Korean Job Discussion Forums

[justaskdan]

At the bar a guy wanted a light and said "Blow me".

[purrrfect]

people telling me "let's go out", when they actually just mean "let's head outside" (it's just funny to hear - I know they're not actually asking me out)

had a taxi driver tell me I should be able to speak better Korean, then proceed to ask me if I had any children

was once teaching a big college class when one student came up and unexpectedly gave me a hug - imagine 40-odd people saying 'wooOOOoooooo!!!!' My face definitely turned red.

when I first came to Korea, I went to Seoul Station to buy a ticket. I couldn't speak any Korean, so I had a really hard time explaining what I wanted. After I finally succeeded in getting my ticket, I felt really proud of myself and started to walk away when suddenly the guy who'd been behind me in line started practically shouting at me 'learn Korean! learn Korean! I am now ten minutes late for something because of you!?!?!' Well, other than deflating my new sense of independent communication, he wasn't exactly the smartest of the bunch - if he could speak English so well, he could have stepped up and helped me in the first place!!!

[anae]

Hmm. It is a toss up.

My directors brother said, "There are lots of delicious foods at Chuseok. You must have used the toilet many times."

Some art teacher I met on the street said, "I don't love my wife. I had to get married first so that my younger brother could marry his girlfriend. I have always wanted to be with a foreign woman. Could I make love to you for just one night?"

[NearlyKorean]

If I hadn't been there to see this.

Foreign Teacher: Hi, How are you?

Korean Teacher: "I can't talk now. I tell mother his son is bad speaking in her class. So I up quickly" (waits for a reply. then talks for another 10 minutes as the FT tries to explain, that she didn't want to talk in detail and then it was meant as greeting and that a simple reply, such as fine would have been okay.)

[kiwioutofthenest]

I seem to blush alot with my 13 year old students....in one class i had a boy come up to my desk and stroke the dictionary "What colour?" The dictionary is red so i blushed....for weeks after this as he entered the class he would stroke the dictionary on his way past and wink at me. I finally solved this by moving the dictionary

[kimchikowboy]

A beautiful, married Korean student was giving me a ride to the bookstore. She looked at me, smiled, and said, "Pucker up" (buckle up).
A South American beauty requested, "Be passionate (patient) with me."

[Tiger Beer]

Back when Clinton was in office, my students kept asking about the presidential ERECTION.. I thought it was TOTALLY inappopriate!

After 5-10 minutes of trying to figure out what, how, and why did they want to talk about 'the erection?'.. I learned they were actually trying to say THE ELECTION!

Needless to say thats when I first got here and didn't know Koreans had an infamous problem with 'r' and 'l'.

[Pyongshin Sangja]

"You are a very nice teacher. But you must lose weight and get a haircut. Here, have some chocolate."

"I slept with my colleauge last night." (We both stayed at the Hyatt on a company retreat.)

[PolyChronic Time Girl]

My adult students yesterday were asking me "bathroom English." It took quite awhile to explain that you don't give details about what you are about to do in there-- just saying "I have to go to the bathroom" is enough. However, I had to really restrain myself from laughing because my students (advanced level) were asking "should I say to stranger who has a dog 'excuse me, but your dog took a sh*t right there?'" or "excuse me, but your dog put feces right there." This lesson went on for thirty minutes as they were asking about how to use "pee-pee, ca-ca, diarrhea" and what are the differences---it was one of the most uncomfortable lessons I ever had to give. I guess Korean give specific information when they go to the bathroom
The most hilarious was when one of my students asked about what to say when her child has to urinate--she said, "do I say 'my daughter has a pee-pee?"

[some waygug-in]

Some middle school kid kept screaming "Hello, Hello, HELLO" at me while I was taking a whiz.

Then he walked up beside me, and said "Hello, Hello" a couple more times.
I turned and gave him the dirtiest look I could muster.

Then he slinks off, "Oh sorry" and runs away.

[Hollywoodaction]

Well, this is maybe a bit off topic, but it's funny nonetheless. My ex-coworker (from many years ago) and I would spend some afternoons walking around downtown. We sometimes ended up shopping for bras for her when we wanted a good laugh. She was a big girl, and was very much 'glamour' (to use the Korean term). You should have seen the looks on the faces of the poor girls, who obviously hadn't known they could grow to be that size. The girls would try to find the largest bra in the store, pulling out a B-cup (one had a C-cup bra, I was impressed) and my friend would say, "No, not for me. This is small. For you. I'm big." It was cruel, but hilarious.

[bossaco]

I teach a 54-yr old doctor... he knows that I'm married to a Korean national... one time I asked he asked my opinion on the abolition of the Hoju system, I don't know everything about it but I said it might be good for women specially for foreign wives... he replied that the measure was a bad thing because koreans should insist on having pure blood... i don't really understand the connection and what he meant by that but i think it's quite inappropriate...

[Hollywoodaction]

[Bozo Yoroshiku]

[redd]

last week I was teaching "clean and dirty" to my 8yr olds. We were talking about what you wash when one of the boys grabbed his crotch and said "teacher, how do you say?". I gave him a stern look and said "no, we don't need to use that word in class". Turns out he was trying to ask to use the bathroom Bad timing!