Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cdninkorea]

I was in Kyobo bookstore on Saturday looking for... well, a book, when these two high school girls came up to me and asked if they could interview me for some kind of "Talk To A Foreigner" project they have.

I agreed of course and was answering their questions just fine, but then one asked me "what's you're favourite book?" I replied with "The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand" but the one writing down my answers didn't catch it and was having a hard time writing it. I offered to write it and she gave me her notepad, gesturing to where she wanted me to write it by pointing and saying yeogi. This is what ensued:

Me: "Aren't you supposed to say 'yeogiyo'?"
Her: *confused look*
Me: "You said 'yeogi.' I thought it was proper to say "yeogiyo."

At this point a bilingual Korean guy standing nearby joined in:

Him: "They want you to write it here."
Me: "Right, I know. But aren't they supposed to use the yo form?"
Him: "That's the polite form."
Me: "I know, and I'm a stranger and I'm older. Aren't they supposed to say 'yeogiyo?"
Him: *sighs* "Just write it down."

I didn't make any more of a scene, continued the interview, and that was it.

Did I overreact? I was taught by two of Korean language teachers to always use the polite form with strangers unless they are younger.
Once in a while I'll see one of my students using the causal form (e.g. anyeong or moulla) to one of their teachers, and they get punished severely.
A friend of mine once accidentally said anya rather than aniyo to a cabdriver, and he got really angry.

Based on all this (and more, but it's not necessary to write it all down), I would guess that I reacted appropriately. But to those of you more familiar with the culture and language: what is your insight? And, equally important, why?

[Wrench]

its because we are seen as monkeys and not part of the supperior Korean race so we are not given the same standards.

[yesnoyesyesno]

[SPINOZA]

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

She was interviewing you in English and couldn't even say "here"?

I would have been more annoyed by that.

[Smee]

누구더러 반말이야?

That, or the finger.

[cdninkorea]

[the_beaver]

Could be a lot of things.

1. You could be right. She could have been intentionally rude.

2. She could have been trying to speak a lower level of Korean that you'd understand and for whatever reason easier Korean is translated in the Korean psyche as 반말 even though it's no easier to understand (probably because that's how they speak to kids).

3. She could have been doing the shy half to herself speaking which would have been done in 반말.

4. She could, like so many people who don't fully understand English, subscribe to the belief that English doesn't have levels of politeness and that all English native speakers speak the equivalent of 반말 to each other.

[SPINOZA]

The whole thread is 뻘럭스.

OP claims to have been interviewed by a some school girls on the Saturday prior to the Chuseok holiday, when every single school kid in the country is either at the PC cafe or at home doing whatever.

I've nothing against CdninKorea personally, but it seems like an attempt to get something of his or her chest AND make a point about this Rand person.

I've a first class degree in Philosophy and I've never even heard of Rand. He or she must, therefore, be crap.

[Ya-ta Boy]

From what I gather, LOTS of Koreans dislike the honorific crap they have to put up with, but have no way to avoid it. When they speak to a foreigner, they feel they can leave it out, without the intention of being rude.

This is one of those gray areas. I think I would have ignored it unless it was one of my students, in which case I would have had a discussion about it. In that discussion, I would have said that if we are in a teacher-student relationship, then I want the same deferential treatment a Korean teacher gets. If we are in a friendly situation, then I will tell you that you can drop the honorifics, just like a senior would do. Until I do that, I want my props.

[Qinella]

[jajdude]

Man, if this your biggest problem lately, you are a lucky guy.

Is this even worth posting about? Some unknown teenage Korean girls didn't say "yo"....

Well, life is rough sometimes.

[jajdude]

..........

[captain kirk]

How's life in Beverly Hills Bundang? You've been there a month now? Can't hear any static about it, must be smooth.

What are you doing for Chusok? Just curious. I'll be hiking around the local mountains, maybe go on a two day motorbike trip to Goje then back to Gumi.

Chris.

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]