Korean Job Discussion Forums

[deizio]

This is something I've been thinking about as a future research project, and is no doubt something we all deal with on a regular basis. When you talk to a professional, look at websites or read promotional materials for Korean (etc.) businesses and services that market themselves to foreigners, to what extent do you care about the standard of their English?

Example 1 - A doctor / dentist / other (potentially personal or expensive) professional or expert service. Do you only feel reassured if their English (both spoken and on websites or materials) is perfect / near-native, or is passable good enough? To what extent is this outweighed by e.g. foreign training and certification, qualifications, testimonials and price?

Example 2 - A large company or business. If the English section of their website or other materials presented in English are written in broken / unedited English or lacking in detail or functionality (especially when compared to the Korean / native equivalent), what impression does it give you? Are you pleased they have an English section at all, or does it leave you a little cold?

Any and all thoughts / examples / experiences appreciated. Post in open court or PM, it's all good. Thanks guys!

'zio

[Louis VI]

[Steve_Rogers2008]

In the words of the great OGRE...."What if uh... C-A-T really spelled dog?"

[littlelisa]

I think service and quality is way more important than what language they use. If I have to use my (not great) Korean to get it done, then that's ok as long as the service is better, especially for any professional like a dentist or doctor.

I think that especially for big companies, having no English looks better and more professional than having bad English because they should be able to pay a qualified translator to do a good job. Others will say the opposite and that a little bit that gets the job done is better than none. But I still think that if it's a big company (only in the case of big companies, small ones are a totally different thing cause big companies have more money), they should have the sense to pay to get a good translation instead fumbling through with a bad one, because it looks more professional.

Either way, English, poor English or no English, I agree that in Korea we can't complain that they do try to make it easier for us.

[DeMayonnaise]

I think there are two ways to go about answering your question.

If it's a service provided specifically for foreigners, e.g., travel sites, tourism sites, foreigner bars and restaurants, recruiters, I guess I would expect them to have a high level of English. They're catering specifically to foreigners so you would think they would have fluent English. If the English on their website isn't very good, I would question their ability to help foreigners.

If it's a regular ol Korean business that also happens to have service in English, I'm thrilled, and couldn't care less about mistakes as long as it gets the point across.

Littlelisa's point on the size of the company is good, too.

[deizio]

Thanks for the responses guys, Louis i'm not sure what the "parade" would be in this context, but rest assured you haven't rained on it .. would be good to hear a little more what people think about doctors and dentists? For example, if you land in a new country, have a condition that requires you to explain something or ask that you be treated in a certain way and given two identically qualified practitioners to choose from, would you pay more or travel further for the one who you perceived to speak better English, e.g. after reading their website or personal introduction?

[Illysook]

I have put off going to the doctor or dentist as I should because I am nervous about how I will communicate with them. If a professional is advertising and reaching out to me, I appreciate that. I'm still nervous though. Correct English would help to assure me in this respect. So yes, I imagine that I would pay more, or travel further for that.

[djsmnc]

I wish they didn't offer the services at all and instead offered free and accessible Korean classes and an annual standardized test with increasing levels of difficulty that correspond to each year in residence. Therefore, year 2 is level 2, year 3 is level 3, etc. Tourists would receive a special, personalized code or other technology that would allow only them to receive free advice during their stay, with the number of possible stays being very limited. If every country would do this, the expat community would be brighter and communication between foreign residents and locals would greatly improve.

[SeoulNate]

I will take this the other way:

English proficiency, for me, is a huge deal when i walk into an office where they pride themselves on dealing with foreigners, or at least have someone on staff to take care of that. The reason for this is two fold.

First, the level of knowledge for the average Korean in any position is shockingly poor. I can not count the number of times i have asked 'why' to a Korean and been answered with 'because it is'. Now, mind you, this is being spoken in KOREAN, not English. For the most part they are just unable to explain why one thing is better than the other, why it is important, why i shouldn't be more informed about the service / product etc. It seems as though the average Korean consumer / patient just accepts things at face value when it is given by a 'professional' (and i use the word lightly) in the field. They never ask why, it pissed the hell out of me.

The reason why this applies, is that, in my experience, when i walk into an establishment that is set up to deal with foreigners, they also deal with foreign mindsets and are able to answer all of the why questions that I have instead of just giving me the standard 'just because' answer that 99% of under informed Koreans will give.

I suppose it is more of a cultural thing than a language thing, but the two go hand in hand here.

[Xuanzang]

I really appreciate when they try to speak English. If they say they specifically cater to foreigners then my expectations rise.

[Reise-ohne-Ende]

For normal doctors - dermatologists, general practitioners, etc. - I expect a very basic level of English (e.g., "You have this. Here is your medicine. Take it two times a day." - mistakes in grammar etc. are perfectly fine). For emergency doctors, I expect them to be fluent enough to accurately take my medical history and explain to me what's happening.

For all doctors, I expect them to TAKE MY MEDICAL HISTORY and ask me about chronic conditions, current medications, and allergies. I cannot believe that they don't do that here. It seems so incredibly dangerous.

For general businesses, I don't expect any level of English proficiency, so I'm generally pleasantly surprised. However it does irk me when there are glaring mistakes on signs at Everland, for example, when they could have paid a foreigner $100 and had them proofread it all in a day. Why they don't hire native proofreaders is beyond me.

As far as services catered specifically to foreigners, again, I don't mind (smallish) mistakes in speech or casual writing, but permanent signs and forms should be proofread in my opinion. It would take almost no time and money to make it right and it increases my confidence tenfold.

[Smee]

Customer service is better in Korean anyway. More has always been gained trying to communicate in Korean than in enduring babytalk or shouts of broken English.

I do look with a critical eye toward companies that pride themselves on catering to foreigners, or to local governments promoting something ostensibly to foreigners. Bad English demonstrates that organizers made no effort to connect with the audience beforehand and to take their needs into account. ifriendly.kr was a classic example, a government-designed webpage that was shockingly bad:

http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2009/11/what-was-wrong-with-ifriendlykr.html

Regarding the ubiquitous nonsense English (Gibberlish), I wish they'd just leave the English out altogether, since communication with actual English-speakers isn't and never was the goal.

But there's a difference between people/groups who try to help expats and people/groups who want to make it look like they try to help expats. I'm patient and appreciative of the former regardless of English ability, and resentful of the latter when their English and communication ability is subpar.