Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Son Deureo!]

[just because]

I did last night

[jajdude]

If the foreigner cannot speak English but some Korean, then we can use some Korean. Have met just a few people like that: Russian, Japanese, Peruvian.

[hojucandy]

i have a lot of friends who work in factories in the ansan area. among them are pakistanis, bangladeshis, and people of various former soviet countries, like kazhakhstan (sp?)....

anyway - i speak pretty good urdu and hindi so i have no trouble communicating with the pakistanis and banglas, but when i speak with the kazhaks i have to resort to korean - which they know better than me!

i once had a conversation with two old uzhbek women in french!

one of my best friends, who goes by the nicname of deniro, is pakistani/afghani. he speaks a little english, a lot of korean, and of course he speaks urdu and pashto. we converse in a micture of urdu, korean and english - often all in the one sentence. its a lot of fun!

so - i voted yes.

[Butterfly]

Did yesterday with a Indian / Pakistani street trader.

[noelinkorea]

I answered "yes" cos I have to speak Korean to foreigners every day in my Korean class...not that I really speak much, nor say anything really constuctive anyway...If the foreigner is learning Korean, then I would speak Korean, yes. If it is someone from another English-speaking country and we are alone, then I would revert to English (however, if we are with others - either Korean, or other Korean-speaking/studying foreigners, then I would speak in Korean). Supplementary question: This really bugs me, and I wonder if other (native English speakers) Korean speaking people do this - when you hit an English word used in Korean, do you pronounce it as a Korean word, or revert to how you'd say it in English? I go with the former myself, and it irks me a bit when others will just say the word as English (for example: service, television, radio, aircon, certain countries' names, etc...[run out of ideas for words then...]).

[Son Deureo!]

The Korean prononciation. It flows better, and Koreans are more likely to understand it.

When Korean names and words come up during English conversation I tend to anglicize them, which is pretty confusing to most English-speaking Koreans I've noticed. Ain't globalization grand?

[Mashimaro]

[deepblue]

I spoke in Korean back "home" to other non natives who had been to korea as a code. sneaky yes but my point was made.

[skindleshanks]

[seoulmon]

Answer: YES

Koreans will want to practice English with me and I'll point to the nearest foreigner. "See that guy from Canada" I'll say in K. "We talk to each other in Korean. So that's what I speak."

SOmetimes they get real pucker faced. But the cool ones understand.

[Wisco Kid]

If I spoke korean, sure.

Back in thailand I'd often speak thai with other farang, it was more fun and seemed more expresive at times. b But for some reason the korean tongue just doesn't resonate with my ears well, and I'm not feeling inclined to learn it.

[sadsac]

I didn't vote because I don't read or speak Korean at any level beyond common courtesies. Language is communication. Can I order food? Yes! Can I get from A to B? Yes! Have I ever failed to communicate a need to a Korean in nearly 4 years? No! Even if I did speak Korean with a reasonable level of fluency, I certainly wouldn't converse with other native speakers in Korean.

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

People's use of language is mainly utilitarian. If the other westerner speaks English, then I don't see the point.

[itaewonguy]