| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
DanseurVertical
Joined: 24 Nov 2010
|
 Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 7:29 am Post subject: Korean weirdos greeting me? |
 |
|
A few weeks ago in a train to Doksan I was standing near a car door, listening to music in earphones and looking out. Then suddenly some native Korean guy (after having walked from another car) starts talking to me. He greets me and then asks for the time. His English pronunciation is quite clear. I basically thought, why the hell are you asking me the time when it's actually displayed in the car between stop notifications? He realized my response was negative and then looked at his wrist watch, exclaiming with good pronunciation and intonation, "Oh, it's ..." He then apologized and walked on, into a different car, apparently in search of another foreigner to whom he can ask the time...
Soon I got off the train, and just before I reached my destination, and as I turned the corner, out of nowhere came another Korean guy greeting me. This time I judged he was probably representing some church / cult, and I completely ignored him.
With the first guy I'm still unsure about his motives. If he had spoken softly to me and not asked an idiotic question, I'd have responded well. Still, I've never had Korean guys randomly initiate conversation with me like this. And it was two individuals in a short period of time, in the same general location.
I've lived here for over nine months, and I visit Seoul several times a week. How common is this in Seoul? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
pedrotaves
Joined: 02 Mar 2011
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 9:41 am Post subject: |
|
|
| the nerve of that guy! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
swinewho
Joined: 17 Aug 2009
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 2:18 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
With the first guy I'm still unsure about his motives. If he had spoken softly to me and not asked an idiotic question, I'd have responded well. Still, I've never had Korean guys randomly initiate conversation with me like this. And it was two individuals in a short period of time, in the same general location.
I've lived here for over nine months, and I visit Seoul several times a week. How common is this in Seoul? |
Merry x-mas to you too!
He prob just wanted to practise speaking English (having learn't it for over 10 years and now having no need for it!) - he prob saw your kind face and thought, 'he looks nice' maybe i'll utter a few words of English........
Would it really of killed you to have smiled and given a kind answer?
People like you are the reason SOME Koreans cross the road instead of helping foreigners who really need help! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
DanseurVertical
Joined: 24 Nov 2010
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 2:33 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| swinewho wrote: |
| Quote: |
With the first guy I'm still unsure about his motives. If he had spoken softly to me and not asked an idiotic question, I'd have responded well. Still, I've never had Korean guys randomly initiate conversation with me like this. And it was two individuals in a short period of time, in the same general location.
I've lived here for over nine months, and I visit Seoul several times a week. How common is this in Seoul? |
Merry x-mas to you too!
He prob just wanted to practise speaking English (having learn't it for over 10 years and now having no need for it!) - he prob saw your kind face and thought, 'he looks nice' maybe i'll utter a few words of English........
Would it really of killed you to have smiled and given a kind answer?
People like you are the reason SOME Koreans cross the road instead of helping foreigners who really need help! |
Even after I removed my earphones he spoke rather loudly and drew the attention of other passengers. Just prior to speaking to me he spoke to an older man sitting nearby, perhaps explaining what he planned to do? I would say he plausibly asked that man the time as well, but that's ridiculous when the guy's wearing a watch. Anyway, I was among the only few passengers standing in the car. I felt like he wanted and had created an audience, which put me at unease. To be honest, I was too surprised to react as I might otherwise have. I'm totally okay talking to strangers, but if you want to make conversation, just be honest and courteous instead of interrupting someone with earphones in just to ask the time. It's a better conversation starter than "Are you married?" but if you've developed such strong pronunciation, can't you learn along with that decent social skills for approaching foreigners?
Anyway, I posted because I still don't understand what was going on, and I'm not fully convinced that he just wanted to make conversation. If you want to make conversation, find the foreigner who looks lost or confused, or to whom you can say something of more sincerity and substance than "What time is it?"
Last edited by DanseurVertical on Mon Dec 19, 2011 3:34 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
swinewho
Joined: 17 Aug 2009
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 3:26 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Maybe he had a hidden camera - you're about to be on TV! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
warmachinenkorea
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 4:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| DanseurVertical wrote: |
| swinewho wrote: |
| Quote: |
With the first guy I'm still unsure about his motives. If he had spoken softly to me and not asked an idiotic question, I'd have responded well. Still, I've never had Korean guys randomly initiate conversation with me like this. And it was two individuals in a short period of time, in the same general location.
I've lived here for over nine months, and I visit Seoul several times a week. How common is this in Seoul? |
Merry x-mas to you too!
He prob just wanted to practise speaking English (having learn't it for over 10 years and now having no need for it!) - he prob saw your kind face and thought, 'he looks nice' maybe i'll utter a few words of English........
Would it really of killed you to have smiled and given a kind answer?
People like you are the reason SOME Koreans cross the road instead of helping foreigners who really need help! |
Even after I removed my earphones he spoke rather loudly and drew the attention of other passengers. Just prior to speaking to me he spoke to an older man sitting nearby, perhaps explaining what he planned to do? I would say he plausibly asked that man the time as well, but that's ridiculous when the guy's wearing a watch. Anyway, I was among the only few passengers standing in the car. I felt like he wanted and had created an audience, which put me at unease. To be honest, I was too surprised to react as I might otherwise have. I'm totally okay talking to strangers, but if you want to make conversation, just be honest and courteous instead of interrupting someone with earphones in just to ask the time. It's a better conversation starter than "Are you married?" but if you've developed such strong pronunciation, can't you learn along with that decent social skills for approaching foreigners?
Anyway, I posted because I still don't understand what was going on, and I'm not fully convinced that he just wanted to make conversation. If you want to make conversation, find the foreigner who looks lost or confused, or to whom you can say something of more sincerity and substance than "What time is it?" |
He was taking a big step to begin a conversation. What would you ask someone in Korean if you just wanted to talk to them? Do you have an anti-social personality.
I'm sure this happens all the time to every person in Seoul and that is why they can't speak English very well. The foreigners just blow them off because they don't deem their questions important enough. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
soulofseoul
Joined: 23 Mar 2010
Location: Seoul
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 4:34 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| GET USED TO IT! :lol: Sadly for you, it will be only guys and not girls who will be randomly coming up to you |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Rutherford
Joined: 31 Jul 2007
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 4:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
OP that is a very tame "crazy guy approaching me" story.
I had a good one this weekend. Drunk grandfather stumbles into the car and when the train starts he falls into the lap of a grandmother sitting in the retirees section. Then he sees a friend and I and asks where we're from. My friend tells him he's German and the guy stars with "Oh Germany! Hitler. Poland and Czechoslovakia (mimes a miniature blitzkrieg) Stalin! Stalingrad! Stalingrad fire! cold! Fire! (Makes slow motion punch) Stalingrad!"
He was smiling the whole time and seemed a too excited about the Eastern front. Then I told him I'm American and he started with "America! Philippines in! Okinawa! Eisenhower! Okinawa (mimes naval landing) Browning! (mimes firing a rifle) Eisenhower Okinawa!"
Just a World War II history buff I guess. He kept it up for at least 10 minutes. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
crisdean
Joined: 04 Feb 2010
Location: Seoul Special City
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 4:56 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| swinewho wrote: |
| Quote: |
With the first guy I'm still unsure about his motives. If he had spoken softly to me and not asked an idiotic question, I'd have responded well. Still, I've never had Korean guys randomly initiate conversation with me like this. And it was two individuals in a short period of time, in the same general location.
I've lived here for over nine months, and I visit Seoul several times a week. How common is this in Seoul? |
Merry x-mas to you too!
He prob just wanted to practise speaking English (having learn't it for over 10 years and now having no need for it!) - he prob saw your kind face and thought, 'he looks nice' maybe i'll utter a few words of English........
Would it really of killed you to have smiled and given a kind answer?
People like you are the reason SOME Koreans cross the road instead of helping foreigners who really need help! |
Oh yes, shame on him for not wanting to talk to a person that clearly gave him a weird vibe, because afterall since he's in Korea teaching English it's his duty to talk to any and every random person that walks up to him regardless of the situation.
Get over it. The OP is no more required to talk to random strangers here than anywhere else. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PigeonFart
Joined: 27 Apr 2006
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I was on a busy bus in Seoul recently and a guy kept trying to get my attention by saying "Excuje me....Excuje me." I was reading at the time. Eventually i looked at him and he said "what time is it?" So i just pointed at the clock on the bus. He then got off at the next stop. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
fermentation
Joined: 22 Jun 2009
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:23 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Dude it's a big city. There's gonna be weird people everywhere. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:31 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I actually kind of like the fact that the Christians are out trying to help and assist people.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
swinewho
Joined: 17 Aug 2009
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| Get over it. The OP is no more required to talk to random strangers here than anywhere else. |
I guess I'm just a friendly kind of guy (normally). |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
RangerMcGreggor
Joined: 12 Jan 2011
Location: Somewhere in Korea
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| One guy tried to hold my hand on the bus... several times. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
DanseurVertical
Joined: 24 Nov 2010
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:53 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| soulofseoul wrote: |
| GET USED TO IT! :lol: Sadly for you, it will be only guys and not girls who will be randomly coming up to you |
I've had girls in public initiate conversation with me as well. Actually, eight younger females and one older Korean English teacher when I was visibly confused. And of course I've had many older Korean men initiate conversation as well.
But in almost all the above cases (except a few with drunken 아저씨) it seemed pretty natural and courteous. It wasn't awkward or uneasy. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
