Korean Job Discussion Forums

barrybrown · Joined: 18 Apr 2004

2:20 PM: Speaking Korean blah, blah, blah and more blah blah
2:30 PM:More blah blah, hey it's raining
2:31 PM:I need a smoke...but I quit two weeks ago
2:32 PM:I wish my stomach was bigger because I want to eat, but I'm full
2:33 PM:The female teacher sitting across from me touched my watch!
2:33 PM:More blah blah; I'm singing "Rain drops keep falling on my head" to myself
2:34 PM:I wish I understood more Korean
2:36 PM:Wednesday is a holiday!
2:37 PM:My wongjonnim seems to have a lot to say
2:38 PM:When will the meeting be over?
2:39 PM:I wish I had won the lotto
2:40 PM:It's still raining and still more blah blah blah
2:41 PM:Thank God for my sense of humor
2:42 PM:I just noticed my tummy is sticking out; it's bored too
2:43 PM:That other females watch band is purple and so is her pen
2:44 PM:Which will end first the rain or the blah blah?

Zed · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Shakedown Street

Brevity and clarity are certainly not valued commodities here, are they?

barrybrown · Joined: 18 Apr 2004

Zed · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Shakedown Street

Swiss James · Joined: 26 Nov 2003 Location: Shanghai

My favourite thing in a meeting is when someone will say something to me, the translator translates, then they say something else and the translator says

"He just keeps saying the same thing over and over again"

and I make a little note in my notebook like it's an excellent point.

barrybrown · Joined: 18 Apr 2004

shawner88 · Joined: 01 Feb 2003

I don't have to attend them at my school. Thank God, they run at least an hour.

krats1976 · Joined: 14 May 2003

I'm just thrilled that my director decided to have meetings during prep time the last two months instead of demanding my free time (unpaid) after school. They can hold the meetings in bloody Klingon if they want as long as they don't waste my personal time!

Zed · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Shakedown Street

PatrickSiheung · Joined: 21 May 2003

man, I wish my meetings were held in Klingon... they may have actually been interesting!

Krats!? You're paid for prep time? I wasn't paid for mine last year =\ My old directors counted only 50 minutes for class time. Anything inbetween and the 2 hours I had to arrive early weren't counted as paid time.

The meetings we had were only for the directors to vent their anger. They would yell and yell and none of the teachers looked up from their desks. The korean teachers would busy themselves with whatever and I would just read a book. Now that I think of it... maybe that's what they were yelling about... *shrugs*

sadsac · Joined: 22 Dec 2003 Location: Gwangwang

The Korean staff attend first and then the foreign staff only need attend from midday for about 15 minutes and then we all go to lunch. Works for me. Smile

mithridates · Posted: Mon May 03, 2004 7:06 am Post subject:

Actually when you start translating for people you realize how often people keep saying the same things over and over again. It's either a choice between saying the same thing with a bit different wording or admitting that the person is giving the exact same schpiel...(did I spell that right?)

Grotto · Joined: 21 Mar 2004

After being forced to attend staff meetings that lasted an hour(unpaid) in which no English was spoken and no one told us anything that was going on I point blank told the director that I would not be attending any more meetings unless everything was translated into English.

Smile

worked

havent had to attend one for 4 months now

Scott in HK · Posted: Mon May 03, 2004 3:39 pm Post subject:

You should all thank your lucky stars that you don't have to attend meetings at my school....3-4 hours...all in Cantonese...

And I can't even complain when compared to a friend who once spent over 9 hours...on a Sat...in an all Cantonese meeting...I got text messages that mirrored the OP's....

The Great Wall of Whiner · Joined: 24 Jan 2003 Location: Middle Land

I remember my first trip to Korea.

I worked in an office as an editor. We would have these moral-boosting meetings which were a pure waste of time.

Why do Korean bosses insist on us being there when we hadn't a clue as to what was being said?

After 3 years, I was able to understand but pretended not to (yes, lazy me I know!)

Now in China, I am going through the same damn thing again.

Boss: "Ching chong Bang Ling Shcong..."
Me: "Yes, I agree"
Boss: "You agree that it's good to cut your salary?"
Me: "Um...I meant disagree"
Boss: "Just a joke. I actually said 'ok let's get the meeting started' "

Thank God my boss has a great sense of humour...