Korean Job Discussion Forums

[aq8knyus]

I am on a GEPIK contract at an elementary school and will finish soon, I teach mainly afterschool classes. The other foreigner here will take over that schedule as there will no longer be any native teachers assisting in regular class. After next year the afterschool will also finish.

At the same time the school has recently hired Mandarin teachers from China and will begin teaching classes next week.

Has anything like this happened at other schools? Do you get the impression that there is going to be a shift?

[r122925]

Eventually? sure, maybe. But it's not going to happen over night. They're not going to stop teaching English.

My school has had a native Chinese teacher for two years now, and they haven't gotten rid of me yet. Chinese is gaining importance, but that doesn't mean that English is any less important.

[creeper1]

Sigh. Not this retarded worry again.

Europe converses in English. This would be enough to cement it's status as world language.

English has Europe + USA + Canada + Australia + India.

English = completely dominant for the next 500 years AT LEAST.

[Zackback]

Throw in the Philippines as well.

China doesn't hire many NET's and other to teach English do they?

[aq8knyus]

@creeper

It's not retarded and I wish people would stop using that as a dirty word.

I asked the question because the school in question was for a time looking to be a leader for English in the area. Then suddenly not only is there going to be no native teacher in the regular class the afterschool classes will also end.

I wanted to know if this was a trend or if it was just an isolated case.

[Malislamusrex]

You can add Africa, the Middle East and South America to that, in every country you go to you will find at east 1/10 people speak English.

[radcon]

[actionjackson]

With all the different dialects being spoken in China, I don't think this will happen any time soon. I don't think a countries language can become a leading world language when your whole country isn't even on the same page. Just my thoughts.

[koreatimes]

The title is, "End of English, rise of Mandarin?"

This is a very strong assertion. Just with a simple look, Mandarin is extremely difficult to speak. English doesn't emphasize tones and operate in the same manner. I think the Chinese writing system is superior, but that alone is not going to cut it. As far as speaking goes, this rules the world and I don't see Chinese being the first choice unless you are specifically going to abandon English. In this case, you already know English and this is a moot debate.

So, why is the original poster posting this and experiencing more Chinese teachers? I think the answer is clear cut. I never had a math tutor. There was a standard to learning math, and I could always get help from a friend. However, when it came to languages, we could choose French or Spanish (some places also taught German, but not in my childhood). So, in this case, I would get a Spanish tutor to help out because it was a SECONDARY subject. It wasn't math, English, or science.

I think instead of them valuing Chinese more by hiring Chinese teachers, they are actually trying to get a hold on two areas of importance. If a school gets Chinese teachers, they must feel confident enough that their English program can stand alone without a native English speaker. They are not cutting it though with competition to get students to be trilingual.

Native English teachers are damned by the success of the English influence over the world. We aren't getting less dominant, but more. This means students have to compete at a higher level and become trilingual. It's no surprise that Chinese would be selected by the Koreans.

[itistime]

[NohopeSeriously]

Let's not forget the fact that some big Korean corporations are hiring many South Koreans who learned Russian. I'm a gyopo who used to live in Russia. Russian society still has this anti-English mentality at present. If those Korean companies want to set afoot in Russia or Kazakhstan, they better off ditching English for Russian.

We're seeing a growing number of Koryo-Saram (Koreans from ex-USSR countries) living around Seoul and Busan. Would they speak Korean or English? NO. They often petition against the South Korean government so they can have Russian language governmental services.

English will be still dominant expect for the stiff competition among other big languages.

[WadRUG'naDoo]

I think China has 8 main languages. They're not dialects. There are, for example, different dialects of Mandarin (Beijing dialect, for one).

Anyway, the universal (if that's how you could classify it) one is Mandarin. Learning that would suffice, I would think.

[Juregen]

[sadguy]

[Zackback]