Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thorin]

I can't remember names, Korean or otherwise. That's ok, no one can even say my name. It usually comes out �丰 or �Ǹ� (extra credit if you know the character). My favorite is Mr. �丰.

[Corporal]

English names.

[ajuma]

If I hear someone's "English" name first, I have a hard time remembering their Korean name.

I teach over 250 students a week and I can only remember a few of them (the most unusual names or most unusual looking!). Of course I remember the names of my friends, but I don't think that ANYONE could remember the names of ALL of their students! Especially in another language! It's different if you teach the same 20-30 students all day, every day!

Question: Did YOUR uni professor know YOUR name?? Especially if you were in a lecture class??

And yes, I have a Korean name which I use now and then. The "given name" part was created for me by some of my students and I chose the family name myself because it went well with the given name. My drivers license used to be in my Korean name!

[Cedar]

Actually I didn't mean, can you remember your students names... I mean, what human can remember when you teach 300, 500 or more students in a week? Esp. if you only see them once a week...

What I meant was your Korean "friends", your next door neighbor, your Taekwondo teacher, your co-workers, etc. The people who are NOT going to dissapear after a term into another teacher's class or even another school.

I (sorry, I know some find this kind of offensive) think it is completely ridiculous when foreigners have been here a few years and they still call their so-called friends "Jenny" or "Sally" or "John" when their names are really Heejung, Bitna and Minsu.

Let me ask you, seriously, do you really think you can form a good relationship with someone who you have a sort of pretend/compartmentalized interaction with at all times?

========
My Korean "name" is just the way I write my name (Cedar) in Korean, adjusted to be three syllables long. I use the family same �� which is rare, but does exist (two different Chinese characters, even). I adjusted it to three syllables because the two syllable closest equivalent to Cedar happens to be �ô� which has a negative meaning. The spelling I use was recommended to me by a Korean friend based on avoiding �ô�, but still be somewhat close to Cedar. Since I am from the west coast, I speak it with a distinct R sound (unlike some of my New England friends) so I write it ���̴�. (When spoken, the first �� in �� blends with the second ��.) It's not perfect, but it's close enough that I always respond when someone calls me.

[Harin]

i can never remember western names. i barely keep up with their first names. remembering last names is a big challenge.

[Corporal]

[verschiedenes]

At university I had a professor who, after the first week, knew EVERYBODY's full name. First, middle and last. It was really impressive, especially considering that there were about 50 people in class, and he taught at least 10 classes.

Wish I could do that, but I have serious problems remembering my students' names; don't feel too bad though, since I only see them once a week. I do remember some of their names, and I definitely know all of my friends' Korean names.

Gotta say though: isn't it a little sad if you've been here longer than a couple of months and you can't read Korean characters? The Korean alphabet (not the language) is so easy to learn...

[kermo]

Just yesterday, I was in a class of grade 1s (just visiting their teacher) and a little boy asked me "What name? What name?" I told him mine, and asked him his. He said "My name is Billy!" and it was all I could do not to reply "Like HELL it is!"