantly than refuting the OP's obsession with trying to deter newcomers, I'd like to ask the OP- why did you come and stay in Korea? |
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World Traveler wrote:
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While money does hold some importance to me, it was not my main reason for coming here. I realize that this is not the case for almost everyone else. Very few people I've met care about what is happening to the people of North Korea. I came here so I could learn the Korean language so I could help them. Do you have a problem with that? |
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Did you really believe that, UM? I sure don't 
I could name some better locations for "helping" North Koreans- China and Russia for starters.
If what he said was true, he should know that South Korean and North Korean have developed into different dialects- he's not working in an old-age home where he has access to halaboji Korean, so much of the Konglish he learns would hinder his efforts rather than help.
China & Russia would be better options as he could speak with REAL NORTH KOREANS rather than being here in the South where his contact with them will be limited.
But he is STILL HERE and complaining.  Load of fluff. |
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koreatimes
Joined: 07 Jun 2011
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| Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:23 pm Post subject: |
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"I work very hard and make up great prans
But nobody ristens, no one understands
Seems that no one takes me serirousry" |
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Malislamusrex
Joined: 01 Feb 2010
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| Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 12:42 am Post subject: |
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| all I'm reading is wawawawawa my little feelings are hurt. |
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Squire
Joined: 26 Sep 2010
Location: Jeollanam-do
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| Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 4:53 am Post subject: |
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I may just be bad at learning languages but I find Korean really difficult. I study several hours a week and often meet a language partner on Sundays, but still don't feel as if I've made a significant breakthrough. The worst thing is it's so frustrating to try to practice it. Shop assistants laugh at me when I form the most basic sentences, even co workers at my school still laugh if I say the most basic things like hello and goodbye. If I ask how much something costs in a shop they always pick the calculator up instead of actually telling me
When people do respond in Korean I feel they aren't simplifying the way they talk to accomodate me. I may be wrong some of the time but that's the impression I get. Still, I'm determined to have a basic conversational ability by the end of two years even though I know I'll never use it again |
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Chimie
Joined: 05 Oct 2011
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| Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:03 am Post subject: |
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| Squire wrote: |
I may just be bad at learning languages but I find Korean really difficult. I study several hours a week and often meet a language partner on Sundays, but still don't feel as if I've made a significant breakthrough. The worst thing is it's so frustrating to try to practice it. Shop assistants laugh at me when I form the most basic sentences, even co workers at my school still laugh if I say the most basic things like hello and goodbye. If I ask how much something costs in a shop they always pick the calculator up instead of actually telling me
When people do respond in Korean I feel they aren't simplifying the way they talk to accomodate me. I may be wrong some of the time but that's the impression I get. Still, I'm determined to have a basic conversational ability by the end of two years even though I know I'll never use it again |
You'll have that in lots of places. It was the same way with me when I was learning Japanese or Spanish.
Most of the time, they mean no harm. It's frustrating where they continually sidestep actually talking with you, but comparatively, English has many times more dialects, accents, and foreign butcheries that come into contact with native English speakers on a daily basis, so when we hear someone sing "Zingr Berrs" We often can understand them, even at more extremes than other languages. Countries like Korea, Japan, etc etc. Don't have common occurrences of foreign speakers so they often have much more trouble understanding or communicating clearly. Even if they do understand the words that you're saying, often it's a new type of social interaction, and they're not sure the best way to respond, resulting in such varied responses (ignoring, trying to speak English to you, etc)
Now mind you, many native English speakers would giggle when hearing Zingr Berrs. |
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koreatimes
Joined: 07 Jun 2011
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| Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:22 am Post subject: |
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| Shop assistants laugh at me when I form the most basic sentences |
Chinese are the worst about this. What I do is make 2 part sentences. For example, if you want a coke don't just say "coke". Say, "bottle of coke". Keep saying it multiple times even though they are laughing. Either the novelty of a foreigner speaking will wear off and they will take you more seriously, or they will remember the sounds you are making. After they show you the coke, repeat EXACTLY the same as you originally stated. That sometimes jogs their memory and they can see the connection. This helps with regular stores you visit.
And if that is still not encouraging, I have been with Chinese people and Koreans who can't understand other people from their country. I once showed a video I took of Koreans and played it for other Koreans. They couldn't make out what they were saying but since I was there I knew what they were saying. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 12:33 pm Post subject: Re: Why you shouldn't come to Korea |
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| ontheway wrote: |
| isitts wrote: |
| World Traveler wrote: |
some people are tied to this country through marriage, children, and perhaps other reasons.
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...I�m pretty sure there are people that have married Koreans and had children have been able to go back to their home countries or gone to 3rd party countries.
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... GREENer pastures. |
| isitts wrote: |
| Are you arguing with me or the OP? He said people were stuck in Korea and couldn't/wouldn't leave. |
Actually, I was merely observing the idea that countries with 3rd parties, being "3rd party countries", might have GREEN (er) pastures, a reference to Green parties ... 25653. |
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bentobento
Joined: 21 Jan 2011
Location: US of A (for now)
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| Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 9:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Squire wrote: |
I may just be bad at learning languages but I find Korean really difficult. I study several hours a week and often meet a language partner on Sundays, but still don't feel as if I've made a significant breakthrough. The worst thing is it's so frustrating to try to practice it. Shop assistants laugh at me when I form the most basic sentences, even co workers at my school still laugh if I say the most basic things like hello and goodbye. If I ask how much something costs in a shop they always pick the calculator up instead of actually telling me
When people do respond in Korean I feel they aren't simplifying the way they talk to accomodate me. I may be wrong some of the time but that's the impression I get. Still, I'm determined to have a basic conversational ability by the end of two years even though I know I'll never use it again |
That's a bit sad to hear. Don't let that stop you from learning and practicing though. I'm sure it wasn't easy for them to learn English either. Whenever I think about being laughed at for butchering a language I just think about that one scene in Lost in Translation... "Lip my stock-kings!" Instantly makes me feel better. |
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morrisonhotel
Joined: 18 Jul 2009
Location: Gyeonggi-do
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| Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 3:44 am Post subject: |
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| @OP, I think people shouldn't go to Korea because it's easy to earn $50,000 a year working behind a bar at home. That alone means no one should go to Korea. |
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harshlands101
Joined: 19 Oct 2010
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| Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 10:59 pm Post subject: |
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| OP your posting is a snore fest...go and do something less boring instead... |
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duke of new york
Joined: 23 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 5:03 am Post subject: |
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| As for learning Korean, I worked at it for a few months before I came and after I got here, then gave up because 1. it's really hard and 2. it's completely useless as soon as you leave Korea. I've been here about four months and not knowing Korean is a minor nuisance, nothing more. Obviously it's helpful, but you can get along fine without bothering with it at all. Unless you are planning on living in Korea for many years, I don't think it's even worth the effort. |
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Tower of Babel
Joined: 29 Aug 2011
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| Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 7:06 am Post subject: Re: Why you shouldn't come to Korea |
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| tatertot wrote: |
While I agree that Korean is probably less useful than Chinese, Japanese, or Arabic for most people, I don't agree that it is infinitely less useful. Infinity subtracted from any other amount is equal to minus infinity. So, I think you mean that Korean is much less useful than thosother languages. I am trying to learn Korean, and I would say that doing so has an intrinsic value > 0, thus, not infinitely less useful than anything. |
I am inclined to agree, but it is worth mentioning that, between any two cardinal numbers, there is an infinite count of non-cardinal ones. Thus, the difference in utility, regardless of its size, could arguably be described as "infinite."
It seems to me, though, that if you need somebody to tell you that Korean may be less useful than Chinese or Arabic, then you probably need to stay home and study your geography a bit more. On the other hand, a hammer is probably more useful, overall, than a set of tweezers, but not when it's tweezers you need for the task at hand.
As for difficulty, some people who are into teaching and learning languages get off on the challenge of learning difficult ones. Imjussayin. |
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