Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bosintang]

This is the golden question.

Are there more ESL-teachers here than in other countries? It seems that way, but maybe I just haven't paid attention enough, and come from Canada where Korea seems like it's a stop along the Canada student loan program.

If so, why? Why are Koreans so gungho about learning English? What do they know or think they know that other countries don't know?

If not, well, why does Korea have to pay so much and offer so many incentives? Is it because Korea is such an unnattractive country to live and work in?

[Freezer Burn]

You have to offer more because it can be very expensive to live here, it has to be relative to the cost of living.
Japan offers more money but because you have to pay rent you can't save as much.
China is starting to offer higher wages, and its very cheap to live there.

[Grotto]

Why does Korea pay well? It is a rapidly developing country, salaries are quite high for Koreans and they have a surplus of disposable income and not a whole hell of a lot to spend it on.

English is considered a status symbol here and is required for government jobs(often seen as the gold at the end of the rainbow or money for life)

Korea has some things in its favour over other countries.

Its safe, I have never felt threatened walking down a dark alley at 2 AM. Theft is uncommon. Violent crime is rare.

You get free accomodations+airfare+year end bonus + pension + okay salary.

Even a salary of 1.8 equals about 2.5 - 2.6 when you figure in airfare, bonus and accomodation...not bad cash.

Low tax rate. Lots of openings. Ability to get a better job after the first year.

[Gopher]

Korea pays several times the salary that you can make in any Latin American context. Koreans pay your airfare to get here, and that, too, makes employment here attractive, on the surface.

I would say I'm not venturing too far out on a limb by arguing that this is because Korea has a stronger economy and more per capita income, and consequently, more disposable income, than any Latin American country.

On the other hand, cultural flaws like corrupt business practices destabilize many of the supposed benefits this objective data might suggest, as I said above, on the surface. For example:

rent-free apartments are not always as we are led to believe;

severance pay and pensions are not straightforward issues; and

return airfare is often problematic.

I don't believe that Korea is any more committed to picking up English as a Foreign Language than any other country out there. For example, Chile's Ingles abre puertas program claims to be pretty aggressive, promising, for example, that all Chilean English teachers will be required to pass the Cambridge First Certificate Exam by 2008, and all high school seniors the exam just below this one.

The problem there is one of organization and nationalism, however. Part of the ad campaign seeks to assure Chileans that learning English won't make them less "chileno."

Brazilians, on the other hand, tend to love Americans, but they are not attacking English aggressively, they're kind of carefree about it (except in Sao Paolo, where they do indeed work very hard). Brazilians say that "God is a Brazilian," and I would tend to believe it because it's really a great place to live and work. Indeed, were it not for the money issues, I'd probably immigrate to Brazil. (I feel the same way about Brazil, guru, that you do about Korea.)

[JongnoGuru]

[Gopher]

[JongnoGuru]

[Ya-ta Boy]

I think the key word here is obsession and all obsessions are by definition illogical.

My guess is that some Korean government official who still had a good reputation (hadn't been caught in a major scandal yet) was in Japan on business, happened to walk past a Japanese hakwon, and had a saki-induced epiphany. "My god, the Japanese are studying English! We'd better start doing the same or we'll never catch up."

He came home and made a speech at just the right time to start a national fad by saying English is the magic bullet that will end the hermit kingdom mind-set and beat the Japanese. Hakwons opened up and the owner of one of them had a brother-in-law just back from Chicago where he'd had a dry cleaning business. Over several bottles of soju at Chusok the BIL suggested hiring a way-gook-saram in order to beat the competition. The hakwon boss bought the idea. Put out an ad and no one bit. The BIL explained that you had to pay as much as the Japanese do, so the bidding war started. The rest is history.

In all the panic and bali bali to get ahead, no one noticed that the Japanese built the world's second largest economy without bothering to learn much English.

[Derrek]

Has no one mentioned that it's not easy to live here for many people?

If people were clawing over each other to get here, pay would be lower. But they aren't. Many people come here, decide it's not for them, and leave. I don't have experience in other countries to compare to Korea, but I sure have met my share of people who have stayed here less than 5 months.

[Gopher]

[bosintang]

[jajdude]

I have wondered countless times why Koreans are so interested in English. Sometimes it seems paradoxical to their ..... what? .... worldview? or approach to, or awareness of, foreigners?

I don't know. But they sure spend a lot of money and time on this wonderful language we speak. And why their progress is so limited is another bunch of threads.

I guess the rapid and recently new prosperity of the country is way ahead of their ability to interact with the outside world?

I see Korea as a closed society. But one with a desire, and a need, to be in touch with the world. English provides a key to that desire and need.

In my opinion, of course.

But they'll still do well, like Japan, without strong English ability, because they provide things that sell well, I think.

[fidel]

[Real Reality]

[bosintang]