Korean Job Discussion Forums

[myenglishisno]

Met a few teachers the other night who've been here for more than a few years. We got talking and got on the topic of Korean. All of them divulged that they couldn't read a word of 한글 nor were they great at speaking.

My Korean is far from perfect but I have been studying since I've been here. My spoken Korean should be much better but anything to do with written Korean and I'm doing pretty well. I keep a journal in Korean, talk to Korean friends online in Korean, as well as read the news and so on. I actually thought I was well behind the average for people that have been there as long as I.

Anyway, not counting the people who have been here for fewer than two years, I keep running into long-timers who can't read 한글. Either they can't read it or they can barely read it. Sometimes they're proud of it like it is some kind of accomplishment and other times they hide it for awhile and it takes awhile to piece it together.

Part of me would write a person off for this as in the same way, I'd write someone off for believing that pro-wrestling was real. Then again, some of them seem like perfectly intelligent, normal people. That and it seems like more than 60% (rough estimate) of the long timers (2+ years) I meet can't read.

Is there any excuse for this? Why can't you read (assuming you can't)?

[Pa Jan Jo A Hamnida]

Do you walk on Soju too?

[sadguy]

funny you mention this... i recently met a guy who's been here for 3 years and can't read hangul.

he's in a long term relationship with a korean girl. his excuse is that he wants to learn it formally in a class... but... that's a crap excuse.

i thought people like him were just myths. but they do exist!!

[Died By Bear]

[CentralCali]

OP: Here's something you might be interested in knowing. Not everyone can pick up a foreign language easily, regardless of where they happen to be living.

[myenglishisno]

[calendar]

[Jack_Sarang]

Keep in mind OP is the the same idiot who couldn't navigate his way properly through Sadang Station without jumping turnstiles during a transfer.


I'm sure his "한글" amazing.

[Garciua]

If you plan to live in a country for years you should at least try to learn the language so you have a basic grasp of it. It's up to the individual of course but you should put some effort in to it and not totally disregard it.

[northway]

[Noise]

I basically agree with the OP here. I don't think it's immoral or an insult to your host country or anything, it's just an extremely self-limiting choice.

I remember the German manager of one of the five-star hotels in Dalian, China. He was complaining about all the things he hated about living in China, and got to saying that there were no scented candles. I mentioned a shop I knew that had very nice scented candles. "Where is this shop", he asked. I told him what street it was on and what the nearest cross streets were. He looked shocked, then guffawed loudly, as if I had said something preposterous. "I don't know the names of streets in this city", he said, in a tone that suggested that it would be outlandish if he did. I think he'd been there for about two years. It would have taken what, ten minutes to study a map? Unsurprisingly he was very unhappy there.

[edwardcatflap]

learning a language is all about motivation. Let's face it, the majority of people come to Korea to make money. Not many of them truthfully do so out of a love of Korean culture, though they may say so at their interview. The average old timer here has probably sorted out some good working conditions, probably works twice as many hours as you, legally or illegally and makes three times the money. They probably don't have the time to keep a Korean journal, read the news or talk to Korean friends online. They might have learned how to read Hangul when they first got here but let it slip from their memories over the years. the years when they kept convincing themselves they were going to leave the country very soon.

They've also worked put that improving their Korean is not going to get them a better teaching job (while spending time on getting better qualified might) and if they live in a resonably sized city it isn't preventing them from getting laid either. Sure they would be able to read a Korean menu or find a candle shop but maybe they don't like Korean food, can decipher the one or two dishes they order on a regular basis, or get their Korean GF to help them out.

All that leaves is the occasional guilty feeling related to what ChrisM says, that you should at least try to learn the language but it's a similar feeling to 'I should go to the gym on a regular basis', and how many people act on that?

[northway]

[methdxman]

[edwardcatflap]