Korean Job Discussion Forums

[princess]

I just saw a Korean girl in a pic with some people in London on her cyworld page, and she called "them" "foreigners". Sorry, but she was the foreigner (a Korean in London).....Why oh why do Koreans go abroad and refer to the people there as foriegners, when clearly it is the Korean who is the foreigner. I hate to break it to Koreans, but oh my "gasp, they are foreigners when they step outside of Korea. I just think they like the way waegookin or foreigner sounds, so they say it as much as they can.

[Bibbitybop]

Well, they are still foreign to her.

And Korea is the number 1 country in the world, so everyone is "foreign" and substandard due the pure Joseon blood of Koreans. And Korea has 4 seasons, unlike other countries that have only 2 or 3.

[Vancouver]

did she use the word "foreigner" in English or Korean? Cause in korean, there's no word for "non korean person" other than waegookin.

[ED209]

Brits will often refer to food they have had on holiday as 'foreign muck'. Still glad to see you are still so easily riled and obsessed by people more interesting than you. Hardly the worst thing a Korean has done abroad.

[Bibbitybop]

[Young FRANKenstein]

[regicide]

[jackson7]

I always spend one of my business English lectures on this topic, although it sometimes bleeds into the next day or two if the students need more clarification or have many questions. Businessmen (and women) who are intent on being successful realize they need to be courteous and respectful to their outside business partners/clients/customers.

I advocate using "westerners" if one is sure that the people in question are from Europe, North America, etc. (Western culture, not necessarily geographically Western...so NZ, SA, and Oz are in there too).

When meeting with someone from outside Korea, I tell them to politely ascertain from which country the person comes, so that they can use the proper term when referring to them. "You're the first German I've had the pleasure of meeting, Mr. Beerstein," rather than, "You're the first foreigner I've..."

I make sure they understand that in general, foreigner is a term that we use to mean outsider, and it sometimes carries an unwelcome tone. "I went to the party at Dan's last night, but I really felt like a foreigner there, so I left early." (perhaps they know this and want us to feel unwelcome?)

I know there it is difficult to translate 외국인 to English, but in business, impressions can lead to sales and profits, so it's important to find ways around the language to make customers and clients comfortable. I'm not going to change a cultural habit, I know, but I feel good at the end of the lectures when I see bright-eyed business people with note pads full looking forward to their next client meeting.

[samd]

Foreigners who get annoyed by this are just ignorant.

Waegukin does not mean foreigner in the same way we use the word. It's not offensive or insulting, it is just used to describe a non-Korean.

It doesn't matter if she's in Korea or in the UK, it's still the word that comes to mind when she wants to describe someone who isn't Korean.

The fact that you get so annoyed about this, OP, says more about you than it does about the Korean girl.

[jkelly80]

[PigeonFart]

well said 'jkelly80.'

[branchsnapper]

It isn't about the lack, or otherwise, of words. If the photo was of me in Korea and I said "Here is me with a bunch of foreigners" I would sound like an ignorant twit who thought that the world was most importantly divided into British/non-British. Indeed, I would be one. I should say "Here is me with some Koreans/locals".

As Frankie said, "British people" would do very well, in Korean.

[Adventurer]

[cheeseface]

If any of the kid/adults I teach call me waegookin they get taken to the huge map of the world in my school and I show them how much of the world is actually waegookin, they usually look quite sheepish after that!!!!

[Hobophobic]

....terrible...worse than a picture of a unicorn that smiles menacingly as it impales a dolphin jumping through a rainbow to save a naive kitten from falling into a giant bowl of cream....no doubt....

...I like cheeseface's idea.