Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chaz47]

Any thoughts on this one?

Chinese character's seem to be the binding cultural/linguistic force in East Asia so I am focusing on them now and acquisition of Korean vocabulary through Hanja.

In the long term though as a potential longterm expat in East Asia which language, Japanese, Korean or Chinese, is most likely to help finance my future?

I am in Korea now but cannot deny that Japan has always intrigued me, I stayed their briefly and was very comfortable.

China is still a bit of a mystery but seems to be the root of all the things I like about East Asian culture.

I like Korea but the inability to teach private lessons has begun to wear me down. As have all the sneaky people that overcharge me because I'm a whitey.

[laogaiguk]

[ajgeddes]

I would have to say Japanese. Although both other languages are also useful, the Japanese have the lowest level of English. The Chinese have some super-human ability to suddenly learn English when they want to. We all also know the desire to learn English here in Korea is crazy, so in 15 years, I think we will be pleasently suprised with what we see. The Japenese just don't seem to have that desire anymore and they are everywhere in business. I don't want to write more, but I think you get my point.

[mithridates]

If we're talking about how long it takes to learn a language, then Indonesian/Malaysian would be the most lucrative. You can pick them up like *that*.

[chaz47]

[ajgeddes]

[mithridates]

[ajgeddes]

Another one you could look at would be Vietnamese. The up and comer of SEA. Not going to be the easiest to learn but with the way their economy is going and how they are not just letting it boom uncontrollably, there could be some serious promise in that country.

[kigolo1881]

it doesnt matter which language you are trying to learn and speak, there's always a way of securing a good job with any language depending on how you market yourself. Language is just a medium to your character, if you are the most unsocial/unsympathetic person and speak 5 languages, noone will get along with you.
Then again if you only speak 1 or 2 languages and yet have a very nice personality, you can land any decent job that you want, granted you connections!
I speak fluent english, german and vietnamese, yet i dont have connections to land a SUPER job, then again maybe i got a bad personality.hehe.

[ronnie]

I might be a little silly, but is there any doubt???

Mandarin would be the most lucrative Asian language to learn.

[Boodleheimer]

i'm pretty good at chinese, which means i could read some things at the Tokyo airport and get the gist of things written in Kanji. same in Hanja. but do they use hanja? NOOOOOOO!!!! they have to use their own damn alphabet 99.9% of the time. man, that ticks me off.

[chaz47]

[RACETRAITOR]

I like Anakin's idea. Probably learning a slightly more obscure language would be pretty useful. There's a ton of people who know Chinese and Japanese already, so you'd just be joining the crowd.

Of the three main languages being discussed, Mandarin seems like it would be most useful to learn.

[Boodleheimer]

[laogaiguk]