Korean Job Discussion Forums

[amberflannery]

So I was letting my landlady know today that I will be moving to Korea in 2 months to which she replies "um, this may be a stupid question, but where's that? is it another country?" I told her yeah, its part of Asia over on the other side of the world. And she goes "oh? And its called Kor-ea?"

oi

just thought i'd share a giggle with you all

[jajdude]

How is that even possible? Can she read?

[nautilus]

Korea is virtually unknown to the rest of the world.
Encountered many people who had never heard of it.Koreans have kept themselves to themselves for a long time I think.
Strange anomaly for a country that is the worlds 11th largest economy..

[Newbie]

[hellofaniceguy]

hell...even some koreans don't know where korea is!

[PimpofKorea]

Hell...I can understand that....I went back to the states after being here for over a year in 2006 and this guy who was working on my grandmother's house was like " Hey I heard you over there in Vietnam" I say "no it was South Korea" He says "Vietnam...Korea...whatever....listen you gotta watch out for those gooks man..they'll do some strange ish to you"

Then again..I never thought much or cared about this place at all until I hooked up a gig over here....

[awalk2remember]

[VanIslander]

This is "South Korea".

It's easy to buy into how Koreans use English instead of how English speakers actually do.

Dropping "South" makes sense to locals but people in English-speaking countries don't.

Tell people "Korea" and they go "huh? oh.... South Korea. yeah."

[amberflannery]

nah i dont know about that van. usually i'm impressed if they know theres a seperation. the second question most popular question i get is "north or south"?

[OiGirl]

The last time I moved back to the US, I was talking with a kindergarten teacher. University educated, of course, late 40s, kids in high school.

"So, where did you teach before here?"
"Korea."
"Oh...is that in XX County?"
" No...KOREA!"
"Oh, yeah. Is it near XX City?"
" No! It's between China and Japan!"
" "

[RACETRAITOR]

Where I come from everyone knows what Korea is, but they have a hard time remembering which one is which. I fooled a friend into believing I'd been living in North Korea, and my wife was North Korean. I told him she worshipped the Dear Leader, and to say something nice about the Dear Leader when she got back from the washroom (where in North Korea they always have a picture of the Dear Leader watching you pee, so she spends a lot of time in there because it makes her comfortable[she just takes a long time]). Anyway, he nearly pissed himself when I introduced him to her.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[tomato]

Shortly after I returned from Bolivia, I gave up using the name of the country, and instead told people I was in South America.

One Bolivian told me that when he was in the United States and told people he was in Bolivia, they asked, "Oh, what part of Mexico is that?"

We aren't the only society where people don't know their geography. When I was attending Japanese class in Kumi, the teacher identified South America as Africa on the map. I corrected her, thinking it was a slight oversight. But the next day, she identified China as Canada on the map.

[SeoulShakin]

Before I left, I told one of my old choreographers that I was leaving to go to Korea. She got all excited for me, and said I'd have a really great time learning Asian culture etc. Then she surprised me with "but do you think you'll have a hard time learning Japanese". I was surprised, then said "umm no I don't think I'll have to learn ANY Japanese". She looked confused until I explained that I wasn't going to Japan, I was going to Korea, which is a small country between Japan and China. I'd have to learn Korean, not Japanese. She still looked confused. Poor woman.

[OiGirl]