Korean Job Discussion Forums

[matthews_world]

[Cedar]

In 6.5 years in Korea I've heard it THOUSANDS of times. And, you know what? I agree! Of course it takes a long time and a lot of effort to speak fluently, but anyone who's in Korea on a year contract should, in my opinion, make an effort to learn polite phrases, how to understand prices, and a bit of small talk- you know, where you are from, and the food is delicious, and all that.

[William Beckerson]

I've only heard it from the girlfriend when she's tired and doesnt want to speak English.

"Okay," I tell her, "speak Korean and I'll just nod in agreement"

[crazylemongirl]

[Vince]

If you live there, you should make an effort to learn the language. What bothers me is when you do make that effort, and people get uncomfortable with the foreigner with the foothold and start purposely going over your head. I've had that happen a few times.

[itaewonguy]

man I gave up years ago..
I mastered reading and writing in the first few days...
then I tried speaking, but people would always say NE NE NE!!
I was saying it properly but it has to be sooooo PERFECT because they have no logic to guess what you are saying, even though you are holding up the beer bottle saying MEKJU CHUSAYO!! they are like NE NE NE..
so years of that, dealing with stupid koreans,I gave it up..
not I bust their balls and expect them to speak English, everywhere I go now, ok im not that bad just sometimes , I will ask, order, everything in English...hahahahaha especially to young people 20-30 because they should speak English..

I hate the ones who were English Majors in UN and cant speak English..

so when people tell me you must speak Korean, I say NO!!
you should speak English!! because if you travel to USA, or Italy, or Germany, or greece, you think they speak korean????
no they will use ENGLISH!!!

BUT you are in Korea you must speak korean?.. arhhhhhhh NO I DONT!!
because I dont need to.. I can speak enough to order food drink, if I get lost understand directions, and tell someone how I feel if Im sick...
all my friends can speak English so...
but if you want to make conversation with a korean>?
why would I want to that!!! ahahhahaahah

and then I say , well all the koreans want to practice their English with me,.. and if koreans come to Itaewon and they say you should speak English, I say HELLO!! do you know where you are now!!! this is itaewon..
THIS IS KOREA!! ummmm NO! this is ITAEWON!!! sorry buddy!!!
okok Im joking!! I dont learn Korean because I am too busy, and cant really be bothered... maybe LAZY , also If I was going to spent time in learning a language I would learn spanish or Italian, somethng that can be used around the world.. korean is only good here!
anyway I get by, I wish I was fluent, but I wont be..
I dont care..
I have a smart ass answer for them all the time...
of course I am wrong, but I wont let them no that..

[jajdude]

I am with you itaewonguy.... I know what I am trying to say often enough but even slightly imperfect pronunciation can seem incomprehensible to many people. Remember way back when before you travelled to foreign lands, though, and you probably could not understand lousy English either, right? Now as EFL teachers we become masters at deciphering lousy English, which still would be totally unintelligible to 99% of the native speakers back home, wherever that is. I've met a few Koreans who spoke what I thought was very good English, and they told me that in the US or Canada or wherever the native speakers would have trouble understanding them too! So indeed it goes to show a foreign language (and a foreign face) can make one hard..................................... lol

[The Hamster]

I have had two people tell me that I needed to speak Korean because I was in Korea. I looked at them and said "Dang she noon babo da" I told them they were stupid. It is funny--no one tells me to speak Korean anymore

I actually met a Korean who had gone to the States. She came back for a two month vacation. I was talking to her and I asked her how long she had been there (the states). She said 10 years. This woman could hardly speak English. It was mainly convuluted Konglish. I asked her why she did not learn English since she had been living there for a long time. She actually said because "I am Korean and I live with Koreans and my community is Korean." And Koreans tell us to speak Korean when we are here hahaha!! All the English speakers should create their own community in Korea, thus eliminating any need to speak Korean.

Languages are double edged swords. Somethimes they can get you. I hate it when I pronounce something correctly and they act like they do not know what I said. These same people try to get me to pronounce out the word slowly and it sounds just like I said it. I get them back by making them pronounce out words in English if they are a little off. My favorites are the words that have "r's" and "l's" in them. Or heaven forbid we use Korean incorrectly. I don't care if it's not perfect the point is to communicate that I want something!! So when they use improper English I pretend that I do not understand them.

Of course the same thing can happen to someone from Korea going abroad. My Korean friend went to New York. While there he ate out frequently. On one outing he ordered Milk. The waiter could not understand him. Mind you the guy said milk correctly. The waiter just did not expect him to know Engllish.

Another peeve, when people say that you should learn Korean because you are in Korea they just want to talk to you in English anyway so why bother?
Or, if they know that you know how to speak and read Korean they always point out things in Korean and want you to read it for them. Then they act like it is a miracle--the foreigner read Korean--and it was good!
Sometimes I feel like a puppy that they have brought home to amuse them It is at this point that I impress them even further by pointing at them and saying "Il-bone Saram." They say no. no, you mean Han-guk saram. I just say aneeyo--il-bone saram.

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

Well, I can speak Korean, and I got to a point last year where I was sick of people always staring at me in amazement when I said the most rudimentary phrase, so these days I keep it to a minimum.

A lot of the younger people (usually guys) were quite put off because my Korean was better than their English. That's why I started studying Korean in the first place. It's an ugly language, but I like feeling smarter than those around me. Like Gord

Anyway, these days I like to have a little fun with the language. It's actually gotten me a lot of strange -- sometimes evil -- stares. I expect it though. I do the same thing when some punk kid walks by with his friend(s) and speaks goofy English. The difference is that I'm deriding the entire nation in their front yard. And they don't like it. No sir, they don't.

I'd recommend this to anyone who gets annoyed by constantly being stared at. If they're going to look, at least give them a reason to look angry:

Mix your English and Korea into a sort of reverse Konglish. Here's a sample.

"That no good wonjangnim of mine is one mean gaeseaggi. I hope he rots in ohjik."

note: say this slowly for desired results (scowls and gaping pie holes)

Sparkles*_* (wonders if GWOW's sig was read aloud by anyone while in a crowded PC bang)

[indiercj]

I think it is pretty pathetic to brag one's uninterest to learn the local language because he/she already know enough of a few words to order food. Maybe that would be enough korean for say...a pig? How much korea would you experience with an attitude like that?

Ok it's basically anyone's choice but... Are you saying that your cultural curiosity is at par with those korean ajumas living in US for many years without finding any need to learn english? Of course they don't need to. They have their own circle of koreans to play go-stop with but remember, these are old folks with not much education that you are talking about.

Wow i never thought an 'english teacher' would actually say 'Oh we don't need to learn foreign language' finding ridiculous excuses compairing themselves to these people. This is just denying your qualification as a language instructor. I really feel sorry for those learning anything from you.

[kimcheeking]

[gang ah jee]

Rants like the Hamster's always look to me like justification of inability/laziness.

granted, some people don't expect to see non-Asian faces speaking Korean, but when you have things like this:

[rapier]

oh gang ah jee, if only we could all be as wonderful as you.

[The Bobster]

We need a new topic thread : "My Excuses for Why My Korean Language Skills Are Not Better."

I'll bet most people have what feel like good reasons for staying at whatever learning plateau that find themselves in ... except gang ah gee, I've seen him talk to Koreans so I know he's not bragging without cause.

Excuse #1 : I'm an English teacher, not a Korean language student, and I spend a large portion of any given day earning my daily bread by speaking English - if I were here specifically to learn Korean, then I would have learned more by now. Obviously, hey, goes without saying ...

Excuse #2 : My contracts over in 6 months, and how can I expect I will ever use Koreran language again after that. Well, sure, I've been here almost 5 years, right, but every one of those years including this one I've been saying this is the last contract I'll ever sign in this country - and this time I mean it, obviously, no doubt this time, I truly and absolutely intend at the end of this contract to move on and out of this place and try the teaching in Vietnam or Thailand or China or ...

Excuse #3 : Most schools I'd teach at do not have any hiring clauses that give pay increases for teachers who learn Korean, even though having an employee like that is a lot less hassle for them due to the fact that there's far less they have to do to help them get basic needs met here. But it's not important to the Koreans who will hire me, so obviously it should not be important to me either ...

I could come up with more, but you get the idea, I'm sure, and the idea is that the core of it is laziness and not a lot more. The learning plateau I mentioned before happens when people (like me) are not self-motivated enough to spend their free time leaarning something that takes effort, and to keep working at it beyond the point where the novelty of it fades and you have found ways of accomodating and getting your needs met in other ways, often through helpful Korean friends.

Hey, I'm not totally lacking in skills - I can read and write simple words, and if my Korean coworkers are talking about something at the lunch table I can figure out the topic but not the details, but forget about joining in the discussion. I figure well almost half of what I know I learned in the first few weeks ... but that was quite some time ago. Never got around to taking a class and there are some quite nice instruction books here on my shelf that have barely had the spines cracked.

If you're a newbie, even if you're absolutely sure you'll only be here one year, don't miss out on the first few months when you have a sense of fun and excitement about all the odd and exotic things around you (that will later become just more problems to solve) because this is probably the time when you will be most open to learning what you can of the language.

[Homer]

Its pretty simple really....
If you live here for more than a year, its just basic logic and courtesy to learn Korean.
Not very complicated is it?
I speak decent Korean and it has given me the chance to talk with my in-laws without my wife always having to translate. I go out with some of my Korean friends and e can talk in Korean if we choose, this way they can express things better on certain issues.
In class, its a real bonus as it enhances my teaching.
The language also helps you to understand local customs, this makes your stay here much more interesting and for some it would do away with many things that bother them out of sheer ignorance.

Some people do "refuse" to learn Korean, they have a slew of excuses that have been presented in this thread in detail. Most of those refusing to learn do so out of lazyness or because they get discouraged and or frustrated with the difficulties. Well, guess what, learning a new language is difficult and can be frustrating.
Those claiming to not need to learn Korean and to expect everyday Koreans to speak to them in English represent whats wrong with some foreigners here. English speaking is fine in class or even in the work place but those Koreans whose job is not relatd to dealing with foreigners do not need nor should be expected to learn English to converse with you. You are here in their country...its your job to learn their language, not the other way around.
If they decide to work with foreigners then its different.
Finall a Korean that has lived in america or canada for a long time and comes back speaking no English is just as bad as a foreigner doing the same with Korean in Korea and is not a justification not to learn.
If you choose not to learn Korea becuse you can't be bothered then be honest about it and don't hide behind excuses.