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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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Rofpo
Joined: 12 Jun 2013
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 Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 7:52 am Post subject: |
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Listen to your wife.
Curious, do you speak Korean with your daughter? If so, why? Why not enforce the more useful language? |
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tob55
Joined: 29 Apr 2007
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| Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 8:11 am Post subject: |
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| Rofpo wrote: |
Listen to your wife.
Curious, do you speak Korean with your daughter? If so, why? Why not enforce the more useful language? |
I use both Korean and English with our daughter, and again it has to do with the fact that until we make whatever decision we will concerning staying or leaving Korea, we must consider the social context of her language needs as they relate to everyday life. For us as adults we may find it quite easy to get along without using Korean if that is our choice, but for her being in her formative years, her language needs are much different. That may seem to be a cop out in your mind, but from a parent's point of view, everything is being done so that our daughter can communicate in whatever ways she needs as a young child. Perhaps when she is older and if we decide to live in an English speaking environment on a permanent basis, she will have no need to speak Korean, but for now, she does need it, because she isn't around dad 24/7. Honestly, we don't force her to use either English or Korean regularly. She tends to communicate more in English right now, but that is partly because mom wants to communicate in English more for her own personal language enrichment. However, her Korean speaking skills are just as good as her English speaking skills, but she is only 19 months and learning a lot everyday. |
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Rofpo
Joined: 12 Jun 2013
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| Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 8:22 am Post subject: |
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Your Korean must be awesome then. Again useful in Korea. Outside of that not so much.
You also seem to have a very bright wife, stressing the English.
You should listen to her. |
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tob55
Joined: 29 Apr 2007
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| Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 8:43 am Post subject: |
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| Rofpo wrote: |
Your Korean must be awesome then. Again useful in Korea. Outside of that not so much.
You also seem to have a very bright wife, stressing the English.
You should listen to her. |
My Korean isn't that perfect or wonderful, but it helps me for daily needs and communication among my non-English speaking friends.
I just did a quick search for information on Korean as a world language and from what I can tell it ranks in the top 25 or higher languages used in the world. A quote from a website listing Korean as 25th on the list of the 25 most influential languages in the world had this to say about Korean
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| Although it is spoken by almost 80 million people in North Korea, South Korea, and China, it has not achieved a significant level of influence beyond the borders of the Korean Peninsula. It is also one of the hardest languages for foreigners to learn and the U.S. government classifies it as a category IV language along with Arabic and Japanese. This means that it requires at least 63 weeks of instruction to achieve a workable level of fluency as opposed to only 25 weeks for Spanish or French. |
So, in terms of use you are right, it is limited to great extent, but that is not to say it has no influence in the world. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 9:29 am Post subject: |
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| Rofpo wrote: |
I'll concede that Korean is useful in Korea I don't know of anyone that would argue the point. My point is that it's useless to kids because everyone I know gets the hell out of Dodge when their kids are old enough to go to school. So what's the point?
Are any of the parents on this forum actually planning on sending their kids to Klown 'school'? Tobb55? Captain Corea? Patrick, you don't count. Saying "I would have, if we hadn't left"' isn't the same. You can argue that it is but it's simply not. Anyone else I missed? |
My son did attend Korean school.
My daughter did attend Korean day care.
We had no intention of leaving at the time, not for the immediate future and were quite confortable with our kids going to school in Korea.
As for the use of Korean outside of Korea for mixed kids, well off the top of my head here is ONE use that is pretty damn valuable: being able to communicate with their Korean grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins in Korean.
By the way, your use of "Klown" is highly offensive. If you actually want a discussion on this topic, why not avoid the thinly veiled racist shots? |
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Ginormousaurus
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
Location: 700 Ft. Pulpit
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| Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 11:19 am Post subject: |
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| PatrickGHBusan wrote: |
| By the way, your use of "Klown" is highly offensive. If you actually want a discussion on this topic, why not avoid the thinly veiled racist shots? |
I don't know why anyone even bothers to respond to this clown (Rofpo). He's not looking for intelligent discussion, just an outlet for his ignorant and racist views. I'm surprised at how civil all you parents of mixed kids have been in your responses. Good on you! I don't even have kids yet, but this guy just pisses me off...that's probably just the reaction he hopes for. |
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anjinsan
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 3:31 pm Post subject: |
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In terms of "usefulness" it may be worthwhle to add that knowing Korean opens the door to the other major N.E. Asian languages: Japanese and Chinese. By knowing Korean, our family easily absorbs Japanese language grammatical structures (since Korean and Japanese are siblings in the Altaic language family) and Chinese vocabulary comes easier due to the fact that roughly 80% of Korean terms have a Chinese origin--plus knowing the S-V-O structure of English also makes Chinese so much easier for us. That is three for the price of one--what a deal!!!!
"Usefulness" is a very vague term. Seeing that Chinese is the most widely-spoken language in the world, we may need to employ a different term here. I am also very skeptical of the claim that US/Canadian schools are the pinnacle of education. I believe such a statement only comes from a lack of experience with other cultures and social systems.
The world is a big, wonderful place. Why should we cling to only one language? |
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12ax7
Joined: 07 Nov 2009
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| Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 3:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Captain Corea wrote: |
| Nolos wrote: |
| Captain Corea wrote: |
I've met a lot of parents here with "mixed" kids... and there are various approaches to this. Some seem to think it's better to start with one language until it's "solidified" and then bring in a second. Others go with each parent speaking their native language.
I know that the second one has worked well for my family, but I'm not keen on criticizing the other approach. So long as it plays out in the end, all the power to 'em. |
That's utter BS CC and you know it. Just like you. |
By all means, tell me how both that approach, and I am "utter BS". Share with us your experience raising multilingual kids. |
Yes, he's talking out of his ass. Trolling you, I'd say.
With that said...based on what I've seen, that approach has a high failure rate (it's all the parents' fault. They typically give up, I'm guessing because they feel it's not worth the trouble anymore since the kids can communicate well in one language.)
In my own personal experience as someone who grew up bilingual and is the parent of a child who is a polyglot, the better option is to get them speaking as many languages as possible at an early age. Sure, at first they will slightly lag behind others in their first language, but that only lasts until the kids enter elementary school. By the time they are adults, they will be at the very least fully bilingual, maybe even capable of speaking in a variety of dialects in each language they have achieved native-like fluency. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 4:55 pm Post subject: |
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Oh, I agree with ya, and don't use that approach at home... BUT, I'd be hard pressed to get into a parent's face and tell them they're wrong.
Like I said, and in the end, the same as what you are saying - what are the results? Can the "kid" function in society? Are they fluent in the languages they need in order to talk to those they want to?
/shrug
I think I've (we've) made the right choice as right now my daughter is fluent in two languages (for her age), but I can't say for sure it'll play out exactly that way for the next few decades. |
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Rofpo
Joined: 12 Jun 2013
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| Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 5:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Captain Corea wrote: |
Oh, I agree with ya, and don't use that approach at home... BUT, I'd be hard pressed to get into a parent's face and tell them they're wrong.
Like I said, and in the end, the same as what you are saying - what are the results? Can the "kid" function in society? Are they fluent in the languages they need in order to talk to those they want to?
/shrug
I think I've (we've) made the right choice as right now my daughter is fluent in two languages (for her age), but I can't say for sure it'll play out exactly that way for the next few decades. |
But surely you're moving back and not putting your daughter into the local system...right? |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Rofpo wrote: |
| Captain Corea wrote: |
Oh, I agree with ya, and don't use that approach at home... BUT, I'd be hard pressed to get into a parent's face and tell them they're wrong.
Like I said, and in the end, the same as what you are saying - what are the results? Can the "kid" function in society? Are they fluent in the languages they need in order to talk to those they want to?
/shrug
I think I've (we've) made the right choice as right now my daughter is fluent in two languages (for her age), but I can't say for sure it'll play out exactly that way for the next few decades. |
But surely you're moving back and not putting your daughter into the local system...right? |
As of Jan/Feb next year, chances are she'll be in the PS system here.
/fingerscrossed |
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chuckster
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 7:47 pm Post subject: |
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If the child is half-Korea, it would be safe to assume they have Korean family members here, no? If those Korean family members aren't fluent in English, wouldn't you want the child to able to communicate with their family here in Korea?
Learning a language is never useless. Some may be more useful than others, but never useless.
Last edited by chuckster on Sun Aug 18, 2013 3:29 am; edited 1 time in total |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 3:52 am Post subject: |
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| ok it is clear now..the OP is just a sock trolling. |
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cheolsu
Joined: 16 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 11:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Rofpo wrote: |
| Your Korean must be awesome then. Again useful in Korea. Outside of that not so much. |
There are nine languages spoken in my immediate family, referring to me, my parents and my brothers. My measure for for being able to 'speak' a language is that you could use this language while having dinner with someone and still say the same things you'd have said in another language, even if the pronunciation, grammar or word choice are awkward or unnatural.
Not a single one of these languages (English, French, Urdu, Hindi, Pashto, Farsi, Punjabi, Siraiki, Korean) has ever gotten any of us a job, unless you consider learning English as a Canadian or Urdu as a Pakistani to be an employment strategy. All of these languages, with the exception of French, were learned while living in places where these languages were used. Even French, which opens up the prospect of careers in Canada's public sector, is considered useless by most of my relatives.
I speak basic Chinese at the level of Westerners who have lived in Korea for a year or two. I suppose you could call it high beginner. You could call Chinese a useful language, but what's the point of learning this language if you define usefulness as something that would make you money or somehow be useful (though it's unclear what useful even means) outside of places where its spoken? I learned to speak Chinese because I thought it was cool and because I've traveled to China several times, going to places and doing things (ordering food, buying train tickets, making the smallest of small talk) where not speaking Chinese is not an option.
However, how 'useful' would Chinese be in Canada? There are literally hundreds of thousands of Chinese speakers in Toronto, where I'm from, and they all speak Chinese better than me. There is the odd job where spoken Chinese is an asset, but those jobs are so rare that there's no point in learning Chinese for those reasons. You could go down the list of the world's most spoken languages, learning Arabic, French, Spanish and Russian, but find them useless when you move back home and get Tamil, Hmong and Polish-speaking clients at the bank where you work. |
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denverdeath
Joined: 21 May 2005
Location: Boo-sahn
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| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 2:42 am Post subject: |
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| I've got 3 kids here. I strongly recommend to anyone having kids here to speak as much English with them as possible. My oldest is seven and has pretty good English. My daughter, however, is now three-and-a-half and I have some trouble communicating with her. I think it's because she was put in pre-school/kindergarten earlier and spent less time with her dad than her older brother did when she was 1-3 years old. Time will tell with all of them, but I really do think that in bi-lingual parental families, each parent should stick to their native tongue as much as possible. And, yes, MORE English is better...a bit sorry to say it, but it's true. Anyway, love your kids, and try to talk/interact with them as much as possible. In that regard, I guess the language used doesn't really matter. |
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