Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kiwiduncan]

Are there any good forums where foreigners can join up then discuss various social, political and environmental issues with Korean members? I need Korean writing practice and it will also be a good chance to try and meet Koreans with similar viewpoints.

Also, can anyone recommend good online resources for Korean listening practice? I cannot bring myself to watch Korean TV as it is mostly inane, vacuous drivel. I'd be very happy to watch a few Korean documentaries and nature programs online however.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[skeeterses]

For chatting in Korean, I sometimes go to http://forums.galbijim.com . At the website http://www.how-to-learn-any-language.com , there's a multilingual chat section that includes a Korean thread. I have to tell you though that the stuff you see in the chatrooms is most likely to be either grammatically incorrect or use expressions that wouldn't sound right to native-Korean speakers, since the threads are written mostly by non-native speakers like myself who are merely practicing. And it takes a lot of time to do any decent chat in Korean if you want to understand everything people are writing and then come up with good replies.

Now for the listening. You probably know about YouTube already and know about the option of searching for different kinds of Korean TV shows. I prefer watching different animations and some of the animations from North Korea are interesting to watch. Korea unfortunately does not have many audiobooks outside the listening materials for their grammar books; and I've checked the bookstores. If you don't mind religious material, there is the Korean Bible online at
http://www.holybible.or.kr. If you do decide to listen to the Bible, be sure to select 개역한글 to make sure that the text matches the audio.

There is also the Korean translation of the Quran at http://www.quran.or.kr . The audio files for that start off with the Arabic recitation followed by the Korean reading. Even though I'm not Christian or Muslim, I find these to be quite enjoyable for listening practice.

[agoodmouse]

I told my co-teacher I was a muslim and she freaked out. I'm not, but I just wanted to get her reaction. We laughed about it afterward, though.