Korean Job Discussion Forums

canadian_in_korea · Joined: 20 Jun 2004 Location: South Korea

I just remember....I know an elementary school principal who memorized every child's name in his school...when he changed schools he requested a list of names along with pictures of each child so that on the first day he would know everyone by name. He studied all summer... Very Happy

I'll bet that freaked the kids a little....whoa how much trouble is that... the new principal knows who you are and he's never seen you before... Razz

Captain Corea · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: Seoul

here's a question...

Has anyone ever taken on a Korean name (and kept it)?

if so, how'd you pick it?

JacktheCat · Joined: 08 May 2004

One thing about Korean names is that a few of them, like Suk Mi, Min Ji, and Bum Suk, have unintended meanings in English and others are just plain hard for English speakers to pronounce.

JacktheCat · Joined: 08 May 2004

nev · Joined: 04 Jan 2004 Location: ch7t

I've studied Korean for a while but still find names very difficult to learn, moreso than most other nationalities.

However, since starting at a new hagwon with no policy on Korean/English names I found most of my kids with arbitrary words for an English name ("Apple", "Hamburger" etc), and about 25 Sallys. All the fat boys were called Kevin. I took both the English and Korean names of each child and gave them the choice of which they wanted to be known by. I'd say it was about a two-third split in favour of the English names. It gives an enjoyable levity to the class. I changed any names too ridiculous, or at least explained that in English it's not really a name, thus I still have children called "Serious Splat", "Delicious" and "Undertaker" (a girl), because they genuinely wanted to keep the name.

I've still had to learn about a hundred Korean names, and practice makes perfect, but I still find names almost impossible to remember unless I write them down.

schwa · Joined: 18 Jan 2003 Location: Yap

Even Koreans have trouble with some Korean names. I've noticed the habit of some on being introduced to "spell" the name with a finger on the table or in the air & get confirmation.

A little trick for remembering anyone's name is to speak it aloud on being first introduced, then try to speak it again in conversation about 10 minutes later. This is said to help lodge it in both your short-term & longer-term memory.

desultude · Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 1:15 am Post subject:

My own name, spelled in Korean, translates to the Chinese name for "morning peace". So I already had a Korean name! And a very appropriate one, at that.

dogbert · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Location: Killbox 90210

Joanne?

tzechuk · Joined: 20 Dec 2004

desultude · Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 1:29 am Post subject:

tzechuk · Joined: 20 Dec 2004

Je suis Chinoise.... I speak Cantonese and Mandarin.. Smile

peppermint · Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 2:24 am Post subject:

When I taught at a hagwon I made it a point to try to meomorize everyone's name within a week, but at my current school I don't have a chance. Today when my co teacher and I were grading a speaking test disguised as a play, I noticed that she never asked the kids for their names, just their number on the attendance sheet. Shocked

schwa · Joined: 18 Jan 2003 Location: Yap

Numbers are okay. No way I'm gonna learn 400 names on a 45-minute a week basis. Sure, I catch some, but its not fair to use those in the classroom when I dont know others. At my office desk, in the hall, fair game. But in class, I like calling random student numbers to stand up & respond -- keeps them on their toes.

Holyjoe · Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Location: Away for a cuppa

On the flipside though, some Koreans do struggle with foreign names and often look for 'easier' names to remember them by.

The K-League has a lot of European players who are known only by their first name rather than family name as would be the case elsewhere, thus we have/had:

Denis (Laktionov)
Sasa (Drakulic)
Jamie (Cureton)
Jon (Olav Hjelde)
Mato (Neretljak)
Gabi (Popescu)
Ivan (Testimitanu)

amongst others.

jinglejangle · Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Location: Far far far away.

I hate foreign languge nicknames. Once I got out of school, I stopped useing mine. Only this one teacher who used to spend her break time helping me keep up with the smarter student can still elicit a response with it. That's mostly because she beats me if I give any lip. I swear, other than my father, she's the only person in the world I've allowed to smack me around habitually. And he eventually had to stop. Once I took the shovel away.

This woman hit me with sticks, bundles of keys, front hand, back hand, kicks to the shins....but she made me study when all I really wanted to do was go drink away the pain of my father's death. Capital woman. Pure Korean. Probably the only reason I didn't hurt anyone during that time of my life. I was to busy studying to hurt much.

Anyway, back sort of on topic, I don't bother to remember names unless someone makes a great impression. I've studyed under professors for entire semesters without even knowing there family names. My memory is utterly destroyed.

On the other hand, the names sound natural to me now. I remember thinking I'd been here too long the day I met a woman named Bang-Ool and thought, my what a cute name. (Means water-droplet)