Korean Job Discussion Forums

[hubba bubba]

I never though it was before, but the porn star thread got me to thinking.

When Koreans say "waegookin", is it akin for us saying, "the colored guy"?

I know that racism and discrimination are ingrained, legitimate practices here, so maybe it really is like calling me "darkey".

[Ya-ta Boy]

No, it isn't.

It does however point to the Korean habit of thinking in terms of 'us' and 'them'.

[jaganath69]

I guess it's like the Thai 'farang', which while it is not a racist term, can be spat out with genuine racist venom.

[mateomiguel]

its like saying the foreigner, or the outsider, or the stranger. Its not racist, its locationist. Geographist?

[Moldy Rutabaga]

[....]

[mindmetoo]

Gook is nation. In is the adjective marker. Wae implies out. So literally "outlander". I guess it plays into the Korean idea of in group and out group people. We're out out out group for sure. In all cultures, there's a primal fear of the outlander. Outlanders bring disease and war.

It might be a bit like saying the term black is racist. We're raised to understand the color to mean bad. Night. Night is a time of danger. Black things mean dirty and disease.

In North America, the word "foreigner" isn't strictly a pejorative, however, in many circles it has taken on the quality of one. Hence, it's no longer "foreign students" it's "international students". CNN used to fine its staff if they used foreign instead of international.

[rothkowitz]

[kermo]

A couple of weeks ago, I was leaving a hospital and the nurse showed me where to pay. I don't know if she realized I could understand her, but she said (in Korean) "Over there, foreigner." Not "miss," not "customer" but "foreigner"? I repeated the word in a sweet but questioning tone of voice and the rest of the nurses giggled. I think that was a bit inappropriate but I didn't get worked up about it.
It sometimes bothers me to be referred to as "foreign-teacher" rather than my name when other people are discussing me right in front of me.
For the moment, all I can do is just work on speaking their language more fluently so I can discuss the problem with Koreans and be seen as more of a "person" than an "outsider."

[Yo!Chingo]

[mateomiguel]

Korea fulfills all my fantasies of traveling to distant planets and living in alien civilizations, all in the comfort of my own world! We're all human, but I'll always still be the outsider.

[nautilus]

Waeguk starts to sound like a racist term of abuse when you hear it whispered in hushed tones wherever you go.


Kermo has a good point- why not just see us as "Mr".."young man" "Miss" or whatever? It feels insulting to always be labelled "foreginer", wether it is meant that way or not.

I can't wait for Korean attitudes to catch up with the year 2006.

[Moldy Rutabaga]

[....]

[excitinghead]

One of my part-time jobs is at the head office of a chain of hagwons in Busan that usually doesn't have foreigners; I am the only one there out of about 100 teachers and administrative staff. There is a huge turnover there, but through being transferred to other branches rather than quitting (it's a good, but exhausting place to work for a Korean teacher). I've no idea of how many students go there, but it must be between 5000-10,000 per day. Some have to go meet teachers to hand in homework etc., and the teachers all seem to swap desks every few months for some reason. The result is that, in my staffroom of about 60, the intervals between classes are like Grand Central Station, and students are always lost and looking for teachers.

I mention all that because once some students came in looking for a teacher, and one said to the other (in Korean) "Where is Mr Park? He moved desks again" and the other replied "Mr Lee said he was behind the foreigner". Being in Korea for nearly 7 years, I thought nothing of it. My English department head overheard them though, took them to one side, and midely chastised them for talking about me as if I was a piece of furniture. I had a name, he pointed out, and they should use it just like they would have said "He's beind Mr. Jeong" or someone if I was Korean.

Needless to say, I was blown away. I'm still excluded in other, minor but not malicious ways there for being a foreigner of course, but my department head thinking of me as a human rather than a foreigner still amazes me. But it's ultimately a little sad that I'm so used to being treated as an outsider here that small gestures like this are so unusual to me.

[babtangee]

[billybrobby]