Korean Job Discussion Forums

[I_Am_Wrong]

So are Koreans just colour blind or what? I was really confused when all my students were commenting on my "blonde" hair because I quite clearly have red hair with blond and brown highlights. I decided to ask my Korean friends and co-workers and they all said that I had blonde hair. This seems very very strange to me....when I told the kids that my hair wasn't blonde, it's red....they said NO teacha...it's yellow!!! wtf.

[peppermint]

I think that in their minds, any hair color lighter than theirs is blonde. I got told I had blue eyes even though they're plainly not a couple of times. Unless you're teaching a lesson on how to describe people, don't worry about it.

[I_Am_Wrong]

I don't care at all...it just seems so weird

[d503]

You know what it isnt just your hair. All my kids color the sun red. So maybe korean children just percieve red and yellow to be the same. Also congrats for getting them to say blonde at all. I have a running battle with my kids over calling blonde hair yellow. Someday they will call it blonde on the first try. Not after me going, "Yellow?! Who has yellow hair?" I never ran into an eye color problem--mine get called everything from blue to grey to green and I figure close enough. Though at first none of the kids believed me when I told them they were blue--one of my favorite memories.....

[Lizara]

I got that all the time too when I had red hair. I mean, after a while it would fade to some kind of orange-y colour and then I'd have to redye it, but even when it was obviously dark red my students still called it yellow. They always tell me I have blue eyes too, but they never question it when I say no, they're actually green. They just seem to find it a strange concept that people in North America can have different colours of eyes and hair.

[crazylemongirl]

The other day my minder and I were talking about hair as I had just gone for a touch up on my highlights. I was complaining that I have to travel a long way to get my hair colored (itaewon) as the korean hairdressers tend turn it orange. K teacher wonders why. 'Well our hair is very different' I say. She touches it.

'Wow your hair is like a dolls' '

[paperbag princess]

i had the same problem, my students like to tell me that i have yellow-brown hair, when i have red hair. my students also think they have white skin when they don't, so who knows what's going on here.

[turtlepi1]

It's because of the way asian hair deals with color...
A woman get's "blonde" highlights and it generally comes out "baby duck" at best. (More likely orange...)

So the term "blonde" in a lot of asian cultures has been stretched to include a lot more than we westerners would consider "blonde".

Might explain why they are more likely to consider most women stupid.

Braces for the barrage of "blondes" and lovers of blonds and the Mary Kay Commandos...

[thorin]

If my hair is yellow then their skin is yellow!

[manlyboy]

I had a really good game for giving physical descriptions using foreign celebrities, but it would get stuffed up every time someone introduced "Julia Roberts" into the game. Without exception, they always described her hair colour as blonde.

[redd]

I just started two weeks ago and one of my kids was really surprised that I have brown eyes. The other guy they had has blue eyes I think. No comments made on my red hair, but it's mostly brown anyway.

[katydid]

I think they're taught black or blonde...no one I know has ever said "brown" or "red."

And on second thought, I DO have to teach my girls to say "blonde" as opposed to "yellow"

[vlcupper]

[brento1138]

[Tiger Beer]