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tommynomad
Joined: 24 Jul 2004
Location: on the move
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 Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 6:38 am Post subject: |
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| Real Reality wrote: |
| If you are a foreigner, does your country have a similar language requirement for foreign workers? |
I think so. My buddy had to pass a French test to get his Canadian work visa. He tells the story with glee. The interviewer didn't actually speak French himself, just read the following three Qs off a card (rendered phonetically, with words pronounced in English in italics):
"Kwel ay vote-ruh nome?"
"Kwel ay vote-ruh age?"
"Kwel ay tone colour fa-voo-rhee?"
Apparently Birmingham's grade 8 French provides sufficient vocabulary to correctly guess the answers to Canada's bilingual test for visa applicants. |
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just because
Joined: 01 Aug 2003
Location: Changwon - 4964
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| Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:36 am Post subject: |
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The stupid Korean double standard of it all.
Why give a korean proficience test only to DDD workers from South-east Asian countries, why not all foreign workers who come here from the west as well.
Wasn't the SBS program just showing how Koreans treat South-east Asian workers like crap, while us E2 visa holders get a sweet ride. Well here is the proof of the pudding.
I think it is a stupid system and will last only as long as when the Korean factory owners start complaining about the lack of workers they are able to acquire because emplyees can't pass the trst...which will lead only to more illegals working here not less, as the government wants.
I feel sorry for the DDD workers......it should be implemented on all of us or none at all.
Reminds a little of the White Australia policy of the 60's and 70's to some degree. Selective immigration |
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itaewonguy
Joined: 25 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:08 am Post subject: |
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HAHAHAHAHAHA this the funniest thing I have heard in ages..
  
A test for foreigners ahhahaah ohhh what is the koreans feeling bad that they have to learn TOFEL to get jobs.. so now they only want to make it fair for others.. ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh how cute!!
only one problem.. I dont see foreigners beating down the doors to come to korea to work!! anyone seen the line at the US embassy?
hahahahahahaah
speak Korean!! hahahahahah WHATEVER!!!
that will be the day!! |
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helly
Joined: 01 Apr 2003
Location: WORLDWIDE
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| Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:11 am Post subject: |
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I could be wrong but I think that factories are required to have all signage, worker handbooks, etc in Korean and English. I understand that most of the non-Korean factory workers don't come from English-speaking countries but many do, in fact, have a basic understanding of the language.
Many factories also have code-of-conduct inspections (sponsored by the companies that are placing orders) to ensure that employees understand rules and regulations in the factory.
This is in the apparel industry.
And, yes, I know, all the rules don't mean jack if they are not enforced BUT many do enforce them. |
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thebum
Joined: 09 Jan 2005
Location: North Korea
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| Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:45 am Post subject: |
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| I know some hagwons or other places that teach English don't want their teachers to speak any Korean. |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 10:29 am Post subject: |
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| just because wrote: |
The stupid Korean double standard of it all.
Why give a korean proficience test only to DDD workers from South-east Asian countries, why not all foreign workers who come here from the west as well.
......it should be implemented on all of us or none at all.
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Indeed! But why stop at foreign "workers"? Why not include every foreigner? Foreign diplomats, journalists, businessmen and investors, too! And how can you leave out the entire US military here? Chefs at foreign-owned hotels! Visiting musical acts and opera companies! IAEA nuclear weapons inspectors! Everybody takes the Hangul Test!! Hell, let's make foreign tourists pass the test before we issue them a Visitor's Visa? It's for their own benefit and safety, after all.
Just think of all the Korean language hagwons that will spring up around the world! And all the high-paying jobs in exotic locales for Korea's unemployed university graduates! 
Who says Korean isn't an international language? All we have to do is require anyone who comes here to pass this test, and BAM! Instant international stature! |
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Deconstructor
Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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If FTs had to learn Korean to work, I imagine 90% of teachers would have to leave the country. What would hogwons do then, teach kenglish?
Wait a minute. Have Koreans ever learned anything other than Kenglish?! |
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Real Reality
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 2:09 pm Post subject: |
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thebum wrote,
"I know some hagwons or other places that teach English don't want their teachers to speak any Korean."
English immersion? I have heard this, too.
Deconstructor,
kenglish?
Konglish
What is Konglish?
Konglish: I divide Konglish into two parts:
Konglish 1: Korean-English Interlanguage (mostly consisting of grammatical or usage errors), and...
Konglish 2: Korean lexical items, consisting of loan-words (from English) and nativized into the Korean language.
NOTICE: When Koreans use the word "Konglish", they usually refer what I call "Konglish 1".
http://efl.htmlplanet.com/konglish.htm
Konglish -> Wronglish -> English!
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/5067/konglish.htm |
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komtengi
Joined: 30 Sep 2003
Location: Slummin it up in Haebangchon
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| Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 2:58 pm Post subject: |
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| yet another sign of Korea's protectionist ideologies. |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:11 pm Post subject: |
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| thebum wrote: |
| I know some hagwons or other places that teach English don't want their teachers to speak any Korean. |
Thats the other side. They winge "why don't you learn Korean"..or "its hard for us,we have to learn English" and then the moment you do they complain "you are a foreigner, you should speak English. Either that, or they get offended that you have no right to speak their tongue, as if it was some special thing for ethnic koreans only.
Whatever.
Overall testing would be a good thing. japan already has mandatory japanese lessons for their eslers I believe- impressive to note how many foreigners there are fluent, compared to people here. |
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tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:43 pm Post subject: |
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| tommynomad wrote: |
| Real Reality wrote: |
| If you are a foreigner, does your country have a similar language requirement for foreign workers? |
I think so. My buddy had to pass a French test to get his Canadian work visa. He tells the story with glee. The interviewer didn't actually speak French himself, just read the following three Qs off a card (rendered phonetically, with words pronounced in English in italics):
"Kwel ay vote-ruh nome?"
"Kwel ay vote-ruh age?"
"Kwel ay tone colour fa-voo-rhee?"
Apparently Birmingham's grade 8 French provides sufficient vocabulary to correctly guess the answers to Canada's bilingual test for visa applicants. |
I believe this applies only if you were to go work in Quebec?! But yeah... a year's worth of French at school would give you answers to those questions. |
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tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:49 pm Post subject: |
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Actually, the Minister behind this brainchild was on Arirang TV's Heart to Heart a month or so ago, explaining foreign workers right etc.
What REALLY ticked me off was his comment about wages. OK, so we are not going to starve them to death by giving them a pittance, but one of the ways to increase export and remain competitive is by having low wages, thus decrease costs... He blabbed about wages for a while and then he said:
If you don't have money, don't do business 
I was like.. WTF? It's not about having money or not when you do business. It's about trying to cut costs and provide value for money products.
I know you are going to tell me that Korean factory owners pay very little money - this I know.. but if the Government blatantly, openly suggests that they need to increase wages, then a lot of these factories are just going to go bust when people start campagining for higher wages because there will not be FDIs coming this way - they will just go to China, where people WILL work for a lower wage; or they will go to India or South Africa or places like that.
Sorry a bit off topic I know.. but this thread reminded me of that idiotic minister. |
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