Korean Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - Job aside, which Asian country would you live in?

Speak Korean Now!

Teach English Abroad and Get Paid to see the World!

Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"

FAQ

Memberlist

Usergroups

Profile

Job aside, which Asian country would you live in?
Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4 Next

Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion Forum

View previous topic :: View next topic

Which country would you live in?

South Korea

10%

[ 7 ]

Japan

36%

[ 25 ]

China

[ 6 ]

Vietnam

[ 5 ]

Cambodia

[ 3 ]

Laos

[ 2 ]

Taiwan

[ 1 ]

Thailand

27%

[ 19 ]

Total Votes : 68

Author

Message

Stalin84

Joined: 30 Dec 2009
Location: Haebangchon, Seoul

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:38 am Post subject: Job aside, which Asian country would you live in?

Imagine you had a teaching job so good that you had very few work-related issues and you were paid a high enough salary to be able to get the most out of whatever country you were living in. This does happen with English teachers in every Asian country, though the amount of teachers in this position is relatively small and does vary from country to country. For all intents and purposes, though, let's assume we were one of those people. Which country would you choose to live in and why? (I realize there are probably other posts on the forums EXACTLY like this however the search engine sucks and after fiddling with Google for awhile I was only able to find stuff from 2003)

nautilus

Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Location: Je jump, Tu jump, oui jump!

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:45 am Post subject:

You left out the Philippines. Which is where i think I'd be happiest: easygoing people, plenty of natural beautiful landscapes to explore, nice climate, mostly english speaking.

Stalin84

Joined: 30 Dec 2009
Location: Haebangchon, Seoul

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:48 am Post subject:

nautilus wrote:

You left out the Philippines.

Which is where i think I'd be happiest: easygoing people, plenty of natural beautiful landscapes to explore, nice climate, mostly english speaking.

Oh, sorry! I thought I was missing something when I made the list. However I don't think there are many English teachers living there and that was the focus of this list, the Philippines seems to have the most English speakers of every Asian country...

Konglishman

Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Location: Nanjing

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:56 am Post subject:

You also left out Singapore. Believe it or not, there are also some successful English teachers working there. But really, why restrict teaching to just English? I, for one, do not teach English and am fairly satisfied with my job in Korea. Oh, and you also left out Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and Myanmar. Last edited by Konglishman on Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:00 am; edited 3 times in total

Stalin84

Joined: 30 Dec 2009
Location: Haebangchon, Seoul

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:59 am Post subject:

Konglishman wrote:

You also left out Singapore. Believe it or not, there are also some successful English teachers working there.

But really, why restrict teaching to just English? I, for one, do not teach English and am fairly satisfied with my job in Korea.

Again, I assumed Singaporeans spoke English well on average compared with the countries on the list and I didn't think the English teaching market was very big (while I don't doubt there are English teachers there).

I'm restricting it to English teaching because 98% of the people on this forum teach English.

Quote:

Oh, and you also left out Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and Myanmar.

If I remember correctly, the list is restricted to 10 items or fewer. I was focusing on the main places for teaching English.

rocket_scientist

Joined: 23 Nov 2009
Location: Prague

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:04 am Post subject:

Hi - you left out Bhutan.

Konglishman

Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Location: Nanjing

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:15 am Post subject:

rocket_scientist wrote:

Hi - you left out Bhutan.

If we start including South Asia, then he also left out India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.

And of course, there is one Southeast Asian nation which escaped my attention. He also left out East Timor. But of course, besides NGO's, I have not heard of anyone working there although I sure that there must be an international school there or something.

nautilus

Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Location: Je jump, Tu jump, oui jump!

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:17 am Post subject:

Konglishman wrote:

You also left out Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and Myanmar.

Rocket scientist wrote:

Hi - you left out Bhutan.

North Korea, East Timor,India, Bangladesh,Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives.

And covering central Asia, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

For arguments sake you might also include Georgia, Armenia, and Afghanistan.

Stalin84

Joined: 30 Dec 2009
Location: Haebangchon, Seoul

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:26 am Post subject:

nautilus wrote:

Konglishman wrote:

You also left out Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and Myanmar.

Rocket scientist wrote:

Hi - you left out Bhutan.

1) The list only goes up to ten items.
2) I can't include every country in Asia, I was focusing on the most popular places for teachers.

Cerberus

Joined: 29 Oct 2009

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:56 am Post subject:

Konglishman wrote:

the premise of the OP was money wasn't an issue, correct? you had a comfortable roughly equal standard of living anywhere?

for me it'd be Indonesia 1, Phillippines 2.

those are pretty significant omissions. Smile

Singapore?????? I don't think so. The only reason people are in Singapore is for the money. The OP stated money isn't in the equation.

here is a list of selected quotes on Singapore from a 2010 National Geographic article

Quote:

"To lead a society, one must understand human nature. I have always thought that humanity was animal-like. The Confucian theory was man could be improved, but I'm not sure he can be. He can be trained, he can be disciplined."

- Lee Kuan Yew, master-mind and former prime minister of Singapore

***

After a while, the perceived danger and excessive compliance with rules get internalized; one thing you don't see in Singapore is very many police. "The cop is inside our heads," one resident says.

***

When Scape, a youth outreach group, opened a "graffiti wall," youngsters were instructed to submit graffiti designs for consideration; those chosen would be painted on a designated wall at an assigned time.

***

According to a poll by the Durex condom company, Singaporeans have less intercourse than almost any other country on Earth.

***

As one local put it, " Singapore is like a warm bath. You sink in, slit your wrists, your lifeblood floats away, but hey, it's warm."

***

A caption for a photograph:

Contemplating the showroom amenities of a $1,000-a-square-foot condo (complete with fake skyline view), a couple (below) is ready to invest in the Singapore dream.

btw.. can't the bolded part refer to Korea?

Stalin84

Joined: 30 Dec 2009
Location: Haebangchon, Seoul

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:07 am Post subject:

Cerberus wrote:

As one local put it, " Singapore is like a warm bath. You sink in, slit your wrists, your lifeblood floats away, but hey, it's warm."

btw.. can't the bolded part refer to Korea?

I've heard a lot about Singapore and rarely ever anything bad. The things I hear the most are "it's so clean! It's so modern! If you spit on the street you'll get thrown in jail..." etc.

In my opinion this is nothing at all like Korea (I actually think Korea could learn a lot from Singapore in this respect).

However, if you're talking about 'soul', I'd say Korea most certainly does have soul. A very traumatized, confused soul but soul nonetheless. Singapore sounds like one shopping mall of a country.

Cerberus

Joined: 29 Oct 2009

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:40 am Post subject:

Stalin84 wrote:

Cerberus wrote:

As one local put it, " Singapore is like a warm bath. You sink in, slit your wrists, your lifeblood floats away, but hey, it's warm."

btw.. can't the bolded part refer to Korea?

I'd take Korea over Singapore in a heartbeat.. as I said.. the only reason anyone is in Singpore is for the money.

I just think that for many Westerners the warm bath slit wrist lifeblood axiom might be applicable to Korea - based on many posts I've read here.

Konglishman

Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Location: Nanjing

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:30 am Post subject:

Cerberus wrote:

Konglishman wrote:

Quote:

btw.. can't the bolded part refer to Korea?

I read the same article about a month or 2 ago. I personally thought that the author was very biased against Singapore. Clearly, he does not like the fact that Singapore is not a full fledged democracy. And he is only thinking from that point of view.

But from my point of view, democracy can only be a good thing if a nation's society is ready for it. For example, in the Philippines, even though Marcos has been gone for over 20 years, life there has arguably gotten much worse. Why? Because society there is suffering from endemic corruption which is so widespread that it affects most aspects of life. Because too few people are thinking about the future of their country when they throw trash on the streets and in the seas.

Meanwhile in Singapore, it went from being an impoverished island in the 60's to now one of the wealthiest nations in Asia. This was because strong rules were put in place against littering and corruption among other things. And even though, it cannot be called a true democracy, a lot of people there are very happy. Now, in my opinion, Singapore is probably ready for full blown democracy at this point, but that transition will come in due time.

Konglishman

Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Location: Nanjing

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:41 am Post subject:

Cerberus wrote:

Stalin84 wrote:

Cerberus wrote:

As one local put it, " Singapore is like a warm bath. You sink in, slit your wrists, your lifeblood floats away, but hey, it's warm."

btw.. can't the bolded part refer to Korea?

What about its year round warm and sunny weather? What about its close proximity to vacation spots in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia? What about the greater ease in adapting to the place due to English being spoken and due to it already being a multicultural nation? No, clearly, there are many other reasons to go to Singapore.

Cerberus

Joined: 29 Oct 2009

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 1:23 pm Post subject:

Konglishman wrote:

Cerberus wrote:

Stalin84 wrote:

Cerberus wrote:

As one local put it, " Singapore is like a warm bath. You sink in, slit your wrists, your lifeblood floats away, but hey, it's warm."

btw.. can't the bolded part refer to Korea?

you keep on forgetting money isn't in the equation here based on the OP.

the only reason people are in Singapore is for the money. Why would you be in Singapore, when you'd be equally comfortable monetarily in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia? in those very same vacation spots?

English is the only argument you really have.. and it's not a strong one compared to everythine else.

when people say Korea is where fun went to die (actually that was a reference to my uni) they're really talking about Singapore.

Display posts from previous:

	Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion Forum	All times are GMT - 8 Hours Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4 Next
Page 1 of 4

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

TEFL International Supports Dave's ESL Cafe