Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mangotango]

Is it important that students learn about different English accents? If so which ones are important to teach? Do schools in Korea promote teaching about a 'Global English'?

[Hokie21]

North American. Only one they need to know.

[metalhead]

American only. None of that Montreal/Newfie/Canuck 'oot and aboot' crap.

[Coltronator]

Metalhead just wants people axing questions and ain't having it any other way.

Seriously though. The accent you learn is unimportant to some extent. 80% of all accents would be fine to use in 99% of situations.

However being exposed to many accents is a great thing so that one doesn't have as much difficulty understanding them.

[alongway]

The accent itself isn't as much of an issue as it is the slang that goes with that region.

It's useful for students to know regional variations, but if in learning an accent, they focus heavily on speaking with a lot of very local slang that will cause them issues.

[metalhead]

Most Koreans sound like they have rocks in their mouths when they try speaking English in any case, so no, thinking about it I don't think it matters what accent they learn, I'd prefer it if they just never opened their mouths to speak at all. Sure we'll be missing out on a lot of philosophical discussion and creative ideas, but that is the sacrifice I am willing to make.

[yodanole]

Any time you can understand what is being said around you, you will ultimately have a better chance of survival.

[chellovek]

[drunkenfud]

Since no-one has said this so far, I'll point out that Koreans learning English today are far more likely to use it to communicate with another non-native speaker rather than someone from a native English speaking country. English has become a lingua franca in the international community, allowing Korean speakers to communicate with (among others) Japanese, German, or Chinese speakers. Therefore it is arguably less important to expose Korean learners to accents from English speaking areas, and perhaps preferable to give them greater exposure to non-native accents.

[schwa]

Absolutely. Korean students need to develop an ear for a wide range of accents & broken english, & the confidence to try communicating with what, maybe 2000 basic words? If they need more, they build it from there.

Focusing on one accent & precise grammar is a ridiculous waste of beginning student learning time. It discourages rather than enables.

[Scorpion]

English comes from the United States. That's all Koreans need to know.