Korean Job Discussion Forums

[n3ptne]

Yeh so... the visa process sucks and I started getting paid as of Tuesday the 4th. Oh well, more time for friends to take me out for one last drink, can't complain too much.

Anyway the person who put me in touch with doing this had done it himself for about 20 years. Met his wife there (and gives staunch advice to never marry a Korean woman, but then again he took her back here), had a son, and all that jazz. Eventually he became fluent in the language, and told me that it was easy to become conversationally fluent in about 2 years.

Now walking into this I've already decided to make a go at learning the language to the absolute best of my ability. Why not? It's there to do, but otherwise have no serious motivation for doing so. You could say that I've always liked to adhere to the "When in Rome" philosophy around foreigners, but I grew up that way and see it as more of a respect issue.

Anyway, how many of you have bothered to learn the language? How important is it, and how easy is it to learn being that you're drown in it.?

[I_Am_Wrong]

at the very least learn how to read and some survival vocab and sentences. It'll save you a world of headaches to know how to ask a bus driver where he's going or read a menu and ask for what you want.

One year is too long to not bother even learning a few basics but a lot of teachers do it and for much longer periods, they look like fools though.

My elementary school has two other foreign teachers who have both been here for two years prior to my arrival. They learned how say thank you from me.

[crazylemongirl]

[n3ptne]

[SPINOZA]

You strike me as a person with the right attitude, N3ptne.

I'm here (assuming we're not all replaced by robots) for the long term and I intend to be conversationally fluent in 2 years.

At the mo, besides words for food, I'm not progressing much beyong 'hi', 'bye' (2 slightly different ones of course), 'thank you', 'excuse me', 'sorry', 'can I have please?', 'where is?', 'do you have?', 'be quiet', 'be quiet (polite)', one or two numbers, but my Korean acquaintances say that's a great start - better than most - and my pronunciation is very good. I've made a start on the alphabet and it's surprisingly straightforward. So I'm happy and will stop slacking soon. I may attend lessons. Other than respect, assimilation, necessity, I have my own private reasons for wanting to be very proficient in Korean which I shan't expound.

Best o' luck!

[jinks]

Teachers in the Daegu area may like to join me and a few others in Sin-am dong [near Dongdaegu station] for FREE Korean language lessons at Sin-am Presbyterian church - a non-proselytising service to help foreign workers ie.no bible-bashing - on Saturdays and Sundays 4-6pm. There are two classes offered simultaneously [1] beginners and [2] advanced.
For the record, and to answer the OP, I think it is a no-brainer for a language teacher living in a foreign country to at least try to learn the host language. I realise this opinion is not shared by many EFL teachers in Korea, including some of my own friends and colleagues.

[cheem]

[the_beaver]

Upper intermediate. Not important at all, but very fun. Not easy to learn with a hagwon teacher's schedule and for a monolingual English speaker, even with time, it's one of the most difficult languages to acquire.

[SuperHero]

High beginner/ low intermediate. I think it is important to learn at least the basics, but after that it's up to the individual.

Me I'm looking forward to winter vacation as this will be the first time I'll be able to study Korean and not teach at the same time. woo hoo 4 hours a day 5 days a week of Korean.

[I_Am_Wrong]

ya dead serious, except, now it's been three years!! Could you imagine being in a country for three years and you can't give taxi directions? Could you imagine not being able to order food in any restaurant outside of Mcdonalds and Bennigans? etc. etc.

Now they learned "�����Դϴ�" and "����" from me. I explained to them why I add yo on to "yoggi" and many other words and then they tried to tell me that the "yo" must be impolite because it's impolite in North America. "No way could yo be polite!!" They have masters in Tesol and worked at Pagoda before they came to this Elementary School. I could give about 10,000 stupid waygookin stories about them....

[billybrobby]

[Homer]

This poll is not going to be very useful to you I'm afraid because the importance put on learning Korean will vary greatly from person to person.

Then, the reasons for learning or not learning the language will also be many...so a Not vs Very poll won't do much for ya.

I have been here since 1997 and decided to learn Korean because it made sense to me. Then I met my wife and it made even more sense to learn Korean. When I added the benefits, career-wise, of learning the language it made even more sense.

Flip side is that I have friends who have been here for just as long (or more) and have only the most basic knowledge of Korean and they are happy here. It is a personal choice.

My personal opinion: learning a new language is always a good thing and living here is a golden opportunity to learn Korean because you live in the language day to day.

As for becoming fluent in 2 years while working full time, I don't see how realistic that is. Perhaps some people have achieved this and it depends what you mean by fluent.

I found that speaking and reading Korean (I put myself as an advanced speaker and I largely acheived this because I am married and interact with my wife's family on a daily basis) opens up your life here. It really improves (or can improve) your quality of life and lead you to better understand the country and the culture.

Best of luck to you.

[ladyandthetramp]

[quote="n3ptne"]Eventually he became fluent in the language, and told me that it was easy to become conversationally fluent in about 2 years.
[quote]

Maybe my definition of "conversationally fluent" is different, but becoming so in Korean in two years isn't "easy." You're going to have to study a bit.

Of course, I understand conversationally fluent to mean you can actually hold down a conversation for a few hours. A lot of people view conversationally fluent to mean you can give directions to the taxi driver and flirt with a girl a little before switching into English.

On to your first question, without knowing your plans for life it's hard to answer. If you think you want to stay here for some time or perhaps do business with Korean companies, it's very useful. If you only plan on staying one year before getting on with your life, then just learn the alphabet and a the most important phrases.

[I_Am_Wrong]

[Privateer]