Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mal]

hey there

as a newby to korea's fair shores i am curious as to the use of "Frankly speaking" and "In my case"

Are Koreans exceptionally frank?

Are these the adult versions of "How are you"
"I'm fine thank you, and you"?

[pollyplummer]

I think so. All my co-workers seem to say it. But they never speak frankly. They are terribly passive, and anytime they are dancing around a topic, they suck air through their teeth, and that's about when I say, "Tell me what's on your mind, and don't hold anything back." Once I suggested to my co-teacher that we skip school, that he take me to Shinchon (since he knows the area), and that he take me dancing. He replied, "Frankly speaking, pollyplummer, I don't to dance."

[Gopher]

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[Ya-ta Boy]

Yes, Koreans can be very frank about some things that maybe we wish they weren't.

Show them how to use "Frankly speaking" properly: Frankly speaking, I think you need to go on a diet. Frankly speaking, I think your girlfriend is the ugliest woman I've ever seen. To be honest, I'm too tired to go to a movie this week.

The problem comes from learning English from a dictionary. Dictionaries don't give enough information to understand the nuances. Take it as an opportunity for a teaching point and offer alternatives. If your class is friendly, you can do an activity with insults: Frankly speaking...


I never have figured out why Koreans use 'in my case' so much. I try to show them it is usually redundant and beg them to stop using it so often--with little success.

[Gopher]

[deleted]

[kermo]

Well, I'm very far from fluent in Korean, but I hear Korean people using qualifiers at the beginning of most of their sentences. It's not really done in English, but it seems to be considered good style in Korean. I think it's a case of direct translation. There are plenty of people more knowledgeable than I who could give you a list of the words Koreans typically use to start sentences in their native language.

[Buff]

Hmm I haven't heard any of those. The ones that irk me are the overuse and awkwardness of starting every sentence with "actually" and "especially" when there's nothing for actually or especially to refer back to or expand upon.

And THEN they write it into the intensive session curriculum!!! It's hard to explain to kids who believe in the infallibility of the supervisor who wrote the book that the book is wrong. Every day. For a month.

[jajdude]

Frankly speaking, in my case, nowadays, diligent.....

Koreans use these a lot! (maybe they translate well or easily from Korean language, and sound intelligent to koreans?)

Most native speakers use them rarely.


Some more familiar ones to native speakers that Koreans might want to learn to employ more often:

Honestly, to be honest, to tell you the truth, actually,

for me, in my experience

these days, lately, recently

hard-working, industrious

[Bulsajo]

I'd be willing to bet that the pervasiveness of all of the expressions in this thread date back to whatever English textbook the government had as required reading in high schools 30 years ago.

[On the other hand]

[Harin]

[mal]

hey thanx all --- you have been helpful in assisting me with this cultural idiosyncrasy.

I actually did question my students about "frankly speaking" during a cliche elimination exercise, and they somewhat sheepishly explained that there is a korean expression corresponding pretty closely.

Seems like koreans are pretty frank after all! [/quote]

[little mixed girl]

like ppl said, i think it's an example of trying to use a direct translation.

there are some things that i want to say in korean, that would come out in english like "in my view.." or "in my case..."

[Butterfly]

The reasons Koreans use 'frankly speaking' is because it is / was in their exam / curriculum in middle school.

[mindmetoo]

Koreans I think use polite verb forms to moderate their speech. In english we need to be subtle. Koreans can be more direct as long as they make the verb more polite. That's my theory anyway.