Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Canucksaram]

I highly recommend a book titled Common Problems in Korean English, by David Kosofsky.

Mr. Kosofsky was a teacher at Sogang University quite a long time ago, perhaps the late '80's; I don't remember the exact time period.

I very much like the way Kosofsky breaks down the patterns of thought and non-thought behind common errors committed by Korean speakers of English. Differences in fundamental "thinking patterns," and thus grammar, underlie many of the recurring problems of advanced or nearly-fluent Korean speakers of English.

Kosofsky's book is hard to find, but there is (or was) a new edition of Kosofsky's book (which is published by Sogang University press, I believe), that contains a couple of extra chapters. Don't trust the editing, layout, and content of the additional chapters, for the inside cover descriptions are riddled with sloppy, inexcusable spelling errors, and I recall that the extra chapters had similar problems.

I bought a reprint of Common Problems in Korean English at Bandi & Luni's in the COEX Mall about one year ago. Foolishly, I lent it out and have yet to get it back. I'm not sure if it's still being printed, but do your best to find and secure a copy. It's well worth the 25,000 or 30,000 won I paid for it.

Cheers,

-Canucksaram

[jajdude]

"We got home lately."

They may ask to be corrected but one needs to be the diplomat.
Kids get flustered too when you correct them much even if you do it subtly and gently. Just correct them sometimes.

Something about learning a language makes it so personal. I guess language is personal. Anyone might say well I don't know much about.... astrophysics...., and accept it. Not so with a language one works hard at or spends a lot of time learning.

[Suntzu]

I understand. However, my students are always asking to be corrected even when they don't make mistakes. This is why I started the thread I will compile a list of common errors and print them out for them.

Here are some overused expressions...

I'm so so, In my case, these days

[peppermint]

"frankly speaking", "I am so boring"( they mean bored) "It was very funny"( they meant fun) and the usual he/she slips

[Hollywoodaction]

Well, here's a curve ball for you: linguists recognize that there is such a thing as codified Korean English (not only for its lexical features, but also for its grammatical features). In other words, Konglish is slowly becoming classified as an emerging form of English because of its distinct rules on usage, which are studied and fully understood by its users. Based on this research, one can see that putting too much emphasis on studying for standardized test based on American English, such as the TOEIC test, will only lead to confusion and disappointment as Koreans study codified English in school. So, they learn one kind of English but are tested on another.

You may disagree with that argument because Koreans don't use English to communicate with each other, but that would be missing all the occurances of English in pop music and signs, which have a genuine purpose and follow a number of rules. Don't take the arrogant position that Konglish is not real English while correcting your students in class without first considering your own colloquial English.

[canadian_in_korea]

I was told by a Korean English teacher that when she was in university the book they used said "do not worry about pronounciation because there are many different accents in the English language"..? ...most of the problems I found teaching adults were that they study the rules and for the most part they understand them..."on paper"....but they don't/can't apply them to speaking. If you attempt to review the basics....they don't like it because they feel that they already know the material....what do you do...? short of saying....you don't speak english as well as you think you do...which of course you aren't going to do. I often tried to use speaking korean as an example...speak korean with the rules and pronounciation of the english language/alphabet....they usually start to understand how important pronounciation is...even though I can only say a few words...

[canuckistan]

Pronunciation
S, ES, and ED endings. Both types will always end in one of 3 sounds:

S, ES S/Z/IZ

taps (soft s) cars (z) watches (iz, adds a syllable)

ED T/D/ID

talked (t) fined (d) created (id, adds a syllable)

Koreans know that somewhere with ES and ED endings an extra syllable is often added, which leads to the mispronunciation by adding a syllable to the wrong word. The Ed endings are harder for them to get right.

This can be turned into a team game/ regular task where from any given text for example, the teacher asks students to make 3 columns and put all the verbs/nouns ending with S, ES and ED into the appropriate sound column after the teacher has pronunced it.

[Suntzu]

I am aware of my own colloquial English and regardless of whether or not Kongglish is real English my students have a phobia toward using it. They want to speak English and express themselves just as a native speaker would, so they ask me to correct them when they speak Konglish.

[gypsyfish]

SPAghetti instead of spaGHETti.

Shupermarket instead of supermarket. (To correct this one have them say kalguksu-permarket.)

[casey's moon]

I taught adults for a few years, and I agree with what's been mentioned already. Some students also misuse idioms and sayings -- or use them properly, but with the wrong intonation. I usually told my students to understand fun phrases like "raining cats and dogs," but to use them extremely sparingly.

I agree with those of you who say that over-correcting is counter-productive. If your students really want to be corrected, you can tape record what they are saying and play some parts of it back and interrupt the tape recorder. Interrupting the speaker is stressful and may cause more mistakes as a result.

With some classes (particularly graded university classes) I am extremely forgiving about Konglish and grammar mistakes. Most of these students need confidence more than anything.

Great thread!

[Manner of Speaking]

[xtchr]

My adult students seem to always say 'prepare', when really they mean 'take'.
e.g It's cold outside. I must 'prepare' a jacket.

[jajdude]

In Korea and Taiwan I have heard "make a girlfriend" (not get or find)

(makes sense...sort of like "eye shopping" ..... just not native speaker English)

[Hollywoodaction]

[Suntzu]

I hear you, but I think my students have the right to choose the style of English they feel comfortable speaking. My class is very advanced, they are mostly people who work for international companies who use English everyday. They obviously feel embarassed when they use Konglish (respect) or when they make grammatical errors. It is them not I who insist in being corrected. (check the orginal post). Personally, I think Konglish is very cute and I would love it if I could get away with not correcting my students.

Keep the posts coming