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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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Deja
Joined: 18 Mar 2011
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 Posted: Sun May 12, 2013 1:01 pm Post subject: |
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| young_clinton wrote: |
| Deja wrote: |
| Bring bed sheets - plenty of! |
I found the quilts to be totally comfortable. In some ways superior to sheets. |
The idea is that you won't get any clean stuff when you arrive, if you get ANY bedding at all.
I found the quilts to take in a lot more allergens than regular cotton sheets/covers, so I could not use quilts at all without my covers.
I arrived in September first time I came to my own apartment - got new towels and bedding - COMPLETELY UNWASHED! They think what you buy at e-Mart is as clean as it needs to be  I had a bad asthma attack the first few days
After that, I keep brining sheets. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Sun May 12, 2013 2:25 pm Post subject: |
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| young_clinton wrote: |
| Bring as many casual pants and blue jeans as possible. Bring as many pairs of the kind of shoes that you like as you can. All in all shop at the second hand stores for these items and bring them over. Korea has no viable second hand stores whatsoever. Koreans think there is something wrong with that. Also buy MP4 and other small devices in the US before hand. |
Second hand clothes? Ewwww....
Maybe jackets or a hoodie or something is fine. But shoes? Really? Jeans which have absorbed someone else's taint sweat? That's just foul. |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Sun May 12, 2013 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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How about suits?
I miss buying suits at Salvation Army for $10.
Suits are so expensive here (like $1,000, depending on the place).
I'm actually a big fan of second hand clothes, but I realise this is not the case for everyone. (I'd just like the option. >_<) |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 5:24 am Post subject: |
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| young_clinton wrote: |
| Drew345 wrote: |
| I guess I wish I had known that Korean language was so freakin hard. It probably wouldn't have effected my choice on countries, but after many years studying it and getting nowhere, sometimes I wish I had just gone to Taiwan and could be studying Chinese instead. But I feel I have so much time invested in learning Korean, it's too late to change countries. |
I'm not sure Korean is harder than Arabic. I've studied both and Arabic is difficult. |
How long have you studied both?
Korean wins in this "World's Most Difficult Language" poll, well ahead of Arabic:
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7587&TPN=17
Unfortunately for us, Arabic is probably a more useful language to know than Korean, and the same is true for Japanese and Chinese too. |
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Waygeek
Joined: 27 Feb 2013
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| Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 5:59 am Post subject: |
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Not sure I'd give any merit to a survey that doesn't have Mandarin Chinese at the top of most difficult...
Conversational is absolutely fine for living in Korea. When you say 'Korean is the hardest', that doesn't mean Conversational or passable Korean; all the crazy grammar, sure, but your quality of your life here doesn't depend on learning that. |
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javis
Joined: 28 Feb 2013
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| Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 8:00 am Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
I agree with everything you say EXCEPT the assumption that difficulties in Korean mean equal difficulties to the Korean learning English.
What specifically makes Korean an inherently difficult language to learn is the loads of honorifics, the objectively large number of sounds used, and the convoluted (and inefficient) gramatical system.
It takes longer (more syllables) to express a thought in Korean than English. This blows. (That and the honorifics get old after a while.)
Here are some sentences with the English and Korean syllable count:
Thank someone (3)
누군가에게 고마워하다 (10)
The man is thin. (4)
남자는 말랐습니다. (8 ) |
I would say that terms like convoluted and inefficient are inherently subject when used to describe a grammar system. Natural languages are are all products of the social environment that gave rise to them, which means that they are messy, but they work more or less.
As for your argument of sheer numbers, I present the counterpoint that the English language can accept more phonemes in a given syllable than Korean can, because of the abundance of consonant clusters. That means that there are far more possible combinations of phonomes to create a given syllable distinct in meaning in English than in Korean. For example, consider the word [i]grasp, which consists of 5 phonemes. The greatest number of phonemes that a single syllable in Korean can carry is only 3.
I would say that you are grapsing for an argument, personally.  |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 8:23 am Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
Second hand clothes? Ewwww....
Maybe jackets or a hoodie or something is fine. But shoes? Really? |
You're more likely to pick something up in a Jimjilbang on your feet. Higher population of people more different kinds of stuff and you can't wear socks.
| Steelrails wrote: |
| Jeans which have absorbed someone else's taint sweat? That's just foul. |
All you have to do is wash them. What about the dirt you pick up every day you go outside. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 2:24 pm Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
How about suits?
I miss buying suits at Salvation Army for $10.
Suits are so expensive here (like $1,000, depending on the place).
I'm actually a big fan of second hand clothes, but I realise this is not the case for everyone. (I'd just like the option. >_<) |
A suit should fit like a glove.
But I can get down with a $10 jacket as part of mix-n-match casual wear.
| Quote: |
| You're more likely to pick something up in a Jimjilbang on your feet. Higher population of people more different kinds of stuff and you can't wear socks. |
I don't visit jimjilbangs.
Dude, second hand shoes is just off. |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Waygeek wrote: |
| Not sure I'd give any merit to a survey that doesn't have Mandarin Chinese at the top of most difficult... |
Well...compare the number of lifers in China who can speak Chinese vs. the numbers of lifers in Korea who can speak Korean. Almost no lifers in Korea can speak Korean. Almost none at all. Chinese is easier than Korean because it has easier grammar, easier pronunciation, and less syllables per minute as it is spoken. (Chinese is actually one of the slowest spoken languages.) Am I allowed to say Chinese has an efficient grammatical system, while Korean does not? Am I allowed to say the Chinese written system is less efficient than English? (Not politically correct, but true.) Waygeek, do you even speak Korean? (I would bet any amount of money the answer to that question is no.) |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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| javis wrote: |
| World Traveler wrote: |
I agree with everything you say EXCEPT the assumption that difficulties in Korean mean equal difficulties to the Korean learning English.
What specifically makes Korean an inherently difficult language to learn is the loads of honorifics, the objectively large number of sounds used, and the convoluted (and inefficient) gramatical system.
It takes longer (more syllables) to express a thought in Korean than English. This blows. (That and the honorifics get old after a while.)
Here are some sentences with the English and Korean syllable count:
Thank someone (3)
누군가에게 고마워하다 (10)
The man is thin. (4)
남자는 말랐습니다. (8 ) |
I would say that terms like convoluted and inefficient are inherently subject when used to describe a grammar system. Natural languages are are all products of the social environment that gave rise to them, which means that they are messy, but they work more or less.
As for your argument of sheer numbers, I present the counterpoint that the English language can accept more phonemes in a given syllable than Korean can, because of the abundance of consonant clusters. That means that there are far more possible combinations of phonomes to create a given syllable distinct in meaning in English than in Korean. For example, consider the word [i]grasp, which consists of 5 phonemes. The greatest number of phonemes that a single syllable in Korean can carry is only 3.
I would say that you are grapsing for an argument, personally. |
I'd say it's you who are grasping for an argument. More syllables means more time to say something (regardless of the reason behind it). It's annoying to waste one's time that way. For example, I'd rather say "Hey", "Yo", "Hi", Hello", or "Wassup" than "The sun came up today because Allah willed it" as a greeting. Does that make me culturally insensitive and a jerk? Maybe. Do I care? No. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
| Waygeek wrote: |
| Not sure I'd give any merit to a survey that doesn't have Mandarin Chinese at the top of most difficult... |
Well...compare the number of lifers in China who can speak Chinese vs. the numbers of lifers in Korea who can speak Korean. Almost no lifers in Korea can speak Korean. Almost none at all. Chinese is easier than Korean because it has easier grammar, easier pronunciation, and less syllables per minute as it is spoken. (Chinese is actually one of the slowest spoken languages.) Am I allowed to say Chinese has an efficient grammatical system, while Korean does not? Am I allowed to say the Chinese written system is less efficient than English? (Not politically correct, but true.) Waygeek, do you even speak Korean? (I would bet any amount of money the answer to that question is no.) |
I think part of that might have to do with the fact that China has always had a certain allure and been a place to study, unlike Korea. People have studied and majored in Chinese for decades, if not hundreds of years. |
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Waygeek
Joined: 27 Feb 2013
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| Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 12:46 am Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
| Chinese is easier than Korean |
LOLOLOLOLOL. I think someone is forgetting the 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Hanji there is to learn. |
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akcrono
Joined: 11 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 1:03 am Post subject: |
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I actually had most of the information when I came, but some things that should be in every guide for Korea:
-Any product that you feel you can't live without (brand-specific shampoo, favorite sauce etc.). Bring enough for a year if possible. I've found toothpaste here to be pretty lousy, and a year's supply of toothpaste doesn't take up a lot of room in a bag.
-A powerstrip if you plan on bringing more than 2 electronics to Korea. Korea uses 240v power, so most of your electronics will not work (and will be damaged) by plugging them into Korean outlets. Plug it into a step-down transformer ($30 here), and power all your electronics. You can check the power supply on your US electronics as well. Some electronics, such as laptop computers, will say something like "110v~250v", and will work on either Korean or American voltages and only require a plug adapter.
-In America, goods are cheap, services are expensive. It's generally the opposite in Korea. |
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javis
Joined: 28 Feb 2013
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| Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 5:49 am Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
I'd say it's you who are grasping for an argument. More syllables means more time to say something (regardless of the reason behind it). It's annoying to waste one's time that way. For example, I'd rather say "Hey", "Yo", "Hi", Hello", or "Wassup" than "The sun came up today because Allah willed it" as a greeting. Does that make me culturally insensitive and a jerk? Maybe. Do I care? No. |
| World Traveler wrote: |
| Fox wrote: |
| Does more syllables really equate to more difficult? |
Yes. If the sounds are hard as heck to pronounce and comprehend (and that is the case for most of us), then yes, it definately does equate to greater difficultly.
Another thing it does is make the Korean language faster. (It is spoken at more syllables per minute than English. There was an actual study on this.) |
Are you sure about that? Your point about Korean having more syllables per sentence is interesting, but I don't think it supports what you're trying to argue.
Maybe Korean has a higher rate of syllables per minute simply because each syllable consists of fewer phonemes and thus each syllable can be spoken more quickly without losing distinction. However, the lower number of possible consonants means that more syllables are required to express a given statement.
It seems like you are making a qualitative argument and attempting to back it up with quantitative statements without providing a context for how those statements support your argument. It's like saying, "The population of New York City is over 8 million. Therefore it is a complicated city." |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 8:25 am Post subject: |
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| javis wrote: |
| World Traveler wrote: |
I'd say it's you who are grasping for an argument. More syllables means more time to say something (regardless of the reason behind it). It's annoying to waste one's time that way. For example, I'd rather say "Hey", "Yo", "Hi", Hello", or "Wassup" than "The sun came up today because Allah willed it" as a greeting. Does that make me culturally insensitive and a jerk? Maybe. Do I care? No. |
| World Traveler wrote: |
| Fox wrote: |
| Does more syllables really equate to more difficult? |
Yes. If the sounds are hard as heck to pronounce and comprehend (and that is the case for most of us), then yes, it definately does equate to greater difficultly.
Another thing it does is make the Korean language faster. (It is spoken at more syllables per minute than English. There was an actual study on this.) |
Are you sure about that? |
Yes.
http://koreanlanguagenotes.blogspot.kr/2009/09/how-fast-do-korean-telecasters-speak.html
I guess in languages with extra superfluous syllables, they must be spoken more quickly in order to adequately communicate information before the listener dies of boredom. And guess what? The faster a language is spoken, the harder it is to comprehend (for a non native speaker). |
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