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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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| When correcting Koreans' written English for their work, do you? |
| Meticulously make it perfect, re-writing it if necessary. |
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50% |
[ 10 ] |
| Just make cursory changes, they aren't paying me that much,and besides, they feel better about it. |
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40% |
[ 8 ] |
| "I strive for a balance" (The wussy answer) |
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10% |
[ 2 ] |
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| Total Votes : 20 |
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| Author |
Message |
Barking Mad Lord Snapcase
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
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 Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 7:03 pm Post subject: |
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Just to put things into perspective ...
| simone wrote: |
| But if something's going to be plastered on the side of a bus in London, or make the backdrop for a trade show booth, my god! It must be perfect - anything other than that will only hurt us! |
| seoulsista wrote: |
| Most of my Korean co-workers have pretty atrocious English skills. But I'm not going to spend my time correcting them either in writing or speech. If there's one thing I have learned here (in the land of the rising sun) it's that keeping harmony is more important than getting things done. |
If the harmony lasts approximately 2.5 months, then one is not exactly keeping it. The filter of one particular culture does not change the economic, psychological and linguistic reality on the other side of the world. In the end, the poster on the London bus will make or break the Korean business venture, and prove who in the boardroom was right and who was wrong.
It seems that the dilemma of the Korean advertiser is very closely analogous to the dilemma of the Western English teacher. The Korean advertiser may not be physically entering another country, but her work is. And, like the Western expat who enters Korea with preconcieved notions of what works and what doesn't, the Korean advertiser is sending her work to another country - an advertisement created with preconcieved notions of how to express English and what works in an English-speaking country, blurred and distorted through the filter of a culture that values harmony above the facts (if Seoulsista is to be believed). And. just like the Western newbie in Korea, the Korean advertiser is at the risk of making mistakes.
If
Newbie < Experienced expat
Then
Korea << Big Bad World |
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mack the knife
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: standing right behind you...
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| Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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You've got to keep things in perspective. Korean corporations would rather save a dime than hire a native English speaker to correct that deplorable tripe they call advertising. But more importantly, they really don't give a s**t.
48 million Koreans wore t-shirts that said "Be the Reds". You can't win this war. |
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kimchikowboy
Joined: 24 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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This is in reference to RR's plagiarism post:
From the US government:
| Quote: |
| UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENTS: Most universities in Korea employ full-time English conversation instructors. University classes tend to be large, with little personal contact with the students. Most instructors teach between ten and 15 hours a week. Academic standards in Korean universities tend to be somewhat lax. Leftist, nationalistic and sometimes anti-American attitudes may prevail among some students. Most universities in Seoul do not provide housing, and some do not provide the benefits required by law. Monthly salaries currently tend to run about 1 million won (US $ 1,300) per month, with three to four months of paid vacation per year. |
http://travel.state.gov/travel/living/teaching/teaching_1240.html
From the Canadian government:
| Quote: |
University Departments
Most universities in Korea employ full-time English conversation instructors. University classes tend to be larger and feature less personal contact with the students. Most instructors teach between 10 and 15 hours a week. Academic standards in Korean universities, however, tend to be somewhat lax. Leftist, nationalist and sometimes anti-American attitudes may be prevalent among some students. As most Koreans have difficulty in differentiating between Canadians and Americans, this could be problematic for Canadian teachers. Many universities in Seoul do not provide housing, and some do not provide the benefits required by law. Monthly salaries currently average about 2 to 2.3 million won, with three to four months of paid vacation a year. |
http://www.voyage.gc.ca/main/pubs/korea-en.asp
The Canadian part is more up-to-date, but most is the same.
If memory serves, the British, Australian and South African info are identical (to each other) as well. |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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Well, texts written by my students often lack cohesion. I will ask them to write about their father's job. They all begin fairly well, "My father's name is ... He is a...", but quickly goes downhill from there. It's one non sequitur after the other. "He is handsome boy", "He likes soju. He is best driver.", etc. This lack of focus can't be explained by their rudimentary knowledge of English because it's likely that the texts were written in Korean before being translated to English. I simply don't teach the best and brightest that Korea has to offer.
Last time there was an English speech contest at my university, nearly half of the texts submitted for evaluation began with, "What is love?", "Can I tell you about love?", "Love is...", etc. I was tempted to note at the bottom of the essays that love is getting up 5 times each night from months on end to feed your child, which takes an hour and then coming to work to edit such pablum. |
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