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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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K1020
Joined: 20 Jun 2010
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 Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 10:33 pm Post subject: |
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There is absolutely no need to join a language exchange if you are trying to learn Korean in Korea. I used to tutor in Canada and would explain this to my Korean students the same way. . .
The only reason I can think of to join a language exchange is to meet people who have a particular interest in foreigners -and because we are in Korea Western culture is the special interest of this group; of course you will be expected to share more.
You are surrounded by native Korean speakers, why join a group where even in the best case you will divide your learning opportunities in half when you could join a basketball team or a photography club or a hiking group ect where you will have a lot more chances to meet Koreans and speak in Korean. I would be shocked if after a couple of tries you would not find someone who took an interest in you and helping you learn the language.
A bonus to this is you stand a better chance of avoiding the free lesson seekers who will haunt the language exchange groups and possibly make some sincere friends -nobody expects free English lessons from their badminton team but your Korean lessons will be almost unavoidable. |
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rabidcake
Joined: 10 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 10:38 pm Post subject: |
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| K1020 wrote: |
There is absolutely no need to join a language exchange if you are trying to learn Korean in Korea. I used to tutor in Canada and would explain this to my Korean students the same way. . .
The only reason I can think of to join a language exchange is to meet people who have a particular interest in foreigners -and because we are in Korea Western culture is the special interest of this group; of course you will be expected to share more.
You are surrounded by native Korean speakers, why join a group where even in the best case you will divide your learning opportunities in half when you could join a basketball team or a photography club or a hiking group ect where you will have a lot more chances to meet Koreans and speak in Korean. I would be shocked if after a couple of tries you would not find someone who took an interest in you and helping you learn the language.
A bonus to this is you stand a better chance of avoiding the free lesson seekers who will haunt the language exchange groups and possibly make some sincere friends -nobody expects free English lessons from their badminton team but your Korean lessons will be almost unavoidable. |
This post is gold. |
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Squire
Joined: 26 Sep 2010
Location: Jeollanam-do
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 1:00 am Post subject: |
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| K1020 wrote: |
There is absolutely no need to join a language exchange if you are trying to learn Korean in Korea. I used to tutor in Canada and would explain this to my Korean students the same way. . .
The only reason I can think of to join a language exchange is to meet people who have a particular interest in foreigners -and because we are in Korea Western culture is the special interest of this group; of course you will be expected to share more.
You are surrounded by native Korean speakers, why join a group where even in the best case you will divide your learning opportunities in half when you could join a basketball team or a photography club or a hiking group ect where you will have a lot more chances to meet Koreans and speak in Korean. I would be shocked if after a couple of tries you would not find someone who took an interest in you and helping you learn the language.
A bonus to this is you stand a better chance of avoiding the free lesson seekers who will haunt the language exchange groups and possibly make some sincere friends -nobody expects free English lessons from their badminton team but your Korean lessons will be almost unavoidable. |
I can see your point of view here, but mostly if a language exchange is used purely for conversation. For me I use it mostly for tutoring, and because her English is very good there isn't much limit to what I can ask about the Korean language that she won't be able to explain well in English. I need a pen and paper to do this. That's not practical at a bar or when I'm playing football with Koreans
Of course, school is the perfect place for this. But of three co-teachers I have, the one with the worst English would struggle to convey subtleties, another one I only see two days a week and she really irritates me, and the CT with the best English I literally only see for one class a week and she doesn't have time to help me out to the extent I'd want. Other staff at my schools either don't speak English well or are too busy for me to feel like pestering with questions about grammar all the time
What I need is a tutor I can see regularly |
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bobbyhanlon
Joined: 09 Nov 2003
Location: 서울
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 8:38 am Post subject: |
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| if you want regularity, pay for it. there are literally hundreds of thousands of young people in seoul making very little money. they could go to GS25 and make what, 5500 won per hour? go on a naver cafe, offer someone a bit more than that to talk to you in korean, and you'll have plenty of responses. |
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 2:28 pm Post subject: |
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| if you want regularity, pay for it. there are literally hundreds of thousands of young people in seoul making very little money. they could go to GS25 and make what, 5500 won per hour? go on a naver cafe, offer someone a bit more than that to talk to you in korean, and you'll have plenty of responses. |
Just go to someone who knows what they're doing and pay the going rate. |
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Who's Your Daddy?
Joined: 30 May 2010
Location: Victoria, Canada.
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 4:55 pm Post subject: |
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^^ Exactly. I paid 30K for 1.5 hour lesson. She taught Korean to foreigners at a university. Actually, originally she was my teacher there, then I just talked to her at the end of the course and arranged private lessons. Cost less than the uni fee. Excellent teacher.
| Squire wrote: |
| Of course, school is the perfect place for this. But of three co-teachers I have... |
I speak Korean pretty well, but PS teachers are some of the most boring people I've met in this country. hogwon teachers are fun to chat to though. |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 10:32 pm Post subject: |
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| bobbyhanlon wrote: |
| if you want regularity, pay for it. there are literally hundreds of thousands of young people in seoul making very little money. they could go to GS25 and make what, 5500 won per hour? go on a naver cafe, offer someone a bit more than that to talk to you in korean, and you'll have plenty of responses. |
Having someone talk to you in Korean doesn't work so well for most adults. You want to know what is being said as an adult. It works better for young children being socialized with other children, not so much with most adults. It's preferable to have materials at the ready and someone who knows how to explain their language at least somewhat. |
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asdfghjkl
Joined: 21 Jun 2011
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| Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 10:01 am Post subject: |
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I've had pretty good luck with language exchanges, but I stopped doing it after getting to a level where normal people understand me. I did it with some girl my age who didn't speak any English, and she was lazy about studying, so she just helped me with Korean the whole time. We'd study for an hour and then go to a noraebang or something.
After she moved to Australia, she introduced me to a new language partner who was some married woman in her English class. It was about the same deal with her. She and her husband, who owned a sock factory, were pretty well off and would treat me to nice dinners from time to time. She gave me some really nice socks, too.
In both cases, it was completely one sided in my favor, and I learned a lot from it. Of course, I studied Korean between meetings and didn't use them as a subtext for romance. |
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