Korean Job Discussion Forums

[alinkorea]

The amount of time/money Koreans spend learning English is incredible. But where are the results of it all? I rarely meet Koreans who can converse in English, even at a basic level. In schools, not many teachers can muster more than the odd word. Even some of the K-English teachers are pretty poor speakers.
In banks and other places of business, often no one can speak any English. Often helplines set up by major Korean companies have English speakers whose level is intermediate at best. Konglish is everywhere. Fair enough in the local Kimbap joint, but it shouldn't be happening in school textbooks, newspapers and the advertising of companies.
Surely, with all the English being taught, the general level should be improving by now

[eliross]

Have you traveled much? Broken English is the norm for most international cities. English is used for travel or for business (not necessarily by the average Joe). English is used between many businesses even when both companies are from non-English speaking countries. Having a decent public school English program is a recent development in Korea.

In Korea, most of the English is used for getting hired or promoted. Many people can read and write in English but don't speak it. Most who can speak are terrified of being judged on their speaking ability and so they don't speak. Still I've never had trouble finding an English speaker when I needed one (both in and out of Seoul).

Still you can't expect 10,000 foreign teachers and the Korean Education system to change a culture and promote English to a second language in Korea.

[alinkorea]

I've lived and travelled in every continent, bar Australasia. I know broken English is the norm. But most countries aren't industrialized nations with 2 hours English study in school, from age 5 to 18, as well as hagwons

[Bigfeet]

I think they don't speak English well simply because they don't get tested on it.

[eliross]

Like I said, most Koreans know a little English but learning English from native speakers and at such a young age is a new development in Korea. Most of my adult students had a little English in middle and high school. Many of them have also spent years trying to learn English on their own. However my middle school and high school students blow them out of the water in English speaking ability.

Compare Korea's English to speaking Spanish in the U.S.. The U.S. has the 5th largest Spanish speaking population in the world. 1 in 5 Americans don't even speak English at home. Spanish is taught in School. Spanish is on many labels and signs but it's not widely spoken. I can speak a little but I wouldn't speak it to a native speaker unless they were having some serious difficulty. Can you get around the U.S. only speaking Spanish? Sure but it's difficult and you face ridicule and verbal abuse from some Americans.

It's difficult for a culture to change and adopt another language. The differences between Korean and English make English one of the most difficult languages for Koreans to learn. Spanish is almost ten times easier to learn by comparison. How much Korean do foreigners here speak in general? I'm just glad we don't have people shouting at us in the street "Learn Korean or go home!". It'll change just give it ten or twenty years.

And as for Industrialized nations spending loads on English - Look at Turkey or the struggle with language in South Africa. Even in western Europe, where so many languages are so similar to English, it's easy to find people struggling and spending a lot of money on English. Learning another language is hard especially with the differences in Korean and English.

[sistersarah]

I've often wondered the same thing as the OP. There are people here who speak pretty good English, but they're in the weirdest places. I've run into fluent speakers working at 7-11, driving cab, running convenience stores or small stationery stores. But go and try to do some banking and everyone freaks out because no one can speak English.

I think it has something to do with hiring practices. Koreans know that in order qualify for jobs, they need a certain TOEIC score. And once they're in, they're in. It doesn't really matter if they can speak at all. One of my husband's good friends has a good job at a company. He got a great TOEIC score that helped him score that job. He has to entertain foreign clients from time to time -- and he's TERRIFIED every time. He often calls my husband asking for translations and suggestions.

Then there's my husband, fluent English speaker. Advanced vocabulary, comfort with common expressions and idioms, and large circle of foreign friends. He's from a poor family, went to a crap university, and generally had a rough time of it. He was never able to get a job to utilize his English skills. Of course he puts on his resume that he's fluent in English, but without the TOEIC score, employers don't believe it. So, no TOEIC score, crap university, no connections, plus a cut-off age at most companies of 30 years old means no chance.

I really think the importance of English in Korea is a joke. It's not important at all. Parents should just focus on their kids getting good test marks, because in the end, that's all that really matters.

[Underwaterbob]

[ytuque]

Is broken English really the norm? I found very high levels of English language fluency in Budapest, Belgrade, Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Casablanca etc. What you find in Korea is at the low-end of English language fluency.

English is not to a Korean what Spanish is to an American. Definitely not! Spanish is not the most dominant language on the planet for culture, business, the sciences, etc.