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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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 Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 5:20 am Post subject: |
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| PatrickGHBusan wrote: |
| Scorpion wrote: |
How on earth would any Canadian 18 year old have even heard of K-op or K-dramas? I have nephews and nieces in Canada. They've never heard of either. I suspect the OP is pulling our leg. What 18 year-old N. American kid (other than a gyopo) is infatuated with Korea?
LOL. |
You would be surprised..... |
I am, I meet a few white-bread girls in the last few years that are Koreaphiles. But all of them seemed to have started off as Japanphiles, and something turned them onto Korea. |
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createasaurus21
Joined: 22 Feb 2009
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 6:54 am Post subject: |
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| Scorpion wrote: |
| How on earth would any Canadian 18 year old have even heard of K-op or K-dramas? I have nephews and nieces in Canada. They've never heard of either. I suspect the OP is pulling our leg. What 18 year-old N. American kid (other than a gyopo) is infatuated with Korea? |
Just because your nieces and nephews haven't heard of K Pop or Korean dramas doesn't mean there aren't a fair amount of North American teens (that are not gyopos or Asian) that are into things Korean. I don't see it as the IN thing, but it's not unheard of for Caucasians in North America to be infatuated with Asian cultures. When I was in high school, there were cliques of kids that were really into J-pop, anime and all things Japanese. |
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createasaurus21
Joined: 22 Feb 2009
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:05 am Post subject: |
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The biggest challenge would be learning enough Korean to attend college. To attend any undergrad program, a student must complete 7-8 levels of Korean language courses. This usually takes anywhere from 1.5 to 2 years to complete. And it's no walk in the park. Classes are from Monday to Friday, 9am to 1pm, followed by a few hours of studying and homework per day. Learning Korean (especially enough to attend college classes) is very time consuming. It's also fairly common for students (especially English speakers) to fail and have to retake a level or two along the way.
She should spend the summer at a language school before making any big moves. The major programs in Seoul are Sogang, Ewha and Yonsei. Having taken classes at all three schools, I would rate:
Sogang: 9~10
Ewha: 4~5
Yonsei: 2~3 |
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Dodge7
Joined: 21 Oct 2011
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| Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:32 am Post subject: |
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| jvalmer wrote: |
| PatrickGHBusan wrote: |
| Scorpion wrote: |
How on earth would any Canadian 18 year old have even heard of K-op or K-dramas? I have nephews and nieces in Canada. They've never heard of either. I suspect the OP is pulling our leg. What 18 year-old N. American kid (other than a gyopo) is infatuated with Korea?
LOL. |
You would be surprised..... |
I am, I meet a few white-bread girls in the last few years that are Koreaphiles. But all of them seemed to have started off as Japanphiles, and something turned them onto Korea. |
Japanphiles/Koreaphiles...any "phile" is just wrong. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 8:07 am Post subject: |
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| jvalmer wrote: |
| PatrickGHBusan wrote: |
| Scorpion wrote: |
How on earth would any Canadian 18 year old have even heard of K-op or K-dramas? I have nephews and nieces in Canada. They've never heard of either. I suspect the OP is pulling our leg. What 18 year-old N. American kid (other than a gyopo) is infatuated with Korea?
LOL. |
You would be surprised..... |
I am, I meet a few white-bread girls in the last few years that are Koreaphiles. But all of them seemed to have started off as Japanphiles, and something turned them onto Korea. |
Yes same here. It is certainly something that happens where we are in Canada. |
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andrewchon
Joined: 16 Nov 2008
Location: Back in Oz. Living in ISIS Aust.
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| Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:03 am Post subject: |
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| I don't think she has to learn Korean before coming over. There stack loads from People's Republic of China in Korean universities that don't speak a word of Korean or English. |
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Died By Bear
Joined: 13 Jul 2010
Location: On the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
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| Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 7:13 am Post subject: |
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| Scorpion wrote: |
How on earth would any Canadian 18 year old have even heard of K-op or K-dramas? I have nephews and nieces in Canada. They've never heard of either. I suspect the OP is pulling our leg. What 18 year-old N. American kid (other than a gyopo) is infatuated with Korea?
LOL. |
I was very much in your camp until I became friends with a woman who is in that age group through a common interest. Her life has absolutely nothing but internet social media input from Korea, and she's a nut, seen every Kmovie on Netflix and Hulu Plus, knows every singer/songwriter of her generation and is always raving about them on Facebook. Incredible, but true sir.
But I want you to know that I never ever would have thought it possible if I had not come into contact with her. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 9:29 am Post subject: |
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you want further proof, go on youtube and type any random popular kpop song title. Look at the vids that pop up...you will likely find a ton of vids made by western teens discussing these songs or even singing them.
It is a fad for sure, but it does happen. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 3:27 pm Post subject: |
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| everything-is-everything wrote: |
| Steelrails wrote: |
| I have to say, if the situation were reversed and it was some K-dude's 18 year old Korean niece wanting to go to the US to learn English and live there, everyone would be saying what a great idea it is. Reverse the situation and she might as well be signing her death warrant. |
Ummm...no! You fail here. |
Look at a huge chunk of the responses. "Don't go over there, they'll be awful to you". Sounds a bit insecure netizenish like those Koreans who scream if some girl wants to go overseas and experience the culture and maybe find a boyfriend.
More so though, it's misogynist. Can you imagine people saying the same thing to an 18 year old nephew? They may think it's a stupid idea, but they'd be more apt to say "well, it's your choice..."
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| If I'm advising any 18 year old, I'm going to recommend that they attempt to expand their horizons and open as many doors as possible. While Korea would certainly be an interesting experience, this girl would be chaining herself to a country with relatively limited global scope. |
Would we say the same thing if she went to Greece? Hungary? Portugal? Romania? Finland? Thailand?
Certainly Korea has more global scope these days than any of those countries, and their languages are about as useful as Korean, save perhaps Greek amongst a thin slice of Academia/Clergy. |
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 4:59 pm Post subject: |
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| I'd be worried about an 18 year old girl going to live anywhere abroad on her own, Especially Europe. We've all seen 'Taken' after all. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 5:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
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| If I'm advising any 18 year old, I'm going to recommend that they attempt to expand their horizons and open as many doors as possible. While Korea would certainly be an interesting experience, this girl would be chaining herself to a country with relatively limited global scope. |
Would we say the same thing if she went to Greece? Hungary? Portugal? Romania? Finland? Thailand?
Certainly Korea has more global scope these days than any of those countries, and their languages are about as useful as Korean, save perhaps Greek amongst a thin slice of Academia/Clergy. |
Greece, Hungary, Portugal, and Romania? Seriously? You'd be any idiot to chain yourself to any of those sinking ships. Get yourself a degree from an English speaking country, study abroad if you want, perfect your language skills by other means, but don't get yourself a degree that will be leave you tied to a single country of which you are not a citizen. Korean economy tanks, where is this Canadian? You can't even teach English as a fallback if you study at Korean university.[/i] |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 8:16 pm Post subject: |
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| northway wrote: |
| Steelrails wrote: |
| Quote: |
| If I'm advising any 18 year old, I'm going to recommend that they attempt to expand their horizons and open as many doors as possible. While Korea would certainly be an interesting experience, this girl would be chaining herself to a country with relatively limited global scope. |
Would we say the same thing if she went to Greece? Hungary? Portugal? Romania? Finland? Thailand?
Certainly Korea has more global scope these days than any of those countries, and their languages are about as useful as Korean, save perhaps Greek amongst a thin slice of Academia/Clergy. |
Greece, Hungary, Portugal, and Romania? Seriously? You'd be any idiot to chain yourself to any of those sinking ships. Get yourself a degree from an English speaking country, study abroad if you want, perfect your language skills by other means, but don't get yourself a degree that will be leave you tied to a single country of which you are not a citizen. Korean economy tanks, where is this Canadian? You can't even teach English as a fallback if you study at Korean university.[/i] |
Well, it really depends on what you major in. Majoring in Hungarian might be a dodgy call, pursuing a degree in say, engineering, while studying in Hungary less so.
Besides, if on September 10th, 2001 you told people you were studying Urdu, Pashtun, Farsi, or Kurdish they'd laugh at you and say that that was useless for getting a job.
The world can change on a dime.
The bottom line is the OP's niece is old enough to vote and join the army. In the end you can either stand by her or naysay her the entire way and never believe that she is anything more than a "little girl". By all means state your concerns, but always support her. If you support her, either way things go, she'll appreciate you. Naysay her, and if she succeeds, she will remember your lack of support for the rest of her life. Is that worth it when it comes to family? |
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Zyzyfer
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?
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| Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
| everything-is-everything wrote: |
| Steelrails wrote: |
| I have to say, if the situation were reversed and it was some K-dude's 18 year old Korean niece wanting to go to the US to learn English and live there, everyone would be saying what a great idea it is. Reverse the situation and she might as well be signing her death warrant. |
Ummm...no! You fail here. |
Look at a huge chunk of the responses. "Don't go over there, they'll be awful to you". Sounds a bit insecure netizenish like those Koreans who scream if some girl wants to go overseas and experience the culture and maybe find a boyfriend.
More so though, it's misogynist. Can you imagine people saying the same thing to an 18 year old nephew? They may think it's a stupid idea, but they'd be more apt to say "well, it's your choice..." |
I think the point is more that Korea does not have some sort of established program that she can enroll in and be guided along to where she wants to go/do/be. There's nothing.
I did study abroad in Australia for a year when I was 19. Some of my family was actually against my going. And this was a highly structured program designed to basically baby me through completing a year of uni in another country. There were checklists. There were counselors. There were apartments specifically for the international students. Heck, there was a cohesive international student body as we all did orientation together.
Korean kids around this age as well generally have some network to which they will be attached, no?
This dude's niece makes it sounds like she just wants to hop on a plane and fly over and see what happens. No process. No checklists. Not a thing.
Plus, yes, as Son Deureo mentioned, I wish you would please stop generalizing NET responses. You have a habit of that. A couple of posters say what you envisage the "typical NET opinion" to be (based on some idiot Westerners you were forced to be around in the past) and suddenly you're stereotyping NETs just as badly as some on this board stereotype Koreans.
| UncleDoug wrote: |
| I'd like to 'dissuade' her gently, without being a grinch. Any advice, hints, horror stories, would be appreciated!! |
It's like I said above, if she just wants to fly over here and then try sorting everything out, that's not a good idea. If she can find a program to enroll in a Korean university as an undergrad then the only thing that matters is the value the degree will have for her.
It's already been said by other posters, but if she still insists on coming without going through some sort of program, then I suppose the plan would basically be:
1) Study the Korean writing system (hangeul)
2) Form a connection with someone who can be her guide while she is in Korea, and I don't mean tour guide
3) Fly over as a tourist with a return ticket
4) Check into a "goshiwon" near the university that interests her most for a monthly rate that is relatively affordable; these are essentially small little rooms for students doing exam cramming
5) Study her ass off to learn Korean
6) Try to enroll in schools
7) Be prepared for possible failure
My guess is this would cost at least $10,000 US, flight, room, food, study costs.
All of the native English teachers and grad students over here ostensibly have support groups to look out for things like arranging for a place to stay, serving as a cultural conduit, etc etc etc. Even with that there is often a whole lot of confusion.
If you haven't already, tell her some of your own WTF experiences when you first came to Japan, stress how critical your "handler" was, how you walked into a restaurant on your own after getting hungry and pointed at some picture and got the worst food you ever ate, crap like that. |
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coralreefer_1
Joined: 19 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 1:19 am Post subject: |
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| northway wrote: |
| Steelrails wrote: |
| Quote: |
| If I'm advising any 18 year old, I'm going to recommend that they attempt to expand their horizons and open as many doors as possible. While Korea would certainly be an interesting experience, this girl would be chaining herself to a country with relatively limited global scope. |
Would we say the same thing if she went to Greece? Hungary? Portugal? Romania? Finland? Thailand?
Certainly Korea has more global scope these days than any of those countries, and their languages are about as useful as Korean, save perhaps Greek amongst a thin slice of Academia/Clergy. |
Greece, Hungary, Portugal, and Romania? Seriously? You'd be any idiot to chain yourself to any of those sinking ships. Get yourself a degree from an English speaking country, study abroad if you want, perfect your language skills by other means, but don't get yourself a degree that will be leave you tied to a single country of which you are not a citizen. Korean economy tanks, where is this Canadian? You can't even teach English as a fallback if you study at Korean university.[/i] |
I would agree with all of this...but the bolded part is false. A foreigner from an English speaking country can teach English in S. Korea with a degree from a Korean university. In fact, if she were to come here for college, she could legally teach English up to 20 hours per week after only her second year of study. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 3:58 am Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
Well, it really depends on what you major in. Majoring in Hungarian might be a dodgy call, pursuing a degree in say, engineering, while studying in Hungary less so.
Besides, if on September 10th, 2001 you told people you were studying Urdu, Pashtun, Farsi, or Kurdish they'd laugh at you and say that that was useless for getting a job.
The world can change on a dime.
The bottom line is the OP's niece is old enough to vote and join the army. In the end you can either stand by her or naysay her the entire way and never believe that she is anything more than a "little girl". By all means state your concerns, but always support her. If you support her, either way things go, she'll appreciate you. Naysay her, and if she succeeds, she will remember your lack of support for the rest of her life. Is that worth it when it comes to family? |
And it would still be incredibly stupid to spend your entire undergrad in Pakistan. The fact that the world can change on a dime is exactly why it's a good idea to get a degree from an English speaking country rather than a place that's off on its own. Can you even qualify for a visa to work in Korea if you attend engineering school at KAIST or an SKY? |
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