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What do Koreans think foreigners don't know about Korea?
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tomato



Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.

PostPosted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 1:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I went into a bookstore and asked for a 한일사전 (Korean-Japanese dictionary).
They directed me to a Korean-English dictionary, so I had to protest a couple of times that it was not a 한일사전 but a 한영하전 (Korean-English dictionary).
I guess it's hard enough to imagine a foreigner showing interest in a second language, so it is inconceivable that a foreigner could show interest in a third language.

I know that doesn't beat Exciting Head's story, but I thought it might add something.
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Natalia



Joined: 10 Mar 2006

PostPosted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 3:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That Korea had a war.

Seriously, I have had many Koreans surprised I had heard about it.

It's a bit hard to miss, what with this being 'South Korea' and not just 'Korea'.
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Len8



Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Location: Kyungju

PostPosted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 6:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I go to a Ta bang and ask for ul mu cha. Often the patrons and the workers crack up when I order the stuff. Seems as though they just don't expect foreigeners to know what it is. Once had an attractive housewife in a Ta bang tell me "my thing would go down" iff I drank too much of it.

She actually rang later to invite me to go sing in a norebong with her and her friend. Turned out that she was always visiting her husband in the hospital and stopped off to buy coffee at the tabang where I met her. Didn't like her husband apparently, and was called a "nongdengi" by her friend in the norebong. It appeared she wanted to play around as much as possible. Not an uncommon thing here with women in their 30's and early 40's.


Last edited by Len8 on Mon Jun 05, 2006 3:24 am; edited 1 time in total
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princess



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: soul of Asia

PostPosted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 9:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

excitinghead wrote:
I really do think there is a standardised, nationwide class in Korean high schools for interacting with foreigners like Hater Depot said, reading over the last few pages in this thread its amazing how standardised the phrases and questions are no matter where we all live in Korea.

My own personal pet hate is the question "How about Korea?", which I realise doesn't sound so strange in Korean, but do the questioners have to look so disappointed and confused when I don't say "Oooh, Kimchee spicy! And everyone Bbali-Bbali!"...seriously, when I don't say that they look like I just told them their favorite cow had unexpectadly died.

What I really hate though is not so much the set phrases as the attitude that all foreigners are complete idiots and need to be treated like we're children or even mentally-retarded. Granted, there's a lot of foreigners like that out there, but it seems an automatic attitude...my favorite example of this happened just last weekend. In a bakery, I asked in Korean how much some sandwhiches were. The women who worked there told me they were sandwhiches. Rolling Eyes I've been here 6 years, so I didn't blink an eyelid and calmly told her that I knew what the hell they were and I wanted to know the price, but my Korean wife, who sometimes doesn't realise what life is like for me here, found it hilarous and is still laughing about it.
I think it's hilarious when I go into a shop and if I'm looking at t-shirts, the sales girl will say "t-shirt". I KNOW!!! Very Happy
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tomato



Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 5:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

delete

Last edited by tomato on Sun Jul 22, 2007 4:20 am; edited 1 time in total
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tomato



Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 5:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is an old thread on a similar topic.
Newbies, don't miss it:

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=44942&highlight=
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OCOKA Dude



Joined: 04 Oct 2004
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:16 am    Post subject: Re: What's up Reply with quote

Bulsajo wrote:
Derrek wrote:
Bulsajo wrote:
13. Tell them you know about the 'mongobanjum' and where it comes from. (The mongolian birthmark on the rump).

Please explain that one a little more. I have heard about it, but never understood it. What exactly is it? Does every korean have it?


It's the birthmark that looks like a bruise on the tailbone, bum, or the small of the back (usually). I've heard they can be quite big on some people. Can disappear as the child gets older, but my wife still has hers. Apparently all Mongolians have this mark as well, and it was introduced into the Korean bloddline when the Mongols occupied the Korean peninsula in A.D. something-something (too lazy to look it up right now). There was even a thread on the other board a while back about how a kindergarten teacher thought most of her kids were being abused by their parents because they had bruises on their bums! Laughing


It was not introduced by Mongolians. All Asians have the Mongolian bluespot, including Native Americans/Amerindians.
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tomato



Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.

PostPosted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 7:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It seems like Koreans not only think we don't know anything,
but that we aren't even interested in learning anything.

I get curious reactions whenever I enroll in a Japanese class.
Other people think either that I'M in the wrong classroom or THEY'RE in the wrong classroom.


Last edited by tomato on Sun Jul 22, 2007 4:20 am; edited 1 time in total
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Vancouver



Joined: 12 Dec 2006

PostPosted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 3:55 pm    Post subject: Re: kimchi Reply with quote

yodanole wrote:
The thing that really kills me is this. I introduce myself to my students, and I tell them I've lived here 7 years. So, the first question is always this "Have you ever tried kimchi?". If you can show me a foreigner who has been in Korea 7 hours and hasn't had kimchi foisted off on him, I'll be shocked. But 7 years? No kimchi? I couldn't survive that long anyway without my kimchi! And I ain't crazy about Korean food. The other thing is,
after telling my students I've lived in Ulsan 7 years, they suggest "Let's go to Pulguksa (a local temple in Kyongju). Like kimchi, it's absolutely fabulous. But I've been there more than 100 times. I usually tell them I'm so busy.
how's your korean?
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whatever



Joined: 11 Jun 2006
Location: Korea: More fun than jail.

PostPosted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 6:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sunny6200 wrote:
As a korean myself, korean are either pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised at first. if the story is a good thing about my people, of course, we are very happy to be heard by others and vice versa.Very Happy


Sorry, what? I must have read that five times and I don't comprehend. Your Englishee is awesome!
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endo



Joined: 14 Mar 2004
Location: Seoul...my home

PostPosted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 8:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One of the stangest ones I've heard was that in the past it was common for young teenage boys (especially in the countryside) to have their first sexual experience with their mothers.

Supposedly mom would jerk them off.

...................


Now I don't know if that was true......but that's what I heard.



I've also seen pictures of Korean women who would go topless a la the way indeginous trubal women do today.
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mikekim



Joined: 11 Aug 2006

PostPosted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

endo wrote:

Supposedly mom would jerk them off.


wow
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VirginIslander



Joined: 24 May 2006
Location: Busan

PostPosted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 11:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Strange word orgins. For example, "part-time job" is from German.
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MissSeoul



Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Location: Somewhere in America

PostPosted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 1:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

endo wrote:
One of the stangest ones I've heard was that in the past it was common for young teenage boys (especially in the countryside) to have their first sexual experience with their mothers.

Supposedly mom would jerk them off.

...................


Now I don't know if that was true......but that's what I heard.



I am a korean.
THAT"S NOT TRUE !
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tomato



Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.

PostPosted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 2:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

VirginIslander wrote:
Strange word orgins. For example, "part-time job" is from German.


Also "bar."
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