Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SuperHero]

Yo Tomato, listen up!

I don't feel that Koreans are condescending to me, nor do I feel that they treat me like a child. In fact I rarely experience Koreans speaking English to me except when I am at work. for the most part Koreans speak Korean to me and expect me to speak Korean. Sure I get the occasional person who can't get over the 외국인 can only speak English. But that's not a big deal - it usually only happens at a convenience store and I can't even remember the last time that happened.

My regular encounters with Korean are detailed below.

My childrens first daycare - the teachers all spoke Korean to me without exception. chit chat, details of what went on, what the kids ate and what changes were going on. The owner spoke some English, but never even tried to speak English with me.

My daughters first Kindergarten same experience as the daycare - bonus points the Korean "English" teacher spoke Korean to me when explaining what they were going to do in class. The school didn't ask me to provide an English lesson, though I might have when asked. They even got a part time English speaker though I never met him.

Parents in the neighborhood all spoke Korean to me with the exception of one mom who spoke English like a native speaker, but I rarely saw her. The security guards in the building and the recycling ajjumas all spoke Korean to me. The owner of the gym that I went to as well as other gym patrons all spoke Korean to me without even trying English. Again my daughters piano hagwon same deal. Interestingly one of the piano teachers negotiated with me to be her private English teacher which I declined, but the negotiations were all in Korean.

We moved to a new neighborhood resulting in a new kindergarten and daycare. The security guards here all speak Korean to me too without even batting an eye - again sometimes I don't understand it, I get my wife to help out, but since I'm home way more than she is I do most of it.

Guess what the teachers all speak to me in Korean without a lick of English even asked for or expected - when I went with my wife the first day to find out about the program everything was explained in Korean with my wife helping me out on the finer details. This neighborhood doesn't have a piano hagwon so we got a private teacher from the local university - not a word of English from her, despite 90% of Freshmen students being able to and wanting to speak some English with a native speaker.

In the playground in my complex the moms all speak to me in Korean and don't even try to use English, though a couple were surprised when they heard me speaking Korean (they didn't express it, I just saw it in their eyes). The local supermarkets, drycleaners and shops all speak Korean to me and don't even try to use English.

Then there was the time about 6 weeks ago where I got in an argument with an ajjusi about his jackass parking job (10 minutes arguing in Korean)

about 2 weeks ago in the super a really old lady (85+) started talking to me in Korean for about 10 minutes after she heard me ask the clerk a question.

This is not to say that I don't get the occasional Korean who assumes I don't speak Korean or just won't listen to my Korean. However my experience is that in the last few years things have changed remarkably and now most Koreans assume that you can speak some Korean.

Looking forward to other happy Korean speaking stories.

And for the record my Korean ability is not nearly as good as it should be for how long I've been here. I've completed level 3 at sogang and it shows that I haven't studied in over 2 years.

[excitinghead]

[SuperHero]

[billybrobby]

I agree. I never quite understood Tomato's point of view on that. I think Koreans who know that their English is worse than my Korean should speak Korean to me. And 85% of them have.

Now, if a Korean sees me and assumes I know no Korean, I don't mind at all. It seems 90% of foreigners don't have the Korean skills to hold a everday shooting-the-breeze conversation and 60% don't have the skills for a basic transaction like getting directions (figures pulled out of my @ss). So when a Korean assumes I won't understand, they are just rationally playing the odds. Nothing wrong with that.

Now, when I bust out my super advanced commando Korean skills, they should immediately bow to them and dispense with the pidgin English. About 15% are too thick headed to do this, and somehow think, after I've asked in understandable Korean "Do we have to order a side dish with our drinks?", that answering with "side-duh dishee...habe to ohduh" is the best way to communicate.

But then, I can't chalk all of this up to thick-headedness. For some, they're showing off to their friends, or they think it's fun to dust of their high school English skills -- a myriad of reasons that have nothing to do with condescending to me even though it's annoying to listen to bad English when you want to get stuff done.

There is a hard core of about 5-10% who have the equation "white skin=english, NO EXCEPTIONS" carved into their brains and simply cannot think otherwise without blood coming out of their ears. F*ck them.

Back to Tomato, I just think it's a severe case of him misapprehending the mindset and intentions of others.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Call me an idiot, but I think Koreans speak to me in the language they are confident in. If a Korean speaks to me in Korean, I figure he/she is not confident in communicating in English. I don't mind and I rally my neurons to catch a word or two to catch the meaning of what they are saying. I DO ask them to speak slowly so I can catch the words I know and a few of them speak slowly...about the same percentage of way-gookins who can speak slowly without having a conniption fit.

[OiGirl]

We live in Korea. What's the big idea?

I was shocked to meet a pharmacist who spoke good English today. But I can better communicate the OTC meds I need in Korean anyway.

[Css]

my experiences echo yours...its very rare that a korean will speak english to me...except for the crazy zion guy on the subway and the girl at macdonalds who asks me if i want to take out or eat in..

[kiwiduncan]

I've generally found that Koreans are quite happy to speak to you in Korean if you show an interest in using their language. Sure there are people who will keep on using English in response to your Korean, and this can be a bit annoying sometimes, but I think Koreans appreciate the novelty of speaking to a foreigner who can carry our a conversation in their language.

You've got to remember that for all those Koreans who want to practice English, there are loads who just can't be arsed. There's a young guy in our office with English much better than my Korean. But he always uses Korean with me because he knows he has plenty of opportunities to speak English with the other teachers - none of whom have really bothered to study Korean. He's not speaking Korean to me for simply altruistic reasons though. It simply gives him a break from using English.

[whatever]

[doggyji]

[zappadelta]

Yes, I agree with the OP and others, Koreans almost always speak Korean to me. My conclusion is that Tomato must have bad pronunciation.

[SuperHero]

[Hanson]

Agree with the OP. Most of the Koreans I meet regularly (shops, daughter's daycare, etc...) speak to me in Korean. I've also noticed that even the Koreans I have to deal with for the first time will speak to me in Korean as well. I think it's because I've shown through our interaction that I'm capable of communicating in Korean, even though I'm not exactly proficient.

Very few Koreans attempt to continue a conversation I've started in Korean with English. Every now and then I'll get a calculator shown to me with a price after I've inquired in Korean, to which they receive a scornful

[whatever]

[Hanson]