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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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 Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2013 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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Wait, wait. We're people seriously upset at kids making noise at playgrounds?
Last edited by Steelrails on Sun Jun 16, 2013 10:04 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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T-J
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Location: Seoul EunpyungGu Yeonsinnae
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| Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2013 9:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
| Wait, wait. We're people seriously upset at kids making noise at playgrounds? |
Korean kids
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Scorpion
Joined: 15 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:15 pm Post subject: |
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The truth is Korean kids are actually taught to be loud. Teachers encourage the children to yell answers as a group. If they don't yell loud enough the teacher asks them again, until the answer is yelled at a sufficiently loud volume. Also, kids are allowed to scream their heads off in the school playground. I mean not just "kids having fun" yelling but ear bursting banshee-style screams. They are intentionally trying to be as loud as possible. My ears are about to burst, but no Korean teacher seems bothered.
Noise is definitely a problem for me in Korea. But as loud as the children can be, in my apartment its the adults who are the worst violators. Slamming doors, blaring their televisions, stomping, being incredibly loud in the hallway, loud throat clearing, yelling, moving furniture around at three in the morning, bongo trucks, the dude who blares his messages over my apartment intercom, etc etc etc.
With such folks as their parents no wonder the kids are loud. Add to this the fact that the teachers encourage the noise, and it can take its toll on your nerves.
Last edited by Scorpion on Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:19 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Mix1
Joined: 08 May 2007
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Captain Corea wrote: |
Well, dismiss it if ya want. No skin off my nose. It's obvious you were exaggerating to make your point. So be it.
If you want to complain about the noise kids make at playgrounds, you're one step away from shaking your cane and yelling get off my lawn! |
Haha, I know! I'd have said the same thing before living in that apartment.
I never gave a damn about it before, but living in that apartment complex, which was located right between two very large noisy playgrounds, it just started to eat away at me. I dare any non-parent to live in those buildings and NOT start to get irritated at the high pitched screams coming in the windows in stereo, throughout the day. Even my GF would come over and say we should hire a sniper. And she's Korean, so she's quite used to noise normally.
Yeah, it's a playground. Noise comes with the territory and kids have the right to play there. But I can now sympathize with the Japanese who complain about playground noise. Obviously, living far away from one is now on my priority list for choosing homes.
As for "exaggeration", again it's all perspective, but that point was lost on you. Believe what you want; whatever makes you feel better.
Interestingly though, the apologist types (all 4-5 of them) are usually the ones who seem to never notice things that others notice:
Snorting and spitting? "Nope, never seen THAT. You making it up?"
Excessive noise? "Nope. You must be exaggerating"
Littering? "Not so much..."
Nationalistic/racist comments from locals "Nope, I'VE never heard that specific comment, so I don't believe you."
etc.
Also, it's funny to see all the parents here getting defensive. Listen, I'm sure you think your kids are amazing, but not everyone else thinks so, and when they are noisy, it bugs people. Many parents seem way too relaxed about imposing any kind of limits on kids, including noise limits. But don't be surprised when others aren't thrilled about that.
And in general, I'm very kind to kids, but also pretty indifferent as long as they don't bug me. I'm not really a kid lover and make no apologies about it. |
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Smithington
Joined: 14 Dec 2011
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:25 pm Post subject: |
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| Mix1 wrote: |
| Even my GF would come over and say we should hire a sniper. |
LOL.  |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:30 pm Post subject: |
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Mix, Call me an apologist if ya like, I know that I post many a critical thing about Korea. On this issue though, I think you're off base. NOT that your observations are totally wrong, I trust you that it was loud, but I think your conclusions are kind of skewed.
Here's an idea - is it possible that you lived in a place that was poorly designed? That something about how the buildings were positioned made the noise echo?
I ask this because, as we all know, the interiors of buildings here vary. What would be normal noise in one building, is a herd of elephants in another. The reason I suspect it might be the design is because I've lived in Apts with playgrounds, and as I mentioned before, noise was never an issue.
But then again, it may be a "parent thing" - I'm one, you are not. That may color our perceptions. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Also, it's funny to see all the parents here getting defensive. Listen, I'm sure you think your kids are amazing, but not everyone else thinks so, and when they are noisy, it bugs people. Many parents seem way too relaxed about imposing any kind of limits on kids, including noise limits. But don't be surprised when others aren't thrilled about that. |
I'm not a parent and I think the idea of people getting upset at kids making noise on playgrounds is just ridiculous.
Do you not remember your childhood? Do you not remember your parents constantly yelling at you to keep it down? Unless you were some kid in the corner who always read books, you probably made your fair share of ear-splitting noise.
What's next? Yelling at kids for being messy/dirty/whimsical/making bad nutrition choices/having to always go to the bathroom/listening to songs and story books over and over/losing things?
Good grief, do you seriously believe that kids back home are any less quiet? The only difference is that the playground is away in some park and the buildings are better insulated.
Anyways, I back home I lived in a neighborhood that featured people cruising by in motorcycles at 2AM, bbqs, bottles breaking, obnoxious country music blaring, cars with richter-scale level subs n amps blasting rap, house parties, garage bands, and people all in a group constantly coughing for about 10 minutes followed by some noise as someone made a run to Taco Bell, followed by more coughing and the sounds of Halo on the X-Box or the band playing.
Course, half the time all of that noise was from my place, so maybe things really were more quiet.
But yeah, the Bongo trucks, political ad trucks, and ajumma bang bus driving by blasting trot is a whole nother level. |
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Mix1
Joined: 08 May 2007
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Scorpion wrote: |
Also, kids are allowed to scream their heads off in the school playground. I mean not just "kids having fun" yelling but ear bursting banshee-style screams. They are intentionally trying to be as loud as possible. My ears are about to burst, but no Korean teacher seems bothered.
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You must be "exaggerating"! They are incapable of banshee-style screams because they are not literally banshees.
(kidding! )
The first time I sat in to watch a Korean kids class, I'm pretty sure my ears got battered with frequencies I'd never heard that loud before. My ears were ringing and actually hurt the next few days.
Maybe the kids scream so loud, the Korean teachers/parents can't hear those frequencies anymore, so it doesn't bother them as much. 
I agree, loudness is encouraged here. |
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Mix1
Joined: 08 May 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 12:17 am Post subject: |
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| Captain Corea wrote: |
Mix, Call me an apologist if ya like, I know that I post many a critical thing about Korea. On this issue though, I think you're off base. NOT that your observations are totally wrong, I trust you that it was loud, but I think your conclusions are kind of skewed.
Here's an idea - is it possible that you lived in a place that was poorly designed? That something about how the buildings were positioned made the noise echo?
I ask this because, as we all know, the interiors of buildings here vary. What would be normal noise in one building, is a herd of elephants in another. The reason I suspect it might be the design is because I've lived in Apts with playgrounds, and as I mentioned before, noise was never an issue.
But then again, it may be a "parent thing" - I'm one, you are not. That may color our perceptions. |
CC, yeah I agree with you. I don't think you are an apologist generally speaking, although the "exaggeration" claim sort of rang those bells that those guys normally ring. No big deal.
And yeah, no doubt the building design and layout DEFINITELY played some role in the noise levels as I was never bothered by this issue much before.
While I think Koreans are pretty loud on average, building design and materials is a factor in the noise complaints here too. There's not much insulation or sound buffers going on and often sounds are practically amplified by either materials used or general lack of 'feng shui' if you will.
I've been to apartments where it sounded like a jackhammer was upstairs, but obviously there wasn't. So you can see where neighbors might file noise complaints when every footstep upstairs vibrates the room below. Sure, some of it is stomping or kids playing, but if it's a decently built apartment, you won't be able to hear and feel every minor movement someone makes above you, and you won't be able to hear EVERY word said in the room next door either. Luckily, I don't live in a place like that now, but they are common here. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 12:29 am Post subject: |
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| Yeah, building design is pretty important - layout even. But I also think density is a big factor. As I mentioned earlier, I was at a school in Van during recess - and those kids were pretty rambunctious. But the thing is, the field was MASSIVE. The closest house would have been 50 yards away... if not more. And to add to that, the buildings are/were lower - single storey mostly - less echo. |
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Mix1
Joined: 08 May 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 12:48 am Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Also, it's funny to see all the parents here getting defensive. Listen, I'm sure you think your kids are amazing, but not everyone else thinks so, and when they are noisy, it bugs people. Many parents seem way too relaxed about imposing any kind of limits on kids, including noise limits. But don't be surprised when others aren't thrilled about that. |
I'm not a parent and I think the idea of people getting upset at kids making noise on playgrounds is just ridiculous.
Do you not remember your childhood? Do you not remember your parents constantly yelling at you to keep it down? Unless you were some kid in the corner who always read books, you probably made your fair share of ear-splitting noise. |
Oh I definitely remember, and I was one of the wild ones. But I was quiet compared to the average Korean kid when they scream. And I knew better than to scream like that near adults or they'd have told me to hush up. I also was taught about this thing called inside/outside voice, which seems to be forgotten here a lot.
And if a kid were to run around constantly high-pitch screaming and whining like they often do here, most of the American kids would think there was some sort of problem with them. "What the heck is he screaming about? It's not THAT exciting..." Most of those crazy screams stop by about 5-6 back home, but seem to continue here until about university age in some cases.
| Quote: |
| What's next? Yelling at kids for being messy/dirty/whimsical/making bad nutrition choices/having to always go to the bathroom/listening to songs and story books over and over/losing things? |
Some of those are pretty good ideas. "HEY YOU! Stop being whimsical!"
Actually I never said anything about yelling at them, but if the PARENTS want to that's fine, as long as it keeps the kids quieter.
| Quote: |
| Good grief, do you seriously believe that kids back home are any less quiet? |
Well, Charlie Brown, it would not surprise me if they were. And it would be very interesting to have some frequency and decibel tests just to see. I agree the lack of insulation plays some role though.
| Quote: |
| Course, half the time all of that noise was from my place, so maybe things really were more quiet. |
Ha ha! I'll take the playground any day. |
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Bondrock
Joined: 08 Oct 2006
Location: ^_^
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| Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 1:59 am Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
Anyways, back home I lived in a neighborhood that featured people cruising by in motorcycles at 2AM, bbqs, bottles breaking, obnoxious country music blaring, cars with richter-scale level subs n amps blasting rap, house parties, garage bands, and people all in a group constantly coughing for about 10 minutes followed by some noise as someone made a run to Taco Bell, followed by more coughing and the sounds of Halo on the X-Box or the band playing.
Course, half the time all of that noise was from my place, so maybe things really were more quiet.
But yeah, the Bongo trucks, political ad trucks, and ajumma bang bus driving by blasting trot is a whole nother level. |
Steelrails posts a lot, so i normally skip over his posts, but this was pretty funny. nice one Steelrails.
I came from Canada and compared to my experiences there, i do think Korea is a noisier place. But, I realize that there are way more people here crammed into a pretty small space...
I've been in Korea a long time. My kids were some of the first foreigners ever admitted to Korean public school. They are all grown now, with the youngest in the last throes of high school. I did and still do notice that when my kids speak in Korean they tend to raise the decibels a bit. I would say that is true about my wife as well.
Still, where you live is a big factor in how noise happens and how the sound carries. I used to live in a backwater part of Korea and the general noise bothered me. But i was just outside now and i heard bird's chirping and very little else, probably because i live in a new suburb with about a 50,000 population. Folks here are all yuppies and they behave with decorum. On average most of the folks around here are probably well educated... upper middle class i guess....
Neighbors next door... 2 elementary aged kids.... never hear them... neighbors above me.... 2 teenage daughters.... sometimes hear a chair scrape or something....neighbors below me.... 2 preschool kids... sometimes, maybe once a month i hear the baby crying....but i would expect they must hear us a bit too... never had a complaint here and i have lived in this apartment for 5 years...
When i lived in an older part of Korea, the neighbors complained about my kids making noise... and they did.... little buggers were sometimes bouncing a basketball in the apartment....and other BS... fighting, wrestling etc.
I do think Korea is a noisier place than Canada and i know there was a study done measuring the decibel level in Seoul and it was extremely high... Still, we gotta realize that it's not Regina or Winnipeg for cryin out loud... my advice is... move into a nicer place and the noise will not be a problem even with 52 million people around you... |
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Seoulman69
Joined: 14 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 4:51 am Post subject: |
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I'm not a parent and I think the idea of people getting upset at kids making noise on playgrounds is just ridiculous.
Do you not remember your childhood? Do you not remember your parents constantly yelling at you to keep it down? |
I thought the point people were making was that Korean parents do not tell their kids to "keep it down", resulting in Koreans in general being louder and more irritating. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 6:37 am Post subject: |
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Bah. Whatever. My personal philosophy is that those darn punks better keep the noise down while I blast David Allen Coe or The Reverend Horton Heat or Led Zep at 2AM and have a bunch of sordid characters and trailer girls over to my place to kill a couple 30 cases of Red Dog, a fifth of 5-0, and cook up some burgers.
Everyone else's noise is bad noise and too loud.
EDIT- Obviously I'm sloshed following the loss of The Collective to Ahmadeniland. |
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 1:46 am Post subject: |
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The ajosshi living below me put in a request that I not use that bathroom after 10pm.  |
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