Korean Job Discussion Forums

Cedar · Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 7:22 am Post subject: Stupid Questions....

Actually this cracked me up for the past two days, but I get variations all the time:

I am in grad school, I do my research in Korean. Now that I am studying, I have to read books in Korean on a frequent basis...

So, I am taking the bus to Daegu and we are the rest area. The inside of the bus was really hot (putting me to sleep), so at the rest stop I decided to sit outside the bus in the nice fall sunshine and read.

Man comes and looks over my shoulder.

Man: (in English) "Can you read Korean?"
Me: (looking at him and waiting for him to realize the lack of logic in his question)
Man: (in English) "Can you speak Korean?"
Me: (still staring at the man)
Man: (startled) "Wait, are you Korean?"
Me: (shaking my dark blond haired head with large eyes and freckles)(in English) "No, I am just looking at the book but can't understand anything."
Man: (in English) "Korean is a very hard language."
Me: (in Korean) "Really, do you think I wouldn't be able to speak or read and I'd be sitting here making notes in the margins?"
Man: (in Korean) "Oh, sorry, excuse me, uhh, sorry."

What about the rest of you (who speak and read Korean decently), any funny stories?

ThePoet · Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 4:33 pm Post subject:

I'm no rocket surgeon, but by the looks of that conversation, he was trying to start a conversation with you probably to get to know you better...He might have been shy and it was the first thing he could think of.

I remember about 20 years ago I was at a movie and there was a really beautiful girl in front of me at the refreshment line. She was looking back a lot and smiling. I was way too shy to even say boo. When she got to the front of the cue, she looked back and down and said "Oh I see you have a bus pass too". My brilliant come back: "Uh huh" and then I proceeded to order my snacks. -- sigh.

Poet

jajdude · Joined: 18 Jan 2003

Nice post poet.

Ralph Wiggam (or is it Milhouse) has a crush on Lisa Simpson, so one day he says, "'So, do you like... stuff?"

We have all been there I think, when it comes to "wannabes" missed.

marista99 · Joined: 05 Jun 2004 Location: Incheon

I like that..."Wait, are you Korean?"

Definitely never had anyone ask me that!

shakuhachi · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Location: Sydney

Circus Monkey · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: In my coconut tree

intergalactic · Joined: 19 May 2003 Location: Brisbane

I have a Canadian friend who is married to a Korean man. They have 10 month old twins. One twin looks asian, one looks caucasian. My friend told me that in Canada, people would approach her and ask about the babies. When they heard the babies were twins, they sometimes asked "Are they identical?"

Circus Monkey · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: In my coconut tree

I've had Koreans walk up to me while I'm with my son and blurt out "Mi-gook baby!" You're right. Ignorance can be found everywhere.

J.B. Clamence · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

It sounds to me like the guy was curious how you learned Korean well enough to read a book, so he wanted to strike up a conversation and didn't know how else to start it (Kind of like how someone might say, "Wow, it's pretty cold, isn't it?" when it's -20). Maybe his ice-breaker wasn't worded the best way, but that doesn't make him an idiot. IMHO, you handled it pretty rudely. He was just trying to be friendly.

Cedar · Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2004 7:55 am Post subject:

JB,

I don't think that was rude, I waited for him to figure out what he was saying didn't compute... I could have said something rude, but all I did was make a remark that could be interpreted as funny "No I am just looking at it" and he took me seriously and said that Korean was a hard language (no argument from me on that count). I mean, this guy seriously believed I was just sitting around staring intently at a book and marking things in the margin...

I've said "No I am just looking at the book" in the past to other Koreans and they've gotten the joke in it and laughed.