Korean Job Discussion Forums

[fustiancorduroy]

Most Koreans speak Korean to me. Most Koreans can't speak English. The Koreans who can speak English well will use it to speak to me, and that's fine. But it's hardly like pulling teeth to get most Koreans to speak to you in their native tongue.

[littlelisa]

I generally find that people use whatever language is easiest. So Koreans who don't speak English very well will use Korean, and Koreans who speak English well will use English. I can think of three friends who are exceptions to this rule. Two I just got too used to speaking to in English, then my Korean improved (I met them when I first came to Korea), but it was still weird to switch languages for some reason (plus, I'm lazy). The third has fluent English, but speaks in Korean to encourage me to use Korean more. I have a few friends who I used to speak English with when I first came but when I meet them now we use only Korean. I think it depends a bit on both your Korean ability and your accent.

[Squire]

Same as most I think, if a person speaks better English than my Korean we'll speak English. If my Korean is better I'll continue replying in Korean to their English. The most frustrating is when somebody who speaks practically no English will go to their phone dictionary to look up a word, rather than just saying what they want to say in Korean

[PatrickGHBusan]

[Rofpo]

Unfortunately truth and logic have little to no value in the Hermit Kingdom.

It's been that way since the first westerners set foot here, has changed little in the last hundred or so years, and will not change any time soon.

[12ax7]

For those of you who have been using this to bash Korea and Koreans:
Robert Phillipson's schtick is linguistic imperialism, particularly how English is an imperialist force in the world. Take the story he recounts with a grain of salt.